Opinion on reselling your books; biggest windfalls

[GenericUserName12]

Here's a topic that's sure to raise a few hackles. What are your opinions on reselling books? I'm sure most people on this forum has resold their books for many reasons. I think overall most do because they're upgrading their books from one format to another. Others might purchase books to speculate their price in the OOP market.

I remember in the old forum there were definitive lines drawn on the matter. Would you purchase multiple copies of a book in hopes of selling it at an inflated price? Are you the type to only buy what you will read so more people can get the content at an affordable price?

Personally everything I buy, I plan to read. That being said, I don't crack the plastic on my books until I read them because I would sell (some) books I haven't read if the price is high enough. I have also purchased multiple copies of books (Uncanny X-men Vol 2.) with both versions.. I plan to read one and save the other for sale.

[victorxd1999]

I only resell for upgrading. That said, I never owned an omnibus loke Punisher by Ennis that's worth about $200. I'm not sure what I would do when I did though...

[NZ_InFerno]

I resold books often when I got into oversized books, mostly because I had bought a lot of TPBS and HCs initially and then when an oversized edition came out I would buy it and sell the regular copy. I now have a lot of OOP books that are worth more than I paid for them, which is a nice bonus I suppose but I don't look at them thinking I should sell them because of that fact. It's more that I'm happy to have the books in oversized format.

[shaxper]

The problem with reselling is that it's very hard to make a profit at it. ebay won't pay off unless you're in it for the long term, earning a reputation, buying packing equipment in bulk, and learning the ins and outs of the system inherently. Setting up at shows is also a long-term investment that isn't going to pay off in a single season. And forget selling to an LCS and expecting to make a profit.

I've been slowly amassing a stash of books I've gradually weeded out of my collection so that I can one day do the local comic show circuit. It's cheap and seems like it would be fun to do, but I don't have enough books to make it worthwhile yet.

[John Keyt]

Most of my collection is very fine , sometimes if I can't get a copy I will settle for a lesser grade and usually find a better copy . Then will trade off or even trash a filler copy . Made a comic end table out of some poor condition Conan The Barbarian comics . Or cut up and frame a page . Nothing worth any thing though . I haven't got into any omnibus or pricey hc stuff yet .

[dogwelder]

The last few years I have been selling some of my books on ebay and using that money to buy books I have never read.
Of course there are about 10,000 comics that I own that I will never sell.

[Jely4me]

I was a lifelong DC comic fan. My collection went back to the early 70's. Batman, Superman, the legion, I could go on. I survived the first 'crisis' in 86, zero hour in 94, final crisis being the final straw for me. After 30 years I was/am done being insulted. I sold Damn near my entire DC comic catalog through eBay and going to 2 comic con shows locally. I grossed nearly 18000 dollars. I'm using the cash to go to Hawaii this September for my anniversary. I fully intend to send Dan didio Jim Lee and Geoff Johns all the pictures their Facebook and Twitter accounts can handle. I thank them for the memories but they've rendered these characters to be unrecognizable so eff them. My 78 long boxes of marvel comics is still here. They're trying my patience too.

[Mixmaster]

Ted DiBiase, the Million Dollar Man, once said "Every man has his price." There isn't a piece in my collection that I wouldn't sell for the right price. I have collected since the mid-1970s and I never thought I'd ever sell my collection. But, I realized one day, while stepping over long boxes and stacks of comics waiting to be put in long boxes, that I was tired of the weight of collecting. It had become a tremendous weight. I was always looking for great deals and buying multiples and I realized that I was buying multiples so that I could eventually sell some. With everything mounting up and me getting tired of always worrying about all this stuff (and that's just what it is -- stuff), I sold off a few comics and found that it wasn't as hard as I thought. I didn't miss the books I sold; as a matter of fact, I really forgot about a lot of the books I had owned that I'd sold. From there, it became easier and easier and I ended up selling nearly every single key issue I had. I've said it time and time again: I do not want to be the guy who dies and someone sells his collection for a million dollars. I want to be the guy, while he's alive, sells his stuff and enjoys the million dollars (not that my collection was worth a million or anywhere close).
We are only caretakers of this stuff. We can't take it with us, so why not enjoy it for awhile and then sell it for a profit so that you can enjoy LIFE a lot more?

[ohmshalone]

Ted DiBiase, the Million Dollar Man, once said "Every man has his price." There isn't a piece in my collection that I wouldn't sell for the right price. I have collected since the mid-1970s and I never thought I'd ever sell my collection. But, I realized one day, while stepping over long boxes and stacks of comics waiting to be put in long boxes, that I was tired of the weight of collecting. It had become a tremendous weight. I was always looking for great deals and buying multiples and I realized that I was buying multiples so that I could eventually sell some. With everything mounting up and me getting tired of always worrying about all this stuff (and that's just what it is -- stuff), I sold off a few comics and found that it wasn't as hard as I thought. I didn't miss the books I sold; as a matter of fact, I really forgot about a lot of the books I had owned that I'd sold. From there, it became easier and easier and I ended up selling nearly every single key issue I had. I've said it time and time again: I do not want to be the guy who dies and someone sells his collection for a million dollars. I want to be the guy, while he's alive, sells his stuff and enjoys the million dollars (not that my collection was worth a million or anywhere close).
We are only caretakers of this stuff. We can't take it with us, so why not enjoy it for awhile and then sell it for a profit so that you can enjoy LIFE a lot more?

Well said.

[Balakin]

I was a lifelong DC comic fan. My collection went back to the early 70's. Batman, Superman, the legion, I could go on. I survived the first 'crisis' in 86, zero hour in 94, final crisis being the final straw for me...I fully intend to send Dan didio Jim Lee and Geoff Johns all the pictures their Facebook and Twitter accounts can handle. I thank them for the memories but they've rendered these characters to be unrecognizable so eff them. My 78 long boxes of marvel comics is still here. They're trying my patience too.

If Final Crisis was the final straw, shouldn't you be angry with Morrison? Or FC was the last event you could handle and the New52 made you sell your collection? I can get if you dislike the New52, I don't like that either, but FC didn't make too much retcons if I remember correctly. I understand if somebody doesn't like the story but it didn't screw up the DCU too much.

About reselling: I buy books because I want to read them but I try to buy the best deals: best price for the best quality. If I don't like the story, I sell the book and buy something else (I think hc-s are easier to resell because they could look new after one or two reading, not like tpb-s).
We have a small comicbook community here in Hungary and we have a facebook group where we sell and buy comics, it's easier than Ebay (or a similar hungarian site) and I never had a bad experience there.
The backside of it is that there isn't a big market for OOP books, so if I have an oop omnibus or hardcover I only could sell it below cover price, no matter how much people are asking for it on amazon or ebay (that's if anybody is interested at all, I barely could sell the Johns Teen Titans omni for example and I didn't ask too much for it. There is a guy who can't sell the Starman hc-s-vol1-6-around $135. People only want Batman and Spider-man here).

[Mixmaster]

I totally forgot to mention my biggest windfall - selling my Flash Comics 86 (first Black Canary) that I paid $180 for and getting nearly $1500 for it. Or, selling that Hedge Knight preview comic that I bought for 50 cents that I sold that very night for nearly $100. Not bad windfalls, eh?

[kdjac0434]

I've been selling all my single issues on ebay for the last few weeks. I sold Goon #1 for $20 and iZombie #1 for $30. I bought them both for cover price so that's a pretty good turn around.

Like the above poster mentioned, everyone has a price. I've been buying lots of hardcovers and omnibuses to read, but if the price is right on them, I'll flip them and buy something new to read.

[Joshua]

I sell when people pay ridiculous prices for books. I made a lot off my NTT omnis and my Ennis Punisher omni. I never once even opened the Pun book. Why keep it?