One question we get asked on a pretty daily basis is, "do you buy comics?"
Well, yes we do, but there is quite a bit of extra detail that goes into this answer.
First thing I wanna do is temper expectations. The standard trade price on bulk comics is 10 cents a cover. Modern-era non-key comics under $5 are generally all bulk. We do go through boxes looking for extra value and keys or older covers but in general we'll usually spend an hour looking through a box and fail to find enough value to even pay the hours wage of the employee looking through the box. Wow, that's crazy, why would I even buy comics then? Good question, cause its a numbers game. The more variety we have in our backstock the better chance we have of having a book people want and making a sale and having a great backstock is paramount to our credibility as a comic shop. The vast majority of our backstock will never sell, and that's just reality. At any given time, while looking through a box of comics, I would rather be doing anything else. I am actively looking for any reason not to buy your comics. Dirty, smokey, musty, moldy comics will be immediately turned away. Torn and tattered comics are also a quick way to have your box returned without an offer.
In the world of comics we have 3 categories...
- bulk
- decent older books
- keys
Bulk comics come in all day long and they are a dime a dozen. Bulk comics are generally issues that are under $5 in value or are from an era (1985-1999) where mass print drove the market way down and are very numerous in availability on eBay and other sources.
Decent older books would be non keys from great periods prior to the modern area, some bronze but mostly silver age and golden age comics across the board are generally worth over 5 dollars in decent shape and even with some wear. Most comics before the 70s will find a 10-20 dollar price tag in mid condition. These are books we will gladly buy all day long.
Keys or "key issues" are considered notable issues in a series run, either a 1st issue or 100th or 500th including first appearances and big moments in popular storylines. These comics can go for hundreds or even thousands in good condition. Our first big comic purchase 3 years ago included every X-Men and fantastic four issue from 1964 to 1972. This had X-Men #1 and almost every major 1st appearance from all the big name super heroes the MCU has brought up to mainstream popularity. The collection was far from mint which drove the price down significantly but overall we paid around $6,000 for this collection. These are books we will always be interested in buying.
NOW, A phrase I repeat quite often in store is "CONDITION IS EVERYTHING." When pricing out ANY collectible, the condition of the item is always a factor in its price. You wouldn't expect to sell your used car with a dented hood for the KBB high market price. As I said in the beginning, torn and tattered comics will be quickly rejected, however, we have a long established grading standard in the comics industry in the Overstreet Pricing Guide which has now in the last decade been transformed into a great website we use to price out raw comics of a specific condition. When we use the term "raw" we differentiate from a graded counterpart in which a certification company such as CGC has designated the undeniable and uncontestable condition and value of a specific comic and sealed it as such. An Overstreet 5 will always be lower than a CGC 5. Overstreet is a general conditioning guide but a CGC grade is irrefutable and therefore worth much more.
Now, here's the cold hard truth of the average comic book trade/buyout. In many situations, you find a book and searched around for some prices. You decide the value of your book is....lets say $100. Did you take condition into account? Did you search for comps that were also raw, did you go on eBay and make sure to verify sold listings only? Do you have more than 1 price comparison? You might find yourself displeased when I find this book is only worth $60 and that's Mint. Your book is in fair condition so it's only worth $20-30 and we pay out at 30% for cash. So the book you thought was worth $100, you're only getting $15 for. This is the unfortunate situation that both you the seller and we the buyer find ourself in quite often. You then walk out feeling insulted and we end up wasting several hours for nothing. I am being very blunt but again, were tempering expectations. In the world of comics card and collectibles we have millions and millions of situations where the value of items far underperform the worth to the individual. Princess Diana and Millennium Bear beanie babies still hold some value but the vast majority are worth $10 at best. 99% of a booster box of Pokémon cards is bulk. We do our best to find value in your collection but we cant make value appear where it doesn't already exist.
Now, lets ignore the last paragraph for a moment. We are always buying comics and we would love to take a look at your collection but your first step is to know what you have in front of you. We go above and beyond to find good value and pay an honest price to our customers and charge the most competitive and fair pricing on our own products that even the big box stores overcharge for. It is still your responsibility as a seller to do your research and show up prepared. If you tell us your collection isn't all bulk, we'd expect you to have the key issues pulled out already. If you pull out 5 books and we check them on the spot for you and they are all bulk, we are going to assume you either didn't do your research, and/or didn't read this blog. In this given situation we will still take a look through every book but most likely it will be at our bulk rate.
Cash buyout rate at 30% market value for any comics over $5
Bulk cash rate for any comic under $5 is $0.10 per cover. $1 per 10 covers.