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Selling a bunch of old comics for my Dad-need advice
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Started by Craig Backstrom,

18 posts in this topic

Craig Backstrom

Craig Backstrom

Posted
Posted

My Dad has tasked me with selling his large (at least to me) comic collection from when he was a kid.

Some are in rough shape but there are about 200 that are in really good condition for comics from the 1960's.

Avengers, Daredevil, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Aqua Man, Tales of Suspense, Journey into Mystery, Tales to Astonish and Amazing Spiderman.

It appears the best way to sell these for the most money is to pick the ones that are in good condition, send them to CGC for grading, then list them for sale (if grade is decent).

What is the best/most active place to sell older comics like this Ebay? Somewhere else?

What do I do with some that are in rougher shape? Just list them on ebay as is?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Below is a list of all the ones that are in good shape

Avengers
Nr. 3
Nr. 6 (x2)
Nr. 7
Nr. 9
Nr. 10
Nr. 12
Nr. 13
Nr. 14
Nr. 16 (x2)
Nr. 17
Nr. 18
Nr. 19
Nr. 20
Nr. 21
Nr. 22
Nr. 25
Nr .30
 
Daredevil
Nr. 3
Nr. 6
Nr. 7
Nr. 10
Nr. 12
Nr. 17
Nr. 18
Nr. 19
Nr. 54
Nr. 61
 
Xmen
Nr. 3
Nr. 5
Nr. 6
Nr .7
Nr. 8
Nr. 10
Nr. 11
Nr. 12
Nr. 13
Nr. 16
Nr. 18
Nr. 21
Nr. 22
Nr. 32
Nr. 33
Nr. 65
 
FantasticFour
Nr. 3
Nr. 19
Nr. 26
Nr. 28
Nr. 29
Nr. 30
Nr. 32
Nr. 33
Nr. 34
Nr. 35 (x2)
Nr. 36
Nr. 37
Nr. 38
Nr. 39
Nr. 41
Nr. 42
Nr. 43
Nr. 44
Nr. 45
Nr. 46
Nr. 48
Nr. 51
Nr. 53
Nr. 63
Nr. 95
 
Aquaman
Nr. 11
Nr. 13
Nr. 14
Nr. 15
Nr. 17
 
sgt fury
Nr. 1
 
Tales of suspense
Nr. 48
Nr. 50
Nr. 54
Nr. 55
Nr. 56
Nr. 59
Nr. 60
Nr. 61
Nr. 62
Nr. 63
Nr. 64
Nr. 66
Nr. 67
Nr. 68
Nr. 69
Nr. 70
Nr. 72
Nr. 77
Nr. 78
 
thor
Nr. 1
Nr. 95
Nr. 99
100
Nr. 105
Nr. 106
Nr. 107
Nr. 109
Nr. 110 (x2)
Nr. 111
Nr. 112
Nr. 113
Nr. 114
Nr. 115
Nr. 116
Nr. 117
Nr. 118
Nr. 119
Nr. 121
Nr. 122
Nr. 124
Nr. 125
Nr. 126
Nr. 129
Nr. 131
Nr. 162
Nr. 166
 
tales to astonish
Nr. 50
Nr. 51
Nr. 53
Nr. 55
Nr. 56
Nr. 57
Nr. 58
Nr. 59
Nr. 60
Nr. 62
Nr. 63
Nr. 64
Nr. 65
Nr. 66
Nr. 67
Nr. 68
Nr. 69
Nr. 70
Nr. 71
Nr. 72
Nr. 76
Nr. 81
Nr. 83
 
spiderman
Nr. 9
Nr. 12
Nr. 14
Nr. 15
Nr. 16
Nr. 17
Nr. 18
Nr. 19
Nr. 20
Nr. 21
Nr. 22
Nr. 23
Nr. 24
Nr. 25
Nr. 26
Nr. 27
Nr. 28
Nr. 29
Nr. 30
Nr. 31
Nr. 32
Nr. 34
Nr. 35
Nr. 36
Nr. 37
Nr. 41
Nr. 45
Nr. 46
Nr. 50
Nr. 75
Nr. 81
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revat

revat

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there is a selling subforum here on the boards as well, which will not have any selling/buying fees.  In theory you could post a whole thread, like book after book after book, making it easier for people to buy multiple books which means you have less total packages to ship out (ideally), and generally (though not always) transactions go smoother here on the boards.  Of course the audience isn't as big as say... the entirety of ebay.  Plenty of people sell plenty of books and make plenty of money selling there.

Other places might be facebook or instagram if that's your thing.

OR 

In the event that it makes sense for you, you could send the entirety of your collection to an auction/consignment house, and they will just handle all of it (advertising, posting, collecting money, packaging, returns, sending you money, tax forms, etc), including deciding which books to send for grading (and probably pay for those books to be graded up front then take it out the back end), and you just sit back on your couch and collect checks over the next 2-3 years as books sell.  Of course that will probably cost you 30-40% of the profit, but will save you all of the time and hassle.  IF your books are high enough grade and valuable enough, you may even begin to negotiate the costs/percentages with a given auction house.  The most commonly used major auction/consignment houses for board members are heritage/mycomicshop/comiclink/comicconnect.

 

I would also say, maybe post a few pictures of the books that YOU think are in 'good' shape, because that varies a lot from person to person, and the difference between 'good' and 'pretty nice' and 'ultra sharp' on a key book from the 60's could easily be thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.

Another general note:  Just because a comic seems like it has a higher price graded, doesn't mean its worth it to grade.  WHen you factor in shipping, insurance, grading fees, invoice fees, return shipping, opportunity cost of money spent, space in your house, risk of damage or loss, additional selling costs, time spent on accounting, possible pressing, etc. 

So if for example you had a comic that you could sell today for $1000 raw, but if it was graded by CGC you could sell it for $1,400-$1,500, should you grade it?  Well first you should be conservative (especially since you're likely not an experienced and known trustworthy seller), that you'll probably get $1,400.  Then we can assume it'll be around $150 total grading/shipping/etc (less per comic if you do multiple comics), and you wait around 6 months to get your comic back.  So your extra profit is $250 after tax that extra profit is about $200 (not counting the extra selling costs or time value of money or opportunity cost or risks).  So you could spend zero to make $800 (after tax), with the option to spend an extra $150 to make an extra $200 (after tax).  Whether you spend that extra $150 will be different for every person (and those numbers will vary for every comic).  

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shadroch

shadroch

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Where did the books come from? Did he buy them himself from news stands or did he put them together, buying from used book stores and dealers? Color touching was very common until the mid-1990s so there is a possibility some of them would be considered restored and sell for a fraction of their original worth.

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KCOComics

KCOComics

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Great collection with some really cool books.  Here are a few thoughts.

 

What is your time frame for selling the books?  

You've got a handful of keys that would be worth the investment into grading. This would help to maximize your return.  But with current TAT at CGC you could be looking at several months to a year for the books to be pressed and graded.  Not to mention a fairly significant upfront cost. 

 

If your goal is to move the books while getting a fair return, I would contact Mycomicshop.com ( @mycomicshop ) 

They could help you with the collection, consign books and auction off books. They make the process pretty painless, there fees are reasonable and you won't get taken for a ride. 

Good luck. He's got some great books in there!

 

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shadroch

shadroch

Posted
Posted
On 1/11/2022 at 4:15 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

If you want the most money, then here on the CGC forums may be your best venue to sell. Otherwise, you'll get a larger audience at auction houses like Heritage, CLink, etc.

That hasn't been my experience at all, as people here want discounts just because they feel entitled to them.

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William-James88

William-James88

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Posted (edited)
On 1/10/2022 at 11:29 AM, Craig Backstrom said:

My Dad has tasked me with selling his large (at least to me) comic collection from when he was a kid.

Some are in rough shape but there are about 200 that are in really good condition for comics from the 1960's.

Avengers, Daredevil, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Aqua Man, Tales of Suspense, Journey into Mystery, Tales to Astonish and Amazing Spiderman.

It appears the best way to sell these for the most money is to pick the ones that are in good condition, send them to CGC for grading, then list them for sale (if grade is decent).

What is the best/most active place to sell older comics like this Ebay? Somewhere else?

What do I do with some that are in rougher shape? Just list them on ebay as is?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Below is a list of all the ones that are in good shape

This is a really cool collection. The easiest way to sell these is to send them all to MyComicShop.com for commission. That's how I sell my vintage comics. You can send it all at once (with a big collection like this, maybe send it in batches of 50) and they will scan the books and put them on their website for all to see. They even asses the grade for you. You can then choose the price. They will deal with all the rest (no need to ever deal directly with a customer). You can also choose to put them in their auctions, which do very well for silver age marvel books like these. And they can even send it to CGC for you. I would not send all these to CGC, maybe just 10. CGC is only worth it if there is a big difference between grades. But sending to CGC these days is not cheap and it takes over a year to get back. You can ask the people at mycomicshop which ones they would send, they'll help you with that too.

I would not deal with e-bay at all unless you know exactly what you are doing with grades and such. It's a real hassle. Commission at MyComicShop is only 10% anyways so you still make pretty much the same you would with e-bay after e-bay and paypal fees.

Honestly, in terms of effort/reward ratio, I find mycomicshop to be the best at the moment.

Edited by William-James88
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Dan Dubberstein

Dan Dubberstein

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I would just google the name and number and value. It will let you pick below and choose gocollect.com. it will show a picture of the front cover and then look at the grades. The grades are subjective. Cgc is the best and most recommended, but the waiting list to grade can take 6 months. Even if a comic looks new might grade and 8.0 or 9.0. If comic is well read and in rough shape may only grade and 1.0 or 2.0 and if decent shape with only few minor stress in binding might grade a 5.0 to 7.0. If you're fathers collection is in early 1960's could be valuable and Avengers and Spiderman good comics to check first, and if any number 1 thru 10 on them great value. Hope this helps, my rule of thumb is don't send to CGC unless you think it is worth 100.00 or more. 

 

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Pat Thomas

Pat Thomas

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OP, let me second the recommendation to contact mycomicshop.com. You have some comics there that are valuable in any condition if they are complete and have covers, and they are an honest group of people that won't take advantage of you. Go to their website and read all the testimonials. They're real. A couple of them are mine. Selling collectible comics is something a person learns to do after being involved in the hobby for a long time, and most sellers started off as readers. Marvel comics have been designed since the 1960's to encourage the reader to explore previous issues by putting footnotes all through every comic. That's one of the draws of comics, and it's how you obtain the knowledge and passion for the stories. To sell the comics yourself, you need to know your product. Most avid collectors can identify a valuable comic without having to look it up. That's due to having an interest in them as more than widgets, because they are. Please don't try to do it yourself, and don't take them to a comic shop.

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MattTheDuck

MattTheDuck

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Lots of good advice here.  Please take any of it with regards to the large on-line sellers that have been mentioned including selling them here on the Boards.  That is the way to maximize the total net $$ you/your dad will receive.  Take some scans or high-res pictures of a few of the books you think are in the best condition, and post them in the "Hey, Buddy, can you spare a grade?" forum here on the site.  Folks on there tend to be pretty sharp at grading, and it will be easier for you to determine potential fair market value.  That will give you a sense of what you have.

The only thing I would add would be to take some time before making any decisions.  As noted, you could be looking at significant money if these books are in high grade condition.

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spreads

spreads

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On 1/11/2022 at 10:46 AM, Dan Dubberstein said:

I would just google the name and number and value. It will let you pick below and choose gocollect.com. it will show a picture of the front cover and then look at the grades. The grades are subjective. Cgc is the best and most recommended, but the waiting list to grade can take 6 months. Even if a comic looks new might grade and 8.0 or 9.0. If comic is well read and in rough shape may only grade and 1.0 or 2.0 and if decent shape with only few minor stress in binding might grade a 5.0 to 7.0. If you're fathers collection is in early 1960's could be valuable and Avengers and Spiderman good comics to check first, and if any number 1 thru 10 on them great value. Hope this helps, my rule of thumb is don't send to CGC unless you think it is worth 100.00 or more. 

 

Lol, he posted the list above!!   Since then the OP has disappeared, I wonder if he's legit, if the comics or stolen, or if one of you snakes already bought the books off him. lol 

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csaag

csaag

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If you've held onto them this long then consider keeping them and having you dad will them to you.  That could give you a cost basis adjustment  when the time comes.  Obviously consult a professional about that.   Isn't that how the rich protect their  assets from taxes?

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