I’m often asked “Ari, how do I go about selling my comic book collection?” Which is weird, because I don’t think I would sell my comic book collection. Â I got my first comic when I was nine and I still enjoy them today.
In any event here are some tips and advice on how to sell your collection.
Some comics from my collection (which I am not selling)
The two most popular ways to sell your collection are:
- To sell your comics on eBay, and
- To sell your comic book collection to a comic book shop.
The E-bay option:
The Pros:
You potentially can get top dollar. Since you’re selling the collection in smaller lots directly to the end user you can fetch a higher price.
The Cons:
The E-bay option requires a lot more work and time than selling the collection to a comic book shop.  Comics or comic lots need to be listed, graded accurately, sold, and shipped. You run the risk of getting a shifty buyer or getting into a dispute over the grade of a comic book.  You also have to deal with accepting payment and paying the intermediary (PayPal, eBay, etc..)
The Comics Shop Option
The Pros:
It is far easier than E-bay. Typically you can bring in your whole collection and sell it. Also, since the comics are visible to all there should be no surprise disputes after the fact regarding the condition of the comics.
The Cons:
You may not get top dollar. This has to do with two factors. First you are selling to a re-seller and they cannot afford to pay the highest price as they need to sell the comic book onward. Second, if you are going to a small local shop, they may not have the capacity to re-sell your comic within a reasonable time frame.
Personally, If I were selling my collection (which won’t be happening any time soon), I would go to a large comic book store like Midtown Comics which offers aggressive pricing, and has courteous service (and they pay cash – see the video below).  If you want to sell your collection to Midtown Comics they have a webform to fill out here or you can mail them at webuy@midtowncomics.com.  Note: I am not in any way affiliated with Midtown comics nor receive any payment from them. I am just a fan of the high quality service they provide.
If you don’t have access to a high traffic/profile comic book store like Midtown comics, I would recommend trying your local comic shop before E-bay. If nothing else it will give you a base line idea of how much your collection is worth.
Whichever way you decide to sell your collection  there are some things you MUST do if you want to get top dollar:
- First and foremost, You need to have the collection organized neatly (preferably sorted alphabetically by title). If you are bringing them to a comic book shop I recommend bringing the collection in long boxes.
- You must have a computerized list of what is present in the collection. If you are posting on eBay you will need to list the specific issue and volume number of the items for sale.
- Comics should be stored in individual acid free bags with boards. Don’t sell comics in acidic comic book bags. You can tell if a comic book bag has gone acidic if it looks yellowed and has a greasy feel.
- You should understand comic book grading. A comic book’s condition will greatly impact the price. The online Comic Price Guide has a recommended page describing the different conditions and grades assigned to comic books.
- Educate yourself about the value of a comic book. There is the Overstreet price guide which details the value of all comic books and is recognized as the industry standard.  There is also the on-line comic price guide, which is new and has not really been proven to be authoritative.  The guides list two prices for comics, one for Graded Value and another for Regular (or RAW) Value. Graded comic books are those that have been certified by a comic book grading company and then sealed in Lucite and cannot be opened for reading. Companies like CGC perform professional grading and have an on-line database of CGC-graded comics which is useful for verifying the authenticity of a grade. RAW/Regular Value pertains to books that have not been professionally graded.
- If you are selling the collection as a whole don’t ‘cherry pick’. If you are selling individual issues on eBay this is OK but do not try and sell the collection as a whole after taking out the best issues and leave only the ‘filler’ issues. This will be obvious to the buyer and will diminish your chances of selling the whole collection.
- Lastly, be reasonable and flexible. Most comic book collections are not worth as much as the owner imagines them to be. The grading will severely impact the value of the collection. If you are reasonable in what you are asking for you should be able to sell your collection quickly for a fair price.
Good luck selling your collection. Please share your war stories and tips for selling your comic books in the comments area, below.
