Convince me not to sell my entire comic book collection... Or don't. 7 7

[Dr. Balls]

On 6/1/2022 at 9:48 AM, Twanj said:About 8 years ago one of my best friends bought my favorite comics, my Ron Lim Silver Surfer, cosmic, and Thanos stuff.

That is definitely the best run of Surfer. I loved the Ron Lim era.

i always found it interesting at all the boardies who collect records. As a side note, anyone looking to trade PCH for first pressing Vertigo Black Sabbaths - drop me a line .

[SuperBird]

I went through a similar thing, ended up going from 20 longboxes to 4 short boxes, bought some trade collections, and don't really miss having what I sold. I say if you never look at them, they're just taking up space.

"The things you own, end up owning you."

[shadroch]

On 6/1/2022 at 8:59 AM, comicginger1789 said:

I disagree. That approach works for me. Keys of any kind are usually taken out and sold for as close to market value as I can get.

Runs of issues of desired titles and characters have sold well for me on FB and ebay

And random character related lots I sell locally. Lots consisting of 10, 15, 20 comics for $15, $20 or $25 I toss up on a local buy and sell page, and usually are sold within a few weeks.

It's the obscure stuff (or low grade stuff that has little valye) you would find in $1 or less bins that I cannot move. So I toss them in as freebies when someone buys one of the key books OR I bulk out at less than 20 cents a book. Or I donate them to children to hopefully inspire one person to continue collecting comics.

Congratuations.  You've turned a hobby into a part time job.  Now make sure you pay yourself at least minimum wage.  

There is no one right way to do this, what works for you may not work for others.   It depends on the effort and time you are willing to put in. 

 

Edited June 1, 2022 by shadroch

[Namtak]

From personal experience-i gave some to charity sometimes,at least once à year go sell in a flea market(bring dreks and few minor keys,meet some real collectors that might be interested buying seriously or trading wich takes place after flea markets)its a good way to meet local collectors!but im still almost young so im not in your situation yet,im really not at 12k books by à large margin so i wouldnt know!its a fun subject that come up often on the boards and it fascinates me because sooner or later ill get there!let us know of the outcomes its fascinating!

[Cat]

On 6/2/2022 at 1:09 AM, Ariamus said:

Sure thing... IIRC, my copy of GSXM 1 is about a 4.5-5.0 grade. So, just send on over $250 or so and we're golden.

Now there's a price I could afford. Unfortunately for you, you're way below market there, mate. You'd be practically giving me the book. 

[comicginger1789]

On 6/1/2022 at 12:19 PM, shadroch said:

Congratuations.  You've turned a hobby into a part time job.  Now make sure you pay yourself at least minimum wage.  

There is no one right way to do this, what works for you may not work for others.   It depends on the effort and time you are willing to put in. 

 

I wouldn't say that personally. I spend time "listing" books once a week if that. Usually its in spurts too. It certainly isn't something I spend hours on to the point where it consumes my time. It's a free time endeavour. Or "hey I have 10 minutes, I will toss together some books and list them."

I've stopped doing auctions. Used to do well but too much time and I wasn't enjoying it. So much easier to post on the groups I am in, couple good pics and a price (or best offer) and let it either sell or not.

[Ariamus]

On 6/1/2022 at 12:44 PM, Cat said:

On 6/1/2022 at 11:09 AM, Ariamus said:

Sure thing... IIRC, my copy of GSXM 1 is about a 4.5-5.0 grade. So, just send on over $250 or so and we're golden.

Now there's a price I could afford. Unfortunately for you, you're way below market there, mate. You'd be practically giving me the book. 

I know...   I was making a joke.

Maybe with another zero on the end of my quote, then...

Edited June 1, 2022 by Ariamus

[Cat]

On 6/2/2022 at 3:07 AM, Ariamus said:

I know...   I was making a joke.

Maybe with another zero on the end of my quote, then...

Lol it's hard to tell sometimes, and if you'd been away for awhile. My dream to own a GSX1 once more lies shattered. 

[Math Teacher]

On 6/1/2022 at 10:59 AM, comicginger1789 said:

I disagree. That approach works for me. Keys of any kind are usually taken out and sold for as close to market value as I can get.

Runs of issues of desired titles and characters have sold well for me on FB and ebay.

I concur. Over the past year, I sold a large number of ASM, FF, and DD issues. I tried selling the issues in bulk, but that didn't generate any interest. I then tried selling lots of ten consecutive issues from a title, and those moved pretty well. 

Currently, the main part of my collection contains Atom #1 - #45 (minus a few issues), ASM  #1 - #400, AV #1 - #16, DD #1 - #200, FF #1 - #300, Hawkman #1 - #27 (minus a few issues), Metal Men #1 - #56, and X-Men #1 - #16. I also have a large number of keys, both from Marvel and DC. From Marvel, I have IH #1, JiM #83, Sgt. Fury #1 (1963), ST #89, #101, and #110, ToS #39, #52, and #57, and TtA #27 and #44. From DC, I have AC #247, BatB #28 and #34, several Flash issues (which include all the first appearances of the villains that appeared while Carmine Infantino was the artist), SC #4, #6, #8, #13, #14, #17, #22, #34 along with many other SC issues. I am approaching a total of 200 slabs.

I finally said to myself, "You are never going to go back and read ASM #552 (as an example). Why do you need to keep all these books in your collection?" So, I sold a large number of TPBs and a large number of comics. Honestly, I don't miss them at all.

[Math Teacher]

On 5/31/2022 at 10:23 PM, shadroch said:

Sell therm all.  Put some money aside in case you want to dive back in, and put ten percent aside for our Uncle Sam.  

I think setting aside 10% for Uncle Sam will not be enough.

[Cat]

On 6/2/2022 at 3:49 AM, Cat said:

Lol it's hard to tell sometimes, and if you'd been away for awhile. My dream to own a GSX1 once more lies shattered. 

I actually believe something like this will happen on here one day. Someone will give a poorer member a book of some value at a bargain price, just as a good deed. Don't know what, where, when, but I believe it will. I also believe we won't be surprised if the giftee tried to sell it within a week instead of treasuring what they were just given. 

[ickwinzs]

On 6/1/2022 at 8:28 AM, Ariamus said:

 ...

[piper]

On 6/1/2022 at 12:12 PM, Cat said:

I actually believe something like this will happen on here one day. Someone will give a poorer member a book of some value at a bargain price, just as a good deed. Don't know what, where, when, but I believe it will. I also believe we won't be surprised if the giftee tried to sell it within a week instead of treasuring what they were just given. 

This exact scenario happened on the boards many moons ago with a high grade Defenders 10!

[Cat]

On 6/2/2022 at 4:45 AM, piper said:

This exact scenario happened on the boards many moons ago with a high grade Defenders 10!

Oh, I remember that! 

[lostboys]

You guys stating how liberating it was to sell off your collections...

I missed my childhood collection so much that I bought it again a few years ago. Now I sit at work and I cant wait to get home to my comics. I cant imagine ever selling them again. 

There are 2 hand written letters in my collection should God take me unexpectedly.

The 1st letter details my collection...who gets it & what Ive paid for it w/receipts.

The 2nd letter states which books I wanna be buried with.

[toro]

I would send anything that you feel is grade worthy to Comiclink and have them send it in and auction them off.  The rest sell to MCS or see if a LCS will do a consignment with you.  Keep what you really love. 

Probably 10+ years ago I sold close to 10,000 of just pure drek at 10 for $9.95 and then all the way to 10 for $4.95.  The one person I do remember was a woman who was buying books for her granddaughter.  She loved that I put a lot of Supergirl, Wonder Woman and such in there.  Today those are probably $5 books on Whatnot.  I didn't care. I kept the stuff I loved.  With that being said I am down sizing too.

[shadroch]

On 6/1/2022 at 11:09 AM, Math Teacher said:

I think setting aside 10% for Uncle Sam will not be enough.

Again, what works for you might not work for me.  You do your math.   Remember- you only owe taxes on your profit, not the total sales.

[shadroch]

On 6/1/2022 at 6:15 AM, Zonker said:

One option I've found that works for me is selling off the originals and using the funds to buy the associated Marvel Omnibus, with a nice profit left over.  Marvel's  Silver Age & Bronze Age Omnis include all the letter pages, so I feel like I'm getting 99% of the benefit of having the originals, but at a small fraction of the space.  Also if I want to look up something prompted by some discussion here, it is a lot easier to thumb through a single hardcover book instead of opening up a box, thumbing through the various issues, unbagging them, etc.  I know you said you hadn't looked through the books in a while, but you might find a book on the shelf is more accessible and therefore more likely to be read than the original comics.

I did the same thing and now have $2500 worth of Omnis and Archives sitting in a bookcase instead of six or so boxes of SA books.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now they sit there unopened. 

[Red84]

Do what you want to do. And if you don't know what you want to do then don't do anything until you know what you want to do.

 

[Bird]

I agree...unless you know what you want why rush it.

if we have to convince you...

if you are slabbing before selling, beware of sending in any books with economy tier value