Question about buying collections 6 6

[shadroch]

On 5/27/2022 at 9:30 AM, FlyingDonut said:

I have a 2nd and Charles near me that will take everything. Yes, I may get a dime per book, but they're out the door, and I can always pick up a book or two to read on the deck.

Buy for twelve cents, sell for ten cents.  Make it up by doing volume. No thanks. Let some else move the hundreds of pounds of scrap paper. I'm a comic dealer, not a junk hauler.  Of course, I'm missing out on the fact that one of those ten cent comics will be subject to a rumor and shoot up to $100 overnight, but at this point, it is chance I'm willing to take.

Obviously, there is no one correct way to do this. Some ways are better than others and you need to find what works best for you. I find paying dollars for stuff I want works better than paying pennies for everything.

[MetalPSI]

On 5/25/2022 at 4:24 PM, wisbyron said:

Sleepwalker   (big spec on this sleeper series, as recently revealed on YouTube's own Very Gary Comics)

Not going to buy books based on this

I buy books because I LIKE them

[shadroch]

On 5/27/2022 at 10:18 AM, The Meta said:

Not going to buy books based on this

I buy books because I LIKE them

Are you like the guy in the other thread who buys CGC books to read?

My idea is to buy books because other people like them. 

[MetalPSI]

On 5/27/2022 at 11:23 AM, shadroch said:

Are you like the guy in the other thread who buys CGC books to read?

My idea is to buy books because other people like them. 

 

[MetalPSI]

On 5/27/2022 at 11:23 AM, shadroch said:

Are you like the guy in the other thread who buys CGC books to read?

My idea is to buy books because other people like them. 

No, Shad baby, I'm the guy who makes threads about smearing my feces all over the place

I buy books I LIKE. Not sure how you can muddle that up. Whether I keep them encased or not depends if I feel like cracking them out or not

What is my criteria for cracking out a book?

Well it depends, really. Did I buy the book to flip it or is it for my personal collection? Have I read this book before? Is there a flaw I wish to see myself?

Lots of factors beyond "buying CGC books to read"

[lordbyroncomics]

On 5/27/2022 at 1:18 PM, The Meta said:

Not going to buy books based on this

I buy books because I LIKE them

NO. You WILL buy Sleepwalker, because otherwise your collection will be worth NOTHING without books like this.

Listen to reason, blast it!!! Do you want to be a laughing stock within the collecting community?? Or do you want to be taken seriously, like a big baller?!

You're just trying to rebel for the sake of rebellion- everyone here knows you will cave and get the first appearance of Secret Defenders before the year is out.
THAT is what collecting comics is ABOUT, dude. Getting HOT comics. That will be WORTH something.

[MyNameIsLegion]

On 5/27/2022 at 12:09 PM, shadroch said:

Buy for twelve cents, sell for ten cents.  Make it up by doing volume. No thanks. Let some else move the hundreds of pounds of scrap paper. I'm a comic dealer, not a junk hauler.  Of course, I'm missing out on the fact that one of those ten cent comics will be subject to a rumor and shoot up to $100 overnight, but at this point, it is chance I'm willing to take.

Obviously, there is no one correct way to do this. Some ways are better than others and you need to find what works best for you. I find paying dollars for stuff I want works better than paying pennies for everything.

when you buy in bulk, the advantage is: YOU get to cherry pick it after the fact, at your leisure, on your terms, and not haggle over each book with the seller.  You can bulk sell and even donate the dreck to your advantage. The ROI on cherry picking never pans out relative to bulk buying. Every time some guys at a show walks up with a backpack full of 10-20 random 2nd tier keys (if even that good) they want to sell or trade I roll my eyes.  WTF do I need a 9.0 Sleepwalker #1 for? I have 80 short boxes of Gold/Silver/Bronze/Copper comics and magazines right here from $2-$2000. 

[Prince Namor]

It's best if you have a store, but if you're a small dealer and just like to have drek stock that you can sell for a $1 a book it works out too. Most small shows I go to, the drek dealer always has the most activity. So the key is to get that junk for free. 

As a small scale example: I would find the comics I actually wanted in a collection and figure out - say on a collection of 1000 books - if I can buy these 10  for $1000, I can at least double my money. I'd then offer $1000 for everything.

If they refused, I'd say, ok, how about $800 for these 10? Which was actually an even better deal for me. If they say no to the first offer, they almost ALWAYS went for that second offer because it just LOOKS like a hugely better deal.

If they sell me everything then:

I'd almost always find even more surprises in closer inspection of the other 990 books, and then the rest went into the dollar bin for the store or show stock. 

I'd make my money back on the 10 and then everything else was free stock.

Anytime I wanted to have a 3 for $1 sale on the $1 bin books, it never really mattered because it was all free stock.

 

Oh and... when someone thinks their drek is worth more than it is. No thank you. Simple as that.

Never want what you don't need. Desperation as a seller or a buyer is just going to get you into trouble. 

They want the most for their book?

Tell them: "Oh! You want to go to ebay, and do the work - grade the books, make sure you grade them properly - take the time to scan them all, and post each and every one of them, write the information - ebay wants more information added than ever before - wait and wait and wait for someone to buy one of these $1 books with $8 postage (shipping is more expensive than ever before) and then pack it so that it doesn't get damaged - you have plenty of packing materials on hand? there's some added cost, Walmart will be happy to charge you for - go to the post office, wait in line and then wait for PayPal to clear your money and after ebay takes their cut and PayPal takes their cut and you do all that work - you get about 60 cents on your $1 book - then you have to deal with returns and shady customers and chargebacks and "my son accidentally pushed the buy it now button" and..."

 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Prince Namor

[MetalPSI]

On 5/28/2022 at 8:49 AM, wisbyron said:

NO. You WILL buy Sleepwalker, because otherwise your collection will be worth NOTHING without books like this.

Listen to reason, blast it!!! Do you want to be a laughing stock within the collecting community?? Or do you want to be taken seriously, like a big baller?!

You're just trying to rebel for the sake of rebellion- everyone here knows you will cave and get the first appearance of Secret Defenders before the year is out.
THAT is what collecting comics is ABOUT, dude. Getting HOT comics. That will be WORTH something.

 

[Robot Man]

At my age, I just don’t need that many more books. I don’t want to deal with tons of long boxes of dollar books. The first or second flipper through cleans me out of anything decent and I have to haul home the rest and store them. I refuse to pay for storage on stuff like this.

I prefer quality over quantity. And, I pay a little more for it. Turn and burn or keep it for myself.

I was at a flea market a few weeks ago. Guy had a small pile of about 40 SA/BA books. He wanted $100. For all and wouldn’t break them up. There were a few OK books worth maybe $250-300. Nothing. I wanted but could quickly flip. So I gave him the $100 and pulled the ones I wanted and left the rest. The guy was astonished. I just didn’t want to deal with them. 

[MetalPSI]

I wanted quality 

My two long boxes of Tick tell me I prefer hot garbage

[Bookery]

On 5/27/2022 at 7:46 AM, DocHoppus182 said:

Do you mean literally pulling money out and putting it on the table.  I’ve had people do this to me over the years and yes, it irritates me.  During mid-negotiation I mean.  A stack of money doesn’t impress me, especially when someone is cocky about it.

The trick is being nice about it... never cocky.  Several years ago I was talking with a gentleman who had a comic I wanted, but he kept insisting he didn't want to sell.  Finally, I pulled some cash out of my pocket and said, "Look, sir (see I was polite)... I know you've stated it's your favorite comic and you want to keep it... but have you considered this...?".  Then I carefully laid out 20 crisp new $100 bills on the table.  Apparently this dentist-guy wasn't impressed. 

[shadroch]

On 5/28/2022 at 8:19 AM, MyNameIsLegion said:

when you buy in bulk, the advantage is: YOU get to cherry pick it after the fact, at your leisure, on your terms, and not haggle over each book with the seller.  You can bulk sell and even donate the dreck to your advantage. The ROI on cherry picking never pans out relative to bulk buying. Every time some guys at a show walks up with a backpack full of 10-20 random 2nd tier keys (if even that good) they want to sell or trade I roll my eyes.  WTF do I need a 9.0 Sleepwalker #1 for? I have 80 short boxes of Gold/Silver/Bronze/Copper comics and magazines right here from $2-$2000. 

Thank you for accidently making my point.    I don't want 80 short boxes of stuff that sells for $2, nor do I want to  be hauling the boxes around from show to show hoping someone there is looking for a copy of FF 184.

If that is what works for you, great. don't change a thing.  If you think your way is the only way, you are mistaken.

[rjpb]

On 5/28/2022 at 9:58 AM, shadroch said:

Thank you for accidently making my point.    I don't want 80 short boxes of stuff that sells for $2, nor do I want to  be hauling the boxes around from show to show hoping someone there is looking for a copy of FF 184.

If that is what works for you, great. don't change a thing.  If you think your way is the only way, you are mistaken.

That's what it comes down to, do you like selling at shows and having the inventory to justify buying a table or two, or do you prefer to flip more valuable books out of the comfort of your own home? In the latter case storing, sorting and listing hundreds of $1 to $10 books/lots may not be very appealing considering the time expenditure, but sure if you have thousands of books that are just gravy after picking the more valuable ones out of collection and you are fine with blowing them out individually or in bulk without having to list and pack individually, then maybe its worth your while, as long as you have a place to store them.

When I decided to get rid of most of what I'd bought to read new over the last 30 years, I divided most of it up into $10-$30 lots, selling here and on ebay. Half sold pretty quickly and the rest very slowly (I still have a coupe boxes left). I had some down time, so the time I spent going through it all, and taking photos I don't regret, but in retrospect it would probably have been more worth my time just to sell it all in one swoop even if I only saw 20% of what I realized otherwise. I've still got a few dozen cheap lots on ebay, but as they've already been listed and cost nothing to relist continually, I just leave them there, though every time I package a $10 lot for the mailman, I ask if there isn't better use for my time, like watching dog videos or doing wordle.

 

[shadroch]

On 5/28/2022 at 9:21 AM, Bookery said:

The trick is being nice about it... never cocky.  Several years ago I was talking with a gentleman who had a comic I wanted, but he kept insisting he didn't want to sell.  Finally, I pulled some cash out of my pocket and said, "Look, sir (see I was polite)... I know you've stated it's your favorite comic and you want to keep it... but have you considered this...?".  Then I carefully laid out 20 crisp new $100 bills on the table.  Apparently this dentist-guy wasn't impressed. 

You'd have lost me the second you started laying out the bills. I'm sure this works on some people but my gut feeling is it is offensive to many.

[EastEnd1]

Anyone trying to sell a collection who allows a buyer to simply cherry pick the best books is losing money.

[lordbyroncomics]

I know eras are thread specific for selling but is there an area of the forums for selling complete collections? I believe Bird told me it had to be divided into age which makes sense but perhaps a specific forum just for selling collections/lots whole might be effective.

[Axe Elf]

On 5/28/2022 at 1:57 PM, wisbyron said:

I know eras are thread specific for selling but is there an area of the forums for selling complete collections? I believe Bird told me it had to be divided into age which makes sense but perhaps a specific forum just for selling collections/lots whole might be effective.

I believe if your collection spans two or more "ages" you can list it with the "Mixed Age" threads.

[lordbyroncomics]

On 5/28/2022 at 3:00 PM, Axe Elf said:

I believe if your collection spans two or more "ages" you can list it with the "Mixed Age" threads.

Ah, thanks Axe Elf. I should have researched more before making such a suggestion but I appreciate this

[Bird]

On 5/28/2022 at 2:57 PM, wisbyron said:

I know eras are thread specific for selling but is there an area of the forums for selling complete collections? I believe Bird told me it had to be divided into age which makes sense but perhaps a specific forum just for selling collections/lots whole might be effective.

well, I was a bit more specific than that

Edited May 28, 2022 by Bird