There’s alot of dumping of collections going on lately.
Definitely an increase when I look at the places other than Ebay to unload whole collections.
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I think it’s just part of the natural course correction. People got into collecting to stay sane during covid. Now, life is normal (busy) again, and people don’t have time for it. I know I have less time for the hobby. I’ve missed the last three big sales/events in town due to other obligations. But, I still buy a lot because I read a lot. Maybe more trades than singles than a couple years ago, but there’s still a lot of fun stuff out there IMO. And, I still like NCBD. Just a pleasant routine.
But, anytime there’s a bargain or even close to a bargain on facebook marketplace, it’s GONE in a flash. Still a lot of buyers gobbling up collections.
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Everyone is cleaning out their attics and basements too, maybe?
I’ve seen a chunk of comic listings locally and found some fun stuff at Half Price Books from lots of sellers coming in.
Just to help illustrate suppressed values, I went to a yard sale last weekend that advertised comics.
Was first there and the guy had plastic tubs of comics. Maybe 300 or so comics in total. $1 each.
3 - 4 years ago, I would have bought the entire contents of the tub. No question.
However, last weekend, I cherry picked through each and every issue.
Even if I wanted an issue just due to value, I looked at the condition and put it back in the tub if it didn’t meet my high grade criteria. 70’s titles, 80’s titles, etc…
I do small shows and it’s just not worth the hassle to me to purchase for $1 and sell for $2 and still be left with a whole boatload of stuff. I need bigger hits than that as I put value on my time, and don’t want bulk remaining for a substantial time period. I see it as wasteful of time, energy, and space.
My habits of changed with this downturn
Ultimately I walked out with 5 books - 3 newsstand early spawns, and a couple minor key New Teen Titan issues
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Just saw a post from a comic shop about 40 minutes away. The only comic shop in that area (their closest competition would be about 35 minutes away) and they are a fairly large University town.
No longer going to carry new comics…strictly going to run with old stock and gaming stuff.
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Funny you say that, I have two LCS within my area. One is the larger in the city proper, the smaller one in small town outside the city is doing the same thing. Just reading their newsletter and they will do a subscription and you can order before FOC from them but going to massively limit the buying of new comics on spec.
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Just wait, we haven’t seen nothin’ yet. People still have jobs. Once people start losing their jobs, the amount of sellers will increase.
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Im looking forward to a stock market crash. The whole economy needs a reset.
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Mid 2025 through mid 2026. Just my guess on the timing, but the excesses of the past two years are going to get worked off. Talking to various people I know in different businesses, all are saying business is slowing down and it looks like it will get slower. Hmmm… food or comic books? I know how this will go. That slabbed Doom comic isn’t going to taste too good with BBQ sauce on it. Stock market gets one more blow off top coming up and then…
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Credit Card debt is skyrocketing
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I can confirm that both these things are already happening now. 
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It’s basically gotten to this point at my LCS. It used to be they had one or two of every book on the shelf, now if I don’t pre-order it’s less than a 50% chance the book will even be on the shelf when they open Wednesday.
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You know, my LCS is getting like that but here is the weird thing. You would think if you were going to order some extras, it would be cover A of “recognizable and popular” characters/books like Batman, Amazing Spider-man, etc. Instead, my LCS orders stacks of really random titles (that just sit for weeks) and something as simple as Batman is gone by the end of Wednesday when a new issue is released. I don’t know why they would under order Batman every time, but it is consistently not on the shelf. But there is a whole stack of Venom or some cover B of an event book sitting there.
Sounds like they’re ordering to chase ratio’s rather than what their local consumers are demanding…
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There is a fellow in my area that appears to be trying to do that sort of a system. Just the online deal where he set up a distributor level account and now sells copies of books via instagram and facebook. Buys an absolute ton of the Skottie Young books as well as some of the other more popular artists such as Frison and JTC. Seems to really go after the variants. I do see that he tends to travel to cons and gets stuff signed by these folks in big quantities, but I can’t help but wonder at what point this excessive inventory will catch up to him.
It just can’t be that easy. Sure, I’m thinking he made out really well with something like that BloodHunt #1 variant, but at a certain point he’s going to be stuck with box after box of these books that he won’t be able to move. The discount on this stuff can’t be that great is it? Sure, he doesn’t have the overhead of a shop? I understand that…but I think he has to be playing with fire.
I likely would have though about buying a book or two from him but he sort of rubbed me the wrong way once. He knew I was in the general area and reached out to me on instagram and his greeting was literally this “Looking for comic book collections leads…got any?” Not a hello…not a hi my name is…how are you…nothing…just that. Seemed so damn rude and off putting to me. Weird but it really bothered the hell out of me.
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“Hey, can you give me the inside scoop on your hot tips so so I can get to them before you do?”
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I understand your disdain for these guys. We have a fellow here who also does the same thing. I respect his hustle but his lack of decorum is really off putting not just to me but to all the shops in my area. Some shops have banned him from their stores. He would go into shops and clear out whatever book is ‘hot’ at the moment. One shop was going through their new books and this fellow would grab the entire stack of the hot book of the week. The shop owner told him that he hasn’t finished putting out the books for their subscriber’s pull yet. This fellow’s response was “What, you don’t like money?”
The shop owner found him so off putting and was so disgusted by him, decided to ban him from the store entirely. This is how he talks to people, it’s the years of hustling and stepping over people to make a few dollars that all decorum is lost.
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Just checked my eBay sales for the year. 90% of my year’s sales were Jan-April. 10% were May-Aug thus far.
Quite the drop.
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eBay has been dead to me. I have sold a book here and there.
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You gotta build relationships if you want to succeed in any business. Being an off-putting jerk will only hurt you in the long run.
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