|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 6,377
6000+ posts
|
|
6000+ posts
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 6,377 |
I'm thinking of going through my vast collection of comics and putting some up for sale. What's involved? How easy or complicated is it? I've bought several times on-line now and it's been an easy process. Hopefully the selling end is almost as easy!?!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25
25+ posts
|
|
25+ posts
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25 |
low starting bid,no reserve unless these are extremely hard to find or valuable books,do research on ebay to see what comparable books are getting. Honest condition ratings. Always use pictures,maybe a little story as to where you bought them use a good description.
I once took a chance on an auction described as "The Demon 1-16" that was the whole description. Of course knowing the original Demon series was 1-16 I took a chance and won the original complete Kirby series for $5 bucks. So be thorough.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 6,377
6000+ posts
|
|
6000+ posts
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 6,377 |
Thanks! Sounds like sound advice!
Anybody else?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25
25+ posts
|
|
25+ posts
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25 |
Only ship to the USA,take your packages to the PO to get weighed and get accurate shipping totals or you'll get ripped off that way.Be willing to take less than youve payed and ignore your price guides.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25
25+ posts
|
|
25+ posts
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25 |
Pack very carefully,bag all comics shipped. Dont get banned from Ebay like Franta!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25
25+ posts
|
|
25+ posts
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25 |
Year of the Bastard is a good example of a pretty good Ebay seller,he sells his in lots or sets and most of his books are desirable, although his starting bids are a little high for me. On the other hand Dave is what I'd consider a bad seller. Nothing personal but what Ive seen of his early auctions made me believe he has no grasp of Ebay,insanely high starting bids for books nobody would want,of course I havent seen any of his recent auctions.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 6,377
6000+ posts
|
|
6000+ posts
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 6,377 |
I don't have a scanner and I know this is not good because I like seeing a pic myself before buying a comic on-line. How much do scanners cost and how complicated are they to attach to the 'ol computer?
Saturn Ray said: Pack very carefully,bag all comics shipped. Dont get banned from Ebay like Franta!
Bag all comics shipped? In plastic thingies?
Franta got banned from e-bay? That boy lives to be banned, doesn't he?
Who are you, Saturn Ray...that you know Franta as well as you do?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 4,069
Public Enemy #4 4000+ posts
|
|
Public Enemy #4 4000+ posts
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 4,069 |
Pictures help. Don't worry if you don't have a scanner or digital camera. If you look you can always find a representative pic of you best book of the lot. If you don't feel like leaving a pic, make sure you have a detailed desrciption. Make sure you spell your Bid headings right. I got several excellent deals by deliberately misspelling stuff like KINGDUM COME just to see what would pop up. If you spell the header wrong, people that just do random searches won't ever see your stuff.
Always include a link to your current auctions page in your description. That way, folks can check out your other stuff without having to search for it. I suggest putting together your descriptions on Word and copying/pasting it on eBay after you've checked it for errors.
Always start your auctions later in the evening so that people that work have a chance to bid. I always started mine after 10:00 pm Eastern time. That way, West Coast bidders who get off at 5 or 6:00 pm have a shot to snipe at the end. Make sure that your auctions end around midnight ET. Any later than that and you cut down on the snipes.
Try to be as accurate as you can with grading but under rate the books that you feel are mint. Mint means nothing in this era of CGC grading. Most of my lots were at least near mint but, I always rated them as very fine.
Start your minimums as the absolute lowest you will except for them. If you have a good run of books that you want at least 100 bucks for, then start there. Don't leave it up to the whims of the bidders. Never have reserves unless you have a serious collector's item you are trying to sell...and even then be fair with it and always let people know they can e-mail you to find out the reserve without actually having to place a bid to guess it.
Offer actual shipping costs instead of one estimated cost for all your lots. People that are buying just a few books hate it when you charge way more for shipping that what it actually costs. It will make a little more work for you but, that's one of the biggest reasons for negative feedback I saw.
Promote your auctions where ever you can. The more people that know aout it increases your potential bidders. Any board you have access to should have a post. Even if it's deleted, someone will probably see it beforehand. Make sure to include a link to your selling page...not just the page of a particular auction. You never know what a fanboy is trying to find. There's some guy on the DCMBs that always post about his auctions but, never includes links. That's just stupid. Most of the people that click on the post are too lazy to try to find the actual auctions without a shortcut.
If you have some spare crap that's not worth auctioning on it's own but is related to the lot you are selling, offer it as a bonus. Fanboys love getting free crap...for instance, if you have some promo posters or 2 issues of a particular title...give it up.
Make sure you have enough time to manage your auctions. Silly things like work can interfere with your ability to answer e-mails or research postal rates.
When you get a winner, have a standard e-mail prepared that you can send immediately on close of auction. Be sure to include all payment options and links to any on-line payment services you accept. Make sure that first e-mail includes your land addy so they can't say they don't know how to contact you.
Give several payment options but, never accept personal checks unless you know the buyer. Register with Bidpay so that people can use credit cards and you are garaunteed payment. Paypal sucks so stay away from it.
Be willing to ship anywhere. You lose nothing since your buyers are willing to pay actual shipping costs. It makes a little more work for you but, opens your auctions to everybody. All you need is two geeks in Australia and Thailand to get to fighting over your prized collection of Sad Sack books and you stand to make a fortune!!!
That said, limit the ways you will ship: Post Office all the way. Always ship with delivery confirmation to be sure they got the package. Media Mail is a good, cheap way to ship and it only takes 2 or 3 days longer than Priority Mail. Make sure that you pack the stuff well.
Always leave feedback as soon as possible. It lets people know that you got payment and will be sending their books. I always sent an e-mail when I send the books including the delivery confirmation number so they can track the package at usps.com
Finally, place limits on the time that winners have to respond to you with their info and make payment. Some guys will bid knowing they can't pay for 2 weeks, until they get paid. Let them know in your description that you expect pay within a certain length of time.
Hope you make a lot of money, dude.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25
25+ posts
|
|
25+ posts
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25 |
I just reviewed Kamphausens auctions he gets a good user rating from me everything looks to be in order.
You could probably get a used scanner cheap somewhere and they are easy to install.
Remember Llance if youre selling hard to find or expensive books they wont be easy to replace so think before you sell.
Who's Franta?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 45,846 Likes: 1
cobra kai 15000+ posts
|
|
cobra kai 15000+ posts
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 45,846 Likes: 1 |
excellent review, bastie.
and heya saturn!
basically, llance, my biggest fear with auctions is collectors. ... you people!
with books of value, you have to be SO frickin careful and specific, listing their rating or mint-ness. then, in packaging, you have to get insurance, bubble wrap, individual bags and boards, etc.
and still, after all that, if they dont like the quality when they get the book, and they feel you were being dishonest, they'll give you a poor rating or demand a refund, etc, etc.
bascially, a nightmare.
in my listings, i was very specific in taht the books are in "reading, NOT collecting" condition. now that people have won and are emailing me, i've noticed that has helped a lot of problems, as the winners are very understanding of such.
the other issue i have (get it!??! issue?!? ... y'know... cuz... they're... mm...) is, as bastie said, with the frickin "closed-before-you-get-home" post office. and since i've no children or lunch break or even a damn disgruntled wife to drop things off, i either have to take a pay cut from work, or wake up farmer-early on saturday.
pain in the tuckus.
especially when winners want their books yesterday!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 4,069
Public Enemy #4 4000+ posts
|
|
Public Enemy #4 4000+ posts
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 4,069 |
quote:
Originally posted by Saturn Ray:
Year of the Bastard is a good example of a pretty good Ebay seller,he sells his in lots or sets and most of his books are desirable, although his starting bids are a little high for me.
Thanks for that but, I always thought my opening bids were fair...I never started all that high considering the lots I was selling. Typically, I started at about 50 cents a book, never more than a buck unless is the lot was for Hardcovers or something really good...even when I knew they were worth more. And I almost always offered bonuses with my higher priced lots.
I always researched similar lots before making my prices. I think it's cool that some people star their bids at 1 dollar to stimulate bidding but, I needed to make the selling of the lot worthwhile to me. I wasn't trying to get rich off eBay but, I needed to make money that was worth parting with some of the books.
Fer instance, I sold the full run of Preacher including all the specials for about 200 bucks shortly after it ended. At the time I needed the cash and I got a good price after starting the bidding at 75 bucks (about a dollar a book). I had sellers remorse a couple of weeks later and found the same lot on eBay for less than 100 bucks. That guy started his bidding at 10 bucks. After I collected all the trades, I sold that lot for around 150. I made money both times and I made more than the guy with the low starting bid.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 4,069
Public Enemy #4 4000+ posts
|
|
Public Enemy #4 4000+ posts
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 4,069 |
quote:
Gob said it:
in my listings, i was very specific in taht the books are in "reading, NOT collecting" condition. now that people have won and are emailing me, i've noticed that has helped a lot of problems, as the winners are very understanding of such.
Yeah, that's very important. I always said...in bold letters...that my comics were from a reader's collection and that they'd been read 2 or 3 times before being bagged and boarded. I'm careful with my books but, I don't read them in an airtight room with gloves on...that's only for porn...
Let people know that you have flipped thru the books previously and then they won't be pissed if there's a bend in the corner or there's a fingerprint on the back cover. If you are selling older stuff, have your comic guy look at them and give a fair grading for them. Since it's so subjective, one guy's Fine mught be another's Very Good.
You don't want to get into a pissing contest about the condition of a Vext #2 with some anal retentive guy that says because there's a 1/4" stress line in the inside back cover it's only on fair condition and he wants half his money back or he'll leave negative feedback.
Always err of the side of caution. Yer not gonna get book value anyway so list your books a grade under what they are or what you think they are. For people that just want to read the damn things anyway, you'll be fine.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25
25+ posts
|
|
25+ posts
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25 |
quote:
Originally posted by THE Bastard:
Pictures help. Don't worry if you don't have a scanner or digital camera. If you look you can always find a representative pic of you best book of the lot. If you don't feel like leaving a pic, make sure you have a detailed desrciption. Make sure you spell your Bid headings right. I got several excellent deals by deliberately misspelling stuff like KINGDUM COME just to see what would pop up. If you spell the header wrong, people that just do random searches won't ever see your stuff.
{I'll go along with this unless youre selling older books,if I click on a Batman #200 for example and see a representative pic,I aint bidding on your book}
Always include a link to your current auctions page in your description. That way, folks can check out your other stuff without having to search for it. I suggest putting together your descriptions on Word and copying/pasting it on eBay after you've checked it for errors.
{Dont worry about including links,theres automatically a link right under your user name when you start an auction}
Always start your auctions later in the evening so that people that work have a chance to bid. I always started mine after 10:00 pm Eastern time. That way, West Coast bidders who get off at 5 or 6:00 pm have a shot to snipe at the end. Make sure that your auctions end around midnight ET. Any later than that and you cut down on the snipes.
{Agreed}
Try to be as accurate as you can with grading but under rate the books that you feel are mint. Mint means nothing in this era of CGC grading. Most of my lots were at least near mint but, I always rated them as very fine.
{Agreed}
Start your minimums as the absolute lowest you will except for them. If you have a good run of books that you want at least 100 bucks for, then start there. Don't leave it up to the whims of the bidders. Never have reserves unless you have a serious collector's item you are trying to sell...and even then be fair with it and always let people know they can e-mail you to find out the reserve without actually having to place a bid to guess it.
{Ebay is so overloaded with multiples of the same item you sometimes need to leave it up to thier whims,if you dont want to sell,dont list your items It's an auction,if I wanna pay top dollar I'll go to a comic shop}
Offer actual shipping costs instead of one estimated cost for all your lots. People that are buying just a few books hate it when you charge way more for shipping that what it actually costs. It will make a little more work for you but, that's one of the biggest reasons for negative feedback I saw.
{as I said above}
Promote your auctions where ever you can. The more people that know aout it increases your potential bidders. Any board you have access to should have a post. Even if it's deleted, someone will probably see it beforehand. Make sure to include a link to your selling page...not just the page of a particular auction. You never know what a fanboy is trying to find. There's some guy on the DCMBs that always post about his auctions but, never includes links. That's just stupid. Most of the people that click on the post are too lazy to try to find the actual auctions without a shortcut.
{I never leave links on message boards,there are always people I've pissed off who would love to have my personal address and phone number.Thats up to your discression}
If you have some spare crap that's not worth auctioning on it's own but is related to the lot you are selling, offer it as a bonus. Fanboys love getting free crap...for instance, if you have some promo posters or 2 issues of a particular title...give it up.
{Agreed}
Make sure you have enough time to manage your auctions. Silly things like work can interfere with your ability to answer e-mails or research postal rates.
{Very much agreed}
When you get a winner, have a standard e-mail prepared that you can send immediately on close of auction. Be sure to include all payment options and links to any on-line payment services you accept. Make sure that first e-mail includes your land addy so they can't say they don't know how to contact you.
Give several payment options but, never accept personal checks unless you know the buyer. Register with Bidpay so that people can use credit cards and you are garaunteed payment. Paypal sucks so stay away from it.
Be willing to ship anywhere. You lose nothing since your buyers are willing to pay actual shipping costs. It makes a little more work for you but, opens your auctions to everybody. All you need is two geeks in Australia and Thailand to get to fighting over your prized collection of Sad Sack books and you stand to make a fortune!!!
{eh}
That said, limit the ways you will ship: Post Office all the way. Always ship with delivery confirmation to be sure they got the package. Media Mail is a good, cheap way to ship and it only takes 2 or 3 days longer than Priority Mail. Make sure that you pack the stuff well.
{Agreed}
Always leave feedback as soon as possible. It lets people know that you got payment and will be sending their books. I always sent an e-mail when I send the books including the delivery confirmation number so they can track the package at usps.com
{Agreed}
Finally, place limits on the time that winners have to respond to you with their info and make payment. Some guys will bid knowing they can't pay for 2 weeks, until they get paid. Let them know in your description that you expect pay within a certain length of time.
{Be flexable with this one,at least a little}
Hope you make a lot of money, dude.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25
25+ posts
|
|
25+ posts
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25 |
quote:
Originally posted by THE Bastard:
quote:
Originally posted by Saturn Ray:
Year of the Bastard is a good example of a pretty good Ebay seller,he sells his in lots or sets and most of his books are desirable, although his starting bids are a little high for me.
Thanks for that but, I always thought my opening bids were fair...I never started all that high considering the lots I was selling. Typically, I started at about 50 cents a book, never more than a buck unless is the lot was for Hardcovers or something really good...even when I knew they were worth more. And I almost always offered bonuses with my higher priced lots.
I always researched similar lots before making my prices. I think it's cool that some people star their bids at 1 dollar to stimulate bidding but, I needed to make the selling of the lot worthwhile to me. I wasn't trying to get rich off eBay but, I needed to make money that was worth parting with some of the books.
Fer instance, I sold the full run of Preacher including all the specials for about 200 bucks shortly after it ended. At the time I needed the cash and I got a good price after starting the bidding at 75 bucks (about a dollar a book). I had sellers remorse a couple of weeks later and found the same lot on eBay for less than 100 bucks. That guy started his bidding at 10 bucks. After I collected all the trades, I sold that lot for around 150. I made money both times and I made more than the guy with the low starting bid.
I'm bidding on an auction for CHEAP books. I'm more likely to start bidding on a ten dollar auction than a 75 dollar one. While a dollar a book is cheaper than cover I still want them as cheap as possible,I see that high starting bid I'm moving on. Start low,if your books are desirable youre still gonna get those high prices. Just my opinion.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25
25+ posts
|
|
25+ posts
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25 |
Oops missed your final few sentences. I guess you should do whatever youre comfortable with.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 6,377
6000+ posts
|
|
6000+ posts
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 6,377 |
Thanks everybody!
I will stress that my books will be "reader" copies! I'm know some are in better shape than others but all have been read! I also do not want to get into a pissing contest with some geek!
I'm not really sure what I want to sell yet...I really need to start going through some long boxes...If you saw a complete or almost complete run of Warlord, for example, how high do you think the bidding might get to? Would I be better to split it into sequential stacks or random stacks?
I do think I'll check out some scanners tomorrow.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 4,069
Public Enemy #4 4000+ posts
|
|
Public Enemy #4 4000+ posts
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 4,069 |
quote:
Originally posted by LLance:
Thanks everybody!
I will stress that my books will be "reader" copies! I'm know some are in better shape than others but all have been read! I also do not want to get into a pissing contest with some geek!
I'm not really sure what I want to sell yet...I really need to start going through some long boxes...If you saw a complete or almost complete run of Warlord, for example, how high do you think the bidding might get to? Would I be better to split it into sequential stacks or random stacks?
I do think I'll check out some scanners tomorrow.
LLance, I always sold my books in full runs if I had them or at least from 1 (or whatever) to whatever the latest number I had was. Some comic shop guys said I could make mor eif I broke them up into cheaper lots of, say 10...but I didn't have the patience for that shit. Plus, what happenes if you sell 9 of the 15 lots of the 150 issues you have of a certain title and are stuck with the rest? Fuck re-listing. Get rid of them all in one fell swoop.
I sold almost 300 issues of Uncanny X-Men and over 100 issues of X-Men to the same guy for more than 800 bucks and they were listed in 2 seperate lots. My thinking is that people that are collectors are looking for specific issues to complete a run and they are more discriminating when they bid. People that just want to read the books want as many as they can get of a particular title and will bid more often on big runs of books they want rather than buy then a few books at a time. They can always do that at a comic shop or convention.
Either philosophy makes a lot of sense. I guess it depends on what you have to sell and who you are.
If you have some single issues worth a decent amount, then it's worthwhile to sell in smaller lots.
As far as Warlord goes...I dunno. I never got into it. Spend a couple of weeks researching it on eBay. That will give you a good idea of what they are going for and what you can expect. there appears to be a lot of interest on the DC boards in that title so, I'd guess you could make a fair amount.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 15,367 Likes: 14
Banned from the DCMBs since 2002. 15000+ posts
|
|
Banned from the DCMBs since 2002. 15000+ posts
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 15,367 Likes: 14 |
Saturn Ray makes a fair point about my lots. The good stuff which is easy to sell - for example, the complete run of Authority - I started high and made a lot of money out of, when I bought them individually and sold them for double what I paid when Authority mania was at its peak. And, with apologies to Basti, the hardcover Kingdom Come I bought from him I re-sold at a small profit (I really needed the spare cash at the time for X-mas presents!).
But the more difficult stuff is harder - I've been trying to get rid of run of Perez Wonder Woman and all WW tpbs for about a year. I could probably sell them if I dropped the price right down, but its difficult to do that when I'm outside of the US and shipping to the US tends to be so much. I sold a big batch of tpbs to Theo very recently, and said I'd charge him $8 postage when it actually came to $25 - half the purchase price! I couldn't charge anyone that sort of cash for postage - they'd pull out of the deal.
I have a big run of X-men and also Sandman siting in Australia which I'll sell when I get back, and I think I'll follow Basti's advice on not splitting the lots. With X-men its hard to tell, because some bozo will want issue 170 and be willing to buy dog-eared 166 and 168 to get it. Sandman I'll sell as a big lot.
Theo told me something interesting once - he won't bid if there is a reserve price, because he thinks he isn't getting a bargain. I think there is some truth to that - I hate bidding on reserve lots.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 12,609
10000+ posts
|
|
10000+ posts
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 12,609 |
quote:
Originally posted by LLance:
Saturn Ray said: Pack very carefully,bag all comics shipped. Dont get banned from Ebay like Franta!
Bag all comics shipped? In plastic thingies?
Franta got banned from e-bay? That boy lives to be banned, doesn't he?
Who are you, Saturn Ray...that you know Franta as well as you do?
I was only banned once coz I called a seller a prententious anal bitch....the email was meant ONLY for Silver Armadillo and accidentally got sent to her too....
Hmmmm.....
did I get banned a second time...I cant recall now....
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 15,367 Likes: 14
Banned from the DCMBs since 2002. 15000+ posts
|
|
Banned from the DCMBs since 2002. 15000+ posts
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 15,367 Likes: 14 |
Was it Franco or Drzsmith who got banned for calling a female seller a "cunt"?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 12,609
10000+ posts
|
|
10000+ posts
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 12,609 |
Actually I think I called her a cunt not a bitch....
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25
25+ posts
|
|
25+ posts
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 25 |
I sold my near complete run of Warlord for $105,including Annuals and the mini-series. I really regret sellng it.
Also I'm with Theo,I dont bid on reserve items unless the reserve is posted in the description and I never sell with one...ever.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 8,462
1. You do not talk about snarf. 7500+ posts
|
|
1. You do not talk about snarf. 7500+ posts
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 8,462 |
No problemo!
I too, won't bid on reserved auctions!
I'm selling a few things at the moment and pictures really really help! I sold an old Transformer - I saw it had gone for about £60 in past auctions, I started my bidding at £50 and ended up getting £205 - because I had pictures and the others didn't!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 16,240
Kisser Of John Byrne Ass 15000+ posts
|
|
Kisser Of John Byrne Ass 15000+ posts
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 16,240 |
LLance, I have a 200 rating on eBay with no negative or neutral feedbacks. I do take Paypal and I like it, although it will cost .50 or so to take credit cards. Ebay is moving to Paypal around the start of the year so you may as well get used to it.
If your grading skills are untested stick to Overstreet standards, but use vague grades like VG, F, VG/F. The 9.2, etc numeric system is tougher. Always slightly undergrade to kep you + feedback. Sell in smaller lots to attract buyers as shipping is always an added price and people get more for their money.
Hot books right now or recently have been the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Mini..I got $85.00 for mine. Don't use vague titles..like 60's DC lot..no one will bid because the search won't register. Be exact as you can. I like 5-10 book lots. Be honest... I usually charge $4.50-5.00 for USPS Priority shipping..and try to sell 6 book lots because they fit in the flat rate envelope perfectly w/cardboard and you never get burned on shipping. Priority also speeds up the whole process.
Good luck... Oh yeah if you question a bidders integrity never leave feedback until the transaction is complete. I've heard of feedback blackmail...
|
|
|
|
|
