To Grade or Not to Grade that is ....

[Kboog]

Hi,

I am an old guy who collected Marvel comics when I was a kid in the 60's and again in the 80's and early 90's. I an ready to retire and don't want to have to keep all my comics in storage, there are over 2000. About half are early to late 60's Marvel. I want to sell my comics but don't know if paying for grading is worth it or not? How much would a comic book have to be worth after grading to be worth paying for grading. Opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[LordMikel]

I'm going to say no. Grading is expensive and realize they might say. "This comic is worth $20. That will be $15 for that grading. I know a store that will give you $10 for it." That $15 will be per comic as well.

Alternatives.
You could have them appraised. That is more a person looking through a price guide, guessing the condition, and telling you the value. Going to your local comic store and see if you could hire someone to do that. $20 bucks an hour perhaps. The more mess your comics are in the longer it will take.

You could simply take your comics to a store to sell them. They will kind of do that appraising thing, but they are under no obligation to share that information with you. They will simply give you a bulk rate. We will give you X amount of money for all of these comics. Or they may say, "We will give you X amount of money for these specific comics."

You could also buy a price guide and review comics yourself. But then you run the risk of setting yourself up for disappointment. I had a guy want to sell me a comic that was near mint worth $1,000. It wasn't near mint. It was good I think. Which meant it was worth more like $30. So I offered $10 for it. He was mad I offered him $10 on a $1,000 comic. He didn't want to accept it was only worth $30.

[Captain Craig]

Grading should only be for key issues of any book.
Examples:
Character introduction(the more important the character the more worthy it is of slabbing)
Character death, that meant something. Today's revolving door of death is gimmick driven. Even the Death of Superman issues from the 90's now hold no value.
A team debut like Alpha Flight or New Warriors in anothers book

I've seen slabbed books for issues not worth $10 and dealers want real money for them. I ask them why, what's important about this issue...blank stares. Sometimes I get the "it's slabbed and graded", so the book is pointless, nothing of merit happens why again would anyone pay $75 for a $10 book?Just cause it's in plastic...please.

Only slab books of merit. Do not wholesale slab 2000 books.

[Penoy]

I hate to say it but slabbed key issues do fetch better prices for profit. Given that your collection seems to be early to late 60s, there could be quite a few key issues there. Another thing to add to what Captain Craig mentioned are movie/tv show tie-ins. Announced movie/ tv show for characters bumps up prices.

[codystarbuck]

An appraisal will give you an idea at potential value, though most comics never fetch more than about 30% of guide prices, regardless of condition. I wouldn't pay for grading unless you have really important issues, in really, really good condition. As a reader, more than collector, I never saw the point of sealing up a comic. Okay, it's in Very Fine condition; and it's sealed inside a hunk of plastic (or whatever). That's fine if I am creating a museum collection, not if I want to read what I bought.

[ultimate jezebel]

Hi,

I am an old guy who collected Marvel comics when I was a kid in the 60's and again in the 80's and early 90's. I an ready to retire and don't want to have to keep all my comics in storage, there are over 2000. About half are early to late 60's Marvel. I want to sell my comics but don't know if paying for grading is worth it or not? How much would a comic book have to be worth after grading to be worth paying for grading. Opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Might be better to get appraisals of your books before they're slabbed. Loads of mid-grade 60s books that can be found on Ebay for a few bucks each won't be good contenders.

[Ultimates]

An appraisal will give you an idea at potential value, though most comics never fetch more than about 30% of guide prices, regardless of condition. I wouldn't pay for grading unless you have really important issues, in really, really good condition. As a reader, more than collector, I never saw the point of sealing up a comic. Okay, it's in Very Fine condition; and it's sealed inside a hunk of plastic (or whatever). That's fine if I am creating a museum collection, not if I want to read what I bought.

If its a key issue buy a digital copy. Preserve the hobby for the next generation.

To the OP, If you have key issues from the late 60s such as neal adams stuff or amazing spider-man in fine or better condition id slab them and put them on comic link. There probably isnt much demand for the 80s and 90s books.