I have a comic book collection w/rare and old comics. Probably about 500 in all. I would like to sell the entire collection. I perused eBay and found the value of some of them. I think one is worth over $500; which could mean that my collection is quite valuable.
Question is: where do I start? Is there someone I can take the collection to who can value it? Or is there someone who can come to my home to value the collection? Someone I can trust that would give me the best pricing???
Thank you for any help you can offer.
Our reader here has taken a huge first step in that they have already done some research into what some of the comic books might be worth. There is great news that one might be worth in the $500 range and this is a good indicator that what they have could be worth a good deal of money.
Another way to determine if what you have might be worth something is to see how old the comics are. Comic books from the seventies and older are usually worth quite a bit more than comic books in the past few decades. I've known many people that have hundreds if not thousands of comic books, but they are all rather recent and not quite worth the amount they were hoping for.
The next step would be to get some sort of appraisal for the whole collection. This is either going to take time or money. If you have the time, the thing to do would be to get a price guide and go through the collection, keeping track in a spreadsheet or comic book collection software. You could also rope in a relative or friend who knows something about comics to help as well. This will give you a ballpark idea of what they are worth. Don't expect to get full price though, especially in tough economic times. Who knows though, you could get even more then they are worth in some sort of auction.
If you don't have the time, you might try hiring someone to get an appraisal. Most comic book stores won't be willing to go through hundreds of comic books and I'd be suspect of one giving an offer on your items. If you were willing to pay though, a comic store just might be willing to help. Many stores are always looking for extra income so some cash just might be the incentive to get an accurate reading.
You might also take advantage of programs like Heritage Auctions auction appraisal system. You put together some pictures and listings of comics and they give you an idea of what they would go for at auction. Their ultimate goal of course is to get you to sell them through their company but they have been a trustworthy site for quite some time so you shouldn't need to worry. They also offer a full appraisal program, but that has a minimum cost of $500.
Selling is another beast altogether. Again, it is about time and money. I'm much more of a DIY person so I'd always go for the selling it myself route. I'd check and see which auction sites are doing well for my wares and list them myself. Time consuming for sure, but worth it in the long run for me. You might also think of a friend or relative to help in listing them and giving them a cut of the profits.
Comic stores will not be able to give full or probably even near full value for the simple fact that they need to make a profit as well. I'd expect them to give you no more than 50% of the value, probably less, and I know of some stores that only give you a dollar amount per pound. If you need the money fast, you might go that route.
Auction and consignment services, again through companies like Heritage, can be a great way to go as they already have an audience and can describe your comic books accurately with years of experience under their belts. Be prepared to pay them a cut of the auction though as that experience does have a price.
For a collection of this size, it will be very time consuming, but it sounds like you might have some comics of good value. I'd recommend doing some more research and listing them yourself at an auction site. It may take a while, but it will probably be more worthwhile and you'll learn something along the way.
