Craigs List Update - or power comic buying

Yesterday I received several responses to my craigs list advertisement.

One was from a gentleman selling about 2500 comics - motivated by the need to reclaim closet space (and his wife?). He had been an avid collector for quite a few years and then abadoned the collection. He had hoped his children would pick up the hobby, but they were disinterested (what comic books do girls like?). With that in mind he contacted me.

Unlike most collections, he visited numerous trade shows and had fairly consecutive runs in his collection - which also means he had entire story arcs. In addition, he had purchased a number of rare, collectible and special edition comics.

After several e-mails and a telephone conversation, I explained to him that bulk purchasing wasn't the same as selling one or two collectibles. If he had a year's time to slowly auction them off, I encouraged him to do so. Otherwise, I could buy the entire collection for about $0.20 per comic -- what was I thinking? How could I commit to spending $500!! Especially on comics that aren't even in my core collection!! Well it came out of my mouth, so there I was. I then let the buyer know that if the comics weren't for me, my friend (the fellow I bought 552 comics from last week) would more than likely be interested. As a matter of fact, I might buy them together with him.

I asked him to think the offer and call me back. About two hours later he did. Apparently someone else called him and asked him if he had any other buyers. When he mentioned a buyer from my small rural out of the way town, the fellow on the phone immediately realized it was me and told the seller my name! What a small world we live in. The caller then asked what price we had discussed and the seller told him $0.20 each, which the caller recommended as a good price.

Shortly after their conversation, the seller called him to let me know he was counting the collection. My friend, the big buyer and I talked afterwords, agreeing to buy the collection together. He also told me that he usually buys collections at $0.10 each when he can. If the seller is still interested, he will evaluate the collection (and number of duplicates) and determine if $0.20 is still worthwhile.

Frankly, I'm glad to share the cost with another party, but more importantly, I'm excited to be working with the big buyer. He really knows his stuff and I can learn from him! I now understand how he can make a profit selling comic books to me at $0.22 each.

My personal collection is beginning to swell at about 1200 - 1400 comics. By year end I'll have 3000 - 5000. They will take quite a bit of space. I wonder where it wil go from there.

I expect to start selling some of the valuable comics - possibly paying to have them commercially graded. Selling the valuable comics will probably pay for most if not all of my purchases.

I still have the large climate controlled storage unit - until I get rid of everything I may keep the comics there if they take up too much space.

In about 6-10 years my son will be ready for some of them.

Have a wonderful day,
makingourway