Large comic collection to sell - help!

NIKKID

I'm hoping for some words of wisdom regarding a huge comic collection that I have reluctantly decided to part with. I've been collecting since a tiny child - over 40 years - but need to part with the collection hopefully for decent cash. I did get in touch with one dealer whom I thought was a reasonable bloke but he offered me a ridiculously low price for the collection which I know to be worth considerably more. Some of his comments led me to believe that he thought he was dealing with someone who did not know the value of what she had.

Now the only alternative I can think of is to sell the collection piecmeal on ebay and as we are talking about 10,000+ comics I'm more than daunted. Is this really the only way to part with the collection? I have not been able to find any other dealer keen to take on such a haul and the thought of selling them bit by bit puts me off. It's going to take ages and as I'm inexperienced when selling on ebay as it is the thought does not cheer.

Any advice or suggestions would be gratefully received

AllSpent

Firstly...10,000 comics!!

What about grouping them into volumes, years, or series, and selling them like that (if you're going through ebay that is).

I would have thought event the most ardent collector isn't going to buy (require) this number of issues.

Try contacting some more comic dealers, or shops, see what their advice is.

P.S - don't forget, keep the valuable ones for yoursef:-)

RFW

Presumably there are several types of comics, so selling them in sets may help.

Have a look what is being and what has been sold on Ebay. You can do searches for items sold in the last 30(?) days, via advanced search. Then if you sort by highest price first it should give an idea of which are fetching a high price.

For a collection like that you may find a specialist auction house would be useful. If you do check their charges in advance before handing them over and also how long they would take to pay out after sale.

forgotmyname

The collectors will want the obscure ones, Limited editions, Free gifts still attached. immaculate condition.

Immaculate No.1's maybe worth something. But as they get later and more common then you may never sell them.

Just look at the almost endless list of unsold items. No shortage for a lot of them.

sham63

This has been discussed recently, have a look at this thread which might help;

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4513749

soolin

It really depends on the titles, but they are not necessariyl worth a great deal and your collector may have had the correct price.

I've recently seen crates of Beano and Dandy comics from the 1970s onwards go for less than £10 a crate at a B and M auction, it is not a strong market at the moment.

As above check out ebay for completed sales and see whether the sales were better in bulk or lots. As a new selelr on ebay though you may well be limited to as few as 6 auctions a month for the first few months so would take you years to sell.

Goldiegirl

Are there such things as collectors fairs where you could sell them?

It might be a way of selling some fairly quickly.

The thing with eBay, it can be quite time consuming, what with photographing, listing, packing and going to the post office.

With 10000 to sell, it'd take a long time to do it on eBay.

What I would suggest is to pick out the ones that are most attractive to buyers and try selling them individually, and put the rest into bulk lots. That was the approach I took with my 7 inch singles. If I'd tried to sell them all individually it'd take forever, and there was nothing like 10000 records

GregtheHammer

Goldiegirl wrote: »

Are there such things as collectors fairs where you could sell them?

This is not a bad idea, I have taken approx 4 years to sell around 8000 comics, it is very time consuming listing individual comics.

Dealers are mainly a no-go, they will offer you as little as possible as I think you have already found out.

Are they UK or US comics?

forgotmyname

Is there a guide to show the value of each issue?

Many not sold even for pennies. So list the rare ones on their own and others in bulk. Check postage prices and try to keep the cost down.

NIKKID

Thanks for your input guys. I didn't imagine there was a quick fix tbh, but was hoping....

My comics are all Marvel from sixties to late nineties. I've some rare ones although at the time I collected for love of the things rather than value so I'm sure I have some rubbish in there.

I am a bit apprehensive about selling the collection piecemeal but it does look as if that's the only way. We don't have any local dealers or comic fairs and the dealer I tried was the closest I could find. I'm prepared to accept that my original estimate is probably out now but I felt he really offered a pittance for what I was offering.

Ebay here I come. I'll just have to bite the bullet and make a start