Copper's Heating/Selling Well on Ebay 33 33

[shadroch]

II bought a number of Divads books a few years back and was very happy with the grades. Most of the SA books were undergraded. Perhaps he has forgotten how to grade, but I doubt it.

[littledoom]

Wolverine 8 had some huge impressive $50 - $100 raw sales

[kimik]

Looks like Strange Academy is seeing an uptick. 1As are hitting $50 - $60 now, and the last raw wraparound hit $157.50 (see link below). Did a movie or tv rumor come out?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Strange-Academy-1-Ramos-Cover-Wraparound-Edition-Variant-NM-Humberto-No-Reserve/174446250149?hash=item289dce88a5:g:2tYAAOSwra9faUwY

[divad]

On 9/30/2020 at 1:12 PM, PeterPark said:

I don't know if you are deliberately misunderstanding me or what but I never said you did buy-it-nows. I don't follow your claim of fair pricing. You have high initial bids that usually means you will only have 1 bidder, if any. Your books are not sold at market price and offer no value to those trying to understand trends on Ebay. Look first to the shortcomings of your own reasoning before assigning to those others unduly.

Now that's silly! Or nonsensical. pfffffffft! 

[divad]

On 9/30/2020 at 5:28 AM, kimik said:

Why not? You are leaving $tens of thousands on the table annually with that approach. 

As an example, I just sent in a modern straight submission from my spec plays. All hit 9.8. That took my Strange Academy 1 play from a $1000-$1500 profit play to a $5000-$6000 profit (or more when they finally announce a TV show or movie). Why leave that $$$ for someone else?

What's so hard to understand about, "I don't play that game."? And which one of those books is leaving $tens of thousands on the table? A bit of hyperbole there. 

Edited October 3, 2020 by divad

[divad]

On 10/1/2020 at 5:25 AM, spreads said:

You know how to grade and submit to CGC, he knows how to fleece uneducated comic graders on raw auctions.  Both are profitable ways to submit comics, one way is honest, the other isn't. 

You're calling me dishonest?  Let's see what you do, rather than name calling. Show me! pffffffffffffft. 

[divad]

11 hours ago, mrwoogieman said:

all they are doing is blowing out hot air. 

 

Voila!

[divad]

On 9/30/2020 at 5:28 AM, kimik said:

You are leaving $tens of thousands on the table annually with that approach.

With all due respect (which generally means just the opposite) you are grossly exaggerating. House money has funded my collecting for decades.  In fact, since I sold a raw un-pressed 9.6 Hulk 181 for $2200 in 2002 - at the time an all-time price record for the book (graded or otherwise!)

Edited October 3, 2020 by divad

[kimik]

2 hours ago, divad said:

With all due respect (which generally means just the opposite) you are grossly exaggerating. House money has funded my collecting for decades.  In fact, since I sold a raw un-pressed 9.6 Hulk 181 for $2200 in 2002 - at the time an all-time price record for the book (graded or otherwise!)

No, I am not exaggerating. Do the math on the 9.8s you sell in a year. You are leaving $10ks on the table if they grade out at 9.8 as per your listings. Right now I am going through my long boxes to pull out 1,000 copper/modern books that sell for $50+ in 9.8 to send in for grading over the next year. There are tons of books that I was selling for  $6-$10 raw at shows that hit that value range now (with a lot of the $20-$30 raw books hitting $100+). Why leave that money on the table?

Edited October 3, 2020 by kimik

[divad]

Because I’m a nice guy that cares about the hobby? 

[shadroch]

1 hour ago, kimik said:

No, I am not exaggerating. Do the math on the 9.8s you sell in a year. You are leaving $10ks on the table if they grade out at 9.8 as per your listings. Right now I am going through my long boxes to pull out 1,000 copper/modern books that sell for $50+ in 9.8 to send in for grading over the next year. There are tons of books that I was selling for  $6-$10 raw at shows that hit that value range now (with a lot of the $20-$30 raw books hitting $100+). Why leave that money on the table?

Some people like to play the press and slab game where you turnover merchandise three or four times a year, with months in between paying for an item and getting paid for it.

Others churn merchandise as quick as they can and make thirty sales a year. 

If you pay $35 a pop for 1,000 books you sell  for $60 each, in a year you will clear $25,000.

If you pay $3 a book and sell 4,000 of them at $10 each, you clear $28,000 and didn't have your money or your books tied up for months.

Is either plan superior to the other?  Of the 1,000 you plan on submitting, will you make money if they come back a 9.6? How many will hit their peak while sitting in limbo in Florida?

 I found an Avenging Spiderman 9 yesterday. It looked pretty good in the bag but it's got a bit of impact damage on one corner. Am I better off sending it out for pressing and slabbing so I add $45 to it's cost  and wait six months to get it back or sell it now and use the money to buy another book to flip?  Is there a wrong choice there? 

My personal experiance is that $5-$10 books sell a lot faster than $50 books and its better to make less per sale but make it up on the volume. Yours may be different.

 

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

8 hours ago, shadroch said:

Some people like to play the press and slab game where you turnover merchandise three or four times a year, with months in between paying for an item and getting paid for it.

Others churn merchandise as quick as they can and make thirty sales a year. 

If you pay $35 a pop for 1,000 books you sell  for $60 each, in a year you will clear $25,000.

If you pay $3 a book and sell 4,000 of them at $10 each, you clear $28,000 and didn't have your money or your books tied up for months.

Is either plan superior to the other?  Of the 1,000 you plan on submitting, will you make money if they come back a 9.6? How many will hit their peak while sitting in limbo in Florida?

 I found an Avenging Spiderman 9 yesterday. It looked pretty good in the bag but it's got a bit of impact damage on one corner. Am I better off sending it out for pressing and slabbing so I add $45 to it's cost  and wait six months to get it back or sell it now and use the money to buy another book to flip?  Is there a wrong choice there? 

My personal experiance is that $5-$10 books sell a lot faster than $50 books and its better to make less per sale but make it up on the volume. Yours may be different.

 

YMMV, but only netting an additional $3K for the all of the work of selling an additional 3K books doesn't seem worth it to me, if you value your time. If you get enjoyment out of that, then I suppose it's worth it, but I have better things to do with my time (like read my comics).

[shadroch]

1 hour ago, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

YMMV, but only netting an additional $3K for the all of the work of selling an additional 3K books doesn't seem worth it to me, if you value your time. If you get enjoyment out of that, then I suppose it's worth it, but I have better things to do with my time (like read my comics).

That why we have minions, henchmen and kids. You'd have to ask Donut how many hours a week he puts in, but he has a fulltime job and a family and doesn't seem to mind.

I'm also not sure why you think selling 1,000 $50 books is less work than selling 4,000 books. Ever lug 1,000 CGC books to a show? Few people will want to do it twice.

Some old white gu once said- find a job that you love and you'll never work another day in your life.

Edited October 3, 2020 by shadroch

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

1 hour ago, shadroch said:

That why we have minions, henchmen and kids. You'd have to ask Donut how many hours a week he puts in, but he has a fulltime job and a family and doesn't seem to mind.

I'm also not sure why you think selling 1,000 $50 books is less work than selling 4,000 books. Ever lug 1,000 CGC books to a show? Few people will want to do it twice.

Some old white gu once said- find a job that you love and you'll never work another day in your life.

Since the conversation started regarding eBay sales, that's the market I was thinking of. And if we're talking individual books for sale, that's creating an additional 3000 listing to make $3000 more. $1/sale. I don't have minions or henchmen or kids; I'm doing all of the work for the books I sell.

[shadroch]

If you have 4,000 books and don't sell them, how much money did you make?

Seriously, 4,000 books a year on ebay is eleven listings a day. Two or three hours a week. It's not the only way to go, nor do I say it's the best way, but it certainly is a way to pull in an extra twenty grand a year.

[divad]

The world makes all kinds and all kinds make the world. That's the beauty of it. 

[iggy]

21 hours ago, kimik said:

Looks like Strange Academy is seeing an uptick. 1As are hitting $50 - $60 now, and the last raw wraparound hit $157.50 (see link below). Did a movie or tv rumor come out?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Strange-Academy-1-Ramos-Cover-Wraparound-Edition-Variant-NM-Humberto-No-Reserve/174446250149?hash=item289dce88a5:g:2tYAAOSwra9faUwY

Did you alert the MODERNS heating up forum?

Edited October 3, 2020 by iggy

[fastballspecial]

10 hours ago, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

19 hours ago, shadroch said:

Some people like to play the press and slab game where you turnover merchandise three or four times a year, with months in between paying for an item and getting paid for it.

Others churn merchandise as quick as they can and make thirty sales a year. 

If you pay $35 a pop for 1,000 books you sell  for $60 each, in a year you will clear $25,000.

If you pay $3 a book and sell 4,000 of them at $10 each, you clear $28,000 and didn't have your money or your books tied up for months.

Is either plan superior to the other?  Of the 1,000 you plan on submitting, will you make money if they come back a 9.6? How many will hit their peak while sitting in limbo in Florida?

 I found an Avenging Spiderman 9 yesterday. It looked pretty good in the bag but it's got a bit of impact damage on one corner. Am I better off sending it out for pressing and slabbing so I add $45 to it's cost  and wait six months to get it back or sell it now and use the money to buy another book to flip?  Is there a wrong choice there? 

My personal experiance is that $5-$10 books sell a lot faster than $50 books and its better to make less per sale but make it up on the volume. Yours may be different.

 

YMMV, but only netting an additional $3K for the all of the work of selling an additional 3K books doesn't seem worth it to me, if you value your time. If you get enjoyment out of that, then I suppose it's worth it, but I have better things to do with my time (like read my comics).

There is room for both here. I am predominantly raw seller. I sell a lot of high grade books raw. Not all of them raw, but a large amount. I am more then 
I sell a few dozen slabs a year. I am here to tell you selling raws are much easier, less risk, and less initial cost and a much cheaper customer accqusition cost.
It doesn't mean you can do both its a balance. Inventory can pile up selling slabs. You tie up a TON of money at certain times. So a balance helps. 

I say all that and honestly I couldn't do more then sell a few dozen slabs a year. The whole slab market just makes me feel slimy. I have met too many sellers that deal
in just slabs that came from other hobbies.(You know which ones.) They aren't here enjoy the hobby and most don't even read comics. If I cant have a discussion
about a book while looking thru inventory that a sure sign I am buying less from you.

I prefer at the end of the day to make some decent profit and let my buyers make more money if they want to. That way everyone is happy and I can pay for my kids
college, braces,(Which I have done) among other things. Doing this 20 years now and I am completely certain it is the best route for me. And if a buyer makes more
money from comics I sold him great for them. I don't need to bleed my buyers out that's bad business.
 

 

 

[kimik]

2 hours ago, fastballspecial said:

There is room for both here. I am predominantly raw seller. I sell a lot of high grade books raw. Not all of them raw, but a large amount. I am more then 
I sell a few dozen slabs a year. I am here to tell you selling raws are much easier, less risk, and less initial cost and a much cheaper customer accqusition cost.
It doesn't mean you can do both its a balance. Inventory can pile up selling slabs. You tie up a TON of money at certain times. So a balance helps. 

I say all that and honestly I couldn't do more then sell a few dozen slabs a year. The whole slab market just makes me feel slimy. I have met too many sellers that deal
in just slabs that came from other hobbies.(You know which ones.) They aren't here enjoy the hobby and most don't even read comics. If I cant have a discussion
about a book while looking thru inventory that a sure sign I am buying less from you.

I prefer at the end of the day to make some decent profit and let my buyers make more money if they want to. That way everyone is happy and I can pay for my kids
college, braces,(Which I have done) among other things. Doing this 20 years now and I am completely certain it is the best route for me. And if a buyer makes more
money from comics I sold him great for them. I don't need to bleed my buyers out that's bad business.

 

I will disagree with you in selling raw is easier. The easiest way to sell is using the auction houses, and that requires slabs for the most part. You ship either direct from CGC to the auction house, or get the books in, keep the ones you want, then ship a couple hundred or so slabs to them to do the work. All I have to do is fill in one form and send in 25 books per CGC box straight to them. 

Why do you think slabs are the slimy end of the hobby? The majority of collectors I know/sell to that are spending $1000+ on books go for slabbed copies to ensure they are not restored. I find most of the scams to come from sellers with expensive raw books that they are not disclosing restoration on, and/or badly overgrading and overpricing books. That is the slimy side of the hobby, and it has been here much longer than graded books. 

Edited October 4, 2020 by kimik

[shadroch]

You need to expand your auction house list if you think you need to slab books in order to sell through them. MCS brings good money on most of their sales and you don't wait six-nine months in order to get paid. There is nothing wrong with the way you sell books. If you are happy, keep doing it. Others, including myself, have found a different way that works for them, without giving a slabbing company forty grand of our profit each year. 

I don't sell many $1,000 books. In the last few years, I did have my TTA 27 slabbed and am glad I did. Most dealers were calling it a 4.0 and it got a 6.0 label. I sold two Spidey 14s. One raw that MCS called a 5.0 that ended up selling for more than I thought it would, and one I had slabbed. I was hoping for an 8.5, got an 8.0 and sold for just under GPA almost six months later. 

Right now I sell mostly books in the 30-200 range and they move well. If someone buys a book I call a 9.2 and it comes back slabbed as a 9.8, I don't see that as money left on the table. I got what I wanted, and the buyer should be very happy. 

I don't consider any one segment of the market sleazy, but I find some sellers very sleazy.  I stopped attending the CGC dinners because one particular disbarred lawyer was treated like a king instead of a pariah. Some people can overlook stealing from the elderly as long as it brings them good books.  Ironic, isn't it. Steal from the elderly and get a pass. Micro-trim a comic and you are persona non grata.