From: cmiller@src.honeywell.com (Chris Miller)
Subject: How to sell?
Organization: Honeywell Systems & Research Center
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 00:02:36 GMT


Sorry if you've seen this request before.  It apparently got out to some
(single) person, who wrote me about trades (which I'mnot interested in at
the moment), but I never saw it appear in either of the newsgroups, and got
no further responses to it.  Anyway, here we go again:


I'm about to take up a much more involving (and expensive) hobby than
collecting comics-- home ownership.  I'm not thrilled about moving my
4000-5000 book collection, and I could use some extra capital.  On the
other hand, I'm very busy and my books are only partly catalogued.  What
I'm after at this point is not offers (though if someone wanted to make me
a blanket offer of, say, $1000 to $1500, I'd certainly not complain).
Rather, I'd like recommendations about various ways of unloading comics,
probably lots of them, for maximal profit and minimal hassle.

By the way, just for reference, I probably want to unload from 2000 to 3000
books.  The collection ranges all over the place.  A few golden age, many
silver, but probably 50-60% are things I've bought over the past 10 years.
My guesses are that at, say 60% of Overstreet, these are worth the $1000 to
$1500 cited above.

Here's what I either know or currently assume about the options I know about:

1.  You can sell to comic book stores.  Pros: Minimal hassle, they're more
    likely to have the funds to buy a large collection than individual
    buyers, they're more willing to take a large collection at some average
    price.  Cons:  Their average price is very likely to be substantially
    less than one could get from an individual buyer.  Unknowns:  Are they
    really likely to plunk down the bucks that I think my collection is
    worth?  How do I go about selling a collection of this size to a store
    (they won't all fit in my car and I can't imagine a manager wanting to
    look at that many comics).

2.  You can take a booth at a convention.  Pros:  No filing or record
    keeping, potentially better price than from a store, three days of
    hassle and thats it.  Cons:  Pricing all those books individually
    (ugh!), profits are mitigated by cost of floor space (plus no guarantee
    of covering losses), I am not thrilled by being a shop keeper,
    temporally nearest local con is this weekend (too soon), next one is
    unknown, no guarantee of selling a significant chunk of the collection. 
    Unknowns: What does floor space cost?

3.  You can sell via the net or an ad in the CBG (pretty much the same deal
    except the net is faster.  If I go this route, I'd probably do both on
    a first come, first served basis-- which would probably mean the
    netters would get the cream of the collection).  Pros:  Probably better
    price than dealing with store or con (once space rental is figured in),
    minimal sunk cost so little chance of incurring a loss, can do it
    anytime for as long as I want to keep the deal going.  Cons: lots of
    record keeping involved (names, conditions, prices, plus list updates),
    risk of dishonest buyers (bouncing checks), no guarantee of selling a
    significant chunk of the collection.


Okay.  Did I miss any significant option?  Are any of my assumptions
invalid?  I'd love to hear stories from people who have actually lived
through parting with a significant chunk of their collections.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Chris Miller   cmiller@src.honeywell.com   cmiller@hi-csc.honeywell.com

 "If the world were all city . . . the  dwellers within it would turn a
 portion of it into wilderness, for there is that within them all which
 desires that somewhere there be an end to order and a beginning of chaos."
                   --R. Zelazny         _Lord of Light_
--------------------------------------------------------------------------