I haven’t started eBay-ing stuff just yet, but I have started the preliminary organizing to do so. Unfortunately, eBay doesn’t appear to be as lucrative as it was several years ago when I was on the bidding end. I remember buying some sort of Dexter’s Laboratory Hot Wheels cars and a fabric McDonald’s Pikachu for much more than I’d get if I re-auctioned them today. Anyway, checking out some of the auctions on the site recently, I noticed ’90s comics aren’t all that much in demand anymore – at least the stuff that I’m willing to sell off. Hopefully I’ll at least get more than I spent buying them originally, but if you take into account the amount of space and time I’ve spent storing these collectibles, I don’t know if that’s possible.
So do you BOTreaders have any experience with eBay or selling stuff on sites like Craigslist? If you have any advice, I’m all ears.
Yoink.
“yoink,” indeed, TCG! i don’t really have to mention it as you’re very familiar with the custom, but you just achieved the Shades of Firsting! wear them well: with these, you can instantly eBay anything your gaze falls upon:
😎
I’ve done Craiglist quite often and it seems to work well for me. I’ve yet to sell on eBay, mostly because I don’t want to deal with packing and shipping. It can be a huge burden. Buying on eBay has been a rather pleasant experience for me.
fortunately, i have a home post office with stamp printing and shipping supplies for BOTmerch, TCG, so shipping eBay stuff shouldn’t be a problem. might just be easier to sell a ton of stuff fast on Craigslist, though, so i’m happy to hear it’s worked for you.
Having the comic based in Hollywood really had me confused when the REAL ‘Bot turned up in Meadow Heights, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia!
http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/games/game-boy-consoles-himself-over-megasale-20130219-2ep0h.html
ps Did everybody love the “consoles himself” in the headline?
ha! yes, thumbs up to the headline, Jim. the depressing thing about that article is the assumption that – if he makes his asking price – it’ll be $1800 below what he spent on his collection! *sob*
Subjective markets are tough . . .
Isn’t there online auction site specific to comics? If not, there should be—‘VerseBay or something.
there is, Sarah W! my friend was just telling me about one that buys used comics and books. unfortunately, they don’t pay much and i’d probably do better just taking a few boxes at a time to comic stores around the neighborhood. at least i’d save on shipping charges.
Hi Bot, I recognized it’s rarely worth collecting anything – not even considering the space it takes or the whole dust cleaning… And if you’re not really familiar with the whole materia you get all those special deals and opportunities which will never pay off. So the only thing I’m buying and selling are books. You can generally get the paid amount back by the next sell.
Good luck with your auctions though.
at least i have a lot of books too, Boeltier! i’ll have to see what i can get for some of them. and you’re right about “it’s rarely worth collecting anything” – especially in the ’90s, when it seems everybody was a collector.
I recently went through all my old comics and cataloged them, something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time now, and was very disappointed how little they’re all worth. I have a few that are worth a lot, Spider-man 300 being the gem of my collection, but even that’s not worth as much as I would have hoped.
I thought about going the e-bay route but changed my mind, always seemed like more hassle than it’s worth.
it’s funny, the comics i have that are actually worth something are the ones i don’t want to sell, TPC! the other stuff i’m just thinking of bunching up in lots and selling ’em off for cheap, just to get the space back.
My mother in law is having a yard sale when the weather gets nicer, I’m going to bring my boxes with me and sell as many as I can for a buck a piece or face value, most are only worth that much!
i hadn’t even considered yard sales, TPC! i bet i could get rid of a ton of my lower-value comics that way. good idea! now i just need to find a yard… 🙂
The way the economy has been, you’ll be lucky to have an appreciable number of people stop at a yard sale let alone buy stuff. You’d also better be sure you have a lot of time on your hands to “babysit” the selling area. The last two yard sales I did I didn’t sell a lot of stuff and even after a few days I made less than $20. Since I live within city limits, I must apply for a permit to have a yard sale and then I can only have it for two days (which I did). Not nearly enough time to move my stuff. My next time was when I simply took my stuff to sell at a friend’s house who had a yard sale. I did a little better this time but I still ended up selling or donating most of my stuff elsewhere.
During that last yard sale, one of my customers was a woman hobbling around on crutches from being in a car accident. I told her that if she stayed at this yard sale for a few minutes, I could drive down to my apartment and get one of my sword canes to give her for free
This comment went up before I was finished. Anyway, only one of this woman’s legs was injured so I offered to go get one of my sword canes from my apartment to give her for free. She thanked me but turned down my offer.
this is exactly what i’m afraid of, Rainey. unless i can find an awesome place (with lots of foot traffic) to stage a yard sale, i’ll probably skip it. or maybe i’ll just bring small comic/dvd/video game boxes to comic conventions for sale there. at least my potential customers will be a more geeky demographic for what i’m selling.
Is there a comic store near you that sells used? If so, perhaps you could try eBay with a reasonable reserve, and if it isn’t met, try the comic store. Or Craigslist then comic store. It is tough to get rid of stuff that is worth something to us, but others don’t want to pay what we think they should. 🙁 Is there a way to get the word out to people who might be interested? Kind of build your own market for them?
i wish i had more BOTfans in L.A. to “build my own market” from, Shanna, but curiously, i don’t have a ton of readers here. your strategy is one i’ve been thinking about, though – a mix of eBay and comic stores. i’m sure it’ll come down to something like that when i actually pull the trigger on this stuff. 😛
Whatever you do, do NOT take them to HalfPrice books. You won’t get crap for them… 🙁 (Although, it is alright if you’re in a really tight bind…)
But I’d look into comic book stores around you (which you may have already done) and ask them…
thanks for the tip, Ky! i’ll definitely keep away from HalfPrice since i’m not in a tight bind, fortunately. i’ve asked my local comic shop about selling them my stash but they told me they’re not really buying at the moment. there are a bunch more i can ask, though. i’m sure at the right price i can sell ’em somewhere around here.
trick is the comic reading crowd seems to get older and older.
remember when people bought baseball cards? used to have gum that tasted like cardboard in with it. I remember cereal boxes having cards as the prize inside
I’ll give you a dollar.
b-b-but this is and original xyz from
and of the last two people who gave a damn, one is trying to afford college for his kids and the other died.
just throw it in the pile with the beanie babies
you’re absolutely right, Hairball, and it’s one of the reasons the comic book industry is relying more on more on movies, tv and video games for revenue: they don’t target kids anymore. their audience keeps getting older (like me!) and they keep writing their comics for those people. not that i’m complaining – i enjoy ’em, but it’s not good for the industry as a whole.
and: beanie babies! i still have a box of those somewhere, too. 🙂
not to try and be completely negative. i have bought and sold tools on ebay with some success. yes ebay and paypal fees add 10% so sell it for $11 instead of $10.
and people are rip roaring morons. like 98% of them. they can’t/don’t read, so be sure to put in pictures, not just a cover shot, but a back cover, and a closeup of the title/issue/volume since the morons are too lazy to “click to zoom in”
it has taken 10 years, but people finally started figuring out thay the cost of shipping has to be added to the total, but the morons can’t/won’t add, so make it $15 instead of $11 and offer free shipping.
or actually, make it $14.89. the amount of $15 crap you can sell for $14.89 because you are cheaper than 14.90, .95, .98, .99 by a couple of pennies.
after all these are the same mouth breathing idiots who spend 10 minutes in traffic to save $0.03 on a gallon of gas to put 10 gallons in their car (10 x $0.03 = $0.30 / 10 minute drive x 60 minutes per hour = you working for $1.80/hour)
these are just my experiences, your mileage may vary, cancel any time.
good tips, Hairball! i’ll keep the shipping price in mind if/when i do use eBay. my friend has a bunch of horror stories about selling stuff there and recommended taking multiple photos like you and insuring/tracking/confirming the package, as lots of shady people will say they just never received it. 😛
The problem with eBay is, you can get lost in the crowd. Same goes for other large selling sites. Try targeting your market.
http://comicbooks.about.com/od/buyingcomics/tp/topauction.htm
This link talks about 9 sites, both eBay and Amazon, and also some comics-specific sites. Also, the site SoulGeek.com is making a new online dealer’s room, so check back with them to see when that will be available, because it is very fandom-specific.
I will also mention that I do not sell on eBay any more because eBay requires sellers to accept echecks, and echecks can take up to two weeks to clear, slowing down your processing time. I sell on sites that allow the seller to specify that we will take credit cards or Paypal, but not echecks. I am personally selling jewelry and beading supplies to artisan-specific markets, so my sales network is not a direct overlap with comics, however there are comis-specific sale sites to be found.
My all go well with your sales, Peg
thanks for the link, Peg! there are a few sites there i haven’t checked out, yet. will definitely bookmark this for when i’m ready to sell. 🙂
and i’ll keep that whole “echeck” thing in mind. yeah – two weeks is a long time to wait, especially if it doesn’t clear.
Get them slabbed.
it wouldn’t be worth slabbing most of the comics i’m willing to sell, W.D. Pat, and the ones it would i don’t want to get rid of! conundrum.
At first I thought this read “Get them STABBED.”
Don’t stab your customers, Jeff. Or your merchandise. It’s bad for business. 😛
heh. i’ll keep that in mind at the next comic-con, Myth.
Nah, just use a shotgun for that used redneck look that some people adore in their newly acquired merchandise.
Meh I have no horror stories as I’ve only been a buyer, yet I still don’t trust eBay.
I’ve yet to be screwed over, but I still don’t trust people.
If you do put comics up for sale I’ll be willing to buy a few, I miss having a collection and most comic shops near me are actually 20 miles away.. Near me is an exaggeration.
cool. if i do the eBay thing, i’ll be sure and notify BOTreaders here on the site, Satoshieyes. thanks. 🙂
I have two storage boxes full of comics from the 70s and early 80s, some bagged, some not. Just carried them around with me from apartment to apartment. Since they’re all read and I didn’t assiduously preserve them, I don’t think a single one is “mint”.
I’m torn between unpacking them, cataloging them, and seeing if they’re worth anything, or just giving them to my kids to read and enjoy.
hey, Greg! wow, at least two boxes is manageable! if i could get my collection down to two boxes, it’d be a miracle. heheh.
i’d catalog your stuff, see if it’s worth anything, and if they’re not worth the time and trouble to sell, give ’em to your kids. 🙂
Just don’t forget to WATCH the DVDs and stuff that you are selling before actually doing it.
some of my DVDs/Blu-rays/box sets are worth more if i don’t open ’em, Maryz! fortunately, a lot of ’em are now on Netflix/Hulu so i can still stream ’em, even if i sell ’em.
The advice I’ve heard for selling comic collections is to divide them up into “runs” of several consecutive issues. That way, you can target people who are looking to fill specific gaps in their own collections, and you can get a better return. The only people likely to purchase full boxes are dealers, and since they’re hoping to resell they’re only going to give you pennies on the dollar.
comicspriceguide.com has a comic-specific auction feature, and you can also search other members’ “wish lists” to find people looking for the specific issues you want to sell, and try to arrange deals with them personally rather than going through the auction process. You’ll have to join the site (there’s a free option) to use their features, though.
I just got done deleting all my own wish lists there after the latest e-mail from somebody offering to fill one of my gaps. I’d forgotten I had a wish list, and since I had nearly my entire collection (about 3000 issues) stolen from my storage unit last year, I no longer have any gaps to fill. *mad*
good tip, Mister Rik – i can definitely group a lot of my collection into “runs.” and that comicspriceguide.com site is a great resource! when i have the time to start auctioning stuff off, i’ll be checking that out, thanks.
yikes! 3000 issues stolen!? sorry to hear that, man. that’s another reason why i’d like to sell off a lot of my collection: gods forbid there should be a fire/leak/earthquake/robbery at my place and then i get nothing for my collection. 😛
I’ve never used any of those sites so I sadly do not have any advice. Sorry.
no prob, GB. i think i’ve gathered enough info here to make some educated decisions on my stash. 🙂
I’ve started buying models from eBay (mainly out-of-production kits that I wanted but couldn’t afford when they were *in* production), and I’ve found most of the dealers to be quite honest. (So far, anyway.) However, I’ve discovered two things — one helpful, one not:
1. The “Buy it Now” option. it’s usually slightly-to-somewhat more expensive than bidding, but I buy this way exclusively because of:
2. Bid-bots. These are little pests that automatically raise the price of whatever you’ve bid on. I assume that they’re put in place either by bidders who just *have* to have the item *so badly* that they’re willing to pay *ANYTHING* for it, and so put the bot in place to keep anyone else from getting it; or by sellers who put it there to automatically up the price so that some poor fool will *have* to bid more in order to get the item. Needless to say, if I run into a bid-bot I go looking elsewhere for what I want.
tl;dr: It’s pretty much a seller’s market, but it’s also bit of a jungle in there, so be careful whether you buy *or* sell. YMMV.
thanks for the tips, r61! i’ll keep that “buy it now” option in mind if/when i put stuff on eBay. if you feel that way it’s a good bet that others feel that way about it, too. i hate those bot-bidders. i used to run into those all the time when i used to buy stuff there.
Well, with “Buy it Now” at least I *know* how much something’s going to cost rather than having to *guess* how much lighter my bank account is going to be — assuming I even win the darned thing in the first place. (I’m not a big fan of the Auction model of commerce anyway. Too much is left to chance when it comes to one’s money. Can you imagine if we had to buy essentials like food or had to pay rent by Auction? *shudders* It might be a paradise [or at least bearable] to those who could afford it, but it would be a living hell for anyone on a fixed income.)
I’m more inclined to buy than to sell on eBay but that’s just me. I don’t reay have anything worth putting up anyway :/
what about (dare i say it) your vast pokécollection, Dj!??
Morning Botiverse!!!!
So, have you thought of an auction? Like a BOTIVERSE Auction? Maybe some limited edition BotStuff? Buttons? Tee shirts? A book?
Throwing it out there…..
morning, Pix! hmm… i haven’t thought about a BOTiverse auction – a BOT-ction, if you will – but i like the idea! it might be worth an experiment, at any rate. 😀
I never go on any bidding sites. Mostly because of the cost, but also because I live in a town with everything closeby. And my country is not too big on the whole online selling thing…
it’s probably a good thing you don’t go onto the bidding sites, DAS – i remember when i was kinda obsessed and now i have a bunch of stuff i bought from them in boxes in my closet. 😛
I only have second hand experience when it comes to selling on eBay. It always seemed like kind of a let down when my ex would post games from his collection, only to get half of what he payed for them. It kinda felt like that part of you who’s excited about getting a deal dies when you don’t make your money back. I bet that’s what the seller felt like when they put their stuff up. It’s an endless cycle of sorrow and broken spirits~! D:
“an endless cycle of sorrow and broken spirits” can totally be the case there, Foxmouse! heheh. and, yeah: i remember when people were getting top dollar for a bunch of crap they put on eBay. now it seems buyers are more discerning, which is a good thing, i suppose. just wish that hadn’t happened before i started thinking about auctioning off my stuff!
I gave my input on this already, and all I can tell you is that whatever I’ve done doesn’t work.
I had a huge collection of NBA cards from the 80s and 90s, most in at least pretty good condition. When I was a kid, the pricing books had cards that were 10 – 20 years old valued at a few bucks a piece typically. A couple of years ago, I got a new copy of that pricing guide to see what my cards were worth. 10 – 20-year-old cards were worth about 10 – 20 cents apiece.
Had that trend between age and value kept up, my collection would have paid off all but my student loan debt. So nuts to that!
It seems like the value of anything sold second-hand is diminished by the illusion of supply outweighing demand. Nothing is valued by the casual buyer anymore. They think they should be able to get it for cheap, because they don’t grasp the rarity of what they’re pursuing. Words like “limited edition” get bandied around so much that they’ve lost their meaning, and new stuff comes out so quickly that the old stuff doesn’t have time to age.
aaagh, that sucks, E. A. Setser! i’m sure that’s going to be the case on some of my comics. if i had sold them in the ’90s when they were hot, i could’ve gotten a lot of money for them. now that everybody’s wised up, most of ’em have gone way down in price. and yeah, supply and demand is messed up in the Internet age, as media like books/comics/videogames can be downloaded for cheap/free on computers and tablets nowadays so there’s no scarcity. it’s one of the reasons i’m not as conflicted about getting rid of a lot of this stuff in the first place! 🙂
Everyone (i.e. general public) buys whats IN. Not what used to be. *sigh*
I’m not helping you, am I? xD
heh. i guess i just have to hope that my stash becomes “IN” again soon, ROM!
No eBay stories here. Even if I did use eBay I wouldn’t have been able to access it for the last two week because my internet had been out until just a little while ago. It sucked.
well i’m happy to have you back, Fijiman! not sure what i’d do if i was unplugged for two weeks. *shudder*
I mostly spent my time between Minecarft, Saints Row the Third, and Fallout New Vegas. It was kind of boring.
If you have an idea what you’d like to get for your items, you can list them Buy It Now rather than auction style. I like to list stuff with a Buy It Now price a bit higher than I expect to get, then add the Best Offer option so buyers can send me offers.
I’m currently trying to dump a childhood baseball card collection on eBay. I had about the same experience you did – including the “distilling” part where I keep some of it.