Tales from the Comic Box - Rookie Adventures in Buying/Selling/Cons 5 5

[Wall-Crawler]

13 hours ago, thehumantorch said:

Here’s a few from the last buy.  13 longs at $100 per long.  Pretty well all published transformers, Gi joe, evil Ernie, lady death books.  

Nice pick up!

[spreads]

14 hours ago, thehumantorch said:

Here’s a few from the last buy.  13 longs at $100 per long.  Pretty well all published transformers, Gi joe, evil Ernie, lady death books.  

These books also look like they're from either a dealer, or a strong collector.  They look like they don't even need to be bagged/boarded and they're already sorted.  It's about as turn-key as you can get - which would definitely factor in your buying decision.  Nice pickup, big fan of those EE books, I have a few super rare Purgatori ashcans - it's nice to add that to your stock because I doubt other people would have that stuff at the shows you're setting-up at.

[thehumantorch]

25 minutes ago, spreads said:

These books also look like they're from either a dealer, or a strong collector.  They look like they don't even need to be bagged/boarded and they're already sorted.  It's about as turn-key as you can get - which would definitely factor in your buying decision.  Nice pickup, big fan of those EE books, I have a few super rare Purgatori ashcans - it's nice to add that to your stock because I doubt other people would have that stuff at the shows you're setting-up at.

Yes, a collector.  95 % bagged and boarded, all sorted and with dividers, lots of stuff we've never had.  Lot of hard to find stuff and a lot of stuff I've never had before.  A good buy.

[Wall-Crawler]

37 minutes ago, thehumantorch said:

Yes, a collector.  95 % bagged and boarded, all sorted and with dividers, lots of stuff we've never had.  Lot of hard to find stuff and a lot of stuff I've never had before.  A good buy.

I love buying collections bagged and boarded like that...NOT that it happens that often. The last big Zenescope collection I bought was like that...Books I never heard of but minty and organized and still paying dividends.  The fact that you don't have to re-bag or organize anything, to me, is a HUGE win. 

[thehumantorch]

1 hour ago, Wall-Crawler said:

I love buying collections bagged and boarded like that...NOT that it happens that often. The last big Zenescope collection I bought was like that...Books I never heard of but minty and organized and still paying dividends.  The fact that you don't have to re-bag or organize anything, to me, is a HUGE win. 

And we just agreed on a price for this collection.  Nothing all winter and 6 collections in 2 months.  Never give up on a collection even if you think they'll never come down to your price.  My heart sank a bit when he said yes, don't know where I'm gonna store this and I'm still trying to process the other collections.

 

[Wall-Crawler]

43 minutes ago, thehumantorch said:

And we just agreed on a price for this collection.  Nothing all winter and 6 collections in 2 months.  Never give up on a collection even if you think they'll never come down to your price.  My heart sank a bit when he said yes, don't know where I'm gonna store this and I'm still trying to process the other collections.

 

I read that thread from the beginning. Awesome news. If you find any Spidey related FOOM/Marvel Mania or other cool vintage Spidey related stuff, please keep me in mind. Such a cool collection! Congrats!!!

[thehumantorch]

18 minutes ago, Wall-Crawler said:

I read that thread from the beginning. Awesome news. If you find any Spidey related FOOM/Marvel Mania or other cool vintage Spidey related stuff, please keep me in mind. Such a cool collection! Congrats!!!

Thanks.  I believe there's a full run of foom and then a second run of 1 to 10.  There's quite a bit of Marvel Mania stuff.  When I run a search on ebay for 'Steranko' he has pretty well everything and lots of multiples.

[piper]

7 hours ago, thehumantorch said:

And we just agreed on a price for this collection.  Nothing all winter and 6 collections in 2 months.  Never give up on a collection even if you think they'll never come down to your price.  My heart sank a bit when he said yes, don't know where I'm gonna store this and I'm still trying to process the other collections.

 

You can park your car outside!

[spreads]

9 hours ago, thehumantorch said:

And we just agreed on a price for this collection.  Nothing all winter and 6 collections in 2 months.  Never give up on a collection even if you think they'll never come down to your price.  My heart sank a bit when he said yes, don't know where I'm gonna store this and I'm still trying to process the other collections.

 

That's amazing, I've only just skimmed that thread but will read over it when I have sufficient time.  It takes a certain level of status in the collecting/dealing world to close on something like this, congrats.  Can I ask how you developed a valuation for some of these items?  I have only one truly 'priceless' item that's in my collection and I doubt I would ever part with it, but I should put some kind of insurance number on it.  

Edit: Scroll half-way down the page to get to my story on this item, I just realized I posted it on my birthday last year, haha. 

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/417874-batman-324-whitman/?tab=comments#comment-9854181

Edited April 11, 2018 by spreads

[thehumantorch]

3 hours ago, piper said:

You can park your car outside!

Already am 

[thehumantorch]

1 hour ago, spreads said:

That's amazing, I've only just skimmed that thread but will read over it when I have sufficient time.  It takes a certain level of status in the collecting/dealing world to close on something like this, congrats.  Can I ask how you developed a valuation for some of these items?  I have only one truly 'priceless' item that's in my collection and I doubt I would ever part with it, but I should put some kind of insurance number on it.  

Edit: Scroll half-way down the page to get to my story on this item, I just realized I posted it on my birthday last year, haha. 

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/417874-batman-324-whitman/?tab=comments#comment-9854181

I'm not sure status helped us close this deal.  We were willing to make the drive and possibly waste a tank of gas and we were patient and willing to spend the money to get it.  Every dealer who wants to succeed should have enough cash or a line of credit to buy a nice collection when the opportunity presents itself.  

I also think the collector liked us.  He could see we loved his collection for what it was and not just as something to flip.  He sold me a couple items out of the collection a couple months ago knowing one item was for me and a couple for friends collections.  He was coming to Edmonton and was kind enough to deliver them to my door and I made him a batch of peanut butter cookies as a thank you.  Those peanut butter cookies may just have been part of the reason he sold to us 

Cool item and story.

[CKinTO]

13 hours ago, thehumantorch said:

I'm not sure status helped us close this deal.  We were willing to make the drive and possibly waste a tank of gas and we were patient and willing to spend the money to get it.  Every dealer who wants to succeed should have enough cash or a line of credit to buy a nice collection when the opportunity presents itself.  

I also think the collector liked us.  He could see we loved his collection for what it was and not just as something to flip.  He sold me a couple items out of the collection a couple months ago knowing one item was for me and a couple for friends collections.  He was coming to Edmonton and was kind enough to deliver them to my door and I made him a batch of peanut butter cookies as a thank you.  Those peanut butter cookies may just have been part of the reason he sold to us 

Cool item and story.

Great story, and agree that the "human touch" aspect is helpful (and a good thing to have generally!) in this hobby. With an increasing portion of comic sales online these days, I do enjoy the experience of getting out to shows and talking/interacting with dealers and other collectors. While I'm not in same position as you buying up other's collections, I can appreciate the similar experience you had here. Kudos on the purchase! 

[thehumantorch]

21 hours ago, spreads said:

 Can I ask how you developed a valuation for some of these items? 

Sorry, don't think I answered this.

We generally figure out what the keys are worth and then a rough value per box for the rest.  This was tough because there's no mega keys, there's so much and a lot of it we've never owned before.  We just flipped through boxes and pulled out what we thought was interesting gave that a value.  There's still a lot of mystery here and I'd imagine there's lots of goodies still to find.   

One of the pics in my thread about the collection I'm looking at a convention program.  Senormac/Mike commented that that was a local show.  I know there were two copies of that program and they're worth about $25 each and the whole box and several other boxes were full of similar items.

[Wall-Crawler]

I have my first show of 2018 next weekend: The Great Northern Antique to Oddities Show.

Woefully unprepared but I am off the Friday before so I will be able to get a lot done then.  Well, not really "unprepared", I just won't have time to institute some of the changes I wanted to do that I discussed earlier. So far, the organizers seem more engaged than the previous organizers. I have seen posts to Instagram, active on Facebook and I have local TV ads (how often they air, I have no idea) and they have also place ads in some magazines.  I don't listen to local radio so no idea if they have had any radio spots.

The location is nicer, or at least looks that way and it is right downtown Main Street.  So hopefully that will make it easier for pretty much anyone to get to. The previous local show was not very "non car" friendly and was kind of tucked away on its own little road, so better location I am hoping will help.  The only real downside I see is that they opted to have it for two days.

I have also created and "boosted" a post on my FB Page advertising that I will be there. I don't spend a lot ($20) so who knows if it is "worth it" but the ad will run for one week.

So,  the turn out is better than the previous local show and sales are even better! 

[Wall-Crawler]

Hey guys, organizer of the show I am doing two weekends from now asked if I may consider donating a door prize as they have no comic related stuff and I am the biggest pure comic book vendor.

I don't mind and I see it as an opportunity for self promotion...Any suggestions what I could donate? They said whatever I am willing to contribute is appreciated. Also this is primarily a video game focused event.

Any suggestions appreciated!

[spreads]

2 hours ago, Wall-Crawler said:

Hey guys, organizer of the show I am doing two weekends from now asked if I may consider donating a door prize as they have no comic related stuff and I am the biggest pure comic book vendor.

I don't mind and I see it as an opportunity for self promotion...Any suggestions what I could donate? They said whatever I am willing to contribute is appreciated. Also this is primarily a video game focused event.

Any suggestions appreciated!

Will the prizes be tiered?  Maybe suggest three hourly-prises, like a $10/$15/$25 prise?  I think you could do a TPB, a Set, and maybe a semi key issue?  If it's comic guys, a story arc like a trade or a series of comics would be appreciated - I mean it's free!  And throw in your business cards in each one! 

Edited April 16, 2018 by spreads

[spreads]

So earlier today I spent time sorting/bagging/boarding and pricing some recent collections.  It took me about an hour to organize, sort, bag/board a run of X-factor 1-60+...from now on I'll factor that in with collections I'm pondering, if there's lots of good stuff that I know I will be bagging/boarding I'll try to put a value on that time based on number of comics.  I would really like to recommend for those guys that underestimate the amount of effort that involves to do a long-box sometime. It will change your perspective on collections....

FYI, in case anyone wants some granular details, I've tallied the total gross sales multiple of each show.  I've done nine shows so far and have an average gross sales multiple of 8.96.  The highest being 24.64, the lowest being 2.8.  You can see how a few months have/can skew the average, also of note the last 4 shows have been considerably worst than the first four but that could be seasonality.  The offset to this is that I've sold considerably more online during these slower months - with an emphasis to really build out that presence a lot more.  For now I have been continually bringing more inventory, so I wouldn't say lack of inventory is a factor at all during these recent months.  I may even stop brining bigger ticket books - put a cap at like $50 or something.  Just an idea.

Edited April 16, 2018 by spreads

[thehumantorch]

3 hours ago, Wall-Crawler said:

Hey guys, organizer of the show I am doing two weekends from now asked if I may consider donating a door prize as they have no comic related stuff and I am the biggest pure comic book vendor.

I don't mind and I see it as an opportunity for self promotion...Any suggestions what I could donate? They said whatever I am willing to contribute is appreciated. Also this is primarily a video game focused event.

Any suggestions appreciated!

If you have some extra Infinity Gauntlet #1s that would be topical.  

[Wall-Crawler]

2 hours ago, spreads said:

Will the prizes be tiered?  Maybe suggest three hourly-prises, like a $10/$15/$25 prise?  I think you could do a TPB, a Set, and maybe a semi key issue?  If it's comic guys, a story arc like a trade or a series of comics would be appreciated - I mean it's free!  And throw in your business cards in each one! 

I have no idea. They just leave it up to the donor and offer up X amount of door prizes.

Nice thing is they do advertise what the door prizes are and who donated, etc.

[Wall-Crawler]

46 minutes ago, thehumantorch said:

If you have some extra Infinity Gauntlet #1s that would be topical.  

Ah, I only have one left and it is eBay bound...But yes, that would have been a good one to do. As this is more of a video game focused show I am leaning towards offering up a nice little sample of some sets of popular characters...