What's the best way to sell comics?

[jbeeman85]

For those of you that have sold comics in the past. What do you think is the best way to do so? Individually or in lots? Through a forum site like this, selling to a store, or on auction sites?

If you sold individually, was it worth all the time you put into each shipment? Did you feel you left a lot of money on the table by selling as a lot?

I am considering paring down my collection of TMNT and Buffy comics) and just trying to get a feel for people's opinions on best way to do so.

[plastroncafe]

In the past the best, re: easiest, way to downsize is to just bring what you've got to a local comic store that'll buy them off you.

I've also had a lot of luck bringing trade paperbacks to local bookshops for resale.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by jbeeman85

For those of you that have sold comics in the past. What do you think is the best way to do so? Individually or in lots? Through a forum site like this, selling to a store, or on auction sites?

If you sold individually, was it worth all the time you put into each shipment? Did you feel you left a lot of money on the table by selling as a lot?

I am considering paring down my collection of TMNT and Buffy comics) and just trying to get a feel for people's opinions on best way to do so.

Selling online takes longer but MIGHT get you more money.

Selling to a local book/comic store is easy but you're probably leaving money on the table.

[CyberCubed]

I sold old comics on ebay all the time.

[myconius]

trading in to a comic store is an easy way to unload, but you'll get snickle fritz for your stuff.


sell on ebay, and just be patient.

if you start a listing at a cheap opening bid, most cases it'll end cheap.

set it buy it now (with best offer) at a decent price.

eventually you'll get a reasonable offer, or someone might buy it outright.

[jbeeman85]

Originally Posted by myconius

trading in to a comic store is an easy way to unload, but you'll get snickle fritz for your stuff.


sell on ebay, and just be patient.

if you start a listing at a cheap opening bid, most cases it'll end cheap.

set it buy it now (with best offer) at a decent price.

eventually you'll get a reasonable offer, or someone might buy it outright.

Yeah, the comic shop route is easier but seems unless you got key issues, you're lucky to get $1 for an issue.

I was leaning towards lots of 10 or so. Going to have to also figure out what kind of shipping costs are involved before making a final decision.

[TurtleWA]

Price check what the books are worth because that is the first and most important thing to know when moving forward. I would price check with recent auction sold books on eBay.

You might not want to take time listing dollar books one at a time. And you don't want to put a fifty dollar book tossed in a mixed lot. If you sell in lots it's going to most likely be people just starting a collection or resale folks. So that might not bring much money as it could if sold individually. If you want top money for each book sell individually to the people looking for specific issues.

A forum is a good way to sell because no fees attached like with eBay but does come with its own set of draw backs.

[MrPliggins]

Comic shops have to make a profit from what they buy from you, so they'll probably pay you less than half of their worth. However if you have issues that aren't worth much, that might be fine since it probably wouldn't be worth the time to sell them individually online.
However, if you have expensive books like TMNT volume 4 #29, Tales of the TMNT #70, the later Adventures books or later Image books, definitely sell them online individually to get the most out of them. In that case, instead of checking Ebay asking prices (which are often inflated), check sold listings to see what people have actually paid.

[jbeeman85]

The majority of the TMNT books I have extras of are from the current IDW run. I am considering cutting down my stock to one cover per issue plus some random ones that I just really like the image on the front.

As far as older, I have duplicates of about half of the Image books (don't know off top of my head which ones) and a few random Mirage and Archie books here and there (actually I am still missing Adventures #71).

Same deal with my Buffy and Angel books but I have more across multiple series than just the most recent ones.

I just got to find the time to go through and see what I got. Check recent sold prices like TurtleWA suggested. And then actually listing the things. I'm leaning towards individual listings either through eBay or here.

[CyberCubed]

I sold a copy of Mirage #2 on ebay a couple years ago for over $100.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I sold a copy of Mirage #2 on ebay a couple years ago for over $100.

Was it the first edition?

[plastroncafe]

Question for the thread:

How do you figure out how much an issue is worth?
What resource do you use?

[TurtleWA]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I sold a copy of Mirage #2 on ebay a couple years ago for over $100.

Are you the man behind the curtain of cyberspace comics? Just curious, hope you don't mind me asking.

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

Question for the thread:

How do you figure out how much an issue is worth?
What resource do you use?

I usually just figure out a rough estimate of condition. Looking up grading guidelines online. Then I look at completed "auction" sales on eBay. Not the completed "buy it now" sales. Do a little averaging and see if the number that I come up with sounds like the ballpark range that is in my head. I do this if looking to buy and want to know what a somewhat fair market value might be.

[MrPliggins]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

Question for the thread:

How do you figure out how much an issue is worth?
What resource do you use?

Most of the time for comics I look up sold ebay prices. Then I'll look up all of the current Buy it now listings that aren't selling. I'll usually try to price mine as the lowest BIN available, and use the sold prices as a reference.

[Powder]

Originally Posted by MrPliggins

Most of the time for comics I look up sold ebay prices. Then I'll look up all of the current Buy it now listings that aren't selling. I'll usually try to price mine as the lowest BIN available, and use the sold prices as a reference.

Same here. Works pretty well!