How To Sell Your Comic Book Collection

50 Cents signs on bins of comics for sale

Wade Griffith / Getty Images 

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Getting Started

Comic Book Store
whatleydude/Flickr

So I have all these comic books, how do I sell them?

It seems that many people want to sell their comic book collections. Some people get them through a friend or a relative that passed away, others just want to get rid of a collection that has been collecting dust for many years. Most, if not all of these people have the same question. How do I sell all these comics?

First Steps

Know that selling a comic collection will take some time. Once prepared you must remember there are two things you must do first before selling to make sure you get as much as possible for your collection. The first is to know the grade of your comics and the second is to know the value.

Grade

The grade is the condition the comic books are in. Comic books are ranked from Mint Condition to Poor Condition and many levels in between. The better the condition of the comic, the more it is worth. 

Value

The second step is to determine the estimated value of your comics. This takes many factors into account, such as the grade, as mentioned before, the rarity, age, and appeal of the comic book. 

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How Should You Sell Your Comics?

Many Paths

When selling a collection of anything you must figure out how much time you are going to invest in the endeavor. Time is money so you need to figure out what is going to be the best option for you. Here are three options to consider.

One At A Time

You may consider selling each and every comic one at a time. This will take the longest but could yield the largest results, if every comic in your collection is worth a decent amount. If you have many comics of little value, then selling them one at a time at a place like eBay will only eat up a lot of your profits.

Big Lot

The big lot, the whole shebang. Getting rid of a comic collection this way is the shortest, but will often yield the least amount of money. If you’re looking for quick cash, go this route, but don’t be offended if you are offered much less than your collection is worth.

Small Chunks

In our opinion, this is the best way to sell a larger collection of comic books. It will take longer than selling it all in one shot, but much less time than selling one at a time. It should also garner much more than just selling it one whack.

Another Option

You might want to also consider doing some of all three. Put the least valuable in one lot, sell your runs of comics – Ultimate Spider-Man #2-10 – and save the rarer #1 to sell individually.

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Where Should You Sell Your Comics?

Places

There are many places one can sell a comic book collection. Some are much better than others.

Comic Store

This is perhaps the first place many people think of when they want to sell their comics. The problem with selling comic books to a local comic book store is that they need to make a profit on what they sell. They won’t be able to offer you what a comic book is worth because if they are not making a profit on what they buy, they will go out of business. If you need money quick though, they may be the place.

Auction House

The auction house could be an option for some of you, but probably only if you have some of real value. They have to go through the hassle of promotion, advertising, and paying staff to sell the comics. Heritage Comics and Morphy Auctions, are both auction houses that specialize in rare large comic book collections.

Internet

The best place for the individual to sell is through an auction site, such as eBay. This gives you the control as to how and when you sell your comic book collection. All you need is an account with them and you’re good to go. Be careful, though, as the more whistles you add to your auction, the more it costs.

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Setting Goals

Being Realistic

Many people hope that their comic books are worth something and for the most part that’s true. Comic books are worth something, especially to the owners that have collected and read those comics. Now, from a monetary standpoint, your comic book may not be worth much of anything. This is an important thing to think about when you are selling your comic book collection.

But My Comic Book Is Old!

I see this trend a lot. Just because something is old, does not make it worth anything. If that were true then the dirt and rocks all around us would be worth their weight in gold. Many people have comic books from the mid-eighties and early nineties. One issue with many of these comic books is that production runs have been getting larger and larger. Comics are now printed in the hundreds of thousands of issues. The more of a collectible item there is, the less it is often worth. There were also comics that were popular in their day, but no longer, such as Youngblood, or New Universe.

Do Your Research

When you are truly ready to sell your comics, make sure to do your research. Doing so will allow you to see how much a comic book is currently going for in relation to its worth. According to a price guide, a comic book may be “worth” $100 dollars, but if it is only selling for $20 on popular auction sites, then it may not be time to sell.

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To Sum It Up

In Conclusion

Choosing to sell your comic books is a serious thing. If you want to do it right and make as close to what it is worth, then you will make the time to follow the steps in selling your comic book collection.

1. Know what grade (condition) your comic book is in.
2. Know what the overall value of your comic books is.
3. Figure out how to sell your comics – A big lot, one comic at a time, or smaller lots of comics.
4. Know where you want to sell your comics.
5. Be realistic about what you will get for them.

With these things in mind, you will surely be able to get the most out of your collection.