Readcomix Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 On June 11, 2017 at 10:10 PM, SteppinRazor said: There's always the cash flow issue as well. And hot streaks are a mind trick anyway. Yes, and not necessarily, though I know what you mean. For example, I bought a guy's 500-book copper collection last week. Best books were X-Men 266 and ASM 361. But he was completely reasonable. Got a text from him today -- would I consider his uncle's 400+ 1960's books? SteppinRazor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteppinRazor Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 3 minutes ago, Readcomix said: Yes, and not necessarily, though I know what you mean. For example, I bought a guy's 500-book copper collection last week. Best books were X-Men 266 and ASM 361. But he was completely reasonable. Got a text from him today -- would I consider his uncle's 400+ 1960's books? Nice! Hot streaks are what we called in poker the good kind of variance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Readcomix Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 12 minutes ago, SteppinRazor said: Nice! Hot streaks are what we called in poker the good kind of variance 12 minutes ago, SteppinRazor said: Nice! Hot streaks are what we called in poker the good kind of variance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grayzr Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 On 6/10/2017 at 2:48 PM, Bird said: I never thought I would get something like this in a deal. I bought a 5.5 recently but....WOWZERS! That is enough for now. Tired, so so tired. (I was up at 4:30 today and ready to go get these comics!!!) Beautiful Stuff So far. I can't even imagine going threw 40k books. When I buy 50-100 in one shot I freak out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F For Fake Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 I bought a 3000 book collection about a month ago, and I'm just about done clearing it out and recuperating. Ugh. 40,000 makes me break out in a cold sweat just thinking about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Posted June 14, 2017 Author Share Posted June 14, 2017 Maybe I haven't been clear enough ... i'm definitely freaking out 01TheDude, F For Fake, SquareChaos and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Cool Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 10 minutes ago, Bird said: Maybe I haven't been clear enough ... i'm definitely freaking out The guy doesn't sleep already - don't freak him out anymore! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADAMANTIUM Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 15 minutes ago, Bird said: Maybe I haven't been clear enough ... i'm definitely freaking out Aaahh freak out! Le freak, see'est Chic Freak out! Aaahh freak out! Le freak, see'est Chic Freak out! Have you heard about the new dance craze? Listen to us, I'm sure you'll be amazed Big fun to be had by everyone It's up to you, it surely can be done Young and old are doing it, I'm told Just one try, and you too will be sold It's called Le Freak! They're doing it night and day Allow us, we'll show you the way Aaahh freak out! listen to some 80's Metallica Aweandlorder and Get Marwood & I 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F For Fake Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 2 hours ago, Bird said: Maybe I haven't been clear enough ... i'm definitely freaking out And now you're freaking me out! Stop it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beige Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 Belated congratulations Bird - hope the Hulk's are just the tip of the iceberg! As someone who has only dealt with a 2500 book haul as the most I have bought, may I ask how you decided to organise sorting the collection? I'm sure that will be of interest to those of us who look for big hauls! Kudos on 40,000 though - don't think I would have the stones, and certainly not the space! Any info on your strategy? Thanks, and again, good luck with 'whats in the box(es)!' DeadOne 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W16227 Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 On 6/14/2017 at 11:59 AM, Bird said: Maybe I haven't been clear enough ... i'm definitely freaking out KEEP CALM and SELL COMICS ok - to keep from freaking out too much - take some time to set the priorities and plan. MAKE SURE TO TAKE BREAKS. Do not work 24/7 on this. This will seem overwhelming - and it should. IT is a ton of volume and you have not dealt with this before. If you overload yourself you will find that real life items get put off - and this will not go over well with the significant other. Take time to be with family and friends! - as this will refresh you and keep your spirits up as you stare at the sea of boxes....... for me - the key items ( in the order I would address them) 1. Pay off the collection ASAP I do not mean getting all of your money back, rather get all of the payments over to the seller. If you have the scratch to pay this off quickly - do it. If you are under water, you need to get that covered 1st with the least amount of effort. This means the big books. If you are planning on keeping some of the top books - great, but limit this to 2-3 for now. Get higher value books selling until your nut is covered. Snag the keys, minor keys, hot books, miniseries. Singles or sets that will go for $20 and up. Sort through ones that make sense to CGC - move them to the back of the sales pile. These you can hopefully slab - but might need to sell raw if you are under water. In the beginning you need to get cash quick and minimize the sales effort as you still have to ..... 2. Move em Reading the tale -it looks like you are progressively moving the pile. Good. Do not overexert yourself - but try and get this done quickly. Using the seller as a storage locker - is good for you, but they might sour on the idea the longer it takes to get everything out. Get a friend or 2 - rent a trailer or whatever you need to get this moved in 2 trips (so you can do on a weekend). 3. Store em No idea how much room you have in the homestead - but that is obviously the best (and worst) location for you. You may need to get a storage locker. Chicago area - 5 x 10 climate control unit~ 90 a month ( with insurance). Prepay a year and you may get additional discounts. A year? --- well ya, you got 40K books so this will take some time. When you are still in payoff mode - you will have to cherry pick during move/storage phase. Otherwise - your main goal here is to get them in areas for long term storage. 4. PROCESS THEM Ok - after the nut is paid off - this is when you can make a more formal plan with how to move. THINK BULK! I see some of your threads here - have $1, $2, $3 books. Drop that mindset. Better to group 10 books with FMV as $30 and sell them as on bulk $20 group. The value for you with a score like this - is in moving lots quickly, not eeking out every dollar with individual low dollar sales. Your goal should be to have $20 and up in a single sale. This will greatly reduce the overall work. The higher end books---- they are the ones where single unit sales make more sense. .... use this to organize for....... 5. BIG BULK SALES - So - after you get the books moved - and you are in the comfort zone with the $$$ made. Now - you go into clearout mode. Figure out your comfort level for packaging/shipping. If you have some standard ( I have a box side that fits ~ 50), set that as a lot. Going box by box - you snag the dreck. Hopefully there is some organization of the books so you can get runs together. If not - random still works. Online sales - keep things simple. Make sure you have a solid shipping rate - and have an idea of the minimum price you want for each lot. This needs to be low - if you can move the drek and break even in large batches - you win. I have sen many 50 book lots do well with an auction format. A couple of decent pics of the group --- let it fly for 9.99 auction plus shipping..... Craigslist might also be an option for this- sell by the (cherrypicked to death) longbox. Figure out how many you can transport in your vehicle - sell that many as a lot - list for like $75 a longbox and accept offers down to your minimum. If that does not seem to work - blow them out for $25 a LB.... This is not the time to set up a lot of individual sales - you are picking and sorting the best of what remains, sending the goodies to CGC - and moving bulk bulk bulk. Things that wont move regardless of price - HPB or donate. once you get that mountain into a manageable pile - go back to whatever mode suits you!!!! pjray55 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Posted June 15, 2017 Author Share Posted June 15, 2017 Thanks for the words of wisdom. I have 20 book lots on ebay and such so I also see the value of moving more at once. Obviously I am not going to make 30000 sales. I have focused on 4 of the 5 titles in my possession at this time. Doing them one at a time here had a hidden benefit, it allowed me to price them for sales later. I did not think here was good for lots but you may be right. I am doing a local con in August and now have a few titles priced for that show and I figured ASM was a good book to sell at that show. I put 3 ASM Annuals in one lot on ebay this morning and will do more of those shortly. I am not trying to eek out every dollar but only had 5 titles from the first pickup, I kept it light to check overall condition before finalizing the price with the seller for the whole lot (we had parameters which we will confirm this weekend). I am picking up a large volume of books this weekend. I plan on a house sale in late August just before or after the con and hope to move a bunch between those two places. I have a shipping method that works very well for me so that part is done. My biggest hurdle is to control the buy buy buy mentality that I have had for a few years and stop looking at estate sales, yard sales and such. I need to be pure sell sell sell. I have room at home for them, at least for the short run. When I have them all in hand I will tell the tale of the buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hekla Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 a belated congrats on the buy and good luck with selling. The largest collection I've bought and processed is a thousand books and that was overwhelming... can't imagine that x40, much less the additional room needed. There is a lot of good advice on the thread that I'll keep in my back pocket if I ever hit a big score. I love these kind of stories and can't wait for more details/updates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Posted June 15, 2017 Author Share Posted June 15, 2017 well, I just remembered to check for Marvel Value Stamps and there they are, intact and groovy as can be. Now I need to go look for Mark Jewelers inserts (less likely here in NJ). ADAMANTIUM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteppinRazor Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 4 hours ago, Bird said: I did not think here was good for lots but you may be right. I've only tried a couple, but didn't have much luck. I'm still going to post some when I can get off my rear end to size photos for the board. I've found I can fit 25 comics in a medium flat rate for $13.60, or 55 cents a book. If you have a better shipping option, it might be possible to get a lot sold on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anstettoman Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 9 hours ago, SteppinRazor said: I've only tried a couple, but didn't have much luck. I'm still going to post some when I can get off my rear end to size photos for the board. I've found I can fit 25 comics in a medium flat rate for $13.60, or 55 cents a book. If you have a better shipping option, it might be possible to get a lot sold on here. double bagged and boarded a medium flat rate box should fit somewhere around 45-50 books with room for some bubble wrap as well the higher of the flat rate boxes medium. which would lower your price to less than .30 per book for shipping Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Posted June 16, 2017 Author Share Posted June 16, 2017 yes, I have been double bagging and made that clear in my sales thread as well. Up to 95 books sold! Flat tire today has provided some extra ebay time! Yes, it feels less manly to watch another man change your tire but I delude myself and protect the ego by thinking that he has the fancy new tools for the job and my knuckles get scraped more often than not when I do it! Man, tomorrows load is chock full of groovy comics! He has them very well organized so I just tell him which titles I want to pick up and he pulls them. Multiple trip this weekend if he can accommodate that! But I plan on having a weekend this time as opposed to last weekend which was comics comics comics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foolkiller Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 In addition to Bird's 40k collection -- the "fake" one I referenced that was a different lead -- there's ANOTHER 40k collection that turned up in Jersey at a store. The idea that two (legitimate) 40k book collections turned up in the span of a month in the same state is pretty amazing. This looks like an enormous amount of work but an enormous of fun. The other issue of course is that you have store it, but it sounds like you are getting it in waves which is frankly very, very helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADAMANTIUM Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 After spending money on everyday purchases while collecting, I don't think that I'd have the money to plop down on that size of a colletion so props to that, it's good that people have their priorities straight to have some savings allocated. I guess I could make time payments haha, as I'm selling off the collection making money, but that sounds like a risky proposition. Got to respect the hussle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Posted June 16, 2017 Author Share Posted June 16, 2017 39 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said: After spending money on everyday purchases while collecting, I don't think that I'd have the money to plop down on that size of a colletion so props to that, it's good that people have their priorities straight to have some savings allocated. I guess I could make time payments haha, as I'm selling off the collection making money, but that sounds like a risky proposition. Got to respect the hussle Thanks. I definitely had a lot of thinking to do between the time we first talked and our first face-to-face meeting. My daughter starts Pratt INstitute in the fall, an expensive school for sure! But yes, I am lucky enough to have stable income and the ability to pull this off. I can always sell the art hanging on my walls if I really eff it up, and that was basically what made it possible. I bought comic art for 30 years and although I no longer have 800-900 pieces like I once did (and none were pieces that sold for great profit, never sold a 5 figure piece and only 1 four figure piece a Mazzuccheli Daredevil Nuke page - and that was used to cover Hawai'i expenses!) I do have some value there. So I pulled the trigger. Off to bag/board some ASM and put them aside for selling at that con in August! ADAMANTIUM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
