I rarely sell books but am going to help someone at a con in March and he said I was more than welcome to brings books to sell.
I’m still going through my collection but I’m essentially pulling out any book that I have multiples of, or is a book that may be hot/key that I just don’t care that much about. I would estimate I’ll have about 4-5 short boxes of comics. I could bring a box of about 30 CGC books but from my experience CGC books just don’t sell that well (at least anything fairly expensive).
I started the pricing process and I’m beginning to think that I should just price the darn things for a significantly lower price than what would typically be seen. With few exceptions, I likely paid cover or low back issue bin price for any of them. While I could price them going rate…I feel like the entire point of doing all of this is to get rid of them, make some sort of money, and simply put it back into comics or a small get away for my wife and I.
For example, I have a few copies of SIKTC #1 as well as the early issues. I paid cover for all of them. I already submitted and have a 9.8. I could price these at 60% of going rate and still make out like a bandit. That’s the far end of the spectrum…but same goes for many of these minor keys and first appearances people are keen on. I could price them at $5 or $10 and still do amazingly well. If I price everything at that sort of price and move them all, if feels like I’ll do better than pricing things going rate, giving small % off deals ,and bringing the majority home because they still don’t sell.
I know in some cases, the books may go up and value and be a good hold, but again, I have multiple copies anyway. Another example, something like Hell Arisen #3 or Batman #89. Sure I could hold em, but why not price em crazy low since I paid cover and move em (and buy some silver age).
Anyway, I always value all of your thoughts. What do you think?
I would say do both, price out some of the key issues lower than market to bring customers in, and price some of them at the going rte, but be willing to bundle or offer at a lower rate. If you can see what others have the books at and under cut them, thats not a bad strategy if you want to move the books, but may not be able to go to all the tables to price out the books.
If you are going to sell them cheap just put them up on eBay or Mercari and move them. Id just price them fair and be ready to cut deals when people ask.
I’m not into that hassle to be honest. Shipping cost, returns, look…a spine tick complaints, fees involves, etc.
In person sales…product gone, money in hand is what makes me happy. I do have a square account and don’t mind taking cards. Like I said, I rarely sell, but the ease of selling at a con makes me favor that over other avenues.
From my observations at cons in my area, CGC books don’t sell. I have seen dealers bring nothing but boxes and boxes of cgc books and their table is completely empty. I haven’t seen them back recently. Seems like cgc sales are much more of an ebay phenomenon where you can tap into the market of the entire country.
Dollar bins do quite well and draws an audience. If you’re willing to move books for cheap, people will spend literally hours digging and buy stuff they don’t even need. Wheras if you overprice stuff people will spend a few minutes or even seconds on your table.
For stuff that I got cheap and I don’t care about I’ll just price them to sell. Moving inventory and investing the funds into some silver age keys that you want is a great idea.
I’m the type of person a buyer definitely wants to make an offer. I’m not fool and won’t take a beating, but if a person is willing to give me their hard earned money and I’m making 300% or more profit on a book bought for cover… You’ll likely get a “sure” from me.
I do many small cons and flea markets during 2022 (since the advent of the 1099-K)
I can confirm that virtually no one purchases slabs; even slabs that have a significant discount.
Most look; but never buy.
Dollar books; 2 dollar books; 3 dollar books & a small box of keys that are in the $10 - $50 range are the bomb.
It’s all about how badly you want to sell. If these books are doing nothing for you, and you could use a few bucks and some extra space, I’m all for pricing them to move. I’ve been planning to do the same. Clear some things out to make room for stuff I actually want.
My probably wrong take on graded books: For some reason, sellers OVER-value graded books. Every time I see graded books at a show/con, they are always at 125% or more of FMV. I was in the market for a 9.6 Swamp Thing 37 (first constantine), and actually found one at a show. But, it was priced at like $675 or something. A few have recently sold on ebay for closer to $500. Do I want the hassle of negotiating down to a price that I know I can maybe get later without the headache of negotiating? Not worth it for me.
Show up with your graded books at 75% of FMV and my hunch is you sell a few. Again, maybe I’m wrong. But, when graded books are overpriced, I just ignore them entirely.
Funny addition…I may not mind selling books for cheap, however, I’m a mylite 2 fullback sort of guy and unless it is a higher priced book…I’m rebagging those bad boys. Not losing mylites in the deal.
Maybe this is the marketer in me, but presentation matters. I hate it when sellers have a table full of ratty old yellow long boxes and ancient bags/boards. I found a seller at the last show I went to that had a really nice set up that had things well organized and in fresh bags/boards/boxes, and he also had things priced to sell. I bought a lot from him, and people were buying stacks of his books. It was hard to even get to the table as a lot of people were interested.
Another seller’s table looked like it was dug out of a stinky garage, and the table was a ghost town. Make your books look attractive and price them to move and you’ll sell a lot of books. It takes extra effort, but it matters.
When I sell a book on ebay, any books sold $50 and up gets the special treatment and is sent in a mylite 2 and fullback. Any books below that gets a standard bag and board.
Im strange perhaps. I gravitate towards the seller with the yellow box and with the old yellow bags. Thats where books havent seen the light of day for 20 - 30 years and someone indeed just did pull them out of the garage.
Thats where no one else goes or wants to look. Thats where the seller often doesnt care about getting max value. Thats where i find books that have not been rummaged through yet for the deals.
Historically speaking, thats where ive made my killings over the years.
Thats just my experience though.
When I’ve set up my own little table at small local shows I find people flock to my dollar boxes and a good number look through my, “Priced as Marked,” box that has cheaper stuff. My stuff that costs $50 or more just doesn’t move unless it is some currently super-hot key (like I had a Sandman 8 I sold at a show shortly before the show premiered). Price stuff reasonably but be aware the cheaper stuff may be more likely to move.
This is all just my experience and purely anecdotal, of course.
Also, @Bill and I do agree that sometimes the guy/gal with a bunch of cheap poorly organized comics can inexplicably have some stellar stuff in decent enough shape to buy and then flip. The person who isn’t a comic pro may be more likely to have good stuff for cheap and either not realize it is valuable (although if it is an insanely good deal throw them some extra bucks) or knows and doesn’t care–they just want it gone.
Oh, also I did it where if you bought 5 of my dollar comics you got an extra free. I had so many folks who were otherwise just going to buy 4 comics or 9 comics hear this and then buy the one they weren’t sure about to get another one they were debating for free. I unload more comics and get an extra dollar!
