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How would you price the following collection ?
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25 posts in this topic

HI all, I been trying to itemise all my books that so that I can sell it and just limit my collection to a few keys.  I had a excel list but I can't upload as the format isnt allowed so I saved it as a jpg. The resolution sucks but it can be read (i think). Hope it works. I live overseas so selling it is gonna be difficult but I thought I would give it a shot. Would love to hear your views. I was thinking of around 10k but I could be dreaming.  So here goes : 

380404447_Comics20Jan2023-11024_1.thumb.jpg.830e65c646843b2f94292a5d95ea4294.jpg614290172_Comics20Jan2023-11024_2.thumb.jpg.1b3a605e7c794101ba500d1204915b09.jpg1551360795_Comics20Jan2023-11024_3.thumb.jpg.fb8263591f01124c6817ba7ae975f899.jpg1842056730_Comics20Jan2023-11024_4.thumb.jpg.33866b3245e1d23ab001838e251188c9.jpg902100500_Comics20Jan2023-11024_5.thumb.jpg.5b10a3ace4fab50b3e0b776134486dac.jpg1269491809_Comics20Jan2023-11024_6.thumb.jpg.e40534fba1d44afbde4f03c86c54c064.jpg14978951_Comics20Jan2023-11024_7.thumb.jpg.e8e055e15f46d68bfb4d7dbfc3c447a0.jpg1661020332_Comics20Jan2023-11024_8.thumb.jpg.2c8b3f0c006254835eef566f6a6b6441.jpg826359969_Comics20Jan2023-11024_9.thumb.jpg.de8d62377d2f9898ae9dd02a48783216.jpg1212108073_Comics20Jan2023-11024_10.thumb.jpg.944d4856d02b1c6e422ff6775f9c95f0.jpg489151255_Comics20Jan2023-11024_11.thumb.jpg.5e4b0ec824af372b35d15a4935baa406.jpg675809366_Comics20Jan2023-11024_12.thumb.jpg.9544fe84c3ad099a694be0f3bac43e61.jpg1694201613_Comics20Jan2023-11024_13.thumb.jpg.0bd3eef86c2bf00311b0077744e89453.jpg1443844950_Comics20Jan2023-11024_14.thumb.jpg.65b204638848b94b0a7e0e10b6e048d2.jpg1283815959_Comics20Jan2023-11024_15.thumb.jpg.4f208686725a0ffd238a3f345b2acbae.jpg293363389_Comics20Jan2023-11024_16.thumb.jpg.2b993bfb0a5cf4513451acdbbe7d938f.jpg

 

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Are you looking to sell it all in one shot? Or break it up? 

Where I've had the most luck with selling bigger collections, is selling anything worth more than $25ish individually, and then trying to unload the bulk for pennies on the dollar at local shops. 

Depending on what country your in, that could be harder overseas. The other option would be to break it into lots and post it on eBay with $0 starting bid auctions.  

It's going to be hard to find one person willing to give you a fair price for a big collection.

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There will not be a fair price if you sold the entire collection in bulk..you will have to likely give up 50% or more for the ease and convenience even if you were able to find a buyer. The more work you're willing to put in to selling the collection, the better your return. What is your time worth?

 

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Independent of pricing specifically and actual work, you need to think a little big about the psychology of who would actually buy this in bulk?  Who needs all or most of these comics for their collection that doesn't already have them?  Probably very few folks.  And even then they wouldn't see the need to pay extra money and physical labor to take on the rest of the books they don't need.  So probably not a end-customer collector.

Ok this seems like a lot of books and shipping is pretty expensive. Who would pay to have all these books shipped to them?  Do a few high value books make shipping worthwhile for all of them?  Probably not.

 

SO now you're essentially down to dealers/resellers within driving distance.  Now the vast majority of books I saw are worth less than a dollar, some are obviously more, but for easy math lets say $1 per book average (its probably lower) in market value if you sold them individually.  SO your potential buyer is going to buy them, move them, inventory them, grade them, possibly resleeve and/or reprice them, store them (weather, geography, and other logistics might matter), and then deal with moving them back and forth from shows or pay overhead in their store (if they have one).  Then they may have to deal with taxes or shipping on their sales.  And some of the books, and that's assuming they could sell every single book, they'd get $1 of revenue.  We all know some books will never sell or will take a long time to sell.

So for each book that might sell for a $1, how much profit do they need on each book to make it worth their time?

 

IF I were you? I'd post a craigslist ad, and have folks come over and look through my comics (or have a yard sale of sorts, so a set time).  Make sure all the sets and runs are packaged together and priced.  Then for remaining singles have $1 books, five for $1 books, $5 books, and 10$ books or whatever.  Just a bit organized.  Then in the last hour of the sale, just slash all the prices by 50% to get rid of them.  And then donate any of the drek leftover, and maybe try to sell anything good leftover on ebay or here on the boards.

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I'd say about tree-fiddy.

 

 

Sorry, I'll now leave you to the more serious responses, although this is probably the most correct one:

On 1/30/2023 at 8:32 AM, Funnybooks said:

The more work you're willing to put in to selling the collection, the better your return. What is your time worth?

 

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On 1/30/2023 at 5:04 PM, ttfitz said:

I'd say about tree-fiddy.

 

 

Sorry, I'll now leave you to the more serious responses, although this is probably the most correct one:

 

http://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlist.com-vbulletin/510x510/80-tree_fiddy_meme_generator_i_ll_give_you_about_tree_fiddy_7eb516_0a1a43626d39083e4ee0ff814c383397741c9b8c.jpg

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I'd cull all the books that are worth less than X dollars/pesos/etc. Then work on selling what is left.

X is determined by how much your time is worth.

I have a pile of unwanted TPBs that I just sorted.  $10 books went to the Goodwill donation bin. No regrets.

Draw the line and dump the cheap stuff. Sell the rest for 50% of FMV. Freedom!

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Thank you all for your comments. Really appreciate it.  I was thinking to sell it off in bulk knowing I will be taking a bit hit. The hope is that there are some out there who want an instant collection of  relatively complete" sets of DD, Xmen,  Conan, Star wars etc . I will probably try to reach out to some local comic shops to see if there are interested.  Was thinking of a ballpark figure of 10k. Failing which I will consider as what many of u have suggested and cut the drek and work on selling the rest. 

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On 1/31/2023 at 6:03 AM, Grendel72 said:

Thank you all for your comments. Really appreciate it.  I was thinking to sell it off in bulk knowing I will be taking a bit hit. The hope is that there are some out there who want an instant collection of  relatively complete" sets of DD, Xmen,  Conan, Star wars etc . I will probably try to reach out to some local comic shops to see if there are interested.  Was thinking of a ballpark figure of 10k. Failing which I will consider as what many of u have suggested and cut the drek and work on selling the rest. 

Revat gave you the best advice. I buy large collections all the time. I have no interest in $1 $5 $10 $20 books. I will go through real fast and will only pay you for the keys and take the rest for free. I never loose a collection to another buyer nor do worse than triple my investment. If you don't have all silver and bronze you are in trouble. Nothing wrong with trying though. Grading, photos, shipping, record keeping is all work. I would sell the keys and elite grades for retail. Take the rest to a show or convention with low fees and have them priced to sell and Sunday is 80 percent off day. Give dealers and craigslist a chance first. Maybe you get lucky. 

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Better off selling them yourself. You may take a 15-20% haircut through Shipping, time spent, etc. But you'll be taking a 40-50% haircut selling to dealers. Take The Sandman series you're selling. It's a hot series right now cause of the Netflix series. Other than number 1 and 8 you'll be offered cover price at best on the rest (I don't know the condition but you seem like you'll have taken care of them so we'll average them out at 9.2s) as they are raw. You'll get maybe $250-300 for that 75 issue series at best. However, if you wait and as a new character is introduced you can drop the "hot" issue on Ebay at the going average and get 10x what a dealer would offer. My 2c.

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On 2/2/2023 at 12:13 AM, Krydel4 said:

Better off selling them yourself. You may take a 15-20% haircut through Shipping, time spent, etc. But you'll be taking a 40-50% haircut selling to dealers. Take The Sandman series you're selling. It's a hot series right now cause of the Netflix series. Other than number 1 and 8 you'll be offered cover price at best on the rest (I don't know the condition but you seem like you'll have taken care of them so we'll average them out at 9.2s) as they are raw. You'll get maybe $250-300 for that 75 issue series at best. However, if you wait and as a new character is introduced you can drop the "hot" issue on Ebay at the going average and get 10x what a dealer would offer. My 2c.

This was my thinking as well as I give thought to how I will liquidate my modest collection one day.  Let’s take my ASM run of 175-400.  Is it correct to assume I would make more by selling 194, 210, 238, 252, 300, 316 and 361 (and maybe a few others) separately on eBay than I would by selling the entire run to a dealer? 

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On 1/31/2023 at 6:16 AM, AJD said:

Before taking any offers from local shops, sound out @mycomicshop. They buy collections.

I second this. You'll be given a fair price and be treated correctly. I can't say enough good things about it.

Last year I was trying to sell a collection to help me with both pharmacy studies and a steep vet bill; I was serious enough to consider selling it to a member here who offered $4,200. I hesitated and the potential for the deal soured; eventually another member suggested MCS and I'm glad I listened- MCS gave me five figures, very nearly four times that initial offer. Not saying that'll be the same for every collection but they're also more inclined to buy everything in one fell swoop rather than individual items like a collector would be more understandably interested in. They were very communicative and helpful the entire time.

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On 2/1/2023 at 3:35 PM, Thisisrequired said:

I buy large collections all the time. I have no interest in $1 $5 $10 $20 books. I will go through real fast and will only pay you for the keys and take the rest for free.

I am curious, how do you handle the reactions of sellers who are offended by that kind of offer? I recently looked at a spreadsheet of 90's books "valued at $32.000" which contained ASM 300 and - literally - $31,500 worth of drek that Overstreet values at $4 each that would sit in the 10¢ bin for the next thousand years. I have not bothered to contact the person again, as it's not anything that would remotely turn a profit on an offer they thought was fair - but I was curious to how you handle someone who thinks they have $10,000 worth of books that you offer $1500 for.

Edited by Dr. Balls
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On 2/2/2023 at 7:40 AM, icp004 said:

This was my thinking as well as I give thought to how I will liquidate my modest collection one day.  Let’s take my ASM run of 175-400.  Is it correct to assume I would make more by selling 194, 210, 238, 252, 300, 316 and 361 (and maybe a few others) separately on eBay than I would by selling the entire run to a dealer? 

There is no hard fast rule but trying to sell cherry picked collections is always going to be much tougher then trying to sell the whole collection.  You can do well selling off the keys for close to FMV but then you are stuck with a ton of books that are going to take awhile to sell off or you will get a rock bottom offer from a dealer since it will take them awhile to regroup their investment.  I think it does come down to what books you are selling but I'd think you would make about the same if you sell off the keys yourself and then bulk out the rest compared to just selling off the complete set to a dealer or flipper (but having to spend time selling the keys yourself). 

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On 2/2/2023 at 10:36 AM, Dr. Balls said:

I am curious, how do you handle the reactions of sellers who are offended by that kind of offer? I recently looked at a spreadsheet of 90's books "valued at $32.000" which contained ASM 300 and - literally - $31,500 worth of drek that Overstreet values at $4 each that would sit in the 10¢ bin for the next thousand years. I have not bothered to contact the person again, as it's not anything that would remotely turn a profit on an offer they thought was fair - but I was curious to how you handle someone who thinks they have $10,000 worth of books that you offer $1500 for.

It's never easy to deal with disappointed sellers but I find it's best to just be honest and forthright on how much and why you are coming up with your offer.  Most sellers who have their minds set at $10,000 for a $1,500 collection will not be happy and may accuse you of being a crook but sometimes they come back later and accept your offer when they get even lower ones from others. 

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On 2/2/2023 at 9:29 PM, lordbyroncomics said:

I second this. You'll be given a fair price and be treated correctly. I can't say enough good things about it.

Last year I was trying to sell a collection to help me with both pharmacy studies and a steep vet bill; I was serious enough to consider selling it to a member here who offered $4,200. I hesitated and the potential for the deal soured; eventually another member suggested MCS and I'm glad I listened- MCS gave me five figures, very nearly four times that initial offer. Not saying that'll be the same for every collection but they're also more inclined to buy everything in one fell swoop rather than individual items like a collector would be more understandably interested in. They were very communicative and helpful the entire time.

Thanks. I would most happily reach out to MCS but its the shipping costs that could be prohibitive as I live overseas. But I guess no harm to see if they want some of the books. I have actually searched on their website as a guide to price my books and they don't have stock of some books which I have. 

Quite a few of you have suggested getting rid of the drek but I have always wondered if say I have xmen or DD 1-300, and I set aside early and key issues and  break.up the collection,  won't the so called  drek even lose even more of its value? Some of the drek from a completist standpoint are hard to get even though they are not valuable. I remember while cataloguing my books, I had missing issues like DD 253 which was not valuable but I couldn't find it at a decent price and MyComicShop did not have stock for it for the longest time. Eventually they got it and I got a copy. 

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