comic book investment

[GAME05]

i want to start off by saying i know just about nothing about comic books, so i'm hoping for some advice from everyone on here who does.

 

i've come across an investment in comic books. it'll be expensive, but the reward at least appears to be great. i just wanted some thoughts beyond what my friend/partner had to say. i trust him, but i'd be fronting the money, so there's some natural apprehension.

 

The Deal: It's 120 long boxes of comics that haven't been picked through, owner wants to get rid of them and hasn't really had the time to pick through that many, either. 20 of these boxes are modern-era comics, but 100 are a mix of Silver and Bronze Era. (They come out to about $0.20 per comic book). I opened two of the modern-era boxes with him. Roughly 10 sets in each box, worth about $50 on Ebay, then sell the remaining common ones at conventions and Ebay bundles for say $0.50-$0.75 a piece and in $5 bundles, including general expenses. The older comics, naturally, would fetch a good deal more, and we would work together to parse the good ones from the commons to sell separately. A comic friend of his told him the older ones were a really great deal. It is my understanding that long boxes of comics usually sell for a lot more.

 

Now, he's already been buying the newer ones piecemeal, but the older ones have to be bought altogether, which means I'd front the money. And there's the rub. Though he's a friend and I have no reason not to trust him, the comics would float between apartments, and between his general knowledge and my complete ignorance, stealing a $250 comic either of us would find would not be hard to do at all. But the interesting thought is how separating out the valuable Silver and Bronze Era comics to sell separately could really earn a great deal of money.

 

So....though he would be doing the majority of the separating work, I would be fronting the money. My thought is that it's a good investment, but I'll write a basic contract between us that I will be guaranteed at least half of my initial investment back (or else it's small claims, i suppose)., should the whole thing somehow totally flop. And with him sure of a very good return it seems reasonable he wouldn't argue that.

 

That's the deal. Any comic people have thoughts? Is this totally crazy? Is this a great deal? Are my numbers right as I understand them? Any thoughts?

[gypcasino]

Who is the person that's selling you the boxes?

[Samurai Bucky]

I haven't been collecting comics for awhile. I started in the early 90's shortly before the McFarlane Spider-Man series came out. There was a time where comic books were probably a very good investment. However, I don't know if they are that good anymore. I bought a Spectacular Spider-Man #1 at a store in Madison for $29.99 at the time (fair market price at that time, too). Now it is $25 on ebay.

 

The McFarlane Spider-Man series, issues 1-7 are going for $10 for the set on eBay. I'm looking at the cover online and I think it was $1.75 per copy.

 

The only way you are going to make some serious coin is if you have some gems in there. Items like X-Men #1, FF #1, etc. I hope this doesn't deter you too much, but I don't know if I would ever collect comics again. Collecting isn't what it used to be.

[Fatter than Joey]

I used to work in a comic book store when I was in college.

 

At the time -- all of the indy (non-Marvel/DC) titles were the rage. Stuff like Dark Horse, Spawn, and then a lot of the Vertigo titles.

 

The store I worked at had a HUGE amount of older comics, which probably made up less than one percent of store's sales.

 

There are definitely collectors of the old comics, even the non-super-hero stuff like the Gold Key stuff.

 

As with just about everything -- condition is king, if you have a lot of Spiderman/X-men titles that have been bagged and tagged for the last 20-30 years, then you probably have something you could sell. IF the condition is pretty ratty, I'd probably pass on the whole deal, or perhaps try to find a buyer that would take all 120 boxes.

[RobertR]

Silver Age comics, in decent condition, are a great investment. Bronze Age and Modern, not so much. But at $0.25 a book or so, you should be o.k. unless they're waterdamaged.

 

I suspect that on a per hour basis it's not going to come out to much. But, my advice is to 1) Buy the latest edition of the Overstreet Price Guide, 2) Inventory the whole lot, and 3) Figure out what value you really have.

 

And, for comic books, it needs to be stated again, Grading is King. I'd give you all sorts of negative feedback on EBay if you tried to pass off a "Good" condition book as "Near Mint". When in doubt, grade down. Or don't grade at all and let the buyer assume the risk.

 

FWIW, I have some interest in later Silver Age and Bronze Age Batman, Bronze Age Detective Comics, and Bronze Age The Brave and the Bold.

 

Robert

[GAME05]

from what I've seen of one lot, almost all are carded and near-mint.

 

Here's what occurred to me this morning:

 

I can buy 10 modern-era boxes with my own money, again at about $0.16 per comic. What I think I'll do is do the work and sell 5 of them and ignore the other lot of 100 for now. I'm figuring out of the 5 boxes, I could have a good estimation of what the average box would sell for in total (including separating out the more-valuable ones). Also keep track of labor hours and I can determine value from there--it'd also mean having that information right there in front of me and not basing it on current Ebay prices for similar stuff or frankly, even taking my friends word for it. It feels like minimum what I'd need to make back is $1 per comic, and I guess I want to learn for myself if that's reasonable or not to expect.

 

My friend and I could use the profit (should the investment prove to be valuable) from the 10 boxes to buy the lot of 100 Silver and Bronze Era ones. Upside is less-cost investment and the family now won't freak out as they are now. Downside is the 100-box lot could be sold from under us, but I suppose the risk of losing out on the bigger lot doesn't outwiegh losing a greater deal of money and upset family.

 

I'll definitely get you all more information as I understand it. Boy, even for a comics question, Brewerfan.net was my first thought--this site is awesome.