question about bulk buys...

[nycjadie]

Thanks for the thoughts. It's a big one for me, and I'm very unsure of the return on this one.

[ilzuccone]

Question/Tips - I have a guy trucking in 2000 books on Sunday. He wants $5K firm. Apparently, there is a lot of Valiant (including Harbinger 1, pink, Magnus 0, etc.). I know, not great at that price. BUT, there are also quite a bit of near full runs from the 70's like Hulk 105+, FF, etc. Big chunk of Tales to Astonish. Amazing Spiderman (not 300 - but other McFarlane books), etc.

Any thoughts on the price or tips? This would be my biggest collection yet. I usually buy them, keep what I want, and sell the rest making a small profit I use to fund my Valiant habit.

That's a lot of money for 2000 comics. i wouldn't do it. if i were you i would just decide how much you are willing to pay per book and never go over. makes the decision easier even though it's hard to pass some collections up.

where are you guys getting the leads on these collections? all i use is craigslist. any tips there?

[GGSAE]

Question/Tips - I have a guy trucking in 2000 books on Sunday. He wants $5K firm. Apparently, there is a lot of Valiant (including Harbinger 1, pink, Magnus 0, etc.). I know, not great at that price. BUT, there are also quite a bit of near full runs from the 70's like Hulk 105+, FF, etc. Big chunk of Tales to Astonish. Amazing Spiderman (not 300 - but other McFarlane books), etc.

Any thoughts on the price or tips? This would be my biggest collection yet. I usually buy them, keep what I want, and sell the rest making a small profit I use to fund my Valiant habit.

That's a lot of money for 2000 comics. i wouldn't do it. if i were you i would just decide how much you are willing to pay per book and never go over. makes the decision easier even though it's hard to pass some collections up.

where are you guys getting the leads on these collections? all i use is craigslist. any tips there?

I mostly use kijiji, but I have started getting into the habit of asking people if they have comics, and also getting referrals from 'word of mouth'.

[nycjadie]

I do think the price is high, but there are some books that are in there worth up to $100. That's where I'm out of my comfort zone. I usually buy much smaller and cheaper collections. He seems to be pretty firm on price, and he is not totally unreasonable, but I do think he believes the books are worth a bit more than they really are. He's trying to maximize return. I'm trying to diminish it.

It sounds like his collection is well cared for. He's driving the collection 90 minutes away to meet me in a public place. I have a feeling he's not going to want to go home empty handed. I'm not going to pay $5K unless I see some amazing books in there, and I think he knows what he as. There are some interesting things in there, like 12 copies of X-Men Annual 14, which I assume are in NM unread condition. I'm interested to see whether the Hulk 141, 170-172, etc. are in there or if there are holes. If there are holes, I'll talk him down.

At $5K, I figure I'd need 250 keys/$silver to recoup the cost. I'd need to see 12% of the collection being valuable books.

At $4K, 200, or 10%.

At $3K, 150, or 7%, etc.

[nycjadie]

I use Craigslist mostly, but I've met a handful of professional and casual dealers, and there's a small core group in this area. We are all competing, I think.

[nycjadie]

I ended up buying a small box of comics last weekend. All 90's. All pretty high grade. $60. Some highlights of my 9.8 candidates:

2 Deadpool #1 mini
Spawn 1
2 Amazing 365
Web of 100
2 Man of Steel 18 and 19
2 Superman 74
3 Jla 69
1 Superman 500
2 Superman 497
2 Action 684

I haven't combed through the rest yet, but this was definitely one of my betters buys. The thing is, he had 5 long boxes. I initially said I'd go up to $200, but it depends on what he has. I looked at it, and most of it was garbage. So I said $100 tops for the whole thing. He said no, so I was going to go home. He then said, why don't you take part of it. I offered him $50 for a short box. I didn't have much time to go through it, but I flipped through the comics grabbing as much as I could that I thought was good, and he asked for $60. Done. I did miss a few keys that in retrospect I am kicking myself over. I shot him another email to offer to buy the rest, but we are far apart in terms.

[GGSAE]

I ended up buying a small box of comics last weekend. All 90's. All pretty high grade. $60. Some highlights of my 9.8 candidates:

2 Deadpool #1 mini
Spawn 1
2 Amazing 365
Web of 100
2 Man of Steel 18 and 19
2 Superman 74
3 Jla 69
1 Superman 500
2 Superman 497
2 Action 684

I haven't combed through the rest yet, but this was definitely one of my betters buys. The thing is, he had 5 long boxes. I initially said I'd go up to $200, but it depends on what he has. I looked at it, and most of it was garbage. So I said $100 tops for the whole thing. He said no, so I was going to go home. He then said, why don't you take part of it. I offered him $50 for a short box. I didn't have much time to go through it, but I flipped through the comics grabbing as much as I could that I thought was good, and he asked for $60. Done. I did miss a few keys that in retrospect I am kicking myself over. I shot him another email to offer to buy the rest, but we are far apart in terms.

Nice haul! What's your plan for getting your money back? I picked up a collection today and will post pics later...

[nycjadie]

I should make my money back on the loose stuff, and I'll slab the keys. I'll also swap out the nice issues for lesser conditions in my collection.

Honestly, I'm about even on collections, but I have a couple of boxes of keys and 9.8 candidates, and I've built some great runs, including Uncanny 98-present, with a handful of earlier issues. All these are essentially free.

[Elveen]

This thread makes me jealous.
I need to increase my inventory and have been having a hard time doing it.

I need to find a collection.

[betterthanezra]

I've bought a few collections the last few months

-Brian

[Elveen]

I've bought a few collections the last few months

-Brian

Yes, you have scored!!!!

[nycjadie]

I've bought a few collections the last few months

-Brian

Yes, you have scored!!!!

Do tell! It's comic porn for some of us!

[nycjadie]

I bought the collection today. It's approximately 2300 books, and honestly, the Valiant books are the cream of the crop. They are immaculate and includes all early issues for for all the titles. I didn't see the promised pink or 0 books, but the Harbinger 1 looks like a 9.8 candidate. There are also a couple of early Nintendo books that I didn't have that are 9.8 raws.

I haven't gone through it, but there are definitely some good books in there. The silver age stuff is fun. Early sub 100 Avengers and FF. Near full run of Hulk. Chunk of Tales to Astonish. Sub-Mariner 1 in probably a 7.5. Hulk 102 on, I think (they are all mixed up). No early X-men .

I saw a few other interesting books like a Bone 2 and some early Image ashcans. Not sure how much they are worth.

I'll pore over them over the next few weeks. I'm super strapped for time, so I'm not sure how fast I'll be able to flip these, but it will be really fun.

I've never bought anything quite like this - $3500. More than I wanted to spend, but there is more silver in there than I've ever bought as well.

[GGSAE]

I should make my money back on the loose stuff, and I'll slab the keys. I'll also swap out the nice issues for lesser conditions in my collection.

Honestly, I'm about even on collections, but I have a couple of boxes of keys and 9.8 candidates, and I've built some great runs, including Uncanny 98-present, with a handful of earlier issues. All these are essentially free.

This is exactly what I want/and am in the process of doing....if I can acquire a great collection at cost that just involved a bunch of work, I'll take it!

[GGSAE]

I've bought a few collections the last few months

-Brian

Nice, please share Brian.

[GGSAE]

I bought the collection today. It's approximately 2300 books, and honestly, the Valiant books are the cream of the crop. They are immaculate and includes all early issues for for all the titles. I didn't see the promised pink or 0 books, but the Harbinger 1 looks like a 9.8 candidate. There are also a couple of early Nintendo books that I didn't have that are 9.8 raws.

I haven't gone through it, but there are definitely some good books in there. The silver age stuff is fun. Early sub 100 Avengers and FF. Near full run of Hulk. Chunk of Tales to Astonish. Sub-Mariner 1 in probably a 7.5. Hulk 102 on, I think (they are all mixed up). No early X-men .

I saw a few other interesting books like a Bone 2 and some early Image ashcans. Not sure how much they are worth.

I'll pore over them over the next few weeks. I'm super strapped for time, so I'm not sure how fast I'll be able to flip these, but it will be really fun.

I've never bought anything quite like this - $3500. More than I wanted to spend, but there is more silver in there than I've ever bought as well.

Awesome! Please post when you have time (time is a big negative for me as well)....so here's the pics of the collection I bought. I'm quite happy with the condition on a number of books; I had agreed to $350 (for 350 books) site-unseen (keep in mind I already bought the other collection off him, so I had an idea of what I was getting and had a list of some of the batman and spidermans).

Not everything is posted, there were some price variants and a number of other bronze books like marvel tales/marvel team-up and a solid looking lot of Spectacular Spiderman books.

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... 357800.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... ef193f.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... dd5b0b.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... 05f194.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... 3459c0.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... dbd393.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... 2aa7e0.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... a384da.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... 5ae27b.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... 3d474d.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... fe8a8b.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[betterthanezra]

Well it started like three months ago when I looked at an ad on Craigslist in Sacramento for about 432 books for like $50 I called him and he held onto them till I was able to get there and buy them

Fables #1-7
Hellblazer 1-109, 128-204
Daredevil vol 2 #1-18, 22-34, 36-38
Thor vol 2 #1-55
about 187 Crossgen books were also in there also

Like i said I paid $50 for it and because I called first I got them

That's collection 1 I bought

-Brian

[GGSAE]

Man, just getting all those hellblazers is a solid deal!

[betterthanezra]

Collection 2 was another Craigslist ad. 4 small boxes all bag & boarded

Really nothing super solid 487 books all for $300 the reason I bought it was

Batman Adventure #12

-Brian

[nycjadie]

I bought the collection today. It's approximately 2300 books, and honestly, the Valiant books are the cream of the crop. They are immaculate and includes all early issues for for all the titles. I didn't see the promised pink or 0 books, but the Harbinger 1 looks like a 9.8 candidate. There are also a couple of early Nintendo books that I didn't have that are 9.8 raws.

I haven't gone through it, but there are definitely some good books in there. The silver age stuff is fun. Early sub 100 Avengers and FF. Near full run of Hulk. Chunk of Tales to Astonish. Sub-Mariner 1 in probably a 7.5. Hulk 102 on, I think (they are all mixed up). No early X-men .

I saw a few other interesting books like a Bone 2 and some early Image ashcans. Not sure how much they are worth.

I'll pore over them over the next few weeks. I'm super strapped for time, so I'm not sure how fast I'll be able to flip these, but it will be really fun.

I've never bought anything quite like this - $3500. More than I wanted to spend, but there is more silver in there than I've ever bought as well.

Awesome! Please post when you have time (time is a big negative for me as well)....so here's the pics of the collection I bought. I'm quite happy with the condition on a number of books; I had agreed to $350 (for 350 books) site-unseen (keep in mind I already bought the other collection off him, so I had an idea of what I was getting and had a list of some of the batman and spidermans).

Not everything is posted, there were some price variants and a number of other bronze books like marvel tales/marvel team-up and a solid looking lot of Spectacular Spiderman books.

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... 357800.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... ef193f.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... dd5b0b.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... 05f194.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... 3459c0.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... dbd393.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... 2aa7e0.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... a384da.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... 5ae27b.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... 3d474d.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65 ... fe8a8b.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Amazing Bat books. I'm pretty jealous of those. I don't have many. Nice buy! I often see those for $10 at shows.

[nycjadie]

Well it started like three months ago when I looked at an ad on Craigslist in Sacramento for about 432 books for like $50 I called him and he held onto them till I was able to get there and buy them

Fables #1-7
Hellblazer 1-109, 128-204
Daredevil vol 2 #1-18, 22-34, 36-38
Thor vol 2 #1-55
about 187 Crossgen books were also in there also

Like i said I paid $50 for it and because I called first I got them

That's collection 1 I bought

-Brian

Nice! Honestly, my best deals have been 90's moderns. They key books are popular and you can get boxes of them ridiculously cheap.

[nycjadie]

Collection 2 was another Craigslist ad. 4 small boxes all bag & boarded

Really nothing super solid 487 books all for $300 the reason I bought it was

Batman Adventure #12

-Brian

What! That should pay for the lot.

[betterthanezra]

The last collection I bought really blows me away just pure quality

to be honest I have been trying to see this collection for about two years. This woman works for the post office I go to almost everyday. She has about 4000 books that are in her garage because they were her brothers who past away in a car crash about 5 years ago.

I picked these up for about $5-10 each

Action #765
New Mutants #98
Detective Comics #359 first Batgirl, 363, 371, 475-476,
Avengers #54-58, 60
Avengers #196, 202
X-Factor #6 (2), 19, 24,
Marvel Premiere #47 & 48 first Ant-Man
X-Force #2, 11
Superman man of Steel #17 (3)
Uncanny X-Men #120, 266
Showcase #55-56, 59, 64, 101-102
Adventure Comics #439-440
Batman #257, 260, 300, 334
Iron Fist #15
Hawkman #4, 9
Secret Wars #8
Batgirl Adventures #1
Batman Adventures #12 yes another one
Batman Adventures Mad Love TPB (2nd print)
Thanos Quest Book one & two

That's not all of it.. but you get the idea

-Brian

[Elveen]

Epic

[GGSAE]

The last collection I bought really blows me away just pure quality

to be honest I have been trying to see this collection for about two years. This woman works for the post office I go to almost everyday. She has about 4000 books that are in her garage because they were her brothers who past away in a car crash about 5 years ago.

I picked these up for about $5-10 each

Action #765
New Mutants #98
Detective Comics #359 first Batgirl, 363, 371, 475-476,
Avengers #54-58, 60
Avengers #196, 202
X-Factor #6 (2), 19, 24,
Marvel Premiere #47 & 48 first Ant-Man
X-Force #2, 11
Superman man of Steel #17 (3)
Uncanny X-Men #120, 266
Showcase #55-56, 59, 64, 101-102
Adventure Comics #439-440
Batman #257, 260, 300, 334
Iron Fist #15
Hawkman #4, 9
Secret Wars #8
Batgirl Adventures #1
Batman Adventures #12 yes another one
Batman Adventures Mad Love TPB (2nd print)
Thanos Quest Book one & two

That's not all of it.. but you get the idea

-Brian

You should go to jail for that.... Did you end up buying the whole collection, or just cherry pick a few books? Congrats on getting to see the collection, takes perseverance.