If you treasure your collection, it's likely you keep them in good condition. That makes them more valuable. Any little creases, page yellowing, and marks affect the price. Telling people exactly what condition your comics are in will help sales. Grading them, however, is difficult. Many list as "Mint" when their issues simply aren't.
Proper grading is in numbers, with "Mint" classed only as 9. Most are "Fine". Here's a handy guide to grading your issues. Most buyers don't expect such thorough grading.
As long as you accurately say whether it's NM or F, you should be alright. If it's a particularly valuable issue, check CGC Comics, which professionally grades and seals your books into certified holders. Buyers need to know you're serious about condition.
You can show issues are well cared for by putting them in specialist bags and backing them with proper boards. They're typically cheap and can be picked up from all comic book suppliers. Don't use horrible old bags that are covered in decades-old tape. The boards should be acid-free so they don't affect your comic. Normal tape is horrible to remove, so consider investing in frosted- or satin-finish tape. Dealers generally use Google for pictures, and it's very tempting with a large collection.
But you need people to trust you, especially when selling onlineso take your own photos. It means potential buyers can see the condition for themselves. Check out our guide to selling more on eBay for more tips. Hopefully, these tips and resources will make the process just a little bit easier!
So what do you think, Rioters? Ready to sell your old comics? Add your thoughts in the comments below! How much they are worth depends on a few factors. Most comic book collectors and enthusiasts take good care of their comic book collections. However, even small dents and tears can make a huge difference when it comes to price and value. A comic book is worth more in near-mint condition grade 9. Accurately valuing a comic involves knowing the right grade. Don't try to assess a comic book's grade by yourself.
Leave these tasks to a credible pro who can give you and the books the right grading. Maintaining your comic book collection in good condition is — and this almost goes without saying — of paramount importance. In an era where a tenth of a point can mean a difference of thousands of dollars in value, my best advice is really just common sense: store your books in a manner that keeps them cool, dry, and out of the sun. This goes for graded as well as ungraded comics.
Books from the Golden, Silver, and Bronze eras can come with high price tags due to their age and rarity. Age, however, isn't the only factor that contributes to the sale price. Market demand creates value, and a newer book could yield higher demand than an older one.
In short, age and value factor in on a case-by-case basis. There are comic book fans from every era, Gold, Silver, Bronze, the 90s, and Modern, so with no disrespect to any group, I would choose the late 80s and early 90s. That era was looked down upon by older collectors for many years.
Now, as the kids and teens of the '90s have grown up and movies have showcased those characters, no era is more sought after than the late '80s and early '90s. On Comics Price Guide we track the most searched for books and Venom's first appearance is 1, Deadpool is 2, and Carnage is 3.
That is out of the millions of visitors to our site and the over one million books in our database. That is impressive. This is generally seen through collection logging apps such as Comic Book Database. The problem is that the images are hard to access and give no indication of the condition whatsoever. If you have a large collection, then it can be quite time-consuming to go through every single one and take a photo. However, by taking individual pictures of each comic book, you can build trust and show that you are serious in front of the buyer.
This is especially the case if you have opted to sell your comic book collection online. I do not recommend taking photos of all of your books because your time is valuable. It is much better to send the pictures according to their liking after a potential buyer reaches out to you.
The buyer will trust you when you will send him pictures from his desired angles. Always remember to work smart, not hard. When selling your comic books online, you just cannot escape taking pictures. Well, taking pictures of all the listings individually is a massive headache and will require a lot of time and hard work. Always make sure to take high-quality pictures. Take the front and back cover very clearly.
It is a fact that comic book scans usually come out better than photos. Most selling platforms do not allow images with poor resolution, so it is better to do a test listing before you start to take photographs of everything.
Pro Tip: Try to take high-res photos with a white background, which allows for the comic to be the main focus of the image and induces better lighting. If you need to sell all your comic books at once, it is better to sell all of them to the same buyer.
If you have a lot of comic books and a low cost in and want them all gone as soon as possible, it is recommended that you sell them all at once. Selling your collection online or at shows may seem like a better option but, to be honest, it never works.
The comics are either priced too high or too low. Selling your comic book collection all together at the same time certainly has its benefits. Your time is important, so try going for methods that require minimum time and maximum output. If a story has eight or nine parts and the buyer gets all of them, he will generally pay a small premium. It is always a good idea to sell your comic books in bulk. Selling them collectively will save you a lot of time and has its perks.
You will get some quick money, but sometimes it is not as much value as even some high-valued books would be in the pile. More books mean more weight, which would require you to pay more for storage, shipping, and postage.
Online selling is a risky business. It is almost impossible to find legit people there. There are various other ways to sell comic books that are not online. If you do not want to take the risk, it is better to sell the books offline. Selling offline also allows you to negotiate. Promotion plays an important role in selling items.
The more people know about your books, the more likely you will have customers and potential buyers. It is always a great idea to promote your sale by putting ads.
You can even promote your sale through various websites and have a better shot of selling your books much faster. Tip: You can promote your sale on craigslist. Physical stores might be a little picky at times as they are in search of books that are high in demand.
But still, it is worth searching for a physical shop that accepts second-hand copies. If you have some ancient comic books, then you are in luck as they are very high in demand and therefore valuable. Before you sell your comic books to a local seller, Remember that they will sell your comic books off to someone and make a profit. Well that what they do and earn their living. The lesser they will purchase your comic book, the more profit they are likely to make. Do settle for an extremely low price.
If you want to play it safe, try looking for dealers online or in your area and schedule a meeting. There is one disadvantage here.
Comic book dealers often purchase books for a low price as they resell them and obviously want a profit. Selling your comic books to dealers will save you from a lot of hustle and bustle and will save you precious time as well. Always stay alert for comic book shows being displayed in cinemas or halls. This also includes new movie releases that are also comic books. There is no denying that people who watch comic movies love comic books as well. There is a high chance that you would find buyers among those who have watched the show.
One detail you have to take care of is asking for permission from the owner of the cinema or hall to display your books after the show. Such gatherings can literally offer a boost to your comic book collection. You can even sell your entire listing if the price is good. There will be times when the offers made by buyers seem too good to be true.
Before considering yourself lucky and making commitments you might regret, think twice. A few platforms such as eBay give an algorithm bump for accepting offers. Their purpose is to promote sellers who sell stuff; selling items makes eBay money. If you own a comic book, you might know this basic rule: the better the condition, the higher the value. Handling your book with care will ensure it remains in good condition, and you will be able to sell it at a great price.
Keep this in mind: handle your book with care and try to maintain its pristine condition. Be gentle with it, turn the pages swiftly, and keep it away from any kind of moisture such as oil, food, or water. Before you touch a book, clean your hands as everybody has oily skin or even sweat, which can damage the fibers of a comic book. There is a long list of weird gross stuff that has been found on comic books, so make sure you wash your hands after as well.
Wash your hands both before and after touching the comic books. There might be one book in your collection that is high in demand. A book that is rare and high in demand is worth a lot. Start by selling a unique book on the market. This way you will make a great first impression on people, and they will start to follow you, believing you have a fine collection of comics. As a beginner, the world of selling comic books can be quite unfamiliar and scary.
You have a huge collection of fine comic books, and you are conflicted about what to do and what not to do. Though you have no idea how your comic books will be perceived, you hope for the best.
While hoping that sales go fast and smoothly, you must also be prepared for the worst. You have to have a strong strategy on how to sell your precious books. Search for a huge group of participants who will assist in reaching your goals. You may need to remember internet site developers, writers, truck drivers, delivery experts, managers, and all the folks that used to run an enterprise who owe you a favor. Then there are all the lawyers, robots, antisocial children, monkeys in the zoo, or even accountants that will help you run your enterprise.
The first task for you is to discover a companion who is higher than you in a single predominant area. Try to be adaptive to changes in technology. Do not be rigid. Learn from others. The easier you grow as an individual, the easier and faster your business will thrive. Include systems such as e-payments on your website.
This allows people to automatically pay through the website. Be open to giving a discount, especially if your customer is buying a lot of products. Everybody enjoys a good deal. Make your customers a part of the process, and ask them how you can be better. Seek to please, but not every single person as this will cut your margins too thin. There will always be a couple of problem people, but try being nice to everyone. Be open-minded. Expecting an overnight sale of all your comic books at once is just gonna make you disappointed.
Not that it is impossible, but choose to manage your expectations. There is a fine line between being optimistic and realistic. Selling in a straight shot is very realistic, and the only downside is price. It depends on what is there and how much money you are willing to leave on the table.
On the contrary, if you bought Amazing Fantasy 15, you will be very pleasantly surprised! When selling your comic books, try to separate them by publisher. There are different publishing companies. Some of the most common are Marvel and DC comics. It is highly likely that buyers might have developed a preference for a specific publisher, and they can be a collector of their works.
Hence categorizing books by publisher will help you serve your buyers better. Certain collectors only collect Marvel, and vice versa for DC. Sometimes buyers may not know the publishers by name as there are too many comic book publishers in the market.
Since most of these publishers are from the US, it is best to separate any foreign-published books from the US-published books, which will assist your buyers. USA comics are generally worth more than other published books. However, certain Canadian comic books are known as Canadian Whites from the s and they do have significant value on the market.
Foreign edition comics are worth a fraction of the originals, even if they came out only a year or a month later. The foreign department of the publisher would make a few changes to the content, including the language, and take different stories from different publications and merge them all together.
It is great for the publishers because they did not have to pay to create a new comic book to sell. The vast majority of buyers are in the US, so expect your foreign comics, especially if of a higher value, to be worth a fraction of the USA versions. Currently, the most similar foreign versions are from the ss in the UK. They do not have many differences whatsoever. On the contrary, USA versions are, say, 12c for 12 cents. They also generally include a small offset publisher, which basically was the same publisher but in a different country.
For example, Marvel often said Zenith. The interior pages are exactly the same as the USA version. The wealth of the country measured in GDP definitely plays a role in the percentage of the retail fair market value proportional to the USA. This makes a lot of sense because the more GDP a country has, the more money the citizens generally have to spend on non-necessities such as comic books.
It is very rare that foreign comic books are worth more. For example, remember the Smurfs cartoon growing up as a kid in the s or the tiny plastic figurines you played with. The Smurf actually is from Belgian comic books. The key here is to not have unrealistic expectations by looking at the market for USA versions. The date of publication helps you know the age of publication of the book.
Comic books are usually divided into 6 different age groups:. These books were published between and All the comic books from this age have significant worth on the market. There are some comic books that used to have significant value such as Big Little Books, Tijuana Bibles, and Mickey Mouse Americana, but these comic books do not have much value nowadays.
This loss of worth is mainly because the collector demographic has changed a lot since the s. These books were published between and , and they all have value. Anything graphic, weird, or with superheroes usually has value. They all have value. Superhero comics are by far the best, especially if they are the first appearance of a major character.
Usually the earlier, the better. The vast majority have a bit of value. Of note, a few special ones are valueable. The vast majority of these have at least a nominal value. A few certain ones do have value, however.
These books were published after The vast majority have a nominal value. A few certain ones do have more value. Comic Books printed between the years and are the most sought after, as they are often rare to find. They are much more costly, especially during auctions.
You must know by now that restored comic books are cheaper than original books. Before selling it to the buyer, let them know the condition of the book. Tape used to be considered as restoration but not anymore. Strangely, glue is, though.
Furthermore, if the added materials do not change the condition of the collectible at all, it should be noted. It is not a restoration because nothing was restored. The most important factor of a comic book is its condition when it comes to pricing. In terms of condition, a comic book can either be new, old, torn, discolored, etc.
When selling online, it is important to state the honest condition of the book so you do not get a bad reputation. Instead, give facts about each comic book. The bottom staple is fully detached. The top staple is fully attached. There are no rips on the interior pages. It has 16 pages inside. There are no coupons cut out whatsoever. All the pages are firmly attached. Someone wrote a name in a green pen on the top of page one.
It is real work! If selling in person, just show the customer any major problems the comic book has, such as restoration, missing pages, or a detached cover. Some sellers would much rather sell in person versus online because the standard of showing conditions is so much different.
Photos are not necessary, and the time spent on each comic book is a fraction. On the flip side, selling online is much faster because you are dealing with a larger audience. The cost of shipping is so prohibitive. You can order groceries online, but you probably would not order a slice of pizza or one hot dog online for the same reasons.
At conventions, some comic book dealers capitalize on this by putting their nice copy on the display wall and then their beat-up worn copies in boxes.
Cheaper customers generally prefer to dig in the boxes and the pickier customers generally do not want to dig. Many dealers find it useful to separate the different comic books in their collection into groups according to value. They are being sold to totally different kinds of people. One is a reader, and the other is a collector. However, most grab bags should not contain more than 50 comic books. Always make sure to theme them to achieve the best price. It is also better to price them much lower at the beginning to start growing your following.
You have less profits but a higher yield. It is better to sell 50 comics at smaller profits than sell a single comic at a good profit. You will be dealing with a large audience and will start to gain more followers. People then know it is good and will tell their friends.
If setting up at a convention, it is good to have your expensive comics set apart, ideally behind the table. Theft is a real problem at these gatherings. This achieves showing off the individual comic books that are worth much more while making them less susceptible to theft or shady characters taking an entire box to look at. This has a few benefits. First, it saves a lot of time.
It is just so much easier. Make a posted price with a sign you can print off a word doc and stick to it. Nobody likes them. Make sure to discount something for the customers. I like rounding down a little. I did not always, and on those days, I am more motivated to discount more. This is extremely common, and there are a limited number of shows. Consequently, there is a lot of value in selling the common ones at shows because there is no second-place alternative. When you have a group of comic books with corresponding issue numbers, you can sell them as a bunch.
Comic book collectors are always looking to build their collections; they may be interested in buying complete sets to collect at a faster rate. Important short stories, such as Infinity Gauntlet, are collector favorites. This also makes it easier to sell more comics at once.
Even if there is an issue missing from the storyline, trying to sell comics in bulk vs one by one has many advantages. You can have a better cash flow while investing comparatively less time. If you are new to the selling market and not sure about the grades of the books, instead of overstating or understating them, consider seeking help from a comic book grading company like CGC and CBCS.
They are professional grading companies that verify grades and check for problems such as restoration. But they do not advise on pricing and the best places to sell.
If you make a poor choice, it quickly becomes a money pit. What if they messed up? There are many examples where these companies have given improper grades to their customers. When it is too low, about half the time, we take a look and are correct. The biggest problem is the person grading your comic books is probably only getting paid 50 cents to do it versus the large dealer doing a proper job paying themselves much more.
At first, try to sell your collection raw, and if it does not sell with some price dropping, then get a few the best ones graded, but not all. Comic books have genres just like any other publications. Certain genres also sell well together. Romance collectors generally collect romance-themed standalone issues that are found in other genres as well.
The cover art is a great indicator as to what genre each comic book is. A guy and gal kissing would most likely be romance; a comic with spaceships and aliens would be categorized as Sci-Fi. Everybody knows that skeletons are Horror. Keep your books organized. When looking for new books, buyers at times already have a fixed budget.
It is better if you have them organized according to their prices; this way the buyer will only look under the label that does not exceed his budget. Separating for buyers in terms of price groups will give them an easy time and happy shopping.
It saves you tons of time because you do not have to put price stickers on them.
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