Seling Comics - Business Potential? 3 3

[the blob]

I'll get out of this in a minute. A guy like Flying Donut is kind of a machine when it comes to netting $5 - $15 a book and probably has a better idea of how much a voracious approach can net in that world. The only time I was ever bringing in $3K a month was when I was selling most of my good stuff to buy and renovate my house. That dries up eventually. But I'll tell a story of a deal I was watching at NYCC while BSing with one of the dealers there. He (a respected dealer) and another known guy worked out a deal on some nice slabs. Nothing AF 15 9.4ish, but a nice stack of books that may have averaged $1500- $3000 each. What I picked up is that recent GPA had the books at around $70K. My sense is that they ultimately sold in the low $50ks. The buyer is a well known guy and probably going to get around GPA on them give or take. So, after fees (whether they are credit card fees or selling on comiclink or selling them at a show or whatever) the deal had about a net (of selling costs) $6-$12K upside, albeit one that may take months to realize.  How many deals like this is the well known dealer going to make a year? How many of these opportunities present themselves? And it presented itself because of relationships (I'm sure these guys have been dealing with each other for years)and, let's be honest, having $50K or so in cash handy.

[Transplant]

1 hour ago, the blob said:

If you spend $2 million a year on better comics, trying not to overpay, trying not to sell too low, you should be able to squeeze $100k in profit out of this.

If I have $2M invested in something, I hope I'm not working as hard as is implied here and taking all that risk, just to make a 5% return.  

[wikked]

1. Buy new books for $3-5 in bulk, send to CGC for 9.8 prescreen/fasttrack.

2. List on eBay for $80+

3.

4. Profit.

 

[the blob]

1 hour ago, Transplant said:

If I have $2M invested in something, I hope I'm not working as hard as is implied here and taking all that risk, just to make a 5% return.  

I was being facetious. If you spend it on some really big books it probably wouldn't be all that much work though. Need to hope they go up enough to leave some $ left over after fees.

[the blob]

54 minutes ago, wikked said:

1. Buy new books for $3-5 in bulk, send to CGC for 9.8 prescreen/fasttrack.

2. List on eBay for $80+

3.

4. Profit.

 

How many new books sell for $80? I see huge numbers in 9.8 selling for way less than the cost of slabbing.

[Kevin76]

100K+ in sales is possible on eBay, you need to find a way to source your inventory, constantly be listing your books. It requires a lot of hustle and keeping your eyes and hears open to what people want and what people are actually buying. If you really want your ebay sales to explode, have people list for you, it's your job to find the product, not sit there making listings. 

[cigars&comix]

6 hours ago, the blob said:

I'll get out of this in a minute. A guy like Flying Donut is kind of a machine when it comes to netting $5 - $15 a book and probably has a better idea of how much a voracious approach can net in that world. The only time I was ever bringing in $3K a month was when I was selling most of my good stuff to buy and renovate my house. That dries up eventually. But I'll tell a story of a deal I was watching at NYCC while BSing with one of the dealers there. He (a respected dealer) and another known guy worked out a deal on some nice slabs. Nothing AF 15 9.4ish, but a nice stack of books that may have averaged $1500- $3000 each. What I picked up is that recent GPA had the books at around $70K. My sense is that they ultimately sold in the low $50ks. The buyer is a well known guy and probably going to get around GPA on them give or take. So, after fees (whether they are credit card fees or selling on comiclink or selling them at a show or whatever) the deal had about a net (of selling costs) $6-$12K upside, albeit one that may take months to realize.  How many deals like this is the well known dealer going to make a year? How many of these opportunities present themselves? And it presented itself because of relationships (I'm sure these guys have been dealing with each other for years)and, let's be honest, having $50K or so in cash handy.

Woke up to some great replies thanks guys especially @the blob. I was always taught theres no such thing as a stupid question, so i started participating on this forum with stupid questions.
I'll tell you about one deal that had I been established with some capital this wouldve been a home run. To keep it short - it was from a guy who inherited this collection of 11,000 books - all SA or BA, and he was clueless to the value of comics. The deceased was a true collector, with many slabbed books.
When I spoke to him, he said he had offers of 6k, then 9k, then 11k, so he started thinking they may be worth something. He put together a list of the first 2000 books and it was amazing - $100-500 books everywhere and some 1k and up.
I never looked at the collection as it was out of my league. I was trying to get him to sell me 100 books but he wasnt interested.  Had I been in the business, I would have driven over with an offer of 30k-40k and assessed what he had. I kept in touch with him, a local comic shop told him to go to an auction house and thats what he did.
This was after 2 weeks of me restarting my hobby just a few months ago. I came across a smaller deal after, also too big for me. This 2500 book deal was within my current budget so i went for it. These deals prompted to ask myself - hmmm, is there a constant flow of these deals on the market? can i make a business out of this? etc.
For those who keep mentioning me quitting work...Im playing with the idea and not quitting my day job to sell comics,  but to go to another day job.
 
Thank you all so far.

[cigars&comix]

4 hours ago, Kevin76 said:

100K+ in sales is possible on eBay, you need to find a way to source your inventory, constantly be listing your books. It requires a lot of hustle and keeping your eyes and hears open to what people want and what people are actually buying. If you really want your ebay sales to explode, have people list for you, it's your job to find the product, not sit there making listings. 

Yes - I would be all engrossed in the business, including hiring someone to list for me, thats a given.  I once had 10 employees under my belt so I know how to delegate.. Thanks for the concise and 'to the point' reply.

[the blob]

5 hours ago, Kevin76 said:

100K+ in sales is possible on eBay, you need to find a way to source your inventory, constantly be listing your books. It requires a lot of hustle and keeping your eyes and hears open to what people want and what people are actually buying. If you really want your ebay sales to explode, have people list for you, it's your job to find the product, not sit there making listings. 

I think he is looking for net, like an income. Sales of $100K don't mean that much if the cost is $90K. So we're probably talking about $200K in sales depending on margins.

[theCapraAegagrus]

Lmfao don't quit your day job.

Usually you want to research the business you plan to enter way, way, way before you start a venture of your own.

Do. Not. Quit. Your. Day. Job.

Unless you want to live with your parents or be homeless.

[the blob]

1 hour ago, moemaya said:

Woke up to some great replies thanks guys especially @the blob. I was always taught theres no such thing as a stupid question, so i started participating on this forum with stupid questions.
I'll tell you about one deal that had I been established with some capital this wouldve been a home run. To keep it short - it was from a guy who inherited this collection of 11,000 books - all SA or BA, and he was clueless to the value of comics. The deceased was a true collector, with many slabbed books.
When I spoke to him, he said he had offers of 6k, then 9k, then 11k, so he started thinking they may be worth something. He put together a list of the first 2000 books and it was amazing - $100-500 books everywhere and some 1k and up.
I never looked at the collection as it was out of my league. I was trying to get him to sell me 100 books but he wasnt interested.  Had I been in the business, I would have driven over with an offer of 30k-40k and assessed what he had. I kept in touch with him, a local comic shop told him to go to an auction house and thats what he did.
This was after 2 weeks of me restarting my hobby just a few months ago. I came across a smaller deal after, also too big for me. This 2500 book deal was within my current budget so i went for it. These deals prompted to ask myself - hmmm, is there a constant flow of these deals on the market? can i make a business out of this? etc.
For those who keep mentioning me quitting work...Im playing with the idea and not quitting my day job to sell comics,  but to go to another day job.
 
Thank you all so far.

Look around here where you have a lot of part time dealers chasing collections and I think that should give you a sense of how infrequently a decent size collection of GOOD material comes up. Sure, opportunities to buy palettes of moderns abound, and there can be treasure in there, but there is a lot of stuff that is unsellable or needs to be bulked out. It seems that 90% of the time if a vintage collection is decent the owner wants way too much. So I think your perspective might be a little skewed by stumbling upon the above two situations. It may not happen again for years. I am not saying it is not worth pursuing, but given how you describe your finances (it sounds like you are not in a position to swing that $50K deal if it comes up) I don't see netting $100K a year any time soon as being realistic. Sure, you might stumble on an old lady with a box of Action 1s, but that doesn't really happen anymore. People win the megamillions a lot more frequently.

Edited October 17, 2018 by the blob

[1Cool]

9 hours ago, moemaya said:

Thank @Tony S the B question was just to get a feel - wasnt expecting anybody to offer their tax returns for me to peruse. Just ball park numbers. But it was kind of a dumb question on my part.

Anyway thanks for the advice. I am a top seller on ebay in jewelry, comics and other items and over 5100 feedbacks - so i have some experience in this.

Everybody got caught up on the $4 a book thing. Guys i just bought this lot - i have no idea whats in there, maybe itll average out to a lot more. Its like 20 boxes all mixed bronze , silver and some modern.

I agree that the effort for a $5 book and a $50 or 500 book is the same. my goal is the latter.

I don't understand your question based on what you said above.  You are a power seller with over 5,000 feedback and you want to know if its feasible to make a living selling comic books on E-Bay?  I'd think by now you should have an idea how long it takes to move 10k in inventory a month and how hard it is to get in new inventory to sell the following month.

And I think it's strange you got in a new collection and have no idea what is in it.  Almost all the full time or even part time dealers would either know what in there before making an offer or have torn thru the boxes looking for keys the minute they got home.  The thrill of the score is why people do it and it sounds like you will get around to checking it out when time is available.  This market will eat up people who don't react fast and get those hot books listed before their competitors does. 

Edited October 17, 2018 by 1Cool

[FlyingDonut]

11 hours ago, moemaya said:

Thank you @ Pontoon

for putting all that effort to look into my profile. I didnt think I was that important I know Im not ready to be full-time - thats why im asking these questions.

By the way - that last post of mine you quoted "counting unbagged comics" - that was my score on these 2500 books. mostly bronze. I just started going through them.

First 12 books i pull out are Detective Comics 397-408 (yes including #400) all in FN/VF more or less. not bad for a newbie.

If those are the first 12 books and you want to make $100K selling books on eBay, my advice - based on 21 years of selling books on eBay  - DO NOT QUIT YOUR DAY JOB.

[FlyingDonut]

2 hours ago, moemaya said:

Woke up to some great replies thanks guys especially @the blob. I was always taught theres no such thing as a stupid question, so i started participating on this forum with stupid questions.
I'll tell you about one deal that had I been established with some capital this wouldve been a home run. To keep it short - it was from a guy who inherited this collection of 11,000 books - all SA or BA, and he was clueless to the value of comics. The deceased was a true collector, with many slabbed books.
When I spoke to him, he said he had offers of 6k, then 9k, then 11k, so he started thinking they may be worth something. He put together a list of the first 2000 books and it was amazing - $100-500 books everywhere and some 1k and up.
I never looked at the collection as it was out of my league. I was trying to get him to sell me 100 books but he wasnt interested.  Had I been in the business, I would have driven over with an offer of 30k-40k and assessed what he had. I kept in touch with him, a local comic shop told him to go to an auction house and thats what he did.
This was after 2 weeks of me restarting my hobby just a few months ago. I came across a smaller deal after, also too big for me. This 2500 book deal was within my current budget so i went for it. These deals prompted to ask myself - hmmm, is there a constant flow of these deals on the market? can i make a business out of this? etc.
For those who keep mentioning me quitting work...Im playing with the idea and not quitting my day job to sell comics,  but to go to another day job.
 
Thank you all so far.

OK.

1. Books are everywhere.
2. Everyone is chasing them.
3. Netting $100K on eBay means - at minimum - you need to be selling (roughly) $125K in books that have already been paid for and cleared. You absolutely need to factor in the costs of inventory. Even if you discount your own labor to zero you still have to pay for those books. Figure at least $25K in inventory purchase to get to that $125K number, so now you're at $150K in sales in order to cover your cost (yes, I know, this is extremely simplistic).
4. If you're going to be playing in the deep end of the pool, you're going to be against competition with much deeper pockets than you have.
5. If you're in the shallow end () its all about volume and time. I play around at this and do about 20 hours a week to make my play money. As I have so much inventory I don't have to buy stuff now but I'm not selling big ticket books. I'm essentially making free money, but that's because I already have the inventory.

[the blob]

9 minutes ago, FlyingDonut said:

OK.

1. Books are everywhere.
2. Everyone is chasing them.
3. Netting $100K on eBay means - at minimum - you need to be selling (roughly) $125K in books that have already been paid for and cleared. You absolutely need to factor in the costs of inventory. Even if you discount your own labor to zero you still have to pay for those books. Figure at least $25K in inventory purchase to get to that $125K number, so now you're at $150K in sales in order to cover your cost (yes, I know, this is extremely simplistic).
4. If you're going to be playing in the deep end of the pool, you're going to be against competition with much deeper pockets than you have.
5. If you're in the shallow end () its all about volume and time. I play around at this and do about 20 hours a week to make my play money. As I have so much inventory I don't have to buy stuff now but I'm not selling big ticket books. I'm essentially making free money, but that's because I already have the inventory.

Your margins assume the buy at 50 cetns - $2 sell at $7-$15 model, which I know, you're the master at. Harder and harder to find material at those margins in quantity, not that it isn't out there, but a lot of people are chasing it.

Edited October 17, 2018 by the blob

[ThothAmon]

Probably not good unless you come into it with a substantial inventory. Short term buy and flip is tough when the various fees are factored in. 

[gadzukes]

Luckily Ebay & Paypal charge virtually no fees so you can maximize your profits .  

Also remember, once you sell over $20,000 on ebay they send you a 1099 form so Uncle Sam can make sure he gets a % of your remaining profits.

[FlyingDonut]

1 hour ago, the blob said:

Your margins assume the buy at 50 cetns - $2 sell at $7-$15 model, which I know, you're the master at. Harder and harder to find material at those margins in quantity, not that it isn't out there, but a lot of people are chasing it.

Yep.

[classicaaron]

wow, im not a dealer and I can tell your in way over your head and sound essentially clueless about comics.  not trying to be rude but you need the truth and if your asking im going to give it.

and really your asking about profit potential when you don't even know what you have. how would anyone even be able to answer that?  we don't know if you have dollar books or hundred dollar books.  and you cant get through a measly 2500 books.  a main point of business is to know your inventory which you clearly don't.  I sort through that many in an hour all the time, its rather easy. if it takes you longer you clearly don't know what your looking for.  I also work a 8-5 and have family and all the other stuff people do but still find an hour to look through something especially if im considering it as an income.  if you don't have time how are you going to have time to go through 10's of thousands of books.  stick to being a hobbyist and making a dollar or two here and there because if you try this as a business you will just be selling it to a real comic dealer for pennies on the dollar a year from now.

Edited October 17, 2018 by classicaaron

[F For Fake]

I have to agree with the general sentiment: before you decide to go whole hog and attempt to make a $100k living at this, first it would be wise to see if you can even make it a profitable part time hobby. Work your 9 to 5 and in your spare time, for a couple of years at least, see if you are able to consistently source collections, flip them and profit on them. It's not easy. To make big money, you have to spend big money, and it is WORK. You have to seriously LOVE it, and even then, it's a pain. I have a 9 to 5 (well, an 8 to 5 with an hour lunch, technically) that pays the bills. In addition to that, I sell on eBay, and have done so for 20+ years. In addition to the random books I pick up here and there, I will also buy a collection maybe twice a year, usually in the 1000-3000 book range, because that's my comfort zone. I don't have a lot of capital to spend, because I'm not really a business. I do this as a hobby. Buy collections to sell books to make extra money to buy more books for me. Rinse and repeat. I am strictly a small small small timer (my wheelhouse is generally buying books for 10 cents a piece or less to resell for $5-$20, but sometimes I luck into nicer stuff) and even as a part time hobby, it is a lot of work, and it is NOT CONSISTENT. If you have a storefront, people are bringing collections in to you. But if you don't have that advantage, then you are hunting every day, and competing with the real big dogs in your area. 

I generally try to be more positive and upbeat than some of the other guys around here, so I'm not going to say "Oh god no, you are going to immediately lose your shirt and end up in an alley somewhere trading handies for copies of Marvel 2 in 1".  But, I WILL repeat what I said above: take a test run at it as a hobby with a decent sample period (2 years at least) to establish if you have the inventory pool locally to work with, in addition to the skill, time and luck, to make it happen, before you make any big decisions. And even then, yeah, it's not likely to work out. Not impossible, just not likely.

Good luck?