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Selling big-ticket restored comics on-line... EDIT: test case... Avengers #1 8.5 (R)... results in...
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22 posts in this topic

Anybody have experience with this? Referring mostly to eBay here... do you do a BIN, or just let it rip at auction and hope for the best? I have a few monster keys to move... I feel like the auction would be the best way... but I’m a little...

 

:fear::fear::fear:

...nervous. LOL 

Edited by oldrover
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Maybe 8 years ago I sold my restored major keys - Showcase 4, AF 15, Batman 225 and Showcase 22 - via ComicLink. 

These are all books that - even restored - appreciate in value decently. Not as much as unrestored. But have gone up in price. Just thought I'd mention that. 

The answer to your question needs another question first.  Do you REALLY want to sell them? Or do you only want to sell them if you get what YOU FEEL they are worth?  If you really want to sell, you don't need to ask. Put them in an auction. There are good reasons to use an auction house that specializes in comic books & comic art when selling big books. It takes a lot of risk and exposure off the seller. 

You also don't mention if the books are already professionally graded and encapsulated (CGC) Big books really need to be.  They will sell easier, faster and usually for more money. They minimize returns (on say eBay) and eliminate returns from places like ComicLink, Comic Connect and Heritage. 

Sellers setting BIN prices for restored books typically try to follow some "rule" like one half of unrestored. But it doesn't actually work that way. It's a sliding scale.  Low grade restored keys might bring almost two thirds of unrestored. High grade 20-25%. Very high grade - 9.4 and above - often only sell for 10% of what an unrestored copy would bring.  AF 15 CGC 9.6 sold for 1.1 million dollars. A restored copy same grade $86,000. An unrestored 9.4 sold for $705,000. Restored $28,000.

So it's hard to know what to actually price restored books at.  Which again makes an auction appealing. If your issues are really "monster" keys, selling them via auction from one of the auction houses instead of eBay brings them to the attention of  the maximum number of serious collectors. 

Edited by Tony S
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1 hour ago, Tony S said:

You also don't mention if the books are already professionally graded and encapsulated (CGC)

They are. And I’d say they compare with the titles you sold.  AF15, FF1, JIM83, Avengers 1, etc. 

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10 minutes ago, oldrover said:

Well, I’m gonna do a test... I have an Avengers 1 8.5 with small CT and trim... gonna auction it. I paid under a grand for it, so I think I’m pretty safe ROI wise. My guess is it comes back at about $3500. We shall see. 

Where are you auctioning?

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Just now, Unstoppablejayd said:

Where are you auctioning?

eBay. I saw a 5.0 get about $2800 there recently... so I figured, what the heck. And the small PLODs I’ve sold I’ve done okay with. I sold an XMen 2 for $600, that would normally sell for maybe 900. I initially thought this book could get $6000... but I’m thinking now that was pie in the sky. Eh, who knows... I took a chance on buying these books back in the day... now it’s time to roll those dice. :)

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14 minutes ago, Bird said:

is it listed yet? I don't see one like this. Please put the link here, not as a sales ad but for research purposes.

It starts at 10 tonight, running for 10 days. Once it’s live, I’ll post the link. 

EDIT: Definitely not trying to sell it here. This is the land of PLOD  shunning. ;)

EDIT 2: Somebody early on said to run your eBay auctions Thursday to Sunday... covers 2 weekends. It’s worked out pretty well for me in general. 

Edited by oldrover
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On 3/31/2019 at 11:09 PM, oldrover said:

Auction ended... $4600. More than I thought. Hey...

2xfvig.gif

I was following it and wondered what you thought of the result. Thanks for updating us!

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36 minutes ago, Bird said:

I was following it and wondered what you thought of the result. Thanks for updating us!

At that high grade, I was figuring an 85% haircut off Universal. So maybe $3500. This did over a grand better. Happy with that. :) Hey, I paid $800 for the book. 

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53 minutes ago, oldrover said:

At that high grade, I was figuring an 85% haircut off Universal. So maybe $3500. This did over a grand better. Happy with that. :) Hey, I paid $800 for the book. 

I think you excluded CGC fees.

However Congratulations!!!

Edited by JollyComics
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