Selling Large Collection Piecemeal 1 1

[heyyybrotherrr]

Hi! I've posted on this forum before about a large collection of comics that I inherited. I have bagged and boarded, boxed, and categorized all of the comics. Now, I want to start selling. I want to start with the mid-tier comics (not valuable enough to grade but will probably get more than a buck or two. Some may even get between 10-100.) However, I want to get some expert opinions on the best way to go about selling. I've decided I want to start by making posts on Reddit "Comic Swap" and this CGC site. For those of you who have sold a lot of comics, what do you think is the best way to go about it? What mistakes did you make along the way? Some things I've been thinking about:

Is there equipment that makes this process more efficient and can offset costs in the long run? 

Best payment option? It looks like Reddit "comic swap" prefers Paypal: Goods and Services. What's your experience with this method? Safe?

Best way to package? Best way to ship? Least expensive option? When you sell, do you include these overhead costs in the price?

What's a realistic turnaround time that buyers expect? I work full-time, so this will be a side gig for me. Do buyers expect sellers to get the comics out ASAP? I imagine this might be more of a case-by-case basis situation. 

Return policy? I do not grade comics - many of these comics have been bagged and boarded for 20+ years. Can I "ballpark" it? I plan to include pictures of each comic, which will probably take care of most of these issues. 

Thanks in advance. If anyone is super experienced in this area and would not mind me picking your brain, please direct message me. I would appreciate it!

Cheers!

 

 

[shadroch]

New sellers offering ballpark grading will need to have some mighty fine books to make it worthwhile, imo. 

Most sellers seem to use Priority mail. You can get it at discounted prices via the internet. They will send you free boxes and you can have them picked up at your home or work.

Most people use paypal. 

If you need five days to ship, say that in advance. Three days seems to be the norm but the important thing is to keep the sellers in the loop.

Packing is hands on learning. Plenty of videos on youtube  for you, and mycomicshop.com has a page devoted to how to pack comics for shipping.

[KCOComics]

52 minutes ago, shadroch said:

New sellers offering ballpark grading will need to have some mighty fine books to make it worthwhile, imo. 

Most sellers seem to use Priority mail. You can get it at discounted prices via the internet. They will send you free boxes and you can have them picked up at your home or work.

Most people use paypal. 

If you need five days to ship, say that in advance. Three days seems to be the norm but the important thing is to keep the sellers in the loop.

Packing is hands on learning. Plenty of videos on youtube  for you, and mycomicshop.com has a page devoted to how to pack comics for shipping.

This is excellent advice. 

Payment - PayPal G&S is pretty standard. Checks and Money orders are also standard. 

Shipping - you can post in the thread "all books ship on Friday".  I would stick to what you say.  If a person with no history starts stringing out shipping, buyers may lose trust. 

Grading - with big books, use the Spare a Grade section and reference the post in your thread. 

For less valuable books you can ballpark, but explain you aren't an experienced grader and buyers should make their own determination.  

Post clear pictures or scans of the front and back cover. 

Packing - there are YouTube videos and you can also get mailers that make it easier, but will increase your costs. Firm cardboard and bubble wrap is my go to. 

Return Policy - in your situation, I would be lenient. 7 days from receipt of the book, no questions asked. 

Why so lenient? Because you are new at this. Some things vets might pick up on you might miss. A missing Marvel Value Stamp, rusty staples with transfer, loose centerfolds you wouldn't necessarily look for. You want to be reasonable and make an honest effort to have a fair deal. This is a community of sorts afterall. 

 

Good luck - feel free to DM me with questions. I'm not exactly a power seller, but I've run a handful of successful sales thread. 

Unfortunately for my bank account, I've been a power buyer at times. 

[ExNihilo]

When packaging the books, dear God, please make sure the corners are protected.  I've seen enough eBay sellers send books that jostle around inside the box and arrives with dinged corners.  When sending books, I'll sandwich them between some cardboard.  The cardboard dimensions will leave about an extra inch on all sides and the books will be taped to the middle of the cardboard to ensure they don't move around.  If you're shipping more than a few books, best to sandwich the books in groups of 4-6 or whatever seems comfortable.  Also, I use blue tape as it's easily removable.  Applying packaging tape directly to comic bags is a quick way to ruin the bag.  When packaging, be sure not to place undue pressure on the spine of any books as that can create creases that weren't there in your original sales photos.

Make sure you know your shipping costs in advance.  I used to charge $15 for priority shipping, but then turns out that only applies to the continental US.  I had to ship something to Hawaii once and it was like $20+ after insurance and everything.

[HighRadArt]

If you sell books here start with the usage guidelines and take a look at a few sales threads and see what other sellers have listed for their "rules".

You don't have to list a grade.  Pictures and a brief description that includes any major defects is acceptable.

Like someone else said - know the shipping rates.  Especially, shipping outside the US is expensive.

[William-James88]

On 5/9/2021 at 9:15 PM, Eddie Curzon said:

Hi! I've posted on this forum before about a large collection of comics that I inherited. I have bagged and boarded, boxed, and categorized all of the comics. Now, I want to start selling. I want to start with the mid-tier comics (not valuable enough to grade but will probably get more than a buck or two. Some may even get between 10-100.) However, I want to get some expert opinions on the best way to go about selling. I've decided I want to start by making posts on Reddit "Comic Swap" and this CGC site. For those of you who have sold a lot of comics, what do you think is the best way to go about it? What mistakes did you make along the way? Some things I've been thinking about:

Is there equipment that makes this process more efficient and can offset costs in the long run? 

Best payment option? It looks like Reddit "comic swap" prefers Paypal: Goods and Services. What's your experience with this method? Safe?

Best way to package? Best way to ship? Least expensive option? When you sell, do you include these overhead costs in the price?

What's a realistic turnaround time that buyers expect? I work full-time, so this will be a side gig for me. Do buyers expect sellers to get the comics out ASAP? I imagine this might be more of a case-by-case basis situation. 

Return policy? I do not grade comics - many of these comics have been bagged and boarded for 20+ years. Can I "ballpark" it? I plan to include pictures of each comic, which will probably take care of most of these issues. 

Thanks in advance. If anyone is super experienced in this area and would not mind me picking your brain, please direct message me. I would appreciate it!

Cheers!

 

 

Here is by far the easiest way to sell and maximise revenue if you value your time

I sent all comics worth above 25$ to mycomicshop.com for consignment. There, they will grade your book, take scans and sell it on their site. You can choose a "buy it now" price or to put it up on one of their auctions. comission is 10%. So around the same as E-bay but you only have to ship to them once and they do the rest, and you have 0 fear of returns since they'll handle that too. 

Also, they will ship to CGC (and CCS for cleaning and pressing those books before hand) for you if you want your books graded. 

 

[Math Teacher]

On 5/9/2021 at 10:09 PM, KCOComics said:

For less valuable books you can ballpark, but explain you aren't an experienced grader and buyers should make their own determination.  

For less valuable books you can ballpark, but explain you aren't an experienced a professional grader and buyers should make their own determination.  This is what I usually see on Ebay.

[PovertyRow]

On 5/9/2021 at 6:15 PM, Eddie Curzon said:

Hi! I've posted on this forum before about a large collection of comics that I inherited. I have bagged and boarded, boxed, and categorized all of the comics. Now, I want to start selling. I want to start with the mid-tier comics (not valuable enough to grade but will probably get more than a buck or two. Some may even get between 10-100.) However, I want to get some expert opinions on the best way to go about selling. I've decided I want to start by making posts on Reddit "Comic Swap" and this CGC site. For those of you who have sold a lot of comics, what do you think is the best way to go about it? What mistakes did you make along the way? Some things I've been thinking about:

Is there equipment that makes this process more efficient and can offset costs in the long run? 

Best payment option? It looks like Reddit "comic swap" prefers Paypal: Goods and Services. What's your experience with this method? Safe?

Best way to package? Best way to ship? Least expensive option? When you sell, do you include these overhead costs in the price?

What's a realistic turnaround time that buyers expect? I work full-time, so this will be a side gig for me. Do buyers expect sellers to get the comics out ASAP? I imagine this might be more of a case-by-case basis situation. 

Return policy? I do not grade comics - many of these comics have been bagged and boarded for 20+ years. Can I "ballpark" it? I plan to include pictures of each comic, which will probably take care of most of these issues. 

Thanks in advance. If anyone is super experienced in this area and would not mind me picking your brain, please direct message me. I would appreciate it!

Cheers!

 

 

OK start by reading the rules for selling on these forums: Selling On CGC Forum

Note #4 which states: 

It must be an exclusive board-only offer. If the book is offered for sale through another venue (ebay, dealer site, personal web site, etc.) then it should NOT be offered here. It should be offered in the Sales Advertising board 

This means you are not allowed to post the same books to sell on both Reddit and here at the same time.

If you decide to sell on Reddit (or eBay etc) and want to let people here know about that then this is the place to advertise that: Sales Advertising Board

Good luck to you! It gets easier over time.

Edited May 11, 2021 by PovertyRow
another link added