I think part of the fun in collecting is tracking down books in the wild and getting a good deal. One Saturday morning years ago my Dad and I were going to an auction about an hour away from where we lived. We were going because the auction advertised comic books. On the way there I distinctly remember my Dad saying “maybe they’ll have a Hulk 181”, if you don’t know, that is the first appearance of Wolverine. When we got to the auction we quickly located the comics. There wasn’t a whole lot just a couple of flat boxes featuring some bronze age Marvel books. The books were not bagged and boarded, just heaped together in these flats. There was nothing to indicate to an uneducated observer that any book was more important than any other. Anyways, amongst these books heaped together lay a copy of Incredible Hulk 181! I could not believe it. My Dad and I were so excited, especially because no one else seemed to have noticed it. We tried to play it cool hoping no one would notice and we’d get it on the cheap. Just a little before they auctioned off the books another man rifled through the flats. They auctioned off a couple of flats of comics; my Dad bought them for pretty cheap. When they got to the box containing the 181 they didn’t announce it as anything special, we thought we were going to get it for a song! We would have too if that one guy hadn’t of been there! You could hear the crowd murmuring when this lot of books started going for much more than the lots before it, they were wondering what made this lot so special. My dad ended up winning the auction for $100, which was still a pretty good deal for the book, but seriously if that one guy had not been there we would have got it for $10. My point in all this is just that it is really fun to go out searching for books and you can make some great memories doing so, but if it’s something you just gotta have, then you may need to try other means of obtaining it.
So, all that being said let’s talk about some tips for filling those holes in your collection. If you enjoy the searching and want to do so locally these are the places to look…
- Local Comic Shop – This is your best shot, obviously. A lot of shop owners will negotiate prices with you if you engage them in a conversation. A lot of shops have bargain boxes that you can find good deals in and also look through the boxes of back issues, some shops don’t update their prices as often as they should. I completed my run of Fantastic Four 150-200 largely from going through the $1 boxes at my local shop.
- Garage Sale listings – You might be surprised, I got a ton of 35 cent era Marvel books at a sale.
- Craigslist – I check Craigslist pretty frequently. There isn’t always a lot going on but you can get some deals and maybe with luck find what you are looking for. You can also post an ad stating what you are looking for and see what turns out.
- Comic Book Conventions – Maybe you don’t have conventions in your town but chances are you are within driving distance of some. Look here and here for cons near you. This is maybe the best way to track down books because usually at cons everything is negotiable. Cons are a great way to meet other collectors; you should network with other collectors. I usually end up talking to people and we’ll discuss books we are looking for and help each other out. Making connections with other collectors is one of the best ways to find books and fill holes. You will find that there are plenty of other collectors out there and some will be willing to trade or negotiate with you.
If you don’t have a lot of local opportunities to find comic books you will have to turn to the internet. The internet has plenty of advantages for collecting but it has it’s disadvantages as well. Online you can find almost any book you may want but so can anyone else. So if you are trying to get the best price on the books to fill your collection you will still have to be diligent in searching.
Here are some places to look online.
- Ebay – Ebay is king. It is the easiest way to find what you are looking for. The problem is that it is easy for everyone else too so there is a lot of competition. I would suggest doing a saved search on ebay, this will allow you to receive notifications for the items you searched for when new ones are listed. This is what I do when I am planning to make a purchase. By doing this you can keep an eye on the market and get an idea of what would constitute a good or bad deal. When you bid on an auction try to wait till the auction is nearing it’s end, unless you have a set price that you want to spend and you don’t mean to go over even a penny more. If that’s the case, just enter your maximum bid and let it be. Ebay will not raise the bid to your max unless others have also bid that far. One trick some people use is involve bid sniping apps. With these you would put in your bid and then set it to input the bid on ebay maybe 3 to 5 seconds before the auction ends. There is nothing worse than losing an auction by .25 or .50 cents so try to set your max as odd numbers or with change, people tend to bid rounded maxes like $10 and someone else will put there max as $10.50 and win.
- Forums – Search for comic book forums online like this one. Dealing with other collectors that don’t necessarily sell comics for a living is the way to go. You can form bonds and that makes it easier to negotiate fair prices. I am not advocating taking advantage of anyone so be reciprocal and help others in their search when you can.
Hope these tips are enough to get you on your way to finding your missing books. If you have any questions or other useful tips please get in touch. Thanks for reading!
Stats Of Hits
No comments:
Post a Comment