modern comics selling 1 1

[StewartCA]

Hi Everyone,

Happy Sunday.

I have been collecting for six months now. I have made many errors in buying but have researched a lot and wondered about your opinion on something.

I have my first CGC sale going on now. I am trying to sell some items because I bought them, but they sit in the closet. I now have too many - about 300 (primarily ungraded), and it feels like too much to hang on to - plus, if I sell some of these, I can get comics I wanted more (like sell some lower ones for one higher one eventually).

I used ComicBookPriceGuise.com and searched recent sales on eBay to make my prices, but some of the comics have yet to sell (I put them up Friday).

Do you know if I priced these wrong? Will I need to go out to other selling sites? I looked into WhatNot, but I don't want to entertain on camera (I am Gen X and feel uncomfortable on a camera like younger people do). I looked at eBay, and if you don't price to sell (very low), they can sit there for long periods. My local comic shop wanted them for pennies on a dollar (don't blame them, they need them, but I wasn't planning on salvation arming to turn a profit them to my LCS).

Do you have any ideas on what I could do?

Should I be expecting to hold them for years? I was really hoping to reboot and start again with stuff I love.

Thanks for the advice.

Stewart

 

[Nick Furious]

On 12/17/2023 at 11:05 AM, StewartCA said:

Hi Everyone,

Happy Sunday.

I have been collecting for six months now. I have made many errors in buying but have researched a lot and wondered about your opinion on something.

I have my first CGC sale going on now. I am trying to sell some items because I bought them, but they sit in the closet. I now have too many - about 300 (primarily ungraded), and it feels like too much to hang on to - plus, if I sell some of these, I can get comics I wanted more (like sell some lower ones for one higher one eventually).

I used ComicBookPriceGuise.com and searched recent sales on eBay to make my prices, but some of the comics have yet to sell (I put them up Friday).

Do you know if I priced these wrong? Will I need to go out to other selling sites? I looked into WhatNot, but I don't want to entertain on camera (I am Gen X and feel uncomfortable on a camera like younger people do). I looked at eBay, and if you don't price to sell (very low), they can sit there for long periods. My local comic shop wanted them for pennies on a dollar (don't blame them, they need them, but I wasn't planning on salvation arming to turn a profit them to my LCS).

Do you have any ideas on what I could do?

Should I be expecting to hold them for years? I was really hoping to reboot and start again with stuff I love.

Thanks for the advice.

Stewart

 

One of the first unfortunate lessons comic collectors learn is that buying is far easier than selling.  On the other hand, if books sell in the first 48 hours of listing, they may be priced too low.  First thought is to check to make sure that your offerings are priced competitively compared to other current offerings on Ebay, MCS or other platforms.  Once you get a decent number of "watchers" for an item, you can offer a discount of 5%-10% and see if that entices anyone to purchase.  You can also explore the "make offer" option.  Of course there is the auction option, but if you haven't done that before, be aware that timing matters.  You typically want auctions to end on a Saturday or Sunday, and in my experience 8pm to 10pm Eastern time is a good time to have them end.      

[MattTheDuck]

I'm willing to offer a few thoughts, although I'm not sure it rises to the level of advice.  I know nothing about the Modern comic market or what is a reasonable price so can only speak generally about sales.

First, I read through your sales thread and you're not "doing it wrong" or anything.  You've laid out all the rules clearly.

I would say that sellers are subject to the whims of buyers, and I've found those whims to be varied and extensive.  Think of it as a universe of comic book buyers.  Each book you offer will appeal to some small fraction of that universe.  For instance, your thread is limited first to buyers who are interested in Modern comics.  Other limits include only those buyers who are interested in Modern, Signature Series books.  Or perhaps limited to their interest in certain characters.  Some buyers will only be interested in raw Modern books.  Some buyers won't be able to spend more than $35 or $50 on a book.  Some buyers don't have PayPal or don't have Venmo - or don't have either.  In sales, there are always many "objections" to overcome.

I think it's also fair to say that comic prices (and perhaps, interest in them) have come down over the past year or so.  I suspect I've picked up some expensive books over the last couple of years near at least a temporary "top" in the market.  I'm in the fortunate position of not having (or wanting) to sell anything right now so for me it's not a big deal.  You may have to wait if you can afford to.

I say all that to say this: I would suggest having some patience.  Your thread has been up for about 36 hours and I think it's fair to say that the Copper/Modern sales Forum has a lower level of traffic.  Having the buyers find you may take some time.  All the best for a successful sale!

[Nick Furious]

On 12/17/2023 at 12:17 PM, MattTheDuck said:

First, I read through your sales thread and you're not "doing it wrong" or anything.  You've laid out all the rules clearly.

Ah, I missed the part about it being a CGC sales thread.  Was thinking they were Ebay listings.  My advice is probably not so relevant for a CGC sales thread.  

[MattTheDuck]

On 12/17/2023 at 10:25 AM, Nick Furious said:

Ah, I missed the part about it being a CGC sales thread.  Was thinking they were Ebay listings.  My advice is probably not so relevant for a CGC sales thread.  

Although he may want to go to eBay if he's not getting action here.

[thehumantorch]

Hi Stewart,

So I'm not a modern collector but I'll try to give some feedback.

I looked up a few of your books using GPA or ebay. 

Your Scarlet Witch #4 Nakayama variant that you have listed at $225 has a recent sale on GPA for $80.  If was almost double that a year ago but prices have come down. 
Champions #1 2016 9.8 that you have at $80 recently sold for $25 according to GPA.  Prices on the book a few years ago were much higher.

Based on my small random sampling I think generally your prices are too high. 

Now is not a good time to be selling moderns and modern variants.  A lot of people are underwater on values and dumping their books and a lot of people are struggling with debt and inflation and not buying comics.   $25 for a CGC 9.8 Champions 1 is a silly low price and it would cost 2 or 3 times more to get the book graded. 

Also, the boards can be a great place to buy or sell comics but it's still a pretty small venue to buy and sell.  I'd suggest you hold onto some of these books but if you really want to sell perhaps you should try mycomicshop.  Their consignment rates are very low and they handle all the shipping and customer relations and they have a large base of customers on their site and on ebay.

Here's a thread I started on mycomicshop

 

[StewartCA]

This is so so so helpful!

 

I haven't been in the market long enough to know any of this - and I don't mean that I am in the "market" to make lots of money. My original plan was to find lower comics to sell to build up money for higher priced hundred-dollar comics.

I did take a lot of those prices off of the comicpriceguide.com, which might be difficult for a site to keep everything current and up to date.

So, I understand why nobody wants them if that is the prices are off or if people are waning in interest.

I am not going underwater financially with my purchases. I just don't want to soon find myself with 1,000 comic books (I had that in my ten years, and my family gated it, and eventually I did too)). If that makes sense - especially ones I don't care about beyond as a step to the ones I do care more about.

I am going to pull back many of the comics to keep, and I will lower what I really don't want at a for-sale price. I might even add a cool raw book so people can feel they get a little more too.

 

Thank you for your help from a beginner!

Stewart

[LowGradeBronze]

Let's not forget the time of year. Many folk will curb their personal spending around the festive season as they consider the cost of Christmas. Plus the idea that purchasing now means a parcel in a crush of Christmas post. Better to wait until new year to go buying books. So don't be downhearted, things will pick up again once normality regains the upper hand and silly season is all the rear view mirror!