Side Hustle Blues 3 3

[Conacon]

Comics have been a hobby since I was old enough to have a hobby. Somewhere around '85, the parents bought us a collectors kit for beginners that included a long box, bags, and a "grab bag" of random comics. From there, I've been an on and off collector (I skipped the mid-90's completely). Now with a growing family, I've pared down my pull list to a few titles and I try not to pick up much else for the PC. Most of my buying now if for my side hustle. I've been fortunate this year with hunting down cheap deals at flea markets and antique stores and flipping them on Ebay. I've turned a lot of $2 buys into $20 sells. At first, it was just to balance out what I was spending on the PC per month, but this summer I decided to see how much I could make with as little work as possible on it. Here's a recent story that has me hooked in to the point I have to talk myself out of it. 

There's a guy with two posts on Marketplace. One had three early Ghost Riders and one had X-Men 69 (1971) for sale and in the description he says, "just a few of a large collection". So naturally I hit him up to see this large collection. He handed me off to his wife on Messenger and she sent me a list five pages long from a spiral. About 125 comics. I could see that she'd done some preliminary research, but the prices were way up there. She said most of the comics were in perfect condition with nothing wrong with them. There were some gems- Joker 1, Doctor Strange 1, Phantom Stranger 14, Fantastic Four 112, Detective 408, Amazing Spider-Man 98 and 100 to name a few off the top of my head. I took the list and priced it with Ebay sales, making one list with their minimum sales and one with conservative high sales. They were asking $500 and the minimum list hit around $450, so I arranged to meet. I made a list of the big titles b/c I needed them to be in good shape to make the deal worthwhile to me. We met at a local public place and the couple brought in a tub full of comics.

Side note: These were found while cleaning out a property. The owner was a hoarder and filled up his house, so he began stuffing things in camping tents in his back yard. They found the comics in a tent so packed with junk, they had to cut it open. To my disappointment, the comics were of course beat up. Some had gotten folded/twisted while wet and dried that way. Over half of them had mildew/mold spots on the front and back covers. I dug in and pulled out the ones from the key list I made. None of them were over a 5.0 and the Joker wasn't even there. Their coworker made off with it. The lady assured me she would get it from him, but I told her I was out at $500. I explained condition, spine tics, mildew/mold, etc. She admitted pricing through mycomicshop.com and I told her those prices were a little inflated b/c it's a sales site. Plus, her concept of condition was not reality-based. I told them to list it as one big lot and maybe a collector would buy it for the keys. All of the comics were from '68-'74 and had several DC and Marvel horror titles, so it would be enticing for someone willing to scrap half of the lot. I thanked them for their time and left empty-handed. 

A week later, she messages me that they would take $125 b/c they didn't want to go through the trouble of selling them in pieces. UGH! Even my 11 year old daughter is telling me not to do it. I have 1,000 comics outside of my PC that are stack and unprotected (to be used for grab bags eventually). I can't risk contaminating my garage, right? Well now I see that the X-Men 69 sold and I'm thinking, "I can flip the non-moldy comics by the issue for a profit at $125!" 

Somebody please chain me to the dog house in the back yard, b/c I'm having a hard time staying away from that deal! Perhaps posting a few pics of moldy comics would steel my resolve? 

 

[romanheart]

The title of this thread should be the title of a comic book. You should trademark it.

[revat]

10 minutes ago, Conacon said:

Comics have been a hobby since I was old enough to have a hobby. Somewhere around '85, the parents bought us a collectors kit for beginners that included a long box, bags, and a "grab bag" of random comics. From there, I've been an on and off collector (I skipped the mid-90's completely). Now with a growing family, I've pared down my pull list to a few titles and I try not to pick up much else for the PC. Most of my buying now if for my side hustle. I've been fortunate this year with hunting down cheap deals at flea markets and antique stores and flipping them on Ebay. I've turned a lot of $2 buys into $20 sells. At first, it was just to balance out what I was spending on the PC per month, but this summer I decided to see how much I could make with as little work as possible on it. Here's a recent story that has me hooked in to the point I have to talk myself out of it. 

There's a guy with two posts on Marketplace. One had three early Ghost Riders and one had X-Men 69 (1971) for sale and in the description he says, "just a few of a large collection". So naturally I hit him up to see this large collection. He handed me off to his wife on Messenger and she sent me a list five pages long from a spiral. About 125 comics. I could see that she'd done some preliminary research, but the prices were way up there. She said most of the comics were in perfect condition with nothing wrong with them. There were some gems- Joker 1, Doctor Strange 1, Phantom Stranger 14, Fantastic Four 112, Detective 408, Amazing Spider-Man 98 and 100 to name a few off the top of my head. I took the list and priced it with Ebay sales, making one list with their minimum sales and one with conservative high sales. They were asking $500 and the minimum list hit around $450, so I arranged to meet. I made a list of the big titles b/c I needed them to be in good shape to make the deal worthwhile to me. We met at a local public place and the couple brought in a tub full of comics.

Side note: These were found while cleaning out a property. The owner was a hoarder and filled up his house, so he began stuffing things in camping tents in his back yard. They found the comics in a tent so packed with junk, they had to cut it open. To my disappointment, the comics were of course beat up. Some had gotten folded/twisted while wet and dried that way. Over half of them had mildew/mold spots on the front and back covers. I dug in and pulled out the ones from the key list I made. None of them were over a 5.0 and the Joker wasn't even there. Their coworker made off with it. The lady assured me she would get it from him, but I told her I was out at $500. I explained condition, spine tics, mildew/mold, etc. She admitted pricing through mycomicshop.com and I told her those prices were a little inflated b/c it's a sales site. Plus, her concept of condition was not reality-based. I told them to list it as one big lot and maybe a collector would buy it for the keys. All of the comics were from '68-'74 and had several DC and Marvel horror titles, so it would be enticing for someone willing to scrap half of the lot. I thanked them for their time and left empty-handed. 

A week later, she messages me that they would take $125 b/c they didn't want to go through the trouble of selling them in pieces. UGH! Even my 11 year old daughter is telling me not to do it. I have 1,000 comics outside of my PC that are stack and unprotected (to be used for grab bags eventually). I can't risk contaminating my garage, right? Well now I see that the X-Men 69 sold and I'm thinking, "I can flip the non-moldy comics by the issue for a profit at $125!" 

Somebody please chain me to the dog house in the back yard, b/c I'm having a hard time staying away from that deal! Perhaps posting a few pics of moldy comics would steel my resolve? 

 

if its not too much trouble to meet, tell her you'll come take another look.  Then break out three 20's or six 10's or whatever amount of cash, and just pull out the cash and spread it out in your hand and offer it.

"You're already here, you brought the comics, you didn't pay anything for them, and there's fresh cash in hand for you.  Today. NOW.  Your comics are getting moldier and less valuable everyday, and its not fun to meet comic-loving strangers you met online.  How many more times do you want to do this?"

Edited October 17, 2019 by revat

[Krismusic]

13 minutes ago, Conacon said:

Comics have been a hobby since I was old enough to have a hobby. Somewhere around '85, the parents bought us a collectors kit for beginners that included a long box, bags, and a "grab bag" of random comics. From there, I've been an on and off collector (I skipped the mid-90's completely). Now with a growing family, I've pared down my pull list to a few titles and I try not to pick up much else for the PC. Most of my buying now if for my side hustle. I've been fortunate this year with hunting down cheap deals at flea markets and antique stores and flipping them on Ebay. I've turned a lot of $2 buys into $20 sells. At first, it was just to balance out what I was spending on the PC per month, but this summer I decided to see how much I could make with as little work as possible on it. Here's a recent story that has me hooked in to the point I have to talk myself out of it. 

There's a guy with two posts on Marketplace. One had three early Ghost Riders and one had X-Men 69 (1971) for sale and in the description he says, "just a few of a large collection". So naturally I hit him up to see this large collection. He handed me off to his wife on Messenger and she sent me a list five pages long from a spiral. About 125 comics. I could see that she'd done some preliminary research, but the prices were way up there. She said most of the comics were in perfect condition with nothing wrong with them. There were some gems- Joker 1, Doctor Strange 1, Phantom Stranger 14, Fantastic Four 112, Detective 408, Amazing Spider-Man 98 and 100 to name a few off the top of my head. I took the list and priced it with Ebay sales, making one list with their minimum sales and one with conservative high sales. They were asking $500 and the minimum list hit around $450, so I arranged to meet. I made a list of the big titles b/c I needed them to be in good shape to make the deal worthwhile to me. We met at a local public place and the couple brought in a tub full of comics.

Side note: These were found while cleaning out a property. The owner was a hoarder and filled up his house, so he began stuffing things in camping tents in his back yard. They found the comics in a tent so packed with junk, they had to cut it open. To my disappointment, the comics were of course beat up. Some had gotten folded/twisted while wet and dried that way. Over half of them had mildew/mold spots on the front and back covers. I dug in and pulled out the ones from the key list I made. None of them were over a 5.0 and the Joker wasn't even there. Their coworker made off with it. The lady assured me she would get it from him, but I told her I was out at $500. I explained condition, spine tics, mildew/mold, etc. She admitted pricing through mycomicshop.com and I told her those prices were a little inflated b/c it's a sales site. Plus, her concept of condition was not reality-based. I told them to list it as one big lot and maybe a collector would buy it for the keys. All of the comics were from '68-'74 and had several DC and Marvel horror titles, so it would be enticing for someone willing to scrap half of the lot. I thanked them for their time and left empty-handed. 

A week later, she messages me that they would take $125 b/c they didn't want to go through the trouble of selling them in pieces. UGH! Even my 11 year old daughter is telling me not to do it. I have 1,000 comics outside of my PC that are stack and unprotected (to be used for grab bags eventually). I can't risk contaminating my garage, right? Well now I see that the X-Men 69 sold and I'm thinking, "I can flip the non-moldy comics by the issue for a profit at $125!" 

Somebody please chain me to the dog house in the back yard, b/c I'm having a hard time staying away from that deal! Perhaps posting a few pics of moldy comics would steel my resolve? 

 

do it buy the moldy books just keep them away from your PC to make sure it doesn't have a potential to cross contaminant.

[D84]

Only buy them if you need kindling. 

[BlowUpTheMoon]

1 hour ago, Conacon said:

• They found the comics in a tent so packed with junk, they had to cut it open.
• To my disappointment, the comics were of course beat up. Some had gotten folded/twisted while wet and dried that way.
• Over half of them had mildew/mold spots on the front and back covers.
• I dug in and pulled out the ones from the key list I made. None of them were over a 5.0 

Stay away.

[Bronty]

1 hour ago, Conacon said:

Comics have been a hobby since I was old enough to have a hobby. Somewhere around '85, the parents bought us a collectors kit for beginners that included a long box, bags, and a "grab bag" of random comics. From there, I've been an on and off collector (I skipped the mid-90's completely). Now with a growing family, I've pared down my pull list to a few titles and I try not to pick up much else for the PC. Most of my buying now if for my side hustle. I've been fortunate this year with hunting down cheap deals at flea markets and antique stores and flipping them on Ebay. I've turned a lot of $2 buys into $20 sells. At first, it was just to balance out what I was spending on the PC per month, but this summer I decided to see how much I could make with as little work as possible on it. Here's a recent story that has me hooked in to the point I have to talk myself out of it. 

There's a guy with two posts on Marketplace. One had three early Ghost Riders and one had X-Men 69 (1971) for sale and in the description he says, "just a few of a large collection". So naturally I hit him up to see this large collection. He handed me off to his wife on Messenger and she sent me a list five pages long from a spiral. About 125 comics. I could see that she'd done some preliminary research, but the prices were way up there. She said most of the comics were in perfect condition with nothing wrong with them. There were some gems- Joker 1, Doctor Strange 1, Phantom Stranger 14, Fantastic Four 112, Detective 408, Amazing Spider-Man 98 and 100 to name a few off the top of my head. I took the list and priced it with Ebay sales, making one list with their minimum sales and one with conservative high sales. They were asking $500 and the minimum list hit around $450, so I arranged to meet. I made a list of the big titles b/c I needed them to be in good shape to make the deal worthwhile to me. We met at a local public place and the couple brought in a tub full of comics.

Side note: These were found while cleaning out a property. The owner was a hoarder and filled up his house, so he began stuffing things in camping tents in his back yard. They found the comics in a tent so packed with junk, they had to cut it open. To my disappointment, the comics were of course beat up. Some had gotten folded/twisted while wet and dried that way. Over half of them had mildew/mold spots on the front and back covers. I dug in and pulled out the ones from the key list I made. None of them were over a 5.0 and the Joker wasn't even there. Their coworker made off with it. The lady assured me she would get it from him, but I told her I was out at $500. I explained condition, spine tics, mildew/mold, etc. She admitted pricing through mycomicshop.com and I told her those prices were a little inflated b/c it's a sales site. Plus, her concept of condition was not reality-based. I told them to list it as one big lot and maybe a collector would buy it for the keys. All of the comics were from '68-'74 and had several DC and Marvel horror titles, so it would be enticing for someone willing to scrap half of the lot. I thanked them for their time and left empty-handed. 

A week later, she messages me that they would take $125 b/c they didn't want to go through the trouble of selling them in pieces. UGH! Even my 11 year old daughter is telling me not to do it. I have 1,000 comics outside of my PC that are stack and unprotected (to be used for grab bags eventually). I can't risk contaminating my garage, right? Well now I see that the X-Men 69 sold and I'm thinking, "I can flip the non-moldy comics by the issue for a profit at $125!" 

Somebody please chain me to the dog house in the back yard, b/c I'm having a hard time staying away from that deal! Perhaps posting a few pics of moldy comics would steel my resolve? 

 

These comics sound like straight garbage.   keep your money.

[Dick Pontoon]

Nothing better than a 5.0 and mildew and mold to boot? Forget it.

[F For Fake]

Agreed, there are other fish in the sea. If the stuff is rotting, I'd pass.

[1950's war comics]

it;s hardly even worth the gas to go get that collection...

[Hollywood1892]

3 hours ago, Conacon said:

Now with a growing family,Even my 11 year old daughter is telling me not to do it.

Somebody please chain me to the dog house in the back yard

 

I feel like I'm in the same boat with buying comics at the moment and trying to build a life with those you share everything with. Everytime I want to buy something my GF response is "Nope"

First appearance of Morbius 8.0 sold for $680 Canadian in auction. Passed

ASM 300 9.8 sold for $2650 Canadian I'm confident I could have gotten the seller down a couple more hundred. Passed

New Mutants 98 9.8 $850 Canadian. Passed

Batman Damned 1 10 gem mint $280 CDN at auction. Passed.

There are many more.

There needs to be a section for grief counseling on the boards.

Edited October 17, 2019 by Hollywood1892

[badback83]

Hard pass. 
 

By the way, does anyone else cringe and get annoyed at the term “side hustle”, or is it just me?

[D84]

12 minutes ago, DocHoppus182 said:

Hard pass. 
 

By the way, does anyone else cringe and get annoyed at the term “side hustle”, or is it just me?

When I hear "side hustle," I assume it's illegal outside of Nevada.

[Hollywood1892]

8 minutes ago, Boltman1937 said:

Sounds like a smart lady. Except for dating you, of course 

I'm charming, or charmed. One of the two

[the blob]

2 hours ago, DocHoppus182 said:

Hard pass. 
 

By the way, does anyone else cringe and get annoyed at the term “side hustle”, or is it just me?

Prefer junior dealer or junior flipper?

[badback83]

22 minutes ago, the blob said:

Prefer junior dealer or junior flipper?

Hmm.  I prefer people stop saying “side hustle”.  It makes them sound like they’re a 46 year old dad trying to relate to their 14 year old son who smokes weed.0

[the blob]

1 hour ago, DocHoppus182 said:

Hmm.  I prefer people stop saying “side hustle”.  It makes them sound like they’re a 46 year old dad trying to relate to their 14 year old son who smokes weed.0

I get it. And for the record I am 47 and my 14 year old does not smoke weed. He has a Mexican Pepsi and honey bun addiction. Not that worrisome as he is 5'9" and 120, so he can indulge. But I live in Krooklyn so I use the urban lingo. I need to go do some more listings for my side hustle.

Edited October 18, 2019 by the blob

[speedcake]

So this is Rounders and you are Mike explaining to Joey Knish how you got lucky with one hand against one of the great ones, so now you are gonna spend all your money in Vegas and be a baller.  Even if your girlfriend leaves you over it.

got it. 

Good luck!

[badback83]

45 minutes ago, speedcake said:

So this is Rounders and you are Mike explaining to Joey Knish how you got lucky with one hand against one of the great ones, so now you are gonna spend all your money in Vegas and be a baller.  Even if your girlfriend leaves you over it.

got it. 

Good luck!

I do like the movie.  

[speedcake]

Just now, DocHoppus182 said:

I do like the movie.  

Me, too! Ive seen it too many times.

OP talking about a $125 comic book deal like it’s gonna pay off the house has got me like