WHAT IS YOUR BEST and/or WORST comic purchase DEAL ????

[143ksk]

My best deal (not counting things bought off the newstand like GS X-Men 1) was probably a Captain America Annual 1 that I bought for $5 and came back from CGC as 9.6 which sold on ebay for $565!! In a non-ROI sense, the best deal I ever made was buying a run of HG Peps (23-34) from E Gerber back when they were cheap and being smart enough to hold on to most of them.

 

The worst deals, as usual, are ones I didn't make. Like the long box of HG Spidey 129 at $5 per pop or the stack of Hulk 181 at $10 each. The worst deal I ever made that I actually still have the book is an Animal 1 that I bought through mail order. It was advertised as VG+, but when it arrived it had been packed so poorly that it was significantly damaged. The seller accused me of damaging it and refused a refund

[Timely]

My worst deal was when I was about 14 years old. I guy placed an ad and had an entire room of books for sale, about 10,000 or so. My mom drove me to the guys place and I looked through a lot of stuff. I found and bought a stack of "Daredevil" books numbered from 20-40 in fair to VG.

 

Somehow I was thinking they were "Daredevil Comics" from the 1940's.

 

West

[comicmankev]

My best deal was a copy of AF15 (Low grade, can't remember exactly) from a UK DEALER at £700 - got it graded and flipped it for almost £3500

 

 

Other good buys in the past year have been:

 

Subby #1 CGC 9.8 - $1200

 

Tales Of Suspense #39 CGC 8.0 - $3000

 

Of course, my most recent best buy was an Avengers issue (nameless - please do not publicise!) with a buy it now of $400-ish and sold it on the very same Ebay for near $1200.

 

 

Personally though, my best buys are the 70s and 80s collections I'm putting together. I have been picking up 9.8 gradedd copies of Indiana Jones for less than $15 a piece, and Star Wars issues (up until recently) for $20-25 a piece. Now they may not be high on the 'price guide' stakes, but I love those books, and to buy them pre-graded almost less than the slabbing fees is outragious!

--------------

 

Biggest loss had to be a coverless Superman #1. I paid $2000 for it and had CGC case it just for authenticity, and it came back a PLOD (obviously 0.5), could it get any worse? Flipped that fugly SOB for $1600 and was glad to see the back of it

[skybolt]

Best Deal:

 

Bought an unslabbed X-Men #101advertised as VF+ on EBAY (last year) for $45. I had the book graded by CGC and received a 9.4 score. Sold it on EBAY last month for $455.

 

Wost Deals:

 

Bought an unslabbed Fantastic Four #6 issue advertised as VF+ from Metropolis Comics for $1,299 last year. I did not realize that the book had a very small water stain on the back cover. I sent it to CGC and only received a 6.0 grading (~ $400 worth). Unfortunately, at that time it was too late to return the book for a refund.

[shrunkenhead]

Hmmm.....a VF+ to a 6.0, eh? Icky....which makes me ask, what do you all think of Metro's grading for raw GA books? Ive got my eye on a few of their GA books in the $500+ range. I've read in the forums that they are generally pretty spot-on when it comes to books in the $100+ zone, but I believe that was pertaining primarily to BA. Any opinions about their GA grades?

 

--shrunken

[*paull*]

With all the reading I've done lately in these forums about restoration and condition, I thought I'd flip through a bunch of books that I bought between 1989 and 1995 to judge how good an eye I had back then.

 

NOT THE WORST DEAL, BUT NOT AS GOOD AS I THOUGHT:

 

Fantastic Four #4, apparent VG- condition. At the time, this book was my holy grail... I desperately wanted a copy. There was no way I could afford an FF #1 at the time, but loved the Sub-Mariner and wanted this book badly. I went to a NY show in about 1990-1991 and bought a copy of FF#4 in apparent VG-. The price was $135 but I was able to get it down to $90. Sounds like a good deal, but unfortunately, I didn't know what the hell I was looking at. The cover has a lot of really amateur color touch. Without it, it might be a $500 book now. I wish I could go back and tell the 18 year-old me to keep walking and buy the VG Avengers #4 at the next table!

 

PRETTY GOOD DEAL:

 

My local comic shop was hungry for Batman: Sword of Azrael books back during the Knightfall craze, and I think I scavenged up about five copies of the book plus maybe a Vengeance of Bane or two (for a total of maybe $18-20 expense on my part). I traded these books for an F/VF Daredevil #7 that I still have in my collection. Not a perfect book, but quite nice, and a good deal to boot.

[Captain_Pike]

Back in 1986 I bought TOS 58,59 at on con for $2 apiece. I had them both slabbed this year and came back as 9.6wp/9.4oww .

One of the deals I passed up on was back 1999 when my LCS bought a large whse

collection of books. Most were unread copies. I had a chance to buy X men 94,MS5,Hulk 181 at guide price. There were 3-4 copies of each and given what I recall these books would grade 9.4/9.6 today easily.

I also had the misfortune of buying a colourtouched copy of ASM 7 when I was a

teenager for $20 ( I talking 1977 terms when $20 was a lot) I tried to get a refund back from the dealer but all sales were final.

[ajaxfarrell]

This post seems to be buried so I thought I'd give it a bump and see if anyone new to reading it would like to relate there best/worst deal..... I have a couple of other similar stories.

I passed on a copy of Great Comics # 3 (the one where the cover shows Hitler being dragged into hell by the demons of the netherworld) in Fine plus for 225 bucks about 6 years ago. I actually saw it on the wall and went back a week later but the guy had sold it , that's probably worth a couple of grand now.

I bought a coverless copy of Batman # 1 in 1986 for $400 and sold it in the early 90's for $ 1000. It's funny too, because I have no idea why I did it. That was the highlight of my collection. I just sold it on a whim and I've alway regretted it. I was just so into buying books and selling them for profit.

I got into the hobby of buying , collecting and selling in the early 80's when I was 12 years old or so.

I was fortunate enough to stock up on NM Silver age during the independent explosion of the mid to late 80's. Of course all the Tales of Suspense and early Dardevils and ect. that I paid 5 bucks or less for in 1987 I sold for 20 or 25 bucks each a few years later. Beautiful books, all long gone now.

Besides the coverless Batman # 1, of all the books I've bought and then sold I wish I only had two of them back. I had a virtually perfect run of Fantastic Four # 20 through # 26. I just loved the # 20 (first Molecule man), it was a 9.4 easy, maybe even better. Also the Catman # 32 (I think). It's the last issue in the run with a great Cole cover with Catman and the Kitten underwater fighting a shark. I got that for 225 and resold it to pay the rent for 500, within two months. MAN, I miss that one.

Jim Ivey, an fella that owned a place called the Cartoon Museum in Orlando, used to have a 50% off sale during the month of January. He did it just to clear out some stock I guess. Anyway, about 1988 he had a sweet copy of Showcase # 4 priced at 800. It had been on the wall for quite a while. It took me forever to save up 400 bucks , but I did and I went in to buy it. It had sold a few days earlier. It was probably a Fine minus , maybe a fine. DAMN....Luckily for me I passed on the Suspense # 3 and the Reform School Girls that he also had. I say luckily becasue now I don't have a story about how I sold each of those for nothing.....

Anyhow, sometimes reminiscing reminds me of why I try to forget alot of this stuff....that's all I got....ajax.

[Rob]

I was searching a comic bin at a used bookstore, which were priced half off cover price. Among the Warlocks and ROMs, I found a VG Amazing Spiderman #21. That's right, I paid 6¢. The cashier gave me a funny look, and my look back said "well, it was in there". And she didn't give me any hassle about it. I think I got $40 for it on eBay about 7 years ago.

[october]

Well, I don't have anything to compare to these stories, but did come up with some nice finds at my LCS about a month ago...

 

Hellblazer 1 (paid 25 cents) sold for $12 on eBay

Secret War 8 (paid 25 cents) sold for $10 on eBay

Savage Sword of Conan 1 (paid $1) haven't sold it...it's a nice F/VF at least.

 

As far as good deals in general, I actually get the best steals from one source consistently. Brace yourself, I get them from Neatstuff off eBay. I have found that their feedback/shipping/reputation is so poor, and their listings so annoying, that nobody ever bothers to bid. I consistently buy BA stuff in 7.0-9.0 from them for 10-20% guide. Got a sweet VF/NM copy of Swamp Thing 5 for $3, a decent Weird Western 12 for $5 and a VF+ copy of Phantom Stranger 18 for $3. If you can put up with the [#@$%!!!] and slow shipping you can find some pretty great deals.

[*paull*]

I've avoided a lot of auctions by Neatstuff that I was interested in, so I can see how that happens. The shipping charges are ludicrous though.

[october]

Yeah, shipping is a joke, but I just factor it into my total cost and I still do very well, far better deals than I get elsewhere. The prices I quoted included the shipping and "handling" charges. I guess its a trade off, good prices but slow shippping and dismal customer service.

[Larryw7]

As far as good deals in general, I actually get the best steals from one source consistently. Brace yourself, I get them from Neatstuff off eBay. I have found that their feedback/shipping/reputation is so poor, and their listings so annoying, that nobody ever bothers to bid.

 

Actually, I feel the same way about Neatstuff. I've only gotten a couple of things from him, but there's never a bidding war and I don't mind waiting for an item.

[Zonker]

Add me to the list of successful exploiters of Neatstuff's bad rep.

 

You just have to adopt a different mindset-

 

- mentally add a $1.50 ante to every single bid

- don't expect very responsive communication: any questions about the listing, pass it by!

- prepare to wait a couple of months

 

Having said that, while I am frequently exasperated at their slow delivery, I am almost never dissatisfied with the grading. Neatstuff's VG/Fine books are pretty nice, with spine stresses, maybe some minor creases, but not the normal eBay ragged horrors. Neatstuff's FN or FN+ I would generally call FN/VF or higher. Once you get to high grade, I'm less qualified to say. I would have to say their VF/NM is closer to VF however.

 

And, to be fair, my most recent shipment from Neatstuff arrived inside of 10 days of my PayPal payment, so they may be cleaning up their operations!

[october]

And, to be fair, my most recent shipment from Neatstuff arrived inside of 10 days of my PayPal payment, so they may be cleaning up their operations!

 

[batman_fan]

I actually just had a good flip. I bought a Superman 68 off Ebay for $475 and flipped it for $1000 on Comiclink. I will probably regret the sell, but I was able to grab two nice Bats so it all balances out.

[the blob]

probably best convention deal was from the owner of neatstuff in about 1994: Hulk 181 in 9.2/9.4, Silver Surfer 1 in VF/VF+, ASM 100 in NM-, Daredevil 1 in VG-, FF 48 in VG/Fine, maybe better, Iron Man/Subbie 1 in VF/NM or better and Avengers 2 in VF/NM (I tend to call potential 9.2 and 9.4s 9.0s to be safe) and a big stack of $3-10 bronze agers for $500.... I walked to the other side of the convention and a dealer I knew offered me $1000 for the lot, but I decided not to sell..I passed on neatstuff throwing in an X-Men 1 in Fine for another $500, that seemed like a lot of money and I was worried about restoration

 

alas I wish I had more great deals... plucked a decent number of $15-25 books out of dollar bins, but that's not such a big deal

 

have done the same in some big lots where I paid 75 cents - $1 each for the lot and there were several $15-25 books mixed in with nice $3-5 bronze agers

 

have paid 15-25% of guide for early DC silver (Justice league in the 20s/30s) that were advertised as VF+ to VF/NM and are actually in that condition

 

i have a stack of gem mint magnus 1s and 2s i got for a dollar each... but i guess i will only know how good a deal that was until/if/when i slab them and sell them

 

in 1995 or so I traded the above 9.2/9.4 hulk 181 for a VG/VG+ish FF 5...I was sure the 181 was going to crash... not the worst deal, but that FF 5 sure looked like it was in better shape than it did when I got home

 

passed on a g/vgish AF 15 from metropolis in '95 for $500... was being sold by a metropolis employee at a show out of his personal collection... maybe not such a big loss, as i don't know if it was restored

 

alas, the stores selling comics in my neighborhood in the late 70s when i was a kid knew exactly what they had, no great deals then

[Artboy99]

Worst Deal:

1979, I was selling a whole bunch of my comics to get some money to buy more comics when I was a 14 year old kid. I decided to place an ad in the local paper and told my mother ( who would be home during the day while I was at school ) which pile of my comics was for sale in my room and that I was asking cover price for them. When I arrived home my mother was so happy she said she sold the entire pile of comics I was selling and gave me my almost 20 dollars. I was ecstatic until I got to my room and saw my entire collection of "keepers" was gone including my Spiderman #1, FF #1, Avengers #1. Yep, she sold them all at cover price!!

 

Best Deal:

Paying 40 dollars in 1982 for an Iron Man #1 that was considered mint condition.It was listed in Overstreet at 40 dollars mint. I took it home and carefully looked it over and literally could find nothing wrong with it. I took it to a comic convention 3 months after buying it to see what other people and dealers thought of it and was made many offers and eventually sold it for 200 dollars. Nice profit!

( Of course the book has since CGC'd at 9.8. ..hrmm maybe that is my worst deal )

 

Artboy99

[john72tex]

Worst deal: When I was around 15 or 16, I came across an Amazing Spiderman #2 at my stepdad's mom's house. I found it in an old toybox and it was wrinkled and bent like Beetle Bailey after Sarge stomps on him. I did my best to flatten this copy out by sticking it between a hard back book and three or four comic boxes. It did fairly well. One day I told this guy who works at this comic shop about it. He says he has a Batman 50 he'd like to trade for it. Being a big Batman fan, I decided to take him up on the offer. At that point in my life I knew little about grading, so the fact that the Batman book had a separated cover didn't phase me. Now I know that book is basically worthless and the ASM 2 (2.0) is worth alot more.

 

Best: DragonCon '91- I bought a Batman 232 VF+ for $22 and had it autographed by Julius Schwartz and Giordano! Still in my collection!

[PovertyRow]

it was wrinkled and bent like Beetle Bailey after Sarge stomps on him

 

Gawd I love this kind of reference!