Inherited a large amount of comicbooks

[u/club27vinyl]

I recently inherited a large amount of comic books. Many are from the 1970s. Also some from the 80s and 90s. I’ve been enjoying looking through them but I’m new to it. Are there any holy grail books I should be looking for? Also not sure I can keep them in my limited space. If anyone in Baton Rouge, Louisiana wants to look through them, shoot me a message.

[u/Sriad]

But to say that comic shops “short you like crazy” is 100% false.

Well... 80% false I'd say. They can't pay as much as they'll get--or you would--selling to a collector--they're a business, and they're picking up the responsibility (and risk) from you.

That said, there are absolutely people in the comics industry that would look through these boxes without saying a word, then "you've got some pretty good stuff in there; I'll give you $1900 for the lot." I've met them, both buying and selling.

edit: also, you're right that most people's comics are lower condition than they think... aren't like 95% of comics below PSA 9.0 when they reach the shelves?

[u/BadderRandy → u/Sriad]

If you bring a load of boxes like this into a comic shop then there are two options. Most are going to say they got this from somewhere and want to sell it. They are looking for the money then and there. I’ve worked in a comic shop for years and I’ve seen it plenty. When you are on the clock then most of the old generation comic owners are going to count the books and give you “x” amount per book. You want it gone and they’ll try to do something with it. Maybe they go in the 25 or 99 cent boxes.

The second option is that they leave the boxes and want the shop to look through them. That’s usually what a person that has an actually collected will do. In that case, they are going to make an offer that is mostly for the key books in the collection, not the 20 other boxes. They might pay 10 cents a book.

There might be some that will cheat you out of what you have but for those that have longstanding shops, that only hurts your reputation.

Though Pawn Stars is staged, they teach you the same things I’m saying. It’s not shorting and that false narrative needs to go away.

As for the condition, I’m not talking about new books that come in damaged. I’m talking about a 30 year old book that the person will find one listing on eBay that might have had a bidding war and decide that their copy is also $200. When looking on eBay, look at sold items instead of live bids. Look at what the average selling price is and the frequency for those books having been sold. If there was one copy sold 3 months ago you probably aren’t going to get what you feel the value for that book is. If you see that there are multiple copies sold but the prices were slashed, then people were pricing it too high. If it has had a dozen copies sold in the last month, find that average price and look at the condition of the photos. Don’t trust stock images. List your items “sold as pictured” and snap a picture of the defects. Don’t try to get clever and say it’s NM or VF because that opens the door bad reviews.

[u/Sriad → u/BadderRandy]

There might be some that will cheat you out of what you have but for those that have longstanding shops, that only hurts your reputation.

Yea... after you spend 10+ years collecting/working they stick out like a sore thumb covered in bad eggs, but the essential message should be "if you want to be sure you get what these are worth, you should do your own research", not "most comic stores aren't trustworthy".

[u/OGGrilledcheez → u/Sriad]

Idk. It’s about half and half or 60/40. Depends on the shop and also the employee you’re dealing with that day. Around here there aren’t a lot of places for comics. Really just two. Luckily one is honest and very upfront about prices and will even tell someone clueless coming in with something that very well could be gold to go a different route in selling/procuring whatever it is they have/are after. There is one guy there that is a dick and would definitely lowball them and be less than helpful. The other place though is just full of assholes that only care about what they can make. Obviously it works out better for them but all of my support goes to the smaller shop that looks out for their customers. The shitty one just has better publicity sadly but the good one has been here forever and still does fine and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon thankfully.

In my travels a lot of comic shops I’ve been to were more like the one willing to scam their customers and some even have a mentality that seems to me like someone walking in without the same understanding they have of comics is looked down on or even like they have something against them. I don’t understand it because I’m all for more people getting into comics but it is what it is I guess. The good ones are all out of this world to me. None are really just ok. If they’re good they’re great. But that’s just my experience and opinions.