Mathimatical breakdown of making a living flipping comics

[Monstro]

i have never seen him sell a slabbed book. everything raw.

[cd4ever]

 

Dodo?

[Monstro]

is that a real user id

[october]

Zillaf probably.

[Monstro]

i want to give his name cause i'm hopeing someone has some insite into how he pulls it off

[Dick Pontoon]

Brokomics? Living Monolith?

 

Probably zilla or js.

[Monstro]

jscomics

[october]

Just say it. I am sure every person on here already knows about them.

[Rob]

"Just give me the answer!"

[MutantKeys]

jscomics

[Monstro]

jscomics

[Monstro]

thoughts

[cd4ever]

thoughts

I bought back issues from them back in NJ growing up in the late 70's.

At least I think it was them. Red Bank rules!

 

They do have a seemingly never-ending supply of great books. And I believe they grade fairly but it's hard to say since I rarely win anything from them anymore. Their auctions get some astronomical prices. Good for them! They have a loyal customer base,a necessity for long-term survival. .

[Mr. Zipper]

thoughts

I bought back issues from them back in NJ growing up in the late 70's.

At least I think it was them. Red Bank rules!

 

They do have a seemingly never-ending supply of great books. And I believe they grade fairly but it's hard to say since I rarely win anything from them anymore. Their auctions get some astronomical prices. Good for them! They have a loyal customer base,a necessity for long-term survival. .

 

I used to buy from them all the time when they were doing display ads in CBG. I picked up some great lots for under $20 in the early 90s.

 

Grading appears to be okay... not super tight but within acceptable ebay margin of error. Certainly, their grading isn't so tight to justify the sky high prices they get. I typically don't even bother bidding on any of their books anymore. Must be a function of always having a ton of books... bidders go to one auction and end up browsing and bidding on more.

[Rob]

I have no intentions of quitting my day job to sell comics, but love selling on eBay to fund my hobbies (so I don't have to explain to the wife why I spent money out of our household account for comics, etc). I've been on eBay for almost 11 years, and just sell here and there, not quite the level I'd like to be selling. I'm not limiting myself to comics exclusively, as it's been said here, it's hard to find comics to flip. So I go to yard sales on the weekends, and buy ANYTHING that I can make a profit on. It's usually collectible/pop culture type stuff. But yard sales are treasure troves for eBay! People have no idea what they have.

 

I'm a guitar player, and recognized an effects pedal at a sale last year. The lady wanted $8, but I talked her down to $5. Everything's negotiable. It sold for my Buy It Now of $65. Also bought a doll from the Strawberry Shortcake line (Mint Julep to be exact). I know nothing about girls' toys, but I knew an original still in the box would sell on eBay. I paid $2, and sold it for $220. My brother and I split a box of antique photograhs last year. We paid $30 total, and parted out the lot on eBay over several sales, and made over $800!

 

There are great deals like that to be found, that will increase your average profit margin. Why limit to just comics?

[sterlingcomics]

jscomics

Their grading is ok...sometimes a bit off...but they accept returns (which I have exercised)...bought a ton of Random House File Copies...was very satisfied....and they do sell the occasional CGC book. Other books I've purchased were a bit more problematic. Grade: B

[eddly]

How much of an opportunity for arbitrage profits are there when you buy raw comics on ebay and later have them slabbed?

 

I know right away you are thinking of how everything is overgraded on ebay... but... that is obviously not true, I have often found accurately graded and undergraded comics on ebay. I love it when a "good" or "great" turns into a NM.

 

First of all, lets simplify this and remove the risk of restoration and receiving a comic overgraded by assuming the seller has a solid return policy and reputation. With that risk removed... will their auction final price for their raw books simply take into account the time value of money... grading fees and shipping costs... and later selling costs? Such that there is no profit? (this price equaling the price it would get if graded) ... (edit: also assume cgc grade = sellers grade... potential for higher grade from cgc would obviously increase the auction price... eliminate that...)

 

Of course we know there is always risk on ebay... varying with each seller. Assuming the above scenario is true in most cases... your profit would be the value of the risk involved with each transaction...

 

So when you win an auction that had small scans... and the "i'm not a professional grader... look at the picture..." your profit is based on the large risk that was involved.

 

Having to base your profits on the level of risk you are taking is a hard way to make money in the long run.

 

The best way to get an edge is to lower your risk for a particular auction... while assuming everyone elses risk remains constant for that auction. How do you do this? Gain more information, ask questions, see larger scans... look at their feedback history... anyone saying they are undergrading? (I see it from time to time...) ... are the current bidders former winners of the seller's other completed auctions? (that should tell you something... perhaps you can't use that now with bidder identity hidden...) (edit: look at local auctions where you can pick up and inspect the book before you pay... you could find a cheap amazing fantasy 15 this way from a new seller with feedback 0... as you could eliminate all risk to yourself if the seller lets you inspect first... while all other bidders generally assume it is a scam)

 

So it is possible... however I would say that making a living this way... is not very wise... how often will you see auctions where you can lower your risk to it while everyone elses remains relatively constant? Afterwhile, new sellers gain reputations... and "everyone" seemingly tracks their books shifting the general risk rate to your lower risk rate...

 

I have only been able to do this once... (almost twice, but I got gunshy at the last moment... should have bid higher...) The one time I did do it, I bought 3 comics as "good" condition... I had studied the sellers old auctions and noticed that his recent winners of his previous buyers were bidding on his new items. Right away I saw this as a good indication that these were good quality books. I ended up winning the auction and later had the books graded in the NM range...

 

So, I'll echo what has already been said... to make money selling comics on ebay... you can't be doing all your comic buying on ebay to replenish your stock. So I'll pass on neatstuff's 60k+ comic lot auctions for now...

 

edit: oh.. and if you think this is a bunch of krap... well give me a break... I had 3 hours sleep last night...

[october]

I have no intentions of quitting my day job to sell comics, but love selling on eBay to fund my hobbies (so I don't have to explain to the wife why I spent money out of our household account for comics, etc). I've been on eBay for almost 11 years, and just sell here and there, not quite the level I'd like to be selling. I'm not limiting myself to comics exclusively, as it's been said here, it's hard to find comics to flip. So I go to yard sales on the weekends, and buy ANYTHING that I can make a profit on. It's usually collectible/pop culture type stuff. But yard sales are treasure troves for eBay! People have no idea what they have.

 

I'm a guitar player, and recognized an effects pedal at a sale last year. The lady wanted $8, but I talked her down to $5. Everything's negotiable. It sold for my Buy It Now of $65. Also bought a doll from the Strawberry Shortcake line (Mint Julep to be exact). I know nothing about girls' toys, but I knew an original still in the box would sell on eBay. I paid $2, and sold it for $220. My brother and I split a box of antique photograhs last year. We paid $30 total, and parted out the lot on eBay over several sales, and made over $800!

 

There are great deals like that to be found, that will increase your average profit margin. Why limit to just comics?

 

Exactly. I will sell anything that I think can make me a profit. A couple months ago the doctor's office I work for threw out some old instrument sets. Instead of tossing them, I figured I would put them on eBay. Made close to $1000 on them. Crazy.

[1Cool]

What are the cost associated with opening an E-Bay store?

[Rob]

$16/mo for a basic store. Includes Seller Manager (a must), which is $5/mo anyway. So an additional $11/mo. However, because listing fees are much less, you keep more of the lower priced sales. So for every $2 sale, you keep $1.24, and for every $3 sale, you keep $2.11 (70%)! So you'll make the $11 easily. Here's an email I sent my brother about the pros of a store:

 

Items are listed as Buy It Nows, so there's no ending time. You can list things all hours of the day/night, every day!

 

Cheap listing fees. So you don't pay as much for listing items that don't sell. In an auction, things that don't sell cost you 75¢. In a store, 6¢.

 

Items are listed for 30 days. So you list it, and forget about it. You can list as "until sold", and it'll renew automatically for another 30 days. Even if you have 100 items listed, that's $6/mo to relist them each month.

 

It's a nice way to sell cheaper items. Because listing fees are so low, you don't get charged as much to sell cheaper items. Even $2 items let you keep $1.24 after eBay and PayPal fees. That's 62%! On auctions with gallery, you don't keep 62% of final price until you sell $4 items. Plus, there's a good chance that people will buy multiple $3 items from your store, paying at once, which means lower PayPal fees (there's a 30¢ fee off the top for each payment (plus 2.9%), so if they pay for 5 items at once, you're only charged the 30¢ once)

 

It's a nice way to sell higher priced items too. Even though you're gonna pay more with the higher FV fee of 10%, you can set your price and let it sit there till someone willing to pay that price sees it. In an auction, you may list something worth $100 for $10, and it'll get bid up to $50. One of those guys might have been willing to pay $100, but since the only other bidder had a max bid of $49, it ended for $50. If you had it in your store for $100, it may not sell in a week, but there's a chance someone who wants that item bad enough will pay it. I'd rather pay 10% of $100, than 5.25% of $50.

 

It's a good way to sell things that don't sell well. Lynn Dralle ("Queen of Auctions") is featured on eBay radio alot. She says she'll list something, and if it doesn't sell the first time, she'll relist it, to take advantage of the listing fee refund (if it sells the 2nd time). If it doesn't sell the 2nd time, she throws it in her store, where it'll sit until a buyer comes along. And she even lists it higher in the store, because if someone sees it and wants it, they'll pay your price.

 

You can have sales in your store. 10%, 20%, 25%, etc off any or all items you choose. eBay calculates the new price, and shows "20% off!" by the price.