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My adventure with 8000+ comic books begins
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217 posts in this topic

Other than sorting and pricing those older comics earlier, took most of the day off for family stuff.

I did price up some of the thicker book-type things as a side-project.

Factoid Books/Paradox Press The Big Book of:
Bad
Conspiracies
Death
Freaks
Grimm
Hoaxes
Little Criminals
Losers
Martyrs
Scandal
The 70's
Thugs
The Unexplained
Urban Legends
Vice
Weirdos
The Weird Wild West x2

Then he had a How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way book.

All ready to go down to the shop now.

 

@onlyweaknesskryptonite Thanks for the info.  I found a ton on eBay for sale, not a lot of sold listings though.  He had it marked $8 30 years ago, think I changed it to $10

@Qalyar Yea, those Buster Brown's weren't worth much.  A few in there had very high NM guide prices, but most of the really old things weren't in super condition.  I think of all those I pictured, the Uncle Scrooge I priced the highest.  There were many I marked $30, $25, and $20 then quite a few in that $8-$15 range, with some of the 60-cent things started sinking back down to the $4-$6 range.  Everything in the pictures were priced a total of $1,630.  Not bad for just 167 DC books.  Add the decent Spectre and Aquaman previously found and the decent DC books are right about $2000 priced.  The adult books I didn't add up, but they have to be over $5k conservatively (2.5 boxes ~500 books) I know I have way more priced over $10 than under - those things aren't cheap each.  I know there's been about 80 more books from Marvel & Indie marked $20 or more.  So about 500 books will triple my investment.... once they sell and I still have 30+ boxes to dig through.  I know the title was 8000+ but I had 44 1/2 comic boxes with a few non-comic boxes (the bigger books) I'm probably closer to 8500 total.  I'm probably not even 5% through the physical work, but my knowledge has grown 1000% so that's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for me - the money will trickle in over years, not super worried about that, but what I've learned in only a week here and with the project is invaluable.

Edited by StrikeOutXXX
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1st box tonight was Marvel box - Hu - Ma

Human Fly
Hyperkind
Iceman
Illuminator
Immortalis (Mortigan Goth)
Iron Man (Misc #177 - #310 + annuals)
- #281 (War Machine Appearance) was only real uptick one
Justice
Killpower The Early Years
Marvel Age
Marvel Comics Presents (Misc #2- #166)
- Few small upticks, but those flip covers had me all confused
- Had #117 (Wolverine/Venom) that was a good one price guide-wise $25
Marvel Fanfare
Marvel Holiday Special
Marvel Premiere
Marvel Spotlight
Marvel Super Action
Marvel Super Heroes
Marvel Tales

Nothing else special in any of those.

-----------

2nd project was 1.5 boxes of Marvel Ma to Ra

Marvel Tales continued
Marvel Team-Up
Marvel Triple Action
Marvel Universe Update '89 & Deluxe
Meltdown (Havok & Wolverine)
Mephisto Vs.
The Micronauts
MyS-TECH Wars
The Nth Man
The Nam
Namor
The New Defenders
The New Mutants
The New Warriors
Nightcat
Nightcrawler
Nightstalkers
Night Thrasher
Night Thrasher: Four Control
Nomad
Northstar
Power Man and Iron Fist
Power Pack
The Punisher
The Punisher a Man Named Frank (book) $20-$30 eBay
Punisher: Armory
Punisher: Back to School Special
Punsiher: Summer Special
Punisher: The Origin of Microchip

Punisher: P.O.V.
Punisher: War Journal
Punisher: War Zone  (Thank god no more Punisher)
Quasar
Razorline: The First Cut
Resurrection (Silver Surfer/Warlock)

Thankfully I had a ton of $1/$2/$3 stickers made up, I got excited whenever something popped a $4/$5 or an occasional tick up around $8-10.  At least there were 2 over $20

I almost didn't post this, but I get a load of PMs from folks saying they enjoy reading what I find, drek and all, so here is your daily fix.

Edited by StrikeOutXXX
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On 5/2/2022 at 8:59 PM, Beige said:

Marvel Premiere
Marvel Spotlight 

The New Mutants

Marvel Team-Up

The Nam

 

I'd be triple checking these - there are some established Keys in those runs.

Marvel Age has a bunch of books worth setting aside as well if in HG

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Looks like the seller did a great job of picking the books really hard before selling off the left-overs.  I don't blame them but it does highlight how tough it is to buy in bulk (unless you are paying basically nothing) and making decent money on the flip.  Sounds like a good learning experience in general and I hope you make out ok.

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On 5/3/2022 at 10:06 AM, 1Cool said:

Looks like the seller did a great job of picking the books really hard before selling off the left-overs.  I don't blame them but it does highlight how tough it is to buy in bulk (unless you are paying basically nothing) and making decent money on the flip.  Sounds like a good learning experience in general and I hope you make out ok.

I agree 100%

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@Beige @THE_BEYONDER None of those were the keys/semi-keys.  I do get excited when I bring up the series, which usually starts at the top sometimes with NM prices like $100, then the next handful $80 - $50, then by the time you get to say issue #10 it's down to $8 and that seems to be about where the older things start, usually $8/10 for the better ones he had. 

@1Cool @JJ-4 I don't think he perse picked, but he did tell me up front it's leftover inventory from his store after going out of business sales and clearance sales - so I'm sure his customers picked the vast majority of things that were decent 30 years ago.  But I've already found several hundred that price guide has at $10 or more and many at $20 + in the regular comics and I have ea ton more boxes to go through.  The adult comics themselves has to be over $5k.

It's a huge project for sure that will take years to get rid of even a % of, but I'm in no rush.  I know the $2/3/4 books are likely destined for a 50-cent bin after awhile of folks picking things they want, and that's fine.  I'll give some away to kids at the coin shows, etc.

The comics in the coin/card/antique shop will hopefully bring in some new/different customers and drive sales up on other things as a fringe benefit as well.

My post was kind of a documentation of the journey and asking for guidance, which has been great.  It wasn't intended to be a look at me - I'm going to be rich type of thing.  I'm in about 8500 comics at 3/$1 even a newbie like me shouldn't be able to screw this up, especially with all the tips and nuggets of info everyone has been giving me.  With the shop, antique mall, coin shows, and many I've already sold via want lists and PMs, my target is to recoup my initial investment in 1 year, then kind of like the stock market, simply collect small dividends for years to come as sales trickle in.  I had a substantial triple my money offer to sell if I quit looking through them and sold them as-is which if I was only in this for the money, I would have taken in a heartbeat.  But then I wouldn't be able to learn about comics and hang out with all you cool comic people 8-)

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On 5/3/2022 at 2:06 PM, StrikeOutXXX said:

@Beige @THE_BEYONDER None of those were the keys/semi-keys.  I do get excited when I bring up the series, which usually starts at the top sometimes with NM prices like $100, then the next handful $80 - $50, then by the time you get to say issue #10 it's down to $8 and that seems to be about where the older things start, usually $8/10 for the better ones he had. 

@1Cool @JJ-4 I don't think he perse picked, but he did tell me up front it's leftover inventory from his store after going out of business sales and clearance sales - so I'm sure his customers picked the vast majority of things that were decent 30 years ago.  But I've already found several hundred that price guide has at $10 or more and many at $20 + in the regular comics and I have ea ton more boxes to go through.  The adult comics themselves has to be over $5k.

It's a huge project for sure that will take years to get rid of even a % of, but I'm in no rush.  I know the $2/3/4 books are likely destined for a 50-cent bin after awhile of folks picking things they want, and that's fine.  I'll give some away to kids at the coin shows, etc.

The comics in the coin/card/antique shop will hopefully bring in some new/different customers and drive sales up on other things as a fringe benefit as well.

My post was kind of a documentation of the journey and asking for guidance, which has been great.  It wasn't intended to be a look at me - I'm going to be rich type of thing.  I'm in about 8500 comics at 3/$1 even a newbie like me shouldn't be able to screw this up, especially with all the tips and nuggets of info everyone has been giving me.  With the shop, antique mall, coin shows, and many I've already sold via want lists and PMs, my target is to recoup my initial investment in 1 year, then kind of like the stock market, simply collect small dividends for years to come as sales trickle in.  I had a substantial triple my money offer to sell if I quit looking through them and sold them as-is which if I was only in this for the money, I would have taken in a heartbeat.  But then I wouldn't be able to learn about comics and hang out with all you cool comic people 8-)

I highlighted a couple things.  You bought roughly 30 long boxes of books and if the books had sat for 30 years even after getting initially picked over there would be a ton of books that would be worth big bucks since so many books have spiked over that time.  You will see tons of books like She-Hulk 1s, Moon Knight 1 and Eternals 1 that were a dime a dozen back then and now command decent dollars.  I don't know the seller but you should be able to fairly quickly see if the books have been recently picked over based on what is in the boxes.  Heck - even if he went through them again 10 years ago you still would see a ton of newer keys in the boxes if they were untouched.  I'm not saying you were scammed in any way since you got what you hoped out of them - tons of experience reviewing what is a valuable book and what is not.  Have you checked out KeyCollector?  It would be a good way to maximize your time and find any keys which can be pulled from the $1 boxes.

The second bolded is also critical.  You seem to have a ton of time on your hands so it is commendable that you are using to price out the collection and gain some good insight into the comic book market.  Most people do not have that much time so I'm sure it's nice to live through you.  I see the list and think about the $100 a long box you spent and think of all the long boxes I'd love to sell at that price lol

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@1Cool Close - 44 1/2 long boxes worth (Was actually 40 true long boxes then 9 short boxes) plus a normal packing box that held the thicker book type of things so about $67 a long box.  Our sample count on a few boxes had at least 190 in them so while I don't have an exact count, it's darn close to 8500.

I think I had a Moon Knight #1, but it was the mid 80's not the early 80s version where the $ is.  I think same with the Eternals, only the $8 80's, not the $400 1970's.  Tonight's box is Marvel starting with R's where I left off last night and it has Spiderman I think until late S's, I doubt there will be any 1980's Savage She-Hulk ($360?) and based on when most of the runs stop in the boxes, he closed his store about 1994 so don't think the bulk of she-hulk will be in there as they are too new I believe.

Time - well, let's say I'm putting a lot of projects off to get through the initial phase of these.  The bulk of the project will be this first few months, then I'm hoping it's no different than my coin business - shuffle some inventory around various places, pack up once or twice a month for a show, etc.  I wouldn't say I have time on my hands, but making time for this.  I'm sure it will cost me a tennis bracelet or diamond earrings as well as a trip to some amusement park with the family this summer, but that's OK too 8-)

Edit: And yea, I'm running each book through 3 different online price guides, some that don't show say $2 on all three sites through eBay sold as well, etc.

Edited by StrikeOutXXX
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I'll say it again - you really should consider getting an ebay store.

 

They are cheap, easy to run (once you have set up payments, templates, postage rates etc) - AND - nothing to stop you saying come check the books out in person at 123 Smith St, Jonesville, Texas etc

 

List them in the same way you are selling physically, then you can cancel the listing if someone buys them from your store.

 

This way 8500 books will be gone in 12 months, if priced right. You won't sell that many via foot-traffic to your physical store.

 

The people looking for run fillers are more than likely to do it from the comfort of their home, rather than going to physical stores - so why not use both options.

 

Set and forget about them until they sell. @StrikeOutXXX

 

Gotta say I agree with others, if stuff like MTU #95 + #141 (released 1984) is missing, then, yeah, these have been cherry picked to the bone.

 

The learning experience is priceless though - stick with it (thumbsu

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On 5/3/2022 at 7:35 PM, Beige said:

I'll say it again - you really should consider getting an ebay store.

I think shipping is a huge hassle and if he can avoid it with these flea markets and coin shows why not avoid it? I sell ONLY online and shipping gets me down, often.

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On 5/4/2022 at 9:38 AM, Bird said:

I think shipping is a huge hassle and if he can avoid it with these flea markets and coin shows why not avoid it? I sell ONLY online and shipping gets me down, often.

Of course shipping is a hassle - you should live somewhere like Australia, where free boxes, and mail pick-ups (unless via courier) don't exist.

I have to go to the PO every single time in person.

 

I also get exposure to millions of people looking to potentially buy comics.

The upside so outweighs the downside, it's not even close.

 

8500 is way too many books to hope to get rid of from a single store that isn't even a comic one. A big collection is much easier to shift online - but you have to put the initial work into get set up.

 

You should know, how long has it been for you to get through the big lot you bought?

2 years and still going?

3 years?

 

Imagine how many less you would have sold if you didn't use ebay:foryou:

 

Ebay can be awful at times - but if I was shifting 8500 non-key books - and not just bulk dumping them - ebay is your best bet at making moolah.

 

 

 

 

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On 5/2/2022 at 7:59 PM, Beige said:

The Nam

 

I'd be triple checking these - there are some established Keys in those runs.

???

Since when does The Nam have keys or anything else worth a seller's time to check more than once?

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On 5/3/2022 at 7:51 PM, Beige said:

You should know, how long has it been for you to get through the big lot you bought?

no, those books are long gone. I have 2 short boxes of raw and 1 slabbed as keepers. Maybe a box of strays amongst the rest of my stuff. I am selling my spec mistakes now. But that is my point, it was a slog to go through and if he never shipped comics before it may be a big hassle when he can move books steadily and doesn't seem worried about storage. I hate packing lately, maybe I am projecting.

I would love to buy another 8500 books but no one will sell them to me.

 

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On 5/3/2022 at 2:03 PM, StrikeOutXXX said:

Edit: And yea, I'm running each book through 3 different online price guides, some that don't show say $2 on all three sites through eBay sold as well, etc.

I hope you're using at least one source with a vested interest in properly pricing the standout issues in a run rather than mindlessly pricing almost everything the same like comicspriceguide (which once had potential, but is now just another failure :frown:).

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I mostly deal with you folk here, but I have 2 people I met here and on FB that I talk to regularly or see in person. We all sell differently. Me online only, one at shows almost every weekend, and one through local shops and to dealers at shows. They do really well and NEVER ship. I cannot believe that they leave the global store off the table either but it works for them both. I would say one is less successful as a seller than I and one much more successful but we all seem content with our lanes. Many roads to Mecca and all that so not saying my way is better just that it can be done without the mail.

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On 5/3/2022 at 7:59 PM, paperheart said:

the last couple issues go for some $

I'm not saying there's nothing in the series worth more than a buck or two, just that there are no keys and nothing that should be missed with a quick check (unless your source is so terrible that you shouldn't be using it at all). There's no more reason to carefully check The Nam than half of the other titles from the same list (like Quasar, for example).

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May as well keep getting through the Marvel, will make it easier to arrange things down at the shop when they're done.  Started with Ri - Sp, but just went through to almost the end, think 3.5 boxes.

Robocop (He had 2x #1's)
Robocop Movie Adaptation
Robocop 2
Robotix
Saint Sinner
Secret Defenders
Secret Wars II (Full run #1-9 + singles 3x #3's (1st Beyonder))
The Sensational She-Hulk (1989 not the older ones)
Shadow Riders
Shield (Nick Fury, Agent of) 1989 version
Silver Sable & the Wild Pack
Silver Surfer ('87) & a '92 annual
Slapstick
Sleepwalker
Soviet Super Soldiers
Spectacular Spider-Man('89 + up) & many annuals (late 80's early 90's)
Spellbound
Spider-Man (1990)
Spider-Man Classics ('93)
Spider-Man Storm & Power Man ('91)
Spider-Man Unlimited ('93)
Spider-Man & X-Factor: Shadowgames
(Spider-Man was a bust most $3-$4 few $5 upticks but not much until...)
Spider-Man 2099 (2x #1s)
Spirits of Vengeance (Ghost Rider/Blaze)
Spitfire and the Troubleshooters
Starriors
Strange Tales ('87)
Strikeforce: Morituri
NFL SuperPro (ugh)
Sweet XVI ('91)
Tekworld (Seriously Capt Kirk?)
Adventures of the Thing
The Mighty Thor (Started at #386 - no semi-key, was about as mighty as Spider-Man)
Transformers (No keys but still mightier than Thor)
Transformers Generation 2
Transformers Universe
2099 Unlimited
The Vision
Visionaries
War Machine
War Machine Ashcan Edition (Small thing, anyone explain these to me, prices are all over the place - graded is insane, raw $3-20)
Warheads
Warlock and the Infinity Watch
Warlock Chronicles
The New Warriors
Weapon X
Web of Spider-Man (Started at #6 - Only upticks were 2x #97 (Dr. Trench becomes Nightwatch) and 2x #125 (1st Phil Urich and 3d Holodisk Cover))
What The?
Within Our Reach (Aids & the environment)
Wolverine
Wonder Man
X-Factor (Uptick with #23)

I did an X-Factor/X-Men box early in the project, so I'm about done with Marvel - I have about 8 inches of more X-Factor/X-Men & misc things that I found in other boxes to create a mixed box later, but out of room in the priced box ready to go.

 

@Beige I don't mind eBay - coins are easy - padded mailers or small flat rate.  I did order some Gemini from Amazon, and read about 50 posts here on mailing - and that whole sandwich, and then some put in in first class padded mailers, many in medium side-load flat rate, or larger orders in top-load flat rate, and $20 give or take to ship!.   One of those lots I won in online auctions before this project the auction was a flat shipping of $8 + 1 per item - that 20 pounds of comics cost the auction house over $40 to send it to me.  With a ton of $2-$5 comics even in bulk, I don't think I want to play the - it won't go 9.8 game, as it would seem any of that drek that folks would want would only be to speculate for high grades.  It's like with coins when you advertise an Unc Morgan Dollar, they buy it and ship it back because they don't think it will go MS-67... I never said MS-67, I said Unc.  I'm really not a fan of eBay, but have not closed the door on it once I get through sorting and see what I have.  Then I can figure out how aggressive I want to be selling these.  I honestly think the Adult stuff will pay for it all close to double.  And there are enough things that don't suck (Not home runs, but hits none the less) that even if I only eBay things that normally sell over $20, I'd be good.  Just thinking about selling the low dollar stuff in bulk, when many aren't in runs makes me think what doesn't sell in a few years, even if I have a 3/$1 sale is going upstairs in my barn for the next owner to have fun with 8-)

I was kind of reading comments in order and @Bird shares my shipping is a hassle feeling I'm getting.

Also Beige one of the other coin dealers said there is a comic show like our coin shows another hour from me, although I think it's only quarterly, and just today my Dad called and said a patient of his has a comic shop 45 minutes from me could help me out if I wanted.  So I'll see what works best for where I live, but it's only been a little over a week and I'm not even 1/2 through them yet.

@Lazyboy Nam I will give to my helper as he wanted anything war related, so I double checked the few issues I had on eBay, I didn't have the few that graded were over $100 but did notice some higher prices (but then again, 9.8's even on things the price-guides show low are often over $100).  I need to check the nuances of minor uptick issues with condition rarity/grading potential.  It's funny you said Quasar - I do have #1, which I think the 3 guides I used had it at $5/$10/$7 so I figured I'd check eBay - I don't think I found one, but some of the other Quasar issues that no price guide had over $2 were going for like $60-$100 graded.  I'm not sure at this point if I want to play the grading game though, but at some point I'll look closer.

Quick box count shows I have left to dig through:

6 - Indie

9.5 DC (Although I pulled the older stuff a few posts back)

5 Just labeled "Sets" - think mostly Indie, really haven't dug much

1.5 Manga

1.5 that is mixed stuff

Little bit of leftover Marvel (1/4 box maybe)

Still plenty of fun to be had as I'm only coming up on about 1/2 done in phase 1 of sorting.

 

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On 5/4/2022 at 11:17 AM, Lazyboy said:

I'm not saying there's nothing in the series worth more than a buck or two, just that there are no keys and nothing that should be missed with a quick check (unless your source is so terrible that you shouldn't be using it at all). There's no more reason to carefully check The Nam than half of the other titles from the same list (like Quasar, for example).

Quasar #32?

Nam #1 sells well in HG....

 

Only on these boards can people argue about comics neither party owns!  :yeehaw:  lol :foryou:

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