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What would be the best way for heirs to liquidate a collection?

80 posts in this topic

 

Contemplating the dispersal of a collection is a worthwhile topic, just a very depressing one. For instance, I plan to be around for a long time, but the thought of liquidating comics made me feel like an evil funeral home director was whispering over my shoulder. lol

 

Zat vas me! lol

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Contemplating the dispersal of a collection is a worthwhile topic, just a very depressing one. For instance, I plan to be around for a long time, but the thought of liquidating comics made me feel like an evil funeral home director was whispering over my shoulder. lol

 

Zat vas me! lol

 

You're an heir loomer. :grin:

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I think that "My Comic Shop" also does the consignment thing, but it does seem clear that this method could take quite awhile to completely liquidate a collection.

 

That may be fine with the original collector doing it, but seem like torture to his errors, oops, heirs, who would simply be looking for the fastest method to convert to cash.

 

But again I ask, which auction house would yield the best net, eBay or Heritage, with regards to non-slabbed reader grade pre-code comics?

 

C'mon, somebody must have an educated opinion.

 

eBay and Heritage are not comparable.

 

eBay requires the seller - your heirs - to write the auction text, scan the books and insert the images into the auction text, answer questions, field low ball offers and close the sale, ship the books, and deal with non paying bidders and possible returns. It's a daunting task for grieving family and a lot of work and requires an awful lot of knowledge and experience.

 

Heritage or comiclink or mycomicshop requires your heirs to send the books. Also, if your collection is notable - valuable and/or rare - you may be able to negotiate a reduction in the seller fees.

 

For GA, Heritage would be my first choice. They promote their auctions better than anyone else and I believe their results are generally higher than any other auction house and the books would be sold quickly.

 

If I was dying a slow, lingering death Bedrock or Storms would get a call.

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Honestly if I were 70 I'd be dumping everything I own. Let's not beat around the bush here. I'm 47 and if I'm still around in my 50's I plan on dumping everything of value. Let's face it, after 45 our odds of kicking the bucket grow exponentially. Hell, I already sold off 98% of my books

 

For some reason this made me think of a guy waiting to die in an empty room with nothing left in his house but a dim lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. I guess 50 is the new 80.

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eBay and Heritage are not comparable.

 

eBay requires the seller - your heirs - to write the auction text, scan the books and insert the images into the auction text, answer questions, field low ball offers and close the sale, ship the books, and deal with non paying bidders and possible returns. It's a daunting task for grieving family and a lot of work and requires an awful lot of knowledge and experience.

 

Maybe not the best option depending on what the books are, but someone with eBay experience and a good feedback score could handle the listings. Using eBay could save the seller fees and result in a quicker payout.

 

Heritage or comiclink or mycomicshop requires your heirs to send the books. Also, if your collection is notable - valuable and/or rare - you may be able to negotiate a reduction in the seller fees.

 

For GA, Heritage would be my first choice. They promote their auctions better than anyone else and I believe their results are generally higher than any other auction house and the books would be sold quickly.

 

Heritage will make the effort to look at collections if worthwhile. They'll also negotiate on rates if the books are strong enough to be featured. Catalog enlargements are nice if books in the collection merit the attention.

 

What they can't do is guarantee level of interest & final realized price nor guarantee that other books in the auction won't siphon off bidders.

 

You left out ComicConnect, ...is there a reason for that? hm

I'd think that CC's delayed hammer bidding system would maximize the price realized which is better for the seller. Also, auction consignment fees don't seem too excessive.

 

 

If I was dying a slow, lingering death Bedrock or Storms would get a call.

 

:roflmao:

 

Hey, maybe I should buy a mortician's coat and start making house calls. :idea:

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I think that "My Comic Shop" also does the consignment thing, but it does seem clear that this method could take quite awhile to completely liquidate a collection.

 

That may be fine with the original collector doing it, but seem like torture to his errors, oops, heirs, who would simply be looking for the fastest method to convert to cash.

 

But again I ask, which auction house would yield the best net, eBay or Heritage, with regards to non-slabbed reader grade pre-code comics?

 

C'mon, somebody must have an educated opinion.

 

eBay and Heritage are not comparable.

 

eBay requires the seller - your heirs - to write the auction text, scan the books and insert the images into the auction text, answer questions, field low ball offers and close the sale, ship the books, and deal with non paying bidders and possible returns. It's a daunting task for grieving family and a lot of work and requires an awful lot of knowledge and experience.

 

I've read a number of versions of this sort of thing in this thread, talk of the difficulty for grieving family, and I just have to ask, what is the imagined scenario here? Is the expectation that folks are leaving the cemetery right after the service and trying to unload Dad's comic collection? Are your heirs going to be in so much need for money AND care so little for one of your life's passions that they need to get rid of your books RIGHT NOW, while still grieving?

 

I know the Church kids couldn't even wait for Dad to be dead before getting rid of his stuff, but that seems extreme. My mother-in-law died over 5 years ago and my wife and her sister still haven't finished cleaning out her house (okay, that's a bit extreme, too, I'll admit).

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I think that "My Comic Shop" also does the consignment thing, but it does seem clear that this method could take quite awhile to completely liquidate a collection.

 

That may be fine with the original collector doing it, but seem like torture to his errors, oops, heirs, who would simply be looking for the fastest method to convert to cash.

 

But again I ask, which auction house would yield the best net, eBay or Heritage, with regards to non-slabbed reader grade pre-code comics?

 

C'mon, somebody must have an educated opinion.

 

eBay and Heritage are not comparable.

 

eBay requires the seller - your heirs - to write the auction text, scan the books and insert the images into the auction text, answer questions, field low ball offers and close the sale, ship the books, and deal with non paying bidders and possible returns. It's a daunting task for grieving family and a lot of work and requires an awful lot of knowledge and experience.

 

I've read a number of versions of this sort of thing in this thread, talk of the difficulty for grieving family, and I just have to ask, what is the imagined scenario here? Is the expectation that folks are leaving the cemetery right after the service and trying to unload Dad's comic collection? Are your heirs going to be in so much need for money AND care so little for one of your life's passions that they need to get rid of your books RIGHT NOW, while still grieving?

 

I know the Church kids couldn't even wait for Dad to be dead before getting rid of his stuff, but that seems extreme. My mother-in-law died over 5 years ago and my wife and her sister still haven't finished cleaning out her house (okay, that's a bit extreme, too, I'll admit).

 

I don't think it's the timeframe as much as the idea that it will be a royal pain in the neck for a family that has little familiarity with comics -- or, possibly, with eBay -- to go to the trouble of selling old Dad's comic collection on eBay. So much of a pain in the neck, that I think the chances are remote that they would do it.

 

Doesn't matter how much time has passed since Dad went off to his reward; selling stuff you don't know much about on eBay wouldn't be fun and when the smoke had cleared would probably net the family less than consigning the books to a dealer.

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I've read a number of versions of this sort of thing in this thread, talk of the difficulty for grieving family, and I just have to ask, what is the imagined scenario here? Is the expectation that folks are leaving the cemetery right after the service and trying to unload Dad's comic collection? Are your heirs going to be in so much need for money AND care so little for one of your life's passions that they need to get rid of your books RIGHT NOW, while still grieving?

 

People are greedy scum. My aunts were fighting over my grandmother's jewelry and figuring out their cut from the sale of the house while she was still in the hospital.

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I've read a number of versions of this sort of thing in this thread, talk of the difficulty for grieving family, and I just have to ask, what is the imagined scenario here? Is the expectation that folks are leaving the cemetery right after the service and trying to unload Dad's comic collection? Are your heirs going to be in so much need for money AND care so little for one of your life's passions that they need to get rid of your books RIGHT NOW, while still grieving?

 

People are greedy scum. My aunts were fighting over my grandmother's jewelry and figuring out their cut from the sale of the house while she was still in the hospital.

Just had that recently with my grandmother, was such a pity to watch as "family" tore into one another over shiny rocks and green paper.

 

This topic is a dark, but necessary, thing to discuss. I am quite young, but I worry about this stuff on occasion even though I am nowhere near 30 yet. I don’t plan on going anytime soon, but who really gets to plan it? My valuables are not what anyone else would normally count as valuable, but it would break my (non-beating) heart to have them carelessly tossed away. I have some of the best condition early Asimovian pulps, but without a higher monetary value they are very unlikely to be well taken care of. Not to mention all my lab equipment and machines I have spent thousands of hours repairing and building from nothing. No one would have any idea what they were and so the likely end for them is the scrapyard for pennies to the pound.

:sorry:

I’m done with my existential crisis, back to your regular programming :preach:

 

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This seems to be going off the rails a bit, so allow me to steer it back on track.

 

This was my question in the OP;

So in summation, what would be the best way for liquidation by my kids, if I'm not around to advise values?

The question simply pertained to wanting to see them get the best return, and not get short changed, if at all possible. The last thing I would want is for them to sell by the box to a dealer, who would offer a few hundred per box, when one book alone in it would be worth that.

 

I don't want to see my kids (both in their 40's) get taken advantage of, in a field like this in which they really know nothing. AFA "greed", fine, I want them to get the most $ they can, regardless of how soon after my demise it occurs.

 

Some good food for thought has been illustrated in a number of the responses, for which I'm grateful.

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this is an interesting thread. I might sell my books in my retirement years (maybe five years from now) or I may hang on to them.

 

I have all my slabs and raw books of any value on an Excel spreadsheet. The 250+ slabs have the titles, grades, serial numbers, page quality and the market value per GPA. I update the valuations via GPA about every 6 months. I think that these would be relatively easy to sell. My kids could decide which ones they might want to keep and sell the rest.

 

The raw books are in runs (ASM, FF, JIM/Thor, TOS, DD, ST, SS, etc) and mylar sleeves. On the back of each one is a grade I that assigned. So, these could also conceivably be straightforward to sell on Ebay or this forum.

 

My kids know better than to take the books to a comic shop or dealer.

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I have all my slabs and raw books of any value on an Excel spreadsheet. The 250+ slabs have the titles, grades, serial numbers, page quality and the market value per GPA. I update the valuations via GPA about every 6 months.

GPA? Vas ist?

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I have all my slabs and raw books of any value on an Excel spreadsheet. The 250+ slabs have the titles, grades, serial numbers, page quality and the market value per GPA. I update the valuations via GPA about every 6 months.

GPA? Vas ist?

 

Here ya go:

 

http://comics.gpanalysis.com (thumbs u

 

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Thx David, but kinda useless for unslabbed books, as all of mine are;

 

Simply choose a title and issue number, and GPA will provide you with prior CGC certified auction results from online venues, as well as the average price for each book in each grade.
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Thx David, but kinda useless for unslabbed books, as all of mine are;

 

Simply choose a title and issue number, and GPA will provide you with prior CGC certified auction results from online venues, as well as the average price for each book in each grade.

 

It could help you identify which of your books are worth the investment of slabbing.

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Thx David, but kinda useless for unslabbed books, as all of mine are;

 

Simply choose a title and issue number, and GPA will provide you with prior CGC certified auction results from online venues, as well as the average price for each book in each grade.

 

It could help you identify which of your books are worth the investment of slabbing.

 

Exactly. In fact, when discussing comic liquidation, slabbing would be the only reliable way for heirs to accurately estimate the value of a GA collection.

 

Contemplating the liquidation of a collection without any consideration of third party grading makes no sense. :screwy:

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Thx David, but kinda useless for unslabbed books, as all of mine are;

 

Simply choose a title and issue number, and GPA will provide you with prior CGC certified auction results from online venues, as well as the average price for each book in each grade.

 

It could help you identify which of your books are worth the investment of slabbing.

Oh I think I already know that, simply from observing like sales on eBay. I don't believe that I need to pay a service to tell me the results of what I've been tracking for 17 years.

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