Seling Comics - Business Potential? 3 3

[wikked]

19 hours ago, the blob said:

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

I should have clarified *hot/desirable/key/niche new books

Check eBay sales for: "cgc fast track" , there have been ~89 of them in the last couple months (mostly sold by Slabbed Heroes I think) selling for over $75, some as high as $650.

I think the profit far outweighs the fees here.

[batman_fan]

42 minutes ago, wikked said:

I should have clarified *hot/desirable/key/niche new books

Check eBay sales for: "cgc fast track" , there have been ~89 of them in the last couple months (mostly sold by Slabbed Heroes I think) selling for over $75, some as high as $650.

I think the profit far outweighs the fees here.

there ya go.  I would say the next step is figuring out if you have adequate space for stacking the money.  Definitely make sure you have everything in $100 bills to minimize the space needed.

[the blob]

1 hour ago, wikked said:

I should have clarified *hot/desirable/key/niche new books

Check eBay sales for: "cgc fast track" , there have been ~89 of them in the last couple months (mostly sold by Slabbed Heroes I think) selling for over $75, some as high as $650.

I think the profit far outweighs the fees here.

Most of those are variant covers, so not necessarily easily bought at $3-5. A few are hot books like the last deadpool. A couple I dunno why anyone paid $60, like heroes in crisis 1. Knowing what the hot books are when you place the order is the tricky part. The market decides. This isn't 1992 where Wizard told you.

[the blob]

4 hours ago, moemaya said:

Im glad I stirred up all these opinions, thats exactly what I was looking for. A strong side business is sounding much more appealing. I think my next post will be on just that...

Cool kids call it a side hustle here in the hood.

[the blob]

I have to get my side hustle going again. The teen in Catholic school is killing us.

[ft88]

Archived for forever.  It's all part time, only online (or visits to the house) for me.  

I love it and have had success over the years.  Roughly $50k gross a year.  And I target 50% margins for entire collections, 40% if its higher priced items.  

Hiring someone would be nice but the management of that is tough part time.  Trust and experience are the time killers.  The mundane that a non expert could do is pretty easy.

Bag, boarding, packaging,  trips to USPS, Even scanning are pretty easy and can be done while watching TV.  

Its determining what to scan vs selling in bulk.  Grading while the book is out of the bag.  Organizing the books and knowing where they are.  That takes up the time and can't be outsourced for cheap.  

My day job gives me the capital to buy big collections if need be.  

 

[wikked]

6 hours ago, ft88 said:

Archived for forever.  It's all part time, only online (or visits to the house) for me.  

I love it and have had success over the years.  Roughly $50k gross a year.  And I target 50% margins for entire collections, 40% if its higher priced items.  

Hiring someone would be nice but the management of that is tough part time.  Trust and experience are the time killers.  The mundane that a non expert could do is pretty easy.

Bag, boarding, packaging,  trips to USPS, Even scanning are pretty easy and can be done while watching TV.  

Its determining what to scan vs selling in bulk.  Grading while the book is out of the bag.  Organizing the books and knowing where they are.  That takes up the time and can't be outsourced for cheap.  

My day job gives me the capital to buy big collections if need be.  

 

Just read all 14 pages of that, fun stuff! What is your eBay name? Curious if I've ever bought anything from you.

 

[cigars&comix]

8 hours ago, ft88 said:

Archived for forever.  It's all part time, only online (or visits to the house) for me.  

I love it and have had success over the years.  Roughly $50k gross a year.  And I target 50% margins for entire collections, 40% if its higher priced items.  

Hiring someone would be nice but the management of that is tough part time.  Trust and experience are the time killers.  The mundane that a non expert could do is pretty easy.

Bag, boarding, packaging,  trips to USPS, Even scanning are pretty easy and can be done while watching TV.  

Its determining what to scan vs selling in bulk.  Grading while the book is out of the bag.  Organizing the books and knowing where they are.  That takes up the time and can't be outsourced for cheap.  

My day job gives me the capital to buy big collections if need be.  

 

I plan to read it when i have time @wikked. FYI Im pursuing this as a side part-time business until I either get sick of it or love it so much that i do it full time. may take a few years to decide. 50k gross isnt too shaby. nice work . And your right on with "Its determining what to scan vs selling in bulk.  Grading while the book is out of the bag.  Organizing the books and knowing where they are.  That takes up the time and can't be outsourced for cheap." 

[gregreece]

I get asked this a lot (can I go full time and make $$XXX/yr?). My answer is, if you are passionate about comics, and about truly building a business, you can succeed but it's many times harder than it was 10 years ago. There is no shortcut. I ran my business part time for a year and a half to try and ramp up inventory and a customer base. Even after that my first 2 full time years resulted in a loss of $30,000 the 1st year and a $35,000 profit my 2nd. I worked 70/hours a week those first two years and did 15-18 trade shows per year. I also had the luxury of running a division for a wholesale flooring company prior to launching that provided me with invaluable experience about how to structure and run a company as well as how to write and execute a business plan. Large scale scores are mostly a thing of the past. Of course they still exist, but not nearly like they did even 10 years ago. I'll give you an example. On my way to the first ever Wizard New Orleans show (2009ish?), I stopped in a store along the way and found a nice Incredible Hulk 181 which I purchased and later sold as a CGC 9.4. I did very well. There was also a nice Green Lantern 76 on the wall that day but it had a crimp along the top of the book. I was so new at identifying pressing candidates I passed on the book. A full year later I was driving back to New Orleans, knowing now that I had left a slam dunk upgrade candidate. Low and behold the book was still there. I purchased it, pressed and graded it, and it too came back a 9.4. That would never happen today. The market has become much, much, more efficient and there are local grinders everywhere now. I'd suspect a book like that wouldn't last 3 days anywhere now, let alone a full year! The Overstreet ads have really become nothing more than brand reinforcement. I routinely purchased 4-6 collections a year in those early years but didn't buy one deal last year as a result of the guide. Relationships, former customers, and other dealers are the main source of new material these days which means compressed margins. As hard as it was to build a brand 10 years ago, I'd guess it's 5-10X harder if someone were starting out today. Knowing what I know now, and how the landscape has changed, I'm not sure how feasible it would be to launch. That said, in no way am I trying to discourage you (or anyone else) from following your dream but I thought I'd give you some I-lived-it grass roots feedback. Good luck!

[october]

1 hour ago, gregreece said:

I get asked this a lot (can I go full time and make $$XXX/yr?). My answer is, if you are passionate about comics, and about truly building a business, you can succeed but it's many times harder than it was 10 years ago. There is no shortcut. I ran my business part time for a year and a half to try and ramp up inventory and a customer base. Even after that my first 2 full time years resulted in a loss of $30,000 the 1st year and a $35,000 profit my 2nd. I worked 70/hours a week those first two years and did 15-18 trade shows per year. I also had the luxury of running a division for a wholesale flooring company prior to launching that provided me with invaluable experience about how to structure and run a company as well as how to write and execute a business plan. Large scale scores are mostly a thing of the past. Of course they still exist, but not nearly like they did even 10 years ago. I'll give you an example. On my way to the first ever Wizard New Orleans show (2009ish?), I stopped in a store along the way and found a nice Incredible Hulk 181 which I purchased and later sold as a CGC 9.4. I did very well. There was also a nice Green Lantern 76 on the wall that day but it had a crimp along the top of the book. I was so new at identifying pressing candidates I passed on the book. A full year later I was driving back to New Orleans, knowing now that I had left a slam dunk upgrade candidate. Low and behold the book was still there. I purchased it, pressed and graded it, and it too came back a 9.4. That would never happen today. The market has become much, much, more efficient and there are local grinders everywhere now. I'd suspect a book like that wouldn't last 3 days anywhere now, let alone a full year! The Overstreet ads have really become nothing more than brand reinforcement. I routinely purchased 4-6 collections a year in those early years but didn't buy one deal last year as a result of the guide. Relationships, former customers, and other dealers are the main source of new material these days which means compressed margins. As hard as it was to build a brand 10 years ago, I'd guess it's 5-10X harder if someone were starting out today. Knowing what I know now, and how the landscape has changed, I'm not sure how feasible it would be to launch. That said, in no way am I trying to discourage you (or anyone else) from following your dream but I thought I'd give you some I-lived-it grass roots feedback. Good luck!

Lots of truth in this post. 

Competition at the local (and national) level has ramped up so much. Decent books, not excellent books, now last hours or MINUTES at local shops when they used to last days or weeks. It's insane. 

I found, at minimum, one large 1,000+ book high-grade OO silver and bronze collection a year from 2010 to 2016. Now? Forget it. I know 10x as much as I did then, but I am making half or 2/3rds as much. If I had to start over now knowledge-wise in this market it simply wouldn't be worth it. It's still very possible to find nice deals, but you have to be quick. No second guessing. 

Edited October 19, 2018 by october

[the blob]

Guys are posting "we buy comics" flyers in my neighborhood. No stone is getting left unturned.

[the blob]

Well someone here just picked up 150 long boxes. Some of it was good, as per the pictures. Dunno if that is all the good stuff out of the 150 or the first few boxes.

[mrwoogieman]

38 minutes ago, the blob said:

Guys are posting "we buy comics" flyers in my neighborhood. No stone is getting left unturned.

I posted flyers on some local supermarket bulletin boards years ago. Man, I've seen a lot of crappy comics!

[the blob]

35 minutes ago, mrwoogieman said:

I posted flyers on some local supermarket bulletin boards years ago. Man, I've seen a lot of crappy comics!

In my neck of the woods the dept of sanitation will send you a summons if the phone number can be linked to an address. I got one 21 years ago when I posted some flyers trying to rent my room in a share for the last 2 month's of the lease. Fascists.

[kav]

11 minutes ago, the blob said:

In my neck of the woods the dept of sanitation will send you a summons if the phone number can be linked to an address. I got one 21 years ago when I posted some flyers trying to rent my room in a share for the last 2 month's of the lease. Fascists.

Use drop phone folks.

[HouseofComics.Com]

6 hours ago, gregreece said:

I get asked this a lot (can I go full time and make $$XXX/yr?). My answer is, if you are passionate about comics, and about truly building a business, you can succeed but it's many times harder than it was 10 years ago.

And ten years ago Terry O'Neill told me he'd hate to be getting into the business now. Ie, back then. My point in saying that is not to say that people are always saying it's harder but rather to say that ten years ago may have been tougher than 20 years ago.

[HouseofComics.Com]

"former customers, ...   are the main source of new material these days"

That was my biggest takeaway from Terry's comment. Having the people you sold to for years now selling the books back to you was a big help.

[kimik]

5 hours ago, october said:

Lots of truth in this post. 

Competition at the local (and national) level has ramped up so much. Decent books, not excellent books, now last hours or MINUTES at local shops when they used to last days or weeks. It's insane. 

I found, at minimum, one large 1,000+ book high-grade OO silver and bronze collection a year from 2010 to 2016. Now? Forget it. I know 10x as much as I did then, but I am making half or 2/3rds as much. If I had to start over now knowledge-wise in this market it simply wouldn't be worth it. It's still very possible to find nice deals, but you have to be quick. No second guessing. 

There are still nice collections out there to land, but the question is whether you want the hassle of storing all of the slow selling books. I stopped buying collections on a regular basis a few years as a result of this and am very careful with buying them now. In most cases, you are better off just buying certain keys (even paying full GPA at auction), sitting on them for a couple of years, and then reselling them for a tidy profit. Hot moderns sell faster than a lot of SA/BA/CA books at shows.......

[SBRobin]

@moemaya how much did you pay for that 2500 collection?

[jsilverjanet]

About 3 years ago I was laid off work, I was already selling comics and decided to do it full time. I had a part time job doh g contract work that had travel so it helped in finding shops in areas I normally didn’t go to (non convention cities). I did great sales wise and probably could do it still (dedicate to it full time) but I got tired of paying for health insurance and decided 2 years ago to get a small full time job and continue to make comics my full time income. Well 2 years later I’m still working full time (now in a greater role at work) and have continued to maximize my online sales. It’s a lot hard work and much of my free time (that doesn’t involve my family) is dedicated to comics. Finding collections has certainly become harder as many have said (I hadn’t purchased any this year  till about June and even then I paid more than say 2-3 years ago) and the margins have certianly shrunk which has only made me work harder and more importantly smarter. 

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to evolve with the business and the trends. If you aren’t paying attention to the market, your region (where you buy and sell locally) then it’s very easy to lose your shirt. 

start slow, no need to hit 100k right away. 

Edited October 20, 2018 by jsilverjanet