Bubbles Bursting 8 8

[path4play]

On 2/3/2022 at 10:37 PM, Professor K said:

Oh yeah they've been over for a while. This was the final nail. Now it's time to go back to a simpler time. A time when people paid with checks and postal money orders. A time when people trusted each other not to rip each other off. A time when even though the guy sounded legit you still feel stressed until the package arrives. 

Just looked my forms, I'm a bit confused.  Geez, not like being a kid anymore.  Guess what I'll be doing this weekend [papers and forms] - its not as fun a the collecting.

Some quick figures, buy book for $100, add $5 shipping and $7 sales tax equals $112.  Sell the book for $150, less 20% fees then tax 30% on $8 gain for net profit of $5.60 (50% became 5.6%). 

That's not counting bags, boards, envelopes, gas to post office, heaven forbid slabbing...

I have to ask myself, what am I doing?  This is going to facilitate my buy and hold, and I will be much more discerning on the buy going forward no question.

Edited February 4, 2022 by path4play

[manetteska]

On 2/4/2022 at 4:29 PM, path4play said:

On 2/3/2022 at 9:37 PM, Professor K said:

Oh yeah they've been over for a while. This was the final nail. Now it's time to go back to a simpler time. A time when people paid with checks and postal money orders. A time when people trusted each other not to rip each other off. A time when even though the guy sounded legit you still feel stressed until the package arrives. 

Just looked my forms, I'm a bit confused.  Geez, not like being a kid anymore.  Guess what I'll be doing this weekend [papers and forms] - its not as fun a the collecting.

Some quick figures, buy book for $100, add $5 shipping and $7 sales tax equals $112.  Sell the book for $150, less 20% fees then tax 30% on $8 gain for net profit of $5.60 (50% became 5.6%). 

That's not counting bags, boards, envelopes, gas to post office, heaven forbid slabbing...

I have to ask myself, what am I doing?  This is going to facilitate my buy and hold, and I will be much more discerning on the buy going forward no question.

20% fees?!

But yes, that book you find at a con for $100 and can sell for $150 and pocket that extra $50 for yet another book.... time to look closer at those numbers or one will be underwater soon.

[Robot Man]

On 2/4/2022 at 2:42 PM, manetteska said:

20% fees?!

But yes, that book you find at a con for $100 and can sell for $150 and pocket that extra $50 for yet another book.... time to look closer at those numbers or one will be underwater soon.

I foresee it getting hard to be a collector in the very new future…

[Robot Man]

Beware of a new email from EBay today concerning a 1099 form. My wife and I both received it.

It stated that it was sent to us by mistake. It stated that if you didn’t make 20K in sales or 200 transactions in 2021 please disregard.

Whew!

The new laws for 2022 are really going to cripple the antiques and collectible markets…

[Robot Man]

On 2/4/2022 at 4:48 PM, szav said:

It really sucks that taxes are a necessary part of the comic book collecting conversation now.

Seems like the talk about taxes and huge auction prices have taken us over. The books themselves have just been turned into “widgets”…

[sfcityduck]

On 2/4/2022 at 4:46 PM, Robot Man said:

Beware of a new email from EBay today concerning a 1099 form. My wife and I both received it.

It stated that it was sent to us by mistake. It stated that if you didn’t make 20K in sales or 200 transactions in 2021 please disregard.

Whew!

The new laws for 2022 are really going to cripple the antiques and collectible markets…

I got it too.  But "be aware" of it, NOT "beware" it!

Edited February 5, 2022 by sfcityduck

[Robot Man]

Oh, I’m aware of it. As a reminder, I received a 1099 in the mail today from EBay after an email from them telling me it was a mistake and to disregard. My sales were just over 4K. Was itemized by month. I have no idea what the taxes would be if I had to pay any this year. 

I guess the safest thing to do would be ask my tax person when I do my taxes. Hopefully she can set me straight.

[Dr. Love]

Figure 20% on the profit

[sfcityduck]

On 2/5/2022 at 2:37 PM, Robot Man said:

Oh, I’m aware of it. As a reminder, I received a 1099 in the mail today from EBay after an email from them telling me it was a mistake and to disregard. My sales were just over 4K. Was itemized by month. I have no idea what the taxes would be if I had to pay any this year. 

I guess the safest thing to do would be ask my tax person when I do my taxes. Hopefully she can set me straight.

They just screwed up with California residents.  You can safely disregard it.  They did not send a 1099 to the IRS or the FTB.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

I'm feeling really good about never selling anything after reading this thread.

[tabcom]

On 1/24/2022 at 12:08 PM, sfcityduck said:

I am super curious to see if (Bitcoin price drop) has an impact on the purported "new money" buyers who have come into the comic market the past year.  If these "new money" buyers are speculators, they may need to sell off to right their portfolios.

I would say no.

What has a larger impact on the market?

13 years of currency manipulation is coming to an end, maybe.

The FED is faced with two choices. Continue to debase currency with liquidity or raise interest rates and cause a recession.
 

With respect to the value of our comic book collections, the price goes up because the purchasing power of the dollar is going down.

[Robot Man]

On 2/6/2022 at 11:41 AM, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

I'm feeling really good about never selling anything after reading this thread.

Nothing wrong with selling some books you don’t need. Take the proceeds and treat yourself to something you might not have wanted to pay up for. You can’t take it with you…

I had planned to sell off my stuff on EBay when I retired and do a lot of shows. Then “cooties” hit and shows died. eBay exploded. Then this…

This has always been a hobby for me. One that is self funded. I have nothing against having to pay taxes but just hate the hassle. I am REAL good at buying and selling junk. Accounting, not so much. Taxes are bad enough but having to pay someone to figure it all out for me really cuts into any small profit I make as a “junk man”.

Seems like “cooties” might finally be coming to an end. I plan to start up doing a lot more live shows which I actually prefer and don’t have to worry about keeping track of.

Nothing like moving a lot of stuff I don’t want into the hands of smiling customers who do. 

[MrBedrock]

On 2/12/2022 at 10:10 AM, Robot Man said:

Nothing like moving a lot of stuff I don’t want into the hands of smiling customers who do. 

How can you tell if your customers are smiling?

[Robot Man]

On 2/12/2022 at 9:59 AM, MrBedrock said:

How can you tell if your customers are smiling?

It’s all in their eyes and how quickly they were all waving money at me.

That and the fact that most came back for more after they saw the rest of the prices in the room.

And when you get guys like Terry, Harley and Carbo pushing in and paying full sticker. Probably selling too cheap? 

 

Edited February 12, 2022 by Robot Man

[thehumantorch]

On 2/12/2022 at 11:12 AM, Robot Man said:

It’s all in their eyes and how quickly they were all waving money at me.

That and the fact that most came back for more after they saw the rest of the prices in the room…

 

A dealer bringing nice, old books at a fair price will always do well.

[Robot Man]

On 2/12/2022 at 10:17 AM, thehumantorch said:

A dealer bringing nice, old books at a fair price will always do well.

True but I don’t consider myself a “dealer”. I’m a collector passing on years of buying much of which is “in the wild” purchases to fund my now, more  “advanced” collection.

I also bring a little of everything. I cater mostly to old school collectors and readers. I sold lots of what many consider “dead stock” Guys do buy Dell westerns, humor and titles like Metamorpho, The Atom ect for the right prices. You know the guys with long paper wantlists, taped glasses and high waisted pants. They buy this stuff by the  stack. A book or two isn’t worth the time but a few of these guys really empty long boxes and the bucks do add up.

Not saying I sell nothing but junk and I always bring some cool wall books. Just don’t discount those much if at all. I would much rather, however sell the “cheese” to a lot of regular buyers that can’t find it in the room.

Being a collector, I also have a tactic. I wheel in the boxes, set up my booth but don’t open them or fill the rack for a while. I walk around, check out the competition and hopefully score a few books for myself.

I usually pull the lids off when the show opens to the public. People know that I haven’t been picked clean yet. I’m sure it pizzes off some of the dealers who feel they have the right to pick me clean first. But when they see the feeding frenzy I cause, they come running over just like everybody else and grab what they can. It becomes a situation where if you want it, you’d better buy it fast or someone else will. I don’t have to “negotiate” much.

As I said, I’m not a dealer so I don’t have to sell stuff I like. It just gives me a little spending money to pay up a bit for something I like more.

Been doing this a long time and have learned a lot about the collector mentality.

And still have fun doing it! 

 

 

[Cobbledclam]

On 2/12/2022 at 10:12 AM, Robot Man said:

It’s all in their eyes and how quickly they were all waving money at me.

That and the fact that most came back for more after they saw the rest of the prices in the room.

And when you get guys like Terry, Harley and Carbo pushing in and paying full sticker. Probably selling too cheap? 

 

SELLING! If your selling to them your doing good. They will have probably another 20-30 shows under their belt by the time you will possibly do your next one. Your going to take your 💰from them and buy something else you like with it. If they can mark it up and make some money off of it then your doing your part to keep the comic eco-system vital, thriving and alive! Remember…if you sell it they will come!
And belated Happy Birthday Tina Louise!

[Cobbledclam]

And also remember that guys like Harley, Terry and especially Mike are comic junkies and they just need a fix man and you got the cool weird mess that comic junkies love. They want that strange high man you dig? 
C’mon man open those lids…man…

[thehumantorch]

On 2/12/2022 at 12:11 PM, Robot Man said:

True but I don’t consider myself a “dealer”. I’m a collector passing on years of buying much of which is “in the wild” purchases to fund my now, more  “advanced” collection.

I also bring a little of everything. I cater mostly to old school collectors and readers. I sold lots of what many consider “dead stock” Guys do buy Dell westerns, humor and titles like Metamorpho, The Atom ect for the right prices. You know the guys with long paper wantlists, taped glasses and high waisted pants. They buy this stuff by the  stack. A book or two isn’t worth the time but a few of these guys really empty long boxes and the bucks do add up.

Not saying I sell nothing but junk and I always bring some cool wall books. Just don’t discount those much if at all. I would much rather, however sell the “cheese” to a lot of regular buyers that can’t find it in the room.

Being a collector, I also have a tactic. I wheel in the boxes, set up my booth but don’t open them or fill the rack for a while. I walk around, check out the competition and hopefully score a few books for myself.

I usually pull the lids off when the show opens to the public. People know that I haven’t been picked clean yet. I’m sure it pizzes off some of the dealers who feel they have the right to pick me clean first. But when they see the feeding frenzy I cause, they come running over just like everybody else and grab what they can. It becomes a situation where if you want it, you’d better buy it fast or someone else will. I don’t have to “negotiate” much.

As I said, I’m not a dealer so I don’t have to sell stuff I like. It just gives me a little spending money to pay up a bit for something I like more.

Been doing this a long time and have learned a lot about the collector mentality.

And still have fun doing it! 

 

 

When you’re set up at a show you’re selling and buyers don’t care if your a dealer or collector passing on books.  Old books priced fairly sell.  We have a large section of 25% off section filled with all kinds of stuff.  Moderns, variants, BA, SA, odd ball GA, westerns, dells, anything with some value that isn’t hot, and it sells.  Those paper list collectors love these types of books and they’re an important part of the hobby

[Robot Man]

On 2/12/2022 at 11:29 AM, Cobbledclam said:

And also remember that guys like Harley, Terry and especially Mike are comic junkies and they just need a fix man and you got the cool weird mess that comic junkies love. They want that strange high man you dig? 
C’mon man open those lids…man…

Was kind of funny what Carbo and Terry bought. A couple of semi nice books but a stack of clearly marked incomplete and low grade stuff mostly post code.