Question about buying collections 6 6

[lordbyroncomics]

On 5/28/2022 at 3:03 PM, Bird said:

well, I was a bit more specific than that

Hey, it was two months ago. I thought you told me that you couldn't mix and match Silver Age with a modern slabbed book or something- unless I'm misremembering. But that warrants a face palm, got it

Edited May 28, 2022 by wisbyron

[Bookery]

On 5/28/2022 at 1:29 PM, shadroch said:

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.

(read it one more time... or maybe only the golden-age guys get it...?)

[Bird]

On 5/28/2022 at 3:05 PM, wisbyron said:

Hey, it was two months ago. I thought you told me that you couldn't mix and match Silver Age with a modern slabbed book or something- unless I'm misremembering. But that warrants a face palm, got it

I told you that it had to have a price or you could do a reserve auction with a high BIN. Yes, ages matter and mixed is an option.

[Dick Pontoon]

On 5/28/2022 at 3:03 PM, Bird said:

well, I was a bit more specific than that

Did it include a primer on packing tape?

[lordbyroncomics]

On 5/28/2022 at 3:16 PM, Pontoon said:

Did it include a primer on packing tape?

Once again, I apologize for all of my short-comings!

[MetalPSI]

On 5/28/2022 at 1:16 PM, Pontoon said:

Did it include a primer on packing tape?

German newspaper 

[Bird]

On 5/28/2022 at 3:16 PM, Pontoon said:

Did it include a primer on packing tape?

you pay attention. you get a gold star

[lordbyroncomics]

In all seriousness, I do want to stress that I should have been more responsible in sharing what Bird informed me about as I didn't mean to misrepresent the advice he gave me. I did hit him up for advice, which he took the time and patience to give me, so- if anything I posted made it seem like he gave me shoddy wisdom, that's all on me and how poorly I explained that anecdote. Won't happen again, happy hunting frantic ones

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 5/28/2022 at 2:21 PM, wisbyron said:

In all seriousness, I do want to stress that I should have been more responsible in sharing what Bird informed me about as I didn't mean to misrepresent the advice he gave me. I did hit him up for advice, which he took the time and patience to give me, so- if anything I posted made it seem like he gave me shoddy wisdom, that's all on me and how poorly I explained that anecdote. Won't happen again, happy hunting frantic ones

you did alright.... there are a bit more specifics, but you didn't say anything wrong  nor misleading, all good

@Axe Elf gave good advice for mixed "ages" of books in response, so you were clear enough and not misleading.

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 5/28/2022 at 2:15 PM, Bird said:

I told you that it had to have a price or you could do a reserve auction with a high BIN. Yes, ages matter and mixed is an option.

 I never saw where he thought otherwise, and was only speaking of real estate? Location Location Location, which he said correctly where you had told him  .... edit where to list the collection

obviously more here than meets the eye, but I didn't find it misleading  

Edited May 28, 2022 by ADAMANTIUM

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 5/28/2022 at 2:38 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

In all seriousness, I do want to stress that I should have been more responsible in sharing what Bird informed me about as I didn't mean to misrepresent the advice he gave me. I did hit him up for advice, which he took the time and patience to give me, so- if anything I posted made it seem like he gave me shoddy wisdom, that's all on me and how poorly I explained that anecdote. Won't happen again, happy hunting frantic ones

there are rules to each forum, but you know where they are now. I assumed you would read them when you got there before posting. 

[kav]

On 5/24/2022 at 2:08 PM, GMcGurty said:

Recently, I decided to sell my personal collection. In doing so, I found I rather enjoy the whole process of grading each one, listing them and selling them. (Making some money is nice too!) Eventually, I’ll need more inventory, so I was thinking about buying some collections, but I really don’t know what would be a fair offer. I really don’t wanna insult anyone, but I don’t wanna screw myself either. So many people selling comic books nowadays think they are sitting on a gold mine and have priced each and every single comic. In  looking at their collections, I’d see a few that might sell quickly, but I think the majority would sell quite slowly. I’ve been offering around 10% of what the max potential value is, but with some collections, even that seems high!! (The guys seem quite insulted!!)  Anyone willing to give me a few pointers??? 

10% is way too low.  I dont know what others offer but I pay 50%.  Of course if its a high value collection that goes up.  Paying 50% on a book like hulk 181 that I can sell quickly for 5K would be unfair to the seller.

[Bird]

On 5/24/2022 at 5:08 PM, GMcGurty said:

I’ve been offering around 10% of what the max potential value is, but with some collections, even that seems high!!

since I was all OT I will give my opinion on OP question

10% is usually insulting, yes. But there is no answer, each collection is different. 10000 $1 books. 1000 $10 books. 100 $100 books. 10 $1000 books. Very different situations with same total value. 10% may indeed be high for 10,000 $1 books but not by much if good condition. 1000 $10 books, 25-33% or so - that is 800-1000 sales. 100 $100, 40% or so, maybe more if I love them. 10 $1000 books, 50-66%, higher than that and why buy unless they are all ones I covet, which they will not be. Each collection was assembled by the seller, and a real collection (not just leftovers) has a type. The OPs type, and not mine. So I don't want all those books, no one wants them all (truly wants) except the seller, who doesn't want them either if selling. So for me, who sells to buy, if there aren't books I want to keep for myself the % comes down. And the more or "better" the books I do like, the more I am willing to go higher.

This should be not construed to suggest I have bought enough larger collections to put above into practice. I haven't though I would like to. If you have a storage space full of comics in the NJ/NY area, message me and sell me some long boxes. No one should have 100 longs. What are you thinking?

Edited May 28, 2022 by Bird

[shadroch]

Ten thousand unsorted, unbagged books  means an awful lot of work.   Ten thousand sorted, bagged and boarded is a lot less work but still requires time and space.

Either way, it's a rough way to make easy money. 

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 5/28/2022 at 5:17 PM, shadroch said:

 

Either way, it's a rough way to make easy money. 

[kav]

On 5/25/2022 at 7:37 AM, GMcGurty said:

Thanks to those that left thoughtful replies. Sorry if I was confusing or too lengthy for the others. 
 

After taking a 30 year hiatus from buying comics I see an awful lot of comics that are  just dollar bin comics. It just seems like sellers are looking at EBay or the Price Guide and are thinking every one of them are gonna sell at a particular value. If a seller thinks his collection is worth $5.000, but I only see a handful that might be quick sellers, I can’t see paying 50-75% of that value. ( of course, if the seller was sitting on a silver age collection, the circumstances would be different and I could see offering 60-75% of the value!) 

Anyways, I was just seeing what people’s thought was on things! Thanks! 

 

I wouldnt buy any collection that was mainly dollar box stuff or even $5 box stuff.  

[MyNameIsLegion]

On 5/28/2022 at 11:58 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.

no, I made my point. You inferred something from what I said, that I did not say, to make yours.  There's a difference. That difference is I've made much more money at it. .

Seriously though, not trying to start a flame war.  I've just done this on a bigger scale than most, but the logic applies if it's 10 books, 100, books, 1000 books, 10,000 books, or in my case 30,000 books.

Now, 30k books, unbagged, in reverse order is not for the faint hearted.  But when you have a complete run of DC from 1958 to 2015, Decent run of Marvels, Indy, no Image you figure it out. We triaged it, and sold 50% of the bulk in full runs to a comic store at cost, and did a couple shows. We were in the black in 3 months. We had some dollar boxes still, maybe 7 long that we disposed of in a year or so. But the bulk of what was left we split into 2 sets.  Books over $10, and books under $10, and then we have boxes of "wall" books over $100. We seldom bring both sets to a one day show.  

The under 10 set was about 45 short boxes, all prices $2, $5, and $10. Only reason $2 books were kept were if the title was popular and had lots of $5, $10, or more books in it, then we kept the entire run- mostly pre-90's titles and companies, but the bulk is bronze. the only modern stuff we kept were popular titles. For a few years we sold these at 50% off.  We stopped that the last year, and they still sell as well as ever.

The over $10 stuff, also 45 short boxes of DC, Marvel, Indy gold, silver, bronze, some copper, mags, some modern

4-5 short boxes of "wall" books over $100. Mostly Silver Bronze and modern keys.

Now some math:

45 boxes of $2-$5-$10.  Average 125 books a box = 5600 books. call it $3.50 AIP, that's $20K retail

45 boxes of $10-$100. Even at $20 AIP, that's over $100K retail

5 short boxes of "wall" books. Even at $100 AIP that's $60K retail.

Did I mention we got those 30K books in 2016?

"free money" as Donut would say.

and that's what I mean when I scoff at some guys with 10 books at a show he wants to sell me.  Not worth my time. Had I cherry picked the original collection, say 500 books I would have spent 60-75% of what the entire collection cost, and left most of the money to be made on the table by a substantial margin.  Every time some movie rumor pops up, books there were in the lower tiers are getting bumped to wall books. The wall books have been repriced twice in the last year.  Cherry picking is a quick way to double or triple your money, and that is all. If you feel the need to press and slab, it takes even longer with TAT.  We slabbed less than 10 books, not worth the hassle. Many of our books have been slabbed by others, go for it. Flippers spend a nickel to make a dime.  I'd rather spend a dime to make a dollar.  

We've done exactly 5 shows out of town.  We rented a van for that. Most shows in-town, one day, just used a pick-up and a car. Haven't scanned or sold any of it online. Too lazy, that's actual work. Packing and shipping. What a drag.   Didn't do any shows or selling for 18 months during Covid and did 4 shows since and netted more than the previous 2-3 years pre-Covid. Somehow we still managed to pick up the equivalent of 10 long boxes of comics, mags, and ephemera, and if it wasn't at least $5 retail, it went to HPB without hesitation, so added another 10 short boxes. We seem fated to have 90 short boxes of stuff no matter what we do. It's horrible I tell ya. Horrible. All this paid for inventory.  Anyone that's "fussy" about dealing with long boxes of comics on the front end of deal and wants to cherry pick half a short box is fussy with a capital "P."  Buying is easy. Selling is only as hard as you want to make it. We didn't want it to be hard or have high risk. No buying books to press and hope you can wait 5 months to see if it's a 9.2 or a 9.8 and maybe is still a "hot" book by the time you get it back. 

So did I buy a collection where the majority were dollar books? Yes. That's how it works when you buy in bulk. Don't matter if its 1 box, 10, boxes, or 100 boxes. I also broke even selling half the collection and a few keys in a couple months.  The only caveat is you don't do that with a collection that has been picked over by some "fussy" people. If you are the first person to buy any of it, you buy all of it. It's just math. But I did not sell a single book at a loss.

Edited May 30, 2022 by MyNameIsLegion

[Bookery]

On 5/30/2022 at 9:03 AM, MyNameIsLegion said:

  The only caveat is you don't do that with a collection that has been picked over by some "fussy" people. If you are the first person to buy any of it, you buy all of it. It's just math.

Yep.  In fact, often you won't have a choice.  Most folks with large collections want to move it all.  If it's an estate, they have no choice.  Or if they are moving.  You can tell immediately if a collection has been "picked".  Pass on it.  Sometimes, however, the opposite occurs, where someone can't get past the idea that they should be paid at least $1 (or cover price!) for every modern bulk comic.  That's when you pick, if you must, pulling out 10 or 20 comics for 70% the price of everything, leaving them with the rest.  Even if you don't have the time or desire to deal with $1 books... if that's what it takes to get the collection, you can always find a dealer (or several) who will take the bulk at your cost... esp. if you toss in a few $5 and $10 books into the mix for their effort.

[Bird]

On 5/30/2022 at 9:03 AM, MyNameIsLegion said:

I've just done this

On 5/30/2022 at 9:03 AM, MyNameIsLegion said:

We triaged it

You went from I to we pretty quickly and the difference is significant. 30K books would not be for the faint of heart if it were a one man band. How many we are in "we"?

[MyNameIsLegion]

On 5/30/2022 at 8:58 AM, Bird said:

You went from I to we pretty quickly and the difference is significant. 30K books would not be for the faint of heart if it were a one man band. How many we are in "we"?

Mostly 2, sometimes 3 when moving boxes at a show. 1 guy now in his 50's and 2 in their 60's.

Edited May 30, 2022 by MyNameIsLegion