Help/Advice on Selling Comics
A childhood friend of mine asked me to help him go through some of his dad's comics, as he knows I've got some experience with collectibles on account of the videogame buying and selling.
I don't know much at all about comics. In total he probably has around 75 comics. Of those, he took an initial pass, looking each one up online and for the time being it seems like he has identified 20-25 that may be worth enough for him to work toward selling them.
Some of the "main" ones as he described it: Hulk 181 (first appearance of Wolverine), X-Men 111-114, X-Men 121-125, Marvel Team-up Starring Spiderman & X-Men Issue 1, and Punisher 1 (1985, four-part limited series).
A few broad questions:
1) Is eBay the optimal place to sell comics?
2) Is grading/authenticating practically a pre-requisite for selling?
3) Are there multiple grading services? Which one is the standard/go-to/most trusted? What are costs like to get a single comic graded?
4) Likewise, is there a threshold below which it won't make sense to do grading and he would be better off selling raw?
5) When it comes to shipping comics (graded or not), what method is most secure? With videogames I'd just get a sturdy box and protect it on all sides. With comics, as they're flat I'm less sure what's standard. Do I just get a large box for each comic to thus protect it from any bending/movement? Do I go for anything flatter like an envelope?
Any general advice would be appreciated. Once I help him go through things tomorrow I can post more specifics of the particular comics that he has, but I imagine overall thoughts on how to go about selling the comics would be most helpful.
Thanks in advance!
I don't know much at all about comics. In total he probably has around 75 comics. Of those, he took an initial pass, looking each one up online and for the time being it seems like he has identified 20-25 that may be worth enough for him to work toward selling them.
Some of the "main" ones as he described it: Hulk 181 (first appearance of Wolverine), X-Men 111-114, X-Men 121-125, Marvel Team-up Starring Spiderman & X-Men Issue 1, and Punisher 1 (1985, four-part limited series).
A few broad questions:
1) Is eBay the optimal place to sell comics?
2) Is grading/authenticating practically a pre-requisite for selling?
3) Are there multiple grading services? Which one is the standard/go-to/most trusted? What are costs like to get a single comic graded?
4) Likewise, is there a threshold below which it won't make sense to do grading and he would be better off selling raw?
5) When it comes to shipping comics (graded or not), what method is most secure? With videogames I'd just get a sturdy box and protect it on all sides. With comics, as they're flat I'm less sure what's standard. Do I just get a large box for each comic to thus protect it from any bending/movement? Do I go for anything flatter like an envelope?
Any general advice would be appreciated. Once I help him go through things tomorrow I can post more specifics of the particular comics that he has, but I imagine overall thoughts on how to go about selling the comics would be most helpful.
Thanks in advance!
Comments
Shipping raw comics can be a pain but I bag and board them and then put card board on the front and back followed by wrapping in cling wrap then box them up. I used this method when I worked at a big comic book store and never had any complaints or issues.