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Tales from the Comic Box - Rookie Adventures in Buying/Selling/Cons
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809 posts in this topic

On 2/14/2018 at 1:11 PM, spreads said:

Sounds like you've made the right call, and it's a shame the antiques show was a front for a political fundraiser - I would out someone on Facebook about this.  Just to let the public know the facts about that circus.

While I would love to air some grievances about the old show to the other people and the organizers with how they handled things and the whole donation thing (I still don't even know why they bothered making a donation in the name of the show now that it is defunct) it would likely fall on deaf ears anyway.

Plus,  in a smaller town, it is not worth it and you never know who may or may not be supportive of the cause and I don't want to end up in a "pee pee match" with anyone. I did well at that show, it got me started.  Now, I found another show and I have other options.  Time to  just move on and keep selling is my philosophy.

Plus, I have you guys to vent to  lol

Edited by Wall-Crawler
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So how are other people doing so far this year buying singles and/or collections?

I have nadda. The one older guy that was going to be promising turned out to be a bust.  Too much junk and too high of prices (wants Overstreet for everything).  I told him if he was willing to break it up, to let me know but otherwise, I have not found or bought anything yet for 2018 :cry:.

I'm kinda bummed about it as last year I already bought a fair bit by this time...If you have a good score or similar 'dry spell' experiences, please share if you like...

I am seriously contemplating investing for a paid advertisement on Facebook for my page and/or even Kijiji to see if that can help dredge up any collections.

Edited by Wall-Crawler
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53 minutes ago, Wall-Crawler said:

So how are other people doing so far this year buying singles and/or collections?

I have nadda. The one older guy that was going to be promising turned out to be a bust.  Too much junk and too high of prices (wants Overstreet for everything).  I told him if he was willing to break it up, to let me know but otherwise, I have not found or bought anything yet for 2018 :cry:.

I'm kinda bummed about it as last year I already bought a fair bit by this time...If you have a good score or similar 'dry spell' experiences, please share if you like...

I am not contemplating investing for a paid advertisement on Facebook for my page to see if that can help dredge up any collections.

I've been actively selling; we're in the house-hunting game which ties into wanting to whittle some stuff down, I've also had some personal setbacks - losing my vehicle that I only had for 13 months due to water damage (took 6 weeks to settle with insurance) and now a recent sudden death of a family pet.  I probably won't be looking to buy anything for awhile and whether I'll continue the monthly show is up-in-the-air. 

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5 hours ago, spreads said:

I've been actively selling; we're in the house-hunting game which ties into wanting to whittle some stuff down, I've also had some personal setbacks - losing my vehicle that I only had for 13 months due to water damage (took 6 weeks to settle with insurance) and now a recent sudden death of a family pet.  I probably won't be looking to buy anything for awhile and whether I'll continue the monthly show is up-in-the-air. 

Sorry to hear of your recent challenges.

I am still selling.  Just not as much as I would like and I am falling short of my goals for 2018, but as you also demonstrated, life happens.

My one local competitor has had a few good scores, we are friendly as I imagine most buyers and sellers are, but he gets any walk in stuff at the local LCS directed to him, so he does have an advantage that I don't don't.

...I think I will spend a bit of coin on a Facebook ad. See if that turns anything up.  My first show is coming up in just over a month so hopefully that boosts my selling spirits.

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Collections?  You'll get dry spells and then a bunch.  We hadn't bought much all winter.

Got a call from a guy who offered us his collection last year.  We couldn't agree on price.  This time he offered us 35 slabbed books, mostly keys.

Walking Dead 1 9.8
ASM 129 6.5
Savage Tales 1 8.0
Mister Miracle 1 8.5
Werewolf by Night 32 6.0
Submariner 34 1950s 6.0 White pages
Etc

I decided to step up and offered him about 78% of value.  I'd love to pick up good books for 50% of value but it's tough.  He was happy with the offer so we did the deal.  When pricing the books I added about 5% premium to reflect the high cost of acquisition.   Since then we've done 2 1 day shows and we've sold about 15 of the books including the Walking Dead 1 9.8 and we're very close to getting our money back.  He also gave us about 20 other books on consignment.

Going to look at a nice collection tomorrow night that includes a Crime Suspenstories 22 and another collection on Saturday.

Keep shaking the bushes, another collection will turn up.  Ads online are a good idea but don't stop there.  Create some small posters and hang them up on your grocery store bulletin board or other bulletin boards.  Put a big sign in your booth.  When dealing with buyers at shows offer to sell their duplicates or books they don't want on consignment - we've started offering a 10 to 15% consignment fee on books worth more than $100.

Edited by thehumantorch
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1 hour ago, thehumantorch said:

 

Collections?  You'll get dry spells and then a bunch.  We hadn't bought much all winter.

Got a call from a guy who offered us his collection last year.  We couldn't agree on price.  This time he offered us 35 slabbed books, mostly keys.

Walking Dead 1 9.8
ASM 129 6.5
Savage Tales 1 8.0
Mister Miracle 1 8.5
Werewolf by Night 32 6.0
Submariner 34 1950s 6.0 White pages
Etc

I decided to step up and offered him about 78% of value.  I'd love to pick up good books for 50% of value but it's tough.  He was happy with the offer so we did the deal.  When pricing the books I added about 5% premium to reflect the high cost of acquisition.   Since then we've done 2 1 day shows and we've sold about 15 of the books including the Walking Dead 1 9.8 and we're very close to getting our money back.  He also gave us about 20 other books on consignment.

Going to look at a nice collection tomorrow night that includes a Crime Suspenstories 22 and another collection on Saturday.

Keep shaking the bushes, another collection will turn up.  Ads online are a good idea but don't stop there.  Create some small posters and hang them up on your grocery store bulletin board or other bulletin boards.  Put a big sign in your booth.  When dealing with buyers at shows offer to sell their duplicates or books they don't want on consignment - we've started offering a 10 to 15% consignment fee on books worth more than $100.

Great insight, I guess with a collection of keys you are getting pretty close to FVM, paying almost 80% would be close to a wash on ebay but books like that you can justify a slight bump.  Is it worth it to consign books at 10%?

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10 hours ago, Wall-Crawler said:

Sorry to hear of your recent challenges.

I am still selling.  Just not as much as I would like and I am falling short of my goals for 2018, but as you also demonstrated, life happens.

My one local competitor has had a few good scores, we are friendly as I imagine most buyers and sellers are, but he gets any walk in stuff at the local LCS directed to him, so he does have an advantage that I don't don't.

...I think I will spend a bit of coin on a Facebook ad. See if that turns anything up.  My first show is coming up in just over a month so hopefully that boosts my selling spirits.

It's very fierce here, seems like more people are interested in doing this as there are some new guys that show up to the monthly shows that I haven't seen before.  Granted a good chunk of them are card dealers, you know the guys - there only comics are a box of $1 turok 1s. 

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5 hours ago, spreads said:

Great insight, I guess with a collection of keys you are getting pretty close to FVM, paying almost 80% would be close to a wash on ebay but books like that you can justify a slight bump.  Is it worth it to consign books at 10%?

15% would probably be a better consignment fee to account for credit card purchases  fees but for now we're doing 10%.   If I'm willing to pay 80% or more for keys it makes sense to take books on consignment for 10 or 15% consignment fee as I'm not fronting any cash.

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Well, I met with the organizers of the new local show - "The Great Northern Antiques to Oddities Show" April 21 - 22, 2018.

They operate the new local antique and consignment store and a tattoo shop, so pretty eclectic but seem like decent enough people who are keen to bring a good "mixed" show to town.  They have a FB Page and have done some advertising but I don't pay attention to local news. I grabbed a few handouts so as always, will be doing my own advertising.

The show will be in a nice venue downtown but I haven't been in it yet. Whether it being on "Main Street" will be good remains to be seen but it has to be better than the old show that was off the beaten path in a tired facility.

They seem pleased to have me on board and I am glad to get re-established locally after the other show folded.  One problem, well, not that it is a problem, but it will be back to back with my larger show the following weekend and they have opted for a two day show...We all have discussed two day shows but if I want "in" on the ground floor I kind of have to suck it up and see how it goes.  On the plus side for 20 ft of space for two days it only cost me $80 so kinda hard to go wrong...

Queen.jpg

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On 3/15/2018 at 4:49 AM, thehumantorch said:

 

Collections?  You'll get dry spells and then a bunch.  We hadn't bought much all winter.

Got a call from a guy who offered us his collection last year.  We couldn't agree on price.  This time he offered us 35 slabbed books, mostly keys.

Walking Dead 1 9.8
ASM 129 6.5
Savage Tales 1 8.0
Mister Miracle 1 8.5
Werewolf by Night 32 6.0
Submariner 34 1950s 6.0 White pages
Etc

I decided to step up and offered him about 78% of value.  I'd love to pick up good books for 50% of value but it's tough.  He was happy with the offer so we did the deal.  When pricing the books I added about 5% premium to reflect the high cost of acquisition.   Since then we've done 2 1 day shows and we've sold about 15 of the books including the Walking Dead 1 9.8 and we're very close to getting our money back.  He also gave us about 20 other books on consignment.

Going to look at a nice collection tomorrow night that includes a Crime Suspenstories 22 and another collection on Saturday.

Keep shaking the bushes, another collection will turn up.  Ads online are a good idea but don't stop there.  Create some small posters and hang them up on your grocery store bulletin board or other bulletin boards.  Put a big sign in your booth.  When dealing with buyers at shows offer to sell their duplicates or books they don't want on consignment - we've started offering a 10 to 15% consignment fee on books worth more than $100.

Picked this collection up last night.  Seller was smart, had everything priced out, showed it to multiple dealers and maximized what he could get for it.  Paid more than I wanted but will make money. 

Highlights are:

Brave and Bold 28
Spider-man 300 X 2
New Mutants 87 and 98
Werewolf by Night 32 - very nice copy
Crime Suspenstories 22
Justice League 1 - 5
Superboy 68 X 2
Tons of $20 to $100 keys

Keep looking, you'll find that next collection.
 

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1 hour ago, thehumantorch said:

Picked this collection up last night.  Seller was smart, had everything priced out, showed it to multiple dealers and maximized what he could get for it.  Paid more than I wanted but will make money. 

Highlights are:

Brave and Bold 28
Spider-man 300 X 2
New Mutants 87 and 98
Werewolf by Night 32 - very nice copy
Crime Suspenstories 22
Justice League 1 - 5
Superboy 68 X 2
Tons of $20 to $100 keys

Keep looking, you'll find that next collection.
 

:applause: pics

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On 3/16/2018 at 4:29 PM, thehumantorch said:

Picked this collection up last night.  Seller was smart, had everything priced out, showed it to multiple dealers and maximized what he could get for it.  Paid more than I wanted but will make money. 

Highlights are:

Brave and Bold 28
Spider-man 300 X 2
New Mutants 87 and 98
Werewolf by Night 32 - very nice copy
Crime Suspenstories 22
Justice League 1 - 5
Superboy 68 X 2
Tons of $20 to $100 keys

Keep looking, you'll find that next collection.
 

That's a great haul. Usually what I find are like 85% to 95% run books with some minor and odd keys sprinkled in. I certainly would not mind paying a strong price for books like that. Congrats on the Crime Suspense Stories #22!

Also, pics or it didn't happen ;)

Edited by Wall-Crawler
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2 minutes ago, Wall-Crawler said:

That's a great haul. Usually what I find are like 85% to 95% run books with some minor and odd keys sprinkled in. I certainly would not mind paying a strong price for books like that. Congrats on the Crime Suspense Stories #22!

Also, pics or it didn't happen ;)

There was some Image junk but overall most of the 20 boxes will sell.  Lots of BA runs like Tomb of Dracula, Werewolf by Night, Star Wars.
This was a guy I've sold to in the past and a guy I've purchased from before.  Developing relationships with customers is important, when the day comes to sell they'll usually call the guys they trust and like first.  I have been thinking of stamping my name and number on the back of boards when I bag and board older and better books so that buyers can find me when they want to sell or buy.

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22 hours ago, thehumantorch said:

I have been thinking of stamping my name and number on the back of boards when I bag and board older and better books so that buyers can find me when they want to sell or buy.

THAT is a very interesting idea...I include a business card with every purchase but we know what can happen to those...

Edited by Wall-Crawler
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So after setting up at  several shows since this thread started, it is now time to replace several long boxes. I don't mind that, just the cost of doing business.

What I was wondering about, what I would like thoughts on, is I use to organize boxes by title and company. For example, one box would be all ASM, another all Batman, etc.  However, after doing several shows, I no longer have say a longbox full of Daredevil and other titles and putting in a spacer to keep them upright is not going to work for several titles now.

Now, I am simply thinking of doing them all mixed, alphabetically, from A to Z.  What I liked about the old way is that I could print up a nice graphic of the character to 'spice up' the plain old white box look.  I know I saw some funky title dividers earlier, but can't remember who showed me those and I am too lazy to look back...

How do you guys organize your stock at shows? Do you do anything to 'spice up' the front of the box? I think the 'change' might help keep my stock seeming 'fresh' too.

Thanks in advance!

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1 hour ago, Wall-Crawler said:

So after setting up at  several shows since this thread started, it is now time to replace several long boxes. I don't mind that, just the cost of doing business.

What I was wondering about, what I would like thoughts on, is I use to organize boxes by title and company. For example, one box would be all ASM, another all Batman, etc.  However, after doing several shows, I no longer have say a longbox full of Daredevil and other titles and putting in a spacer to keep them upright is not going to work for several titles now.

Now, I am simply thinking of doing them all mixed, alphabetically, from A to Z.  What I liked about the old way is that I could print up a nice graphic of the character to 'spice up' the plain old white box look.  I know I saw some funky title dividers earlier, but can't remember who showed me those and I am too lazy to look back...

How do you guys organize your stock at shows? Do you do anything to 'spice up' the front of the box? I think the 'change' might help keep my stock seeming 'fresh' too.

Thanks in advance!

If I continue to move forward with this I will need to structure my longs better also.  One thing I did do to 'spice' them up was had some color labels on them, nothing fancy - like my $2 golden/silver books I had some labels on the front of the box. 

I have a box of keys and semi keys I was thinking of sticking on some graphics of keys, along with the era of the books they're from.  Since most of those boxes cover multiple titles a quick description of manufacturer and era will be sufficient for people to quickly know what's in there.  I've realized advertising is very important and probably the biggest area I need to improve upon....

Here's a label....I would have a text box too underneath to provide more info.

golden age.jpg

Edited by spreads
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On 3/14/2018 at 2:36 PM, Wall-Crawler said:

The one older guy that was going to be promising turned out to be a bust.  Too much junk and too high of prices (wants Overstreet for everything).  I told him if he was willing to break it up, to let me know but otherwise,

 

What a buffoon. You should have told the old fellow to open a store and sell his comics in dribs and drabs as he gets the occasional buyer.

:eyeroll:

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44 minutes ago, spreads said:

If I continue to move forward with this I will need to structure my longs better also.  One thing I did do to 'spice' them up was had some color labels on them, nothing fancy - like my $2 golden/silver books I had some labels on the front of the box. 

I have a box of keys and semi keys I was thinking of sticking on some graphics of keys, along with the era of the books they're from.  Since most of those boxes cover multiple titles a quick description of manufacturer and era will be sufficient for people to quickly know what's in there.  I've realized advertising is very important and probably the biggest area I need to improve upon....

Here's a label....I would have a text box too underneath to provide more info.

golden age.jpg

When I could have a long box (or more) of a single character, I could easily spice it up with a graphic, like say Spidey or Bats as per my photos. With $2 books, just a big $2 graphic. Sets I had a group shot of a bunch of heroes but it is too busy so going to just make a "Sets and Trade Paperbacks" graphic.

Now, if I go purely alphabetical across all titles and companies, what to put on as a front graphic as I don't want it to be 'plain'. Key books or books over $20 get pulled and go into a "premium" box...Yes, $20 and up for a single issue in my area is frequently seen as a "pricey" book.

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24 minutes ago, Hepcat said:

 

What a buffoon. You should have told the old fellow to open a store and sell his comics in dribs and drabs as he gets the occasional buyer.

:eyeroll:

Definitely frustrating but just simply does not understand or "get it".  Or really wants to sell. Bah.  As I am sure you are aware, there are a lot of these folks out there. They see a price in OSPG and think that is gospel.

...While they say their books are "NM" I swear they almost all skip over the grading part in OSPG...

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