vcac Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 (edited) We're helping a friend sell his childhood collection of Golden Age comics that have been carefully packed away for the past 65 years. There are hundreds, maybe a thousand, from 1947 through 1953, that appear to be in much better condition than a lot of what's selling on eBay. The first small batch sold easily for more than expected. So we regrouped, did a little more research, and got some advice. One expert suggested starting with a low opening bid to draw more interest, but the next small batch got very few views and some went to last minute bidders that took everything that hadn't been bid up. So we're regrouping again and would love to hear this great community's thoughts/advice. Please take a look at our eBay Store... https://ebay.com/usr/vintagecomicsandcards ...to see what we're doing there, let us know what we can improve, and help us get these awesome comics to people who appreciate them! We just created Instagram and Twitter accounts too. Anyplace else we should be reaching collectors? Edited November 3, 2020 by vcac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post KCOComics Posted November 3, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted November 3, 2020 Hi, From the few pictures I've seen the books look to be in really great shape. The titles I can see don't look particularly sought after and I suspect the high value books are gone. The easiest thing to do in my opinion is list them on ebay with a low starting bid, great pictures, and allow the market to figure out their value. Good luck! Point Five, szav, Incredible Pulp and 2 others 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcac Posted November 3, 2020 Author Share Posted November 3, 2020 1 hour ago, KCOComics said: Hi, From the few pictures I've seen the books look to be in really great shape. The titles I can see don't look particularly sought after and I suspect the high value books are gone. The easiest thing to do in my opinion is list them on ebay with a low starting bid, great pictures, and allow the market to figure out their value. Good luck! Thanks for taking a look and the thoughtful feedback! The first batch was literally from the first box opened. There are more boxes with comics that haven't been photographed yet. We believe some of the best are yet to come, but we have had a very hard time predicting desirability. They are ~90% Funny Animals, Cartoon Characters, and TV Shows (not more sought after Superheros). If anyone has any feedback on the latest photos, it would be very much appreciated. We're trying to capture the front cover, the middle (with the staples), and the back cover in natural (morning) light. We're not having them graded, so hoping the photos speak for themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcac Posted November 3, 2020 Author Share Posted November 3, 2020 (edited) Here's a typical set of photos for example... Front Cover with all edges visible: Middle with all edges (and staples?) visible: Back Cover with all edges visible: We try to use soft natural light and minimize shadows as much as possible. How can these photos be improved? Edited November 3, 2020 by vcac To clarify this post was seeking feedback on improving the photos... because we have lots more to photograph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifties Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 27 minutes ago, vcac said: They are ~90% Funny Animals, Cartoon Characters, and TV Shows. Hi, clicking on the link in your previous post just got me to the eBay home page. Regardless however, those genres won't bring much. You want horror, superhero, and crime with outrageous cover illustrations in order to bring home the bacon. vcac 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 (edited) First of all, the links you posted only take me to the overall ebay site, not to your listings. I don't know what's wrong with them. 2nd, from the example above you might not have many real desirable comics. You might want to buy an Overstreet Price guide, grade the books using the grading guidelines (ie., the Bambi is about a VG, a 4.0), and then offer them at half of whatever the guide says they are supposedly worth. I would avoid auctions on the lower grade and lower value books. Not many collectors will pay full guide for common comics... Oh, and I finally found your listings. I don't know where you got the opening bid prices for these, but some of them seem kinda high. Also, the words "awesome", "glorious", "really good", and "lovely" are not actual comic grading descriptions...using those will immediately label you as a non-comic person... Edited November 3, 2020 by Tri-ColorBrian waaaghboss and vcac 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 (edited) Also, if you are going to assign a grade to a book you better make sure you grade it conservatively...this Mickey Mouse you sold as a NM is not a NM. A NM comic does not have a corner crease anywhere on the covers...and your NM+ Comics and Stories below has a creased corner...so, just be prepared for a return and negative feedback from sales like this... Hope that helps a little... Edited November 3, 2020 by Tri-ColorBrian vcac and comicdonna 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCOComics Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 36 minutes ago, vcac said: How can these be improved? There really isn't anything you can do to improve them. Any type of "work" wouldn't improve the value in a meaningful way. Not worth the investment. You can check out sold prices on eBay and maybe over street price guide. Maybe you can do some lots to help some series together and lessen your work loud. Sell the most valuable ones individually. vcac 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCOComics Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 I still can't find the ebay page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 Just now, KCOComics said: I still can't find the ebay page. you have to search for them under "sellers" in the advanced search engine. it takes awhile, but you'll find it... KCOComics and vcac 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 (edited) Here's some more advice you probably won't like, but this book you currently have a starting bid of $125 on is way too high. This is a common book, no matter what the price guide says it is worth. Your copy is a VG+ at best. I would lower the bid to $50 and go from there. I doubt anyone will bid on it at the price you have started with...the front cover looks kinda nice, but the back cover creases kill it... Edited November 3, 2020 by Tri-ColorBrian vcac 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lou_fine Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 1 hour ago, vcac said: How can these be improved? 46 minutes ago, KCOComics said: There really isn't anything you can do to improve them. Any type of "work" wouldn't improve the value in a meaningful way. Not worth the investment. You can check out sold prices on eBay and maybe over street price guide. Maybe you can do some lots to help some series together and lessen your work loud. Sell the most valuable ones individually. I believe he really meant it more as his opinion with respect to the condition of the book (i.e. best that it can be) and not really asking how to improve the book. Of course, being comic book collectors which he clearly is not, we all know that his opinion as to the unimproveable condition of the 2 books are incorrect. vcac 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 2 minutes ago, lou_fine said: Of course, being comic book collectors which he clearly is not, we all know that his opinion as to the unimproveable condition of the 2 books are incorrect. This sounds like double-speak to me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCOComics Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 4 hours ago, lou_fine said: I believe he really meant it more as his opinion with respect to the condition of the book (i.e. best that it can be) and not really asking how to improve the book. Of course, being comic book collectors which he clearly is not, we all know that his opinion as to the unimproveable condition of the 2 books are incorrect. Sorry, I missed that! Got it! If you are concerned about grading, these boards have a "spare a grade" section. You can post up to 3 books a day and folks will grade them for you and can answer questions about condition. That will likely take a fair amount of work and I really think your best bet is to take good pictures and to start with a low bid. Don't assign a grade and ask buyers to grade for themselves. If your auctions aren't getting much attention it's because people aren't that interested in those particular books. When you come across something desirable, people will find it and bid. Just don't assign a grades like "NM" to a book because it could disappoint a buyer. vcac 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcac Posted November 3, 2020 Author Share Posted November 3, 2020 Thanks for the feedback so far! The first eBay link in our post isn't actualy a link. I tried to "remove" it, but there's nothing to remove. Is it possible when someone types eBay it automatically becomes a link? (We'll see if these two mentions also appear as links.) The second link is a direct link to our store... https://ebay.com/usr/vintagecomicsandcards ... it works when copy/pasted into a browser, but it doesn't get us all the way there when selected within these posts. "How can these be improved?" referred to the photos. More lighting? More closeups? Better look at the staples? We are not attempting to improve the condition of the books or to provide grading. That's why we've been avoiding grading terms and using non-grading language in more recent listings. We just don't have the expertise or time to deal with grading. Most of the current opening bids are based on comicspriceguide.com By default they show a 9.4 value next to search results, so we're going with 25% of that and accepting offers. We started bundling (up to 4 books) because we can ship those in our bubble envelopes. More than that and we'd have to use boxes or multiple envelopes. We do combine shipping when asked. We just made our first international shipment, so we'll see how that goes. As was correctly pointed out, we are not "comic book people". We're just trying to help an elderly friend/neighbor who doesn't have access to the Internet and trying to get these books to people who appreciate them. Thanks for your support! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
october Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 The link is correct if you copy and paste it into Chrome. It doesn't work if you just click on it for some reason....maybe the board software. vcac 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 (edited) As has been said, these books are sadly not very hot in the current marketplace. Not all old comics are worth big money. The folks that even know who Little Orphan Annie or Howdy Doody are are fewer and harder to find. These people just aren't seeking out these books any more. That being said, here are collectors of these. You have some that should do OK. Ebay is also flooded with books like this. Putting a full guide or over guide opening bid price will probably not result in good sales. Rarely do people bid like that unless they really want the book. Maybe forget price guides, start all at the same low opening bid and let the market decide. The older gentleman paid cover price. He is going to make a crazy return on his money anyway. Also, be careful packaging these books. Simply slippiing comics in padded envelopes offer zero protection for them. They need stiff cardboard or boxes otherwise, you are likely to get a lot of unhappy bidders. Selling old comics is a bit of work. Not just easy big money. But it can be done easily. Good luck with your auctions. Edited November 3, 2020 by Robot Man vcac and PopKulture 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post FlyingDonut Posted November 3, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted November 3, 2020 I sell books like this all the time. Your prices are way out of line with the market. Like WAY out of line. Overstreet is insanely high on these books - @Robot Man is exactly correct. There is very little demand for this kind of stuff. They will sell at a low price because someone will want to read it but the chance of this book, just as an example selling for your $125 list price is nearly zero. Badger, Randall Dowling, vcac and 2 others 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor K Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 (edited) 16 hours ago, vcac said: We're helping a friend sell his childhood collection of Golden Age comics that have been carefully packed away for the past 65 years. There are hundreds, maybe a thousand, from 1947 through 1953, that appear to be in much better condition than a lot of what's selling on eBay. The first small batch sold easily for more than expected. So we regrouped, did a little more research, and got some advice. One expert suggested starting with a low opening bid to draw more interest, but the next small batch got very few views and some went to last minute bidders that took everything that hadn't been bid up. So we're regrouping again and would love to hear this great community's thoughts/advice. Please take a look at our eBay Store... https://ebay.com/usr/vintagecomicsandcards ...to see what we're doing there, let us know what we can improve, and help us get these awesome comics to people who appreciate them! We just created Instagram and Twitter accounts too. Anyplace else we should be reaching collectors? Edit: I just saw you already have a eb ay sales page. Message deleted. Edited November 3, 2020 by Professor Chaos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 2 hours ago, FlyingDonut said: I sell books like this all the time. Your prices are way out of line with the market. Like WAY out of line. Overstreet is insanely high on these books - @Robot Man is exactly correct. There is very little demand for this kind of stuff. They will sell at a low price because someone will want to read it but the chance of this book, just as an example selling for your $125 list price is nearly zero. Out of all the books they have listed right now, only one has gotten bids...and it's an L.B.Cole Christmas cover. I think that pretty much validates our comments about over-pricing. Also, I made an offer for one book and they haven't approved or denied it yet...so maybe this isn't a high priority for them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
