My LCS’s don’t order many shelf copies…I might be able to snag 1 or 2 if get there when they open. I usually don’t have any competition, which is why I’m usually able to snag a one per store copy or two for cover. But a $30 book the weekend before means the phone will be ringing the moment they open and maybe some faces I’ve never seen before waiting outside when I get there. We shall see.
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Maybe I should read down to the latest thread before replying the the first one I see.
Only the $30 book left.
I used to do that…then they lost a few…never got scanned…total loss.
Now I sit there and watch them scan…every……package…
Haven’t lost once since…been about 5-6 years.
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I have had the same mailman since we lived in our other house. I tip him for christmas and his birthday. He does not lose my packages.
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Thats a very nice gester. I give our mailwoman a christmas card every year
I don’t give him cards because I figure he is sick of christmas cards lol
Quantities matter… if you’re selling a bunch of books for double price and you get efficient at packing up and selling, then it can pay off. Shit, I use to pack up comics I sell while listening to music or watching shows… I could sit and watch shows and make nothing or multi task making money… 
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Let’s say lI value my time at $100/hr.
So for $8 profit it’d better take me less than 5 minutes of my total invested time to a acquire a book, take photos and create a listing, store it, find it again when it sells, inspect or (verify it’s the right book, hasn’t taken on any damage since posting), print and adhere the label, package it up, run to the PO and back.
Yeah, if you are packaging up multiple books maybe you can get pretty efficient, but it is rare I make more than one sale in a day…it’s probably 10-15 minutes for a single book. Thats why I need $10-$15 profit to drag/interrupt me from something else. (Like typing this post, which is so important that I must get it out).
Sometimes my computer doesn’t cooperate and I can loose 5 minutes just waiting to pull up eBay.
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I do the same thing. I know it’s their job, but I’m sure it sucks lugging packages to and from my door in the heat, rain, and snow, so I figure a little extra lets them know I appreciate what they do.
I put out a cooler with water for the package delivery drivers in the summer, small cooler with ice and bottles of water. Want to make sure you get your packages, this helps. There was a video I saw a long time ago where a lady would put out snacks and drinks for the drivers. One driver came by and grabbed a snack and drink, wasn’t delivering a package to her house that day, and left a video thanking her and saying he would miss going by her house as that was his last day as a driver. It was cool.
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Yes, it’s their job but a little extra if you can swing it definitely helps. I also give my mailman a nice tip during the holidays. In most instances, except on the days that the mailman is off and a substitute delivers, most my packages get put in my package box near the near instead of having thrown all over my porch. Water or drinks during the summer months also helps keep you on their good side so they don’t further test the durability of those boxes holding your slab or gemini mailers 
.
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So you value your time at $100 per hour when you’re just sitting and doing leisurely type activities? That was the whole point I was trying to make. I can sit and just listen to music (which I do all the time) and do nothing else. Or I could list books for sale while listening to music and the same for packing them up when they sold… while listening to music. So earning a few extra bucks in the imaginary fiat monetary system we are forced to use to buy goods and services for our lives ain’t so bad I think.
But you should value your time differently, $100 is cheap, my own time is priceless and I try to do things I feel are important and or entertaining to enjoy with our short lives here on this flying organic spaceship we call Earth without actually putting an actual direct price on it.
Such is life… we waste a lot of time on things out of our control.
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I said “let’s say”. I threw a number out there that is on par with the labor force, what you’re charged for by an auto shop or plumber or electrician…at least from my experience $100/hr is comparable.
And if you’re packing up multiple items per day, that means you’re acquiring and posting multiple items per day…it adds up and it’s no longer “leisure.” It becomes a job…you may like your job and get enjoyment out of it…maybe even call it a hobby. But it still takes time away from something else you could be doing.
No matter how you look at it, it all comes down to “is it worth my time invested?” I’m just sharing how I break it down which helps me draw the line. Others can have their own system and their own value threshold and that’s fine.
There’s also the variable where you just want to move inventory, even if taking a loss, because it’s taking up space. If you can justify a loss that helps negate some of the 30% or so of your profits that the government demands a cut of for your time invested. I have books I just want out of my house, but think I might still be able to get a few bucks for them…I might sell one of those every few months…I’ll have to go back over the last year and see, but I believe 90% of my sales are new listings that sell on less than a month.
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I just think setting a made up monetary value on your “own” time is just silly. Do what you like and what you feel is worth your time. If you think it’s not worth your time to sell a comic for $8 when you bought for $4 because you could be sitting on the couch picking your nose instead cause you think you’re time is worth $100 an hour, so be it.
Is it though? We’re talking about the actual act of snapping a pic, listing an item, then packing up an item and shipping it when it sells. I use to work long ago for a billboard company and I was in charge of packing up and shipping off all the billboards we printed up that day. Sometimes it was 5, sometimes it was 25. Most of them would weigh 30-70 lbs depending on their size. I made $12 an hour at that job.
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Pro Tip - Just don’t pick your nose while shipping your comics
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My latest trip to the comic shop I picked up two copies of Avengers Twilight 1 Ross covers and two copies of Ultimate Spiderman Klein Variant. I was going to the shop anyway to pick up my weekly books, these were bonus books. I spent a total of $43 after discount and taxes. I list books Monday Tuesday, and Friday when I telework and am down in my office. My average listing doesn’t take me long. Just snap a few iPhone photos and upload on eBay and Mercari (I double list using the same title and text). I sold one Avengers Twilight for $19.99 plus shipping (figure I made $13 profit) and a Ultimate Spiderman #1 Klein variant for $16.99 plus shipping (figure I made $8 profit) I shipped them out with two other books I sold. I am out of mailers so I reused ones at zero cost. I didn’t make $21, not yet at least, I still have one of each book listed, but what I did do was get a rebate on the $43 I spent on the books I got at the shop. My net loss is $22 at this point but still have other books to sell plus readers. So in the end this is exactly how I want to operate. Money spent on comics generating money coming back that end in a loss for tax time. This helps offset the weeks I am making hundreds in profits and not spending nearly as much. So this is another perspective of it.
Ok. 
Yes it is.
I think we’re going way off topic here. Probably should move this into a thread “when is a book not worth the trouble?” Or something. I’m not trying to convince anyone of anything. I’m just sharing how I rationalize my personal cut-off. It’s not scientific or meant to be right or wrong. It just is.
Let’s move on back to how stupid it is to pay $40 for UBP1 a week before it hits the shelves…we can all agree to that…
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But this is about comics heating up and those with potential too… maybe start a new topic… “Comics Heating Up that is just Stupid!”
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i agree. We each have a system that works for us as individuals whether we are a beginning collector that started collecting/speculating during covid or collectors that lived through the large prints of the 90s. Hopefully people on the boards are taking in some of this knowledge / experience being shared, feel comfortable to share their thoughts and are able to make their own judgments on what is best for them
You have to judge for yourself based on a number of factors that include time spent, activities you might he giving up, wear and tear on your car depending on your travel distance, gas, shipping materials, postal pick up, waiting in line at post office, printer investment, ink cartridge, time researching on sites like CHU etc.
In the end, i for one appreciate the different perspectives, time, and effort and input by various members and the knowledge they impart on the latest hottest books, upcoming hot books, alerting members on upcoming hot book covers and market trends.
Thanks to Anthony for letting us have this conversation here on CHU. I agree lets get back to talking about spec’ing and buying hot or soon to be hot books.