My Sad (But Fun) Attempt to Sell Comics Out of the Overstreet Price Update 0

[WernerVonDoom]

Back in 1991, I bought a full page ad in the Overstreet Price Update to test to see if I could make some extra money selling my duplicate comics:

First off, the chances of making back the $400 cost of the was a major stretch.

Second, I didn't/don't have the temperament for sales. Not that I can't sell, but I just give away to much stuff. I was so happy that people placed orders, I would include a free comic with their order. And what I was giving away was nice copies of Amazing Adventures #1. And if someone ordered a second time, they'd get issue #2, and so on. One guy got up to Amazing Adventures #6.

The most popular purchase was Amazing Spider-Man #238. I had a couple, but ran out. So I spent my time driving to every Bay Area comic shop cleaning them out of NM copies.  Sorry if you live here and tried to find a copy, it was my fault.

Luckily, no one bought the FF 52s, Marvel Premiere #1s, Marvel Spotlight #2, Tomb of Dracula #10, of Marvel Super Heroes books.

Overall, I remember having a lot of fun, but selling through the mail back then was difficult and nowhere near profitable enough to continue (at least for me)..

 

[speedcake]

No one wanted your Tomb of Dracula  #10 in VF for seven lousy bucks? Lucky you!

Every time I see price lists like this, and this from 1991 no less!, I just shake my head at how much things have changed.

Thanks for sharing!

[WernerVonDoom]

58 minutes ago, speedcake said:

No one wanted your Tomb of Dracula  #10 in VF for seven lousy bucks? Lucky you!

Every time I see price lists like this, and this from 1991 no less!, I just shake my head at how much things have changed.

Thanks for sharing!

Yep, that was lucky. Can't believe it's been 30 years since I placed this. Ugh.

Edited March 22, 2021 by WernerVonDoom

[Shrevvy]

I loved those Overstreet Updates and have almost a complete run now. They are still fun to re-read. I placed ads in CBG during that time. They had a special ad rate that were four to a page (?) for something like $26. A friend and I would wait for our CBG to come in the mail and pour over those ads. You had to call fast or the good books would be gone. That first day was always one of both sales and buys. It was a fun time. Very different from today. I wish I had saved some of my ads. 

[Hollywood1892]

7 hours ago, WernerVonDoom said:

Back in 1991, I bought a full page ad in the Overstreet Price Update to test to see if I could make some extra money selling my duplicate comics:

First off, the chances of making back the $400 cost of the was a major stretch.

Second, I didn't/don't have the temperament for sales. Not that I can't sell, but I just give away to much stuff. I was so happy that people placed orders, I would include a free comic with their order. And what I was giving away was nice copies of Amazing Adventures #1. And if someone ordered a second time, they'd get issue #2, and so on. One guy got up to Amazing Adventures #6.

The most popular purchase was Amazing Spider-Man #238. I had a couple, but ran out. So I spent my time driving to every Bay Area comic shop cleaning them out of NM copies.  Sorry if you live here and tried to find a copy, it was my fault.

Luckily, no one bought the FF 52s, Marvel Premiere #1s, Marvel Spotlight #2, Tomb of Dracula #10, of Marvel Super Heroes books.

Overall, I remember having a lot of fun, but selling through the mail back then was difficult and nowhere near profitable enough to continue (at least for me)..

 

I'll take all of them 

[WernerVonDoom]

1 hour ago, Hollywood1892 said:

I'll take all of them 

It's funny. You could have - just this week I sold those same exact FF 52s on the boards here.

Not a shabby grader for back then either.  The VF or VF- graded as CGC 7.5 or 7.0.  The VG was either CGC 5.5 or 5.0 (R).

[WernerVonDoom]

3 hours ago, Shrevvy said:

I loved those Overstreet Updates and have almost a complete run now. They are still fun to re-read. I placed ads in CBG during that time. They had a special ad rate that were four to a page (?) for something like $26. A friend and I would wait for our CBG to come in the mail and pour over those ads. You had to call fast or the good books would be gone. That first day was always one of both sales and buys. It was a fun time. Very different from today. I wish I had saved some of my ads. 

Yeah I used to do the same with Motor City Comics' ad.  I'd call within minutes of getting it in the mail and 75% was already gone.

[the blob]

8 hours ago, speedcake said:

No one wanted your Tomb of Dracula  #10 in VF for seven lousy bucks? Lucky you!

Every time I see price lists like this, and this from 1991 no less!, I just shake my head at how much things have changed.

Thanks for sharing!

75% of those prices are current prices or more. But the keys and semi-keys have appreciated a lot.

[WernerVonDoom]

6 minutes ago, the blob said:

75% of those prices are current prices or more. But the keys and semi-keys have appreciated a lot.

I'm remembering more now. I think the only thing people really bought were Spider-Man and X-Men.  I must have sold 7-8 copies of ASM 300.  I had to scour shops for that one also (I only had 2 or 3). I'd buy them for $30 and sell them for $38.

[the blob]

thor 374 ... $8!

mid grade marvel tales!

most of the x-men in the 200s

ASM 285 and 289 being expensive books (ok, 289 is in the middle of making a comeback)

a lot of those prices are more than what you can get most of this stuff for now. of course, you probably paid a lot less than that.

it's just a reminder of how fragile the whole hobby was in terms of lack of liquidity for the average collector. to actually sell your stuff you had to lay out big money for an ad like this or pay for tables at shows. most comic shops would pay pennies on the dollar.

it's one of the things that turned me off to collecting circa 1985 or so. how the heck was I ever going to sell this stuff? the guide told me something was worth $10. the local shop would offer 5 cents. when I started up again in the 90s I was an adult and had a longer term view and knew I could rent a table at a show... and then ebay

 

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by the blob

[Qalyar]

Looking at old sell lists like this, there are always keys (and especially keys-in-retrospect) at silly period prices to make us all wish we'd stocked up then. But I'm always as interested to see the titles that used to be hot, but ... aren't.

The Vampire Lestat #1 for $20, eh? I think you can probably get the full 12 issue run for that now. I remember when it generated a ton of excitement, but I guess the shine has come off Anne Rice's star since then and the whole series has been sort of forgotten. That $25 NM Starslayer #2 hasn't really held up all that well, either; the Rocketeer's film didn't do that property any favors. And, personally, I have always hated that book's cover...

What even is Dragon's Quest #1? I don't see a lot of titles in these lists that I fail to recognize.

[the blob]

13 minutes ago, Qalyar said:

Looking at old sell lists like this, there are always keys (and especially keys-in-retrospect) at silly period prices to make us all wish we'd stocked up then. But I'm always as interested to see the titles that used to be hot, but ... aren't.

The Vampire Lestat #1 for $20, eh? I think you can probably get the full 12 issue run for that now. I remember when it generated a ton of excitement, but I guess the shine has come off Anne Rice's star since then and the whole series has been sort of forgotten. That $25 NM Starslayer #2 hasn't really held up all that well, either; the Rocketeer's film didn't do that property any favors. And, personally, I have always hated that book's cover...

What even is Dragon's Quest #1? I don't see a lot of titles in these lists that I fail to recognize.

yup. i have a lot of those anne rice comics, fished out of dollar boxes. the lestat series all had $15-$20 price tags on them. But dead now and they're not going to remake that movie, it was already practically perfectly done. when i bought them in the early 2000s they were still worth something, but i never got around to selling them. oh well. maybe there will be an anne rice comeback, but i doubt it. there hasn't been much buzz about her recent vampire books. i guess i'll have to file those away with my true blood comics.

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by the blob

[Inhuman Fiend]

That's awesome, thanks for posting. I love seeing the old prices...I put a couple of ads in CBG in the mid-80's when I was an insufficiently_thoughtful_person in college looking to sell my collection for basically beer money ...I have a copy of one of the ads somewhere, I'll post later for laughs.

BTW...that cover art by Liefeld is hilarious, always astounded/confused with his popularity back then! 

[Gatsby77]

Adding that Ghost Rider v2 was incredibly hot. 

$13 for # 2?

$8 for # 2?

And this was before 4-6 were even released. # 4 had the lowest distro of the early issues, and # 5 an instant classic with the Jim Lee Punisher cover...

I think I paid $8 each for # 1 and # 5 when #7 was still on the stands.

Also, if I recall correctly, Mile High Comics reported that Ghost Rider # 1 was their most sold back issue of the *year* in 1991. Makes sense, as it was affordable and not super rare enough that it was impossible to get, even at $12-$20 a copy. Whereas there simply weren't enough copies of New Mutants 87 to go around, even at $50-$75 per.

[the blob]

I see sooo many GR #2s now

[WernerVonDoom]

35 minutes ago, Qalyar said:

What even is Dragon's Quest #1?

No idea. 

[amatta]

Sadly, I don't think that the Sgt. Fury comics have moved much in price - said someone who has about 50 of them 

[adampasz]

Thanks for sharing. This is neat to read about. I always wondered about those sorts of ads from back in the day. I'm sure it was a ton of work to put all that together.

[Gatsby77]

1 hour ago, the blob said:

I see sooo many GR #2s now

I *loved* the early '90s Ghost Rider issues. At one point I think I had 18 copies of # 2 - all fished out of the dollar boxes.

And granted, it was ~11 years ago, but I eventually bought 4x copies of # 1 from Mile High for $4 apiece, plus got $20 in store credit for additional copies they couldn't fill...

[Gatsby77]

Excalibur (Special) and # 1 prices are still accurate for today (30 years later) as well.