need advice from comic book sellers

[keziak]

As part of my project to dig out I opened a long box of comic books that has been in my office for years (and years, yikes). First of all, I know little about comic books, what are desirable and how to grade. I am inclined to just take them to the used book store and see what I can get. They are older comic books, 80s from what I've looked at so far. They are all Legion of Super Heroes and Tales of the Legion of Super Heroes. So there are hundreds of them. Most are bagged, look good for their age, I don't know. 

If I am prepared to put virtually no work into these beyond being willing to ship all that if they sell, should I at the bare minimum count them to report how many there are? I guess I am just too lazy/busy to sort through this huge box to make sure they are all in order. Would there be any interest in them with that bare minimum of information?

[theteamsetguy]

@keziak ,

Instead of a used book store I would take them to a couple of comic book stores in your area and get bids. They can tell you their value and it might be easier for them to buy them from you in one fell swoop.

[keziak]

That is a good idea. I think there is a used comic book store in a nearby town. thank you. 

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@keziak 

Hi hun, I do know there is a couple of comic stores in your area ( had some friends that lived there) Keep it Strange will view and purchase comics.

      Condition is everything with comic books, that's all I got!

[keziak]

I found the one near George Mason University and will email them. I'm not sure I even care enough to drive this box over there. Taking it to Goodwill would get it out of the house. 

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@keziak 

I hear ya, gotta little comic book story to tell you ( as long as it's dead around here).

    About 7+ years ago after my friend died, her husband asked if I would help with her estate ( no kids) so among tons of things to look thru was this box of old comics. Now, she never thru anything away even ephemeral items from her childhood all in pristine condition. 

     So naturally I was very excited because all these comics were from the 40s and early 50s. I started noticing that my "pal" had cut off 1/4th of the tops on each one, every single one!!!!! So issue number 1, 2, and so on became absolutely useless and I practically cried throwing them out!

[toomuchstuffagain35]

Why on earth did she do that? Any clues?

[keziak]

Yep, I expect every book seller has a story like that. Pretty often I'll pick up a book and think it's like new then wham! gift note, if not actual highlighting, underlining, etc. 

the guy emailed back to say he would look at them but not give an amount by email. I told him I never thought he would. He made reference to "a few dollars". It would cost me more in gas to drive them over there. I imagine he wasn't excited to see hundreds of issues of a boring comic book. Maybe the OTHER long boxes will at least have comic books the used bookstore minutes away would give me credit for. 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

My guess is her husband's name was on the top of every cover and she wanted to remove it.

I have seen many books that someone took a chuck of of the title page to remove the owner's name. Definitely less of a problem.

[onefootflippers]

Most comic book stores are in a perpetual state of not buying anything because they already have a 20 year supply of used comics. If they did buy it would indeed be a few dollars, as just none of them ever seem to need the inventory.

A tiny bit of ebay research shows that you are expected to get somewhere between 50 cents and $2 each in bulk on ebay.

[rockystradingpost]

Seems like they would be easy to list and ship, no?

[1786davycrockett]

@silverstatetreasureboxes 

" I started noticing that my "pal" had cut off 1/4th of the tops on each one, every single one!!!!! So issue number 1, 2, and so on became absolutely useless and I practically cried throwing them out!"

Um, bad news -- even though 1/4 of the front cover was missing, some of those 1940s & 1950s comics still would have had some value -- Golden Age comics are always hard to find in ANY condition -- especially early numbers -- particularly pre-Code horror, crime and superhero comics.

And those comics may have been second-hand comics from the original retailers.  It was common in the 1940s and 1950s (and probably well into the 1970s) for retailers to cut off the top 1/4 or 1/3 of the front cover, which was then sent back to the distributor for a return credit (this was also done for magazines).  The retailer was SUPPOSED to destroy the comics and magazines; but many retailers either sold the comics for a nickel or less; and some retailers would actually bag three or more comics inside a bag, which they would then sell for a dime.  

Back in the 1950s, I bought lots of those bagged comics at grocery stores, drug stores and dime-stores; and every issue was missing the top 1/3 or 1/4 of the front cover -- and some of those still have value, even in their mangled collection.

As for those 1980s DC comics, @keziak  -- from the 1970s through the mid-1980s (pre-Crisis, if that means anything to you), DC was going through a very bad period.  So those "Legion" series comics may not be worth very much -- no matter what condition they're in.  Nearly every DC title (even the "Superman" and "Batman" titles) were in the doldrums, with very tired plot-lines and third-rate artists.

Unless that comic book store is close-by, you might just want to save some gas money.

Sorry, guys -- bad news all around. . ..

[ednkarens]

They are not easy to list because each one would have to be inspected for writing inside or ripper or torn pages.  Condition is everything for comic book collectors and you want to be specific as possible when listing.

Also, I found when I sold a few in the past hat the ones from the '80s were flooding the market and everyone was trying to literally make a buck. 

In regards to "easy to ship", the worst part is the post office is very strict about media mail and I believe that comic books did not classify as media mail due to the advertisements that most of them have in them. Sometimes First Class and now Ground Advantage costs would be more than what a few of the books would be worth and this eliminated a lot of prospective buyers.

The best way is to estimate how many books you can sell in bulk with shipping being no more than $10.00.  If you have a lot of inventory to work with I would then list that bulk as an auction for 7 days starting at $9.90.  This way it comes out to only $19.90 plus whatever sales tax a buyer would have to pay.  The nice feature about a 7 day auction is that your not wasting up to 30 days waiting for an answer if they're worth it or not and you'll know by 7 days how many views and watchers and hopefully you'll get at least 1 bid.  

Keep in mind that you are not going to make a lot of money if you only get one bid.  You'll have to pay at least $3.00 in fees and remember, that is apx. 30% of what you sold them for.  Now you should have your answer of what to do with them and is it worth it?

[dogofwar777]

Don't be too lazy not to check out their value. There might be some issues that collectors pay more for and a comic book store might try to rip you off if they see an issue they know is worth more. 

[keziak]

I guess I could do that at least. When poking through the box I noticed some already in order but I don't know if that's true of the whole box. There's no way I can sort all those and put them in order. Speaking as a non-expert they appear to me to be in nice, well cared-for condition, not all ratty, worn and torn. But for all I know they are abundant on ebay and therefore in low demand. I did some quick and dirty searching and saw large lots of them selling for pretty good money but they were in order.