Strategery forum for the flipper/junior dealer? 0

[the blob]

If you're buying purely for a flip, is the 50 cent/$1 box book that seems to be a good $5 seller worth it to you? I don't like messing around with $5 books on ebay, too time consuming, and nobody here wants to pay $5 for most $5 books, but that doesn't stop me from sometimes buying stuff like this. Today's $5 book has $10 potential.... With that said, when factoring in the cost of shipping, it is amazing to me how many folks seem to be willing to pay $9-12 total for what feels to me like $2 or less books, but I suppose folks in some places do not want to shlep around for stuff. 

I ask because the other day I bought a few copies of a book i already have and I know it is like a $5 seller and said "what the heck I'll get a few more for 50 cents" ... On an unrelated note i am quite happy that the shop in question actually understands NY sales taxes ... the 50 cent books are not taxed because they are all under their original cover price ... Basically, for NY at least, ebay is collecting a lot of sales tax on cheap comic sales that should not be taxed (although the shipping is taxable, which is so irritating), but tell that to ebay...I don't know about other states

[speedcake]

If I had an endless supply of .50 comics that I could reliably flip for five bucks I would do it all day. Until I had enough to move up the ranks. A handful here and there isn't really worth it other than the fun factor (and it does add up over time), but if you are able to say fill a short box somewhat regularly with buck or under books that sell for 5 or more bucks each then IMO that's a pretty good little start .

Edited January 26, 2021 by speedcake

[shadroch]

My sweet spot is finding books for $40-$65 that I'm pretty confident I can get $100 on MCS.  30%net  profit on $1,000 worth of sales adds up.

[the blob]

1 hour ago, shadroch said:

My sweet spot is finding books for $40-$65 that I'm pretty confident I can get $100 on MCS.  30%net  profit on $1,000 worth of sales adds up.

yeah, if you can find them, that's great. although kind of hard to be sure how they're going to grade them outside of a cgc case.

 

[Ryan.]

1 hour ago, the blob said:

yeah, if you can find them, that's great. although kind of hard to be sure how they're going to grade them outside of a cgc case.

 

Once you submit enough to them you get a feel for how they grade raws, and can start accurately predicting what their grades will be. You also get a feel for what kind of stuff sells better in their weekly auctions vs prime auctions vs fixed consignment. I use them, and buy from them, as much as possible now. The only real downside to listing with them is that it generally takes 2-3 weeks to getting your books posted on the site but having them do all the work makes it worth it. 

[shadroch]

MCS is way behind on processing, and even suspended accepting new consignments for a few days. Evidently several of their consignment people are doing the ten day stay at home after possible exposure thing. Hopefully, they are well, or get better  and things return to normal soon.  The results from their prime auction was very strong , for my books anyway.

[shadroch]

1 hour ago, the blob said:

yeah, if you can find them, that's great. although kind of hard to be sure how they're going to grade them outside of a cgc case.

 

 

Which brings us back to the thrill of the hunt.....

[jimjum12]

1 hour ago, the blob said:

yeah, if you can find them, that's great. although kind of hard to be sure how they're going to grade them outside of a cgc case.

 

I think it was you who once said to not quit your day job. It's easy to make $ 500 a month but $ 5000 a month is a whole different story ... and that is SO true.... unless you're already flush with capital. GOD BLESS ....

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[the blob]

1 hour ago, jimjum12 said:

I think it was you who once said to not quit your day job. It's easy to make $ 500 a month but $ 5000 a month is a whole different story ... and that is SO true.... unless you're already flush with capital. GOD BLESS ....

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

definitely. unless you have a steady flow of high dollar books and a warehouse of good stuff acquired at 70s and 80s prices I cannot fathom how folks here could replicate the upper middle class / middle age paycheck most of us here make (I know I am generalizing, my apologies). Selling $120K a year in books seems like a ton of books and what kind of profit margin can expected after a true accounting of costs? 25-50%?

[jimjum12]

25 minutes ago, the blob said:

definitely. unless you have a steady flow of high dollar books and a warehouse of good stuff acquired at 70s and 80s prices I cannot fathom how folks here could replicate the upper middle class / middle age paycheck most of us here make (I know I am generalizing, my apologies). Selling $120K a year in books seems like a ton of books and what kind of profit margin can expected after a true accounting of costs? 25-50%?

... and being a collectible, almost a third of the profit goes back into Federal and State taxes .... so you need at least 30 % "profit" to get to the point where you're working your arse off for nothing. Still it can be a good side gig. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[the blob]

16 minutes ago, jimjum12 said:

... and being a collectible, almost a third of the profit goes back into Federal and State taxes .... so you need at least 30 % "profit" to get to the point where you're working your arse off for nothing. Still it can be a good side gig. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

If you do enough volume I think it may be adviseable to file as a business and pay that tax rate. That creates a whole other set of issues though, which we've touched on in other threads, and warrant discussion with a tax professional.

[Brock]

It seems to me that a better model is to buy the books at 50 cents, group them in lots of 5 or 6, and sell them for $25 to $30.

This reduces the listing/processing time and investment, while reducing the shipping cost per book (making the overall price more attractive to the buyer).

[speedcake]

58 minutes ago, the blob said:

definitely. unless you have a steady flow of high dollar books and a warehouse of good stuff acquired at 70s and 80s prices I cannot fathom how folks here could replicate the upper middle class / middle age paycheck most of us here make (I know I am generalizing, my apologies). Selling $120K a year in books seems like a ton of books and what kind of profit margin can expected after a true accounting of costs? 25-50%?

I sold 6k worth of books since last October to fund my X-men 1 and it was exhausting. I'd do it full time if I had the resources, but it's definitely not glamourous work.

[jimjum12]

1 minute ago, the blob said:

If you do enough volume I think it may be adviseable to file as a business and pay that tax rate. That creates a whole other set of issues though, which we've touched on in other threads, and warrant discussion with a tax professional.

I already do that. I use an accountant from a nationwide firm that will represent me if any auditing occurs. I find it difficult to achieve cash flow AND reach a profit of 30%. It's a lot more work than most realize. I find that running one "sales thread" or mass listing once per month worked best, but you're still at the mercy of supply.... sometimes it's just not there. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

... I still have a lot to learn ... 

[littledoom]

Typically selling stuff on ebay for less than $20 isn't worth the time... A couple days ago the shipping rates increased also... Buying a comic for .50 to 5 to sell for $10 on ebay doesn't really make sense.... but say you buy two of those and sell them in a lot for $20-30 is good.

[the blob]

1 hour ago, Brock said:

It seems to me that a better model is to buy the books at 50 cents, group them in lots of 5 or 6, and sell them for $25 to $30.

This reduces the listing/processing time and investment, while reducing the shipping cost per book (making the overall price more attractive to the buyer).

Yeah, but outside of minis and story arcs I don't think you get full value that way unless someone happens to want all 5 books. People seem to be looking for specific things and MAY not be willing to pay extra for books beyond their goal. 

[the blob]

1 hour ago, littledoom said:

Typically selling stuff on ebay for less than $20 isn't worth the time... A couple days ago the shipping rates increased also... Buying a comic for .50 to 5 to sell for $10 on ebay doesn't really make sense.... but say you buy two of those and sell them in a lot for $20-30 is good.

I am ok with $10 listings, though they may sell for $8 after offers. I hope someone buys multiple items 

[William-James88]

I don't think so. When I think of profitable flipping, I think of people going to comic stores, buying the best looking versions of the books that are supposed to be hot or variants and then sending them to CGC in bulk for the 9.8 check. But hey, I honestly prefer your kind of flipping, it has a hunting element to it and it's older books everyone already had a chance to own. It has a discovery element to it rather than any greedy factor to it.

Edited January 27, 2021 by William-James88

[shadroch]

2 hours ago, speedcake said:

I sold 6k worth of books since last October to fund my X-men 1 and it was exhausting. I'd do it full time if I had the resources, but it's definitely not glamourous work.

Since the time this thread started I've sold $1300  worth of books. One sold on its own, the other required me to respond to three emails.

All were bought in the last five years and I did alright with them.   

[speedcake]

12 minutes ago, shadroch said:

Since the time this thread started I've sold $1300  worth of books. One sold on its own, the other required me to respond to three emails.

All were bought in the last five years and I did alright with them.   

way different kind of books, I'm thinkin