Every so often I come across an auction on eBay that just makes me wonder if the seller has never been to eBay before, doesn't know how to use the Previous Auctions button or has money to burn and hopes to win the lottery.
One example that's been around for awhile is this wife of a comics collector who is selling a group of SA and post-SA Wonder Woman comics that look fine to her (literally Fine). Although there is yellowing on the pages, "the spines look good." 35 comics for a mere $625.
Those aren't all that surprising, but the ones that got me today are for the three Sugar & Spike DC Digests from the 1980s. The seller has a long history on eBay, so maybe they know something I don't. But I don't know what it could be.
Issue #41, featuring all new Mayer art, is available for the low, low price of $85, plus $6 postage, which means it must come in a kevlar envelope.http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230587736719&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123
That seller also has the second S&S Digest, #66, with a reprint of the first Bernie the Brain, for a mere $50. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230587742411&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123#ht_1789wt_1139
And the third digest, #68, available for only $60: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230587744231&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123#ht_1825wt_1139
What's the thinking here? Is it possible someone would buy these? I'm Watching all three, because the day they sell is the day before mine go up on eBay!
-- MSA
Replies
Unfortunately, this is just the latest example of a trend that I keep hoping will fade away. People (a lot who are not really comic book readers/fans) wanting to resell books they have somehow acquired in years past and thinking they can make a fortune doing so in the process.
I've seen a lot of examples of this every time I visit a flea market or resale shop. I always run into the realistic sellers, those who either are actually in the know about the industry or else have done their research and realize they don't have much to offer, or others who think that just because a book is "old" (from the 1990s!), they can buy a new car with the resale proceeds. :P
The trend started back in the late 1980s (that I can swear to) and still persists today.
But then again, when the common man hears stories of events like a copy of Action Comics #1 going for over $1 MILLION dollars, you can't really blame them for not knowing that their copy of say, Warlock and the Infinity Watch isn't worth what they think it is despite shiny holographic cover.
Sigh ... I run into this ALL the time. I hit yard sales and flea markets and antique stores all summer long and the pricing some people suggest is ridiculous.
Sometimes, I will talk to people about it, but only when they says stuff like "I'm not really sure what these are worth, what do you suggest?" and then I explain rarity and age and importance to them. Most of the time I also say that if they don't sell them here (where ever they are) that they should put them on eBay in lots, at very low prices, and see what happens.
Then there are the people who think you're trying to trick them into selling off their gold mine. You can't reason with them, and they are sure a millionaire comic collector is going to stumble into their yard sale and buy the whole bin of Conan comics priced at $6 each.
A while back, I wrote a little guide about realistic prices for comics, which you can read here (and offer suggestions if you are so inclined).
And quite coincidentally ... just last week a coworker brought me a stack of comics to look at and give him ideas on their value. Since we work at the newspaper, we decided to film it and put it up as informational video (sorry about the stupid 30 second ad before hand). If you want to see that, watch it here.
I really like to do that kind of stuff for people. Makes me feel like an Antiques Roadshow cast member!
I pretty much gave up on flea markets long ago for that very reason. I was astonished to find that they apparently had tunnel vision when looking through their Overstreet and only saw the final row of prices. Heck, why would you ever ask any of those other prices for your coverless comics? I especially liked the stickers marked "Old" with a price like it was extremely rare and in pristine condition.
I love the guys on Pawn Stars who come in with something rusty and beat-up, and say, "This is really rare, so condition really isn't that important." Is it even worth trying to start that discussion?
Even so, these people are selling on eBay. How hard is it to see about what previous sales have brought before you establish a Buy It Now price? Although maybe the Make An Offer feature is designed to offer something less and let the guy consider it. I've never figured out how that feature works.
There are several pages of original art that keep popping up, too. They look like photostats of figures pasted onto the covers of Spanish-language comics from a later date. The seller always asks $99, they never sell, and they reappear a month later. I guess he figures that guy who wants these will finally show up on eBay. I'd consider lowering my price before I paid $99 in collected listing fees, but that's just me.
-- MSA
On the other hand, I just scored a copy of Pynchon's fairly recent epic, Against the Day, for 2 bucks (plus postage) off eBay. The seller said it had a crease in the back cover, and sure enough, it did. The seller also said that otherwise, it was in good condition, and it doesn't look like anybody has ever read it. Nearly 1100 pages, for 2 bucks. Yeah, I'll take that deal.
But it's been quite a while since I bought any comics off eBay because even on those rare occasions when the comic is available at a price I find reasonable, the postage costs are so high that I figure I'll just wait till I find it in a shop. Or, these days, wait for it to be reprinted.
Often times, sellers will offer a low-low "buy price" but will jack up the cost of shipping and handling. Within the last year or so, eBay has clamped down on that. It now uses some sort of program to determine reasonable shipping and handling fees based on the size, weight and sale price of the item. When I have tried selling stuff recently, eBay told me I needed to lower my shipping costs or it wouldn't accept my auction.
I remember once when I had a yard sale and had two longboxes of comics, selling them for 50 cents each; I just wanted to get rid of them. I had one woman come buy who harangued me to no end, swearing up, down and sideways that I was selling valuable comics. I knew better, but she would hardly listen to a guy who's been reading comics since high school; I was selling them that cheap because I knew they weren't worth anything. The books I have that are worth something, I'd never sell, anyway, and certainly not at a yard sale.
Later, I had another woman come by and harangue me to no end, telling me I was overpricing the books and she once bought a longbox of comics at a flea market for $10. So I said, "Sold! Give me $10, and it's yours!" She didn't buy them and she didn't shut up, either.
In my experiences with selling stuff (comics, paperbacks, recorded music, etc.), I've learned to follow this basic rule of thumb: Figure out what everything would be worth if you graded them as strictly as possible. Then take 10% of that final tally, and if you come anywhere near it, you're getting about as good a deal as you're likely to ever get.
Roughly 30 years ago, I sold a big bunch of fairly recent comics pretty much by the pound: I got something like a nickel a piece for them. And that price really hasn't budged much over the decades. You're still lucky to get more than 5-10 cents per comic for your long runs of stuff you don't want any more because, unfortunately, nobody else wants them, either.
The average price at flea markets seems to be $1.00 per book, regardless of age, condition, etc; unless you get a dealer who either knows the comic book industry or thinks they're going to make a ton of money selling them, then the sky's the limit.
Every once in a while on a rare occassion, you might find comic books at a Goodwill or Salvation Army store. Then the price is usually .49 cents a piece because the comics are considered "kiddie books".
TRUE STORY! A couple of weeks ago someone donated a bunch of comics to a SA near me. Another woman already there was going through them, and getting a bunch of Silver Age stuff for .49 cents each! Nothing I saw looked mint, but everything still had their covers attached and looked intact to me.
As a comic book reader/collector, you can imagine how I felt missing out on this. :-(
By the time she got through, there wasn't anything left in that box worth having that I didn't already own.
Don't know what she was planning to do with them, but I would have loved the chance to read them! *sigh*
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