Craigslist experiences

[Reilsdad]

Has anyone here tried selling comics on Craigslist? Any success stories? Horror stories?

[razorz000]

I've heard good and bad stories BUT I don't care to much for craigslist...

As I too would like to hear about the GEMS found from their.

[DKB]

I had my first craigslist experience today. Went to check out some books. Turns out the guy who owned them knew his shit and had the books priced pretty much at their value, which meant a no go for me. Still, a real nice batch of early Marvel Silver books.

[razorz000]

Which tells you what ??

Is this the way buying & selling comics has gone to ?? Or has it always been this way ??

Let me clearify this for the slow person(s)..If looking at a lot of books or nice size collection and the person selling the books doesn't know what they really have and thinks the offer they gave was a good one, then the buyer walks away possibly tripling their money !! RIGHT ??

What about morals or does this not apply ??

FLIP...

Buyer walks in to look at a collection and the person knows the hobby pretty well and is firm with the price they have set for the collection BECAUSE they know what the collection consist of, then the buyer JUST walks away ?? If the collection is worth every penny spent and books can still be sold maybe a couple dollars over the accual price payed then they have gotten hosed ??


I don't get this hobby at all ... My morals would eat me ALIVE.....:mad:

[kenmacny]

Which tells you what ??

Is this the way buying & selling comics has gone to ?? Or has it always been this way ??

Let me clearify this for the slow person(s)..If looking at a lot of books or nice size collection and the person selling the books doesn't know what they really have and thinks the offer they gave was a good one, then the buyer walks away possibly tripling their money !! RIGHT ??

What about morals or does this not apply ??

FLIP...

Buyer walks in to look at a collection and the person knows the hobby pretty well and is firm with the price they have set for the collection BECAUSE they know what the collection consist of, then the buyer JUST walks away ?? If the collection is worth every penny spent and books can still be sold maybe a couple dollars over the accual price payed then they have gotten hosed ??


I don't get this hobby at all ... My morals would eat me ALIVE.....:mad:

There are no morals at play. Everyone has a different definition of a great/good/average/crappy deal. If a buyer gets a great deal based on the lack of knowledge of a seller that could just be Darwinism working or maybe the seller is looking to move it fast and be done with it. As long as lying or stealing isn't involved I don't see it as a moral issue.

If a seller can't sell BECAUSE he knows how valuable the comics are but still time after time no one will buy, then maybe the seller really doesn't know.

[comicstock]

I've never used Craigslist but since I don't do much 'buying for my collection' these days, I'm looking for a reasonably quick turnover at a buy-price where I'm going to make a nice profit considering I'll be the one grading, bagging, boarding, listing, packing & shipping the comics.

[jaeldubyoo]

I check Craigslist every so often, just to see what's out there. I've never bought any off of anybody on that site. I've called or emailed in response to a few ads. I know I missed out on a couple of really good deals. The best deals seemed to be sold immediately. I guess if you have the time, you could find some good deals, but as others have mentioned, there's a whole lotta junk.

[Capitalrecoveryman]

There are no morals at play. Everyone has a different definition of a great/good/average/crappy deal. If a buyer gets a great deal based on the lack of knowledge of a seller that could just be Darwinism working or maybe the seller is looking to move it fast and be done with it. As long as lying or stealing isn't involved I don't see it as a moral issue.

If a seller can't sell BECAUSE he knows how valuable the comics are but still time after time no one will buy, then maybe the seller really doesn't know.

It's really quite simple. If I buy a collection for nothing from someone who is naive about the hobby, I'm a smart and shrewd guy. If I wrap myself around a tree tonight and my wife sells my stuff for peanuts, the buyer is an immoral prick. :)

[DKB]

Buyer walks in to look at a collection and the person knows the hobby pretty well and is firm with the price they have set for the collection BECAUSE they know what the collection consist of, then the buyer JUST walks away ?? If the collection is worth every penny spent and books can still be sold maybe a couple dollars over the accual price payed then they have gotten hosed ??


I don't get this hobby at all ... My morals would eat me ALIVE.....:mad:

I'd much rather spend 10 grand on 10 grand's worth of comics that I actually want instead of 10 grand worth of books comprised mostly of stuff I'm not interested in that I'd then have to spend countless hours attempting to sell in such a way that I recoup my money.

You pretend like this is cut and dry. That it's either one triples their money or just pays what the books are worth. I'd be more than happy with any number of situations in between.

[grininbarrett]

I have probably viewed a couple dozen "collections" (and I use the term loosely, because most of the Craigslist sellers do) over the last three years off CL and have spoken with twice that many and emailed more than a hundred requesting more info. I do a bit of traveling around Florida and if I have a little time I usually check the listings out before I go and try to take a look at any promising ones while I am in the area. Before last month, I would have to say I wasted far more time/gas than would ever have been worth it. The amount of time it takes to weed through most of the garbage is incredible. I have gotten better at it, but you have to hope that some of the better finds are in the poor online, and even follow up email/phone descriptions.

More often than not it is a "relatives" collection not their own and they know little about comics. However they have all "looked the prices up online" and often act surprised/offended/crestfallen when they are told their VG books are not worth NM prices.

Quite a few folks are trying to sell boxes of late 80's - 90's drek mixed in with two or three ratty silver and bronze (usually I weed these out by phone/email but some slip through). One guy selling a ASM1 with mucho restoration (not sure if he knew it or not). He had quite a few other keys but was asking just under ebay prices for all of them, so no deal. More than a few people have very sad and likely true stories of why they need the money for their books.

After writing all this down, I realize I paid far more than I should have for many "collections" I bought off CL, especially when I first started out. I now think that 1/4 of fair market (ebay) value was probably the most I should have offered for 90% of the CL comics I bought.

[Poe]

Buying - I don't bother looking for comics on CL anymore. I tried faithfully for about six months a while back of hitting it almost every single day to see if I could find anything. Nothing but small lots comprised of garbage that people wanted ridiculous money for. Just a time waster and hassle so I quit it all together.

Selling - I put together 60 comic lots and let them rip on CL for $20. The books are in decent shape and the lots are primarily Marvel and DC comics and I sell one here and there (also available at $25 delivered - hint, hint). The only thing that annoys the crap out of me about CL is the high percentage of times people contact you and arrange a day/time to come by and then never show. Yeah, I'd be home anyway but there is just a complete lack of courtesy by the people who seem to use CL. Never an email or call saying they can't make it. Just never hear from them again. This hapens A LOT. Still, the post takes all of a minute to make and it is free so I can't see ever stopping.

[jim]

Hi to all!! New to comics corral and am finding it a really neat site!! I've been both buying and selling on craigslit for around three years now. I live near Kansas city, I try to keep my travel confined to the midwest but have been known to travel 1,000 miles if something really moves me. I place ads all over the country. Although I have looked at a lot of collections in the past few monthes, I haven't bought anything since this past july. I have sold a few lots though, just in the past week. In the mail friday I will be sending out, Amazing spiderman #252 cgc 9.2, amazing spiderman #70 cgc 7.5 and marvel spotlight #7 cgc 8.0 to a craigslist buyer in New York. I buy sell and trade on many sites and I find all to have pros and cons. Good to be here!!! Jim

[fulltimer56]

Welcome, jim!!

[comicguy]

In my area I keep looking at CL but it is the same lot or two that keeps poping up. One collection I went to look at(it was mostly 90's stuff) thought I could use some to fill a few gaps. Advertised as bagged and boarded. That they were but most were barely in G condition. The seller wanted 150.00 for about 100 comics. The bags and boards were worth more than the comics themselves.

I think my problem is my area, not a lot of comic people.

I have only gotten one good deal in the last 3 years. 1000 comics for 350.00. Lots of late 90's and early 00's X-Men, Uncanny X-Man that I needed (I had stopped buying new comics around that time) plus runs of avengers, Iron Man, thor (all vol II's) plus some odd UXM that I already had, also a ton of batman and detective issues. I easily made my money back twice(once on the comics that I kept) and once on the one's that I sold on ebay) Plis i sold a boat load at .25 each at a yard sale that I had that summer.

[illuminated]

A few good buys, but mostly not worth the aggravation.

A LOT of sellers trying to move overstock era drek, pretending it don't stink.

But, still, a few good buys. Nothing fantastic. But flippable.

[Khumbu]

The biggest problem I find, also that I had when I ran the store, was that the people selling all thought that their books were in NM and had either bought a price guide or had checked what CGC prices were on ebay. They expected that ratty old AMS 390 to go for $25 when you wouldn't give a quarter for it. You only want 3 or 4 books out of the whole thing and are willing to buy the whole box for that. I have only had one great deal come along in my whole time...and it was a monster. The lady had a basement full of Golden, Silver and Bronze keys. 10 TOD #10, 10 HOS #92, GS X-Men #1, X-Men 94-142, TOS 39-99, All sorts of golden age, mostly westerns, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, etc. but some super-hero. All Star, Wonder-Woman Action. etc. So they are out there!

[disneyteddies]

Welcome Jim!

There is a buyer for everything you are selling that will pay your price.....in the whole world you merely have to find them!

A classic "Hollywood Hankism".

[nocutename]

I post my stories here even thought I am not really a seller. I just read alot but don't have the storage space so I sell after I read them. I am always on the lookout for cheap lots and got tired of paying shipping. So I started looking at Craigslist last year and was amazed at the overpriced stuff. I could actually find better deals on-line even paying shipping cost.

Now with alot of sellers moving to priority shipping at 10 bucks a lot, I searched CL again just recently. I found a nice readers grade lot of BA from a seller just looking for a fair deal. The lot is completely worthless as a seller but as a reader there are tons of gems to be read. I located another seller closer to me and I am going to look at his box of junk this week. Although I suspect it is more modern comics but I am curious so I will check it out.

One last comment, I had noticed that there is still one seller from last year that is peddling the same lot of junk. I wonder if there is something else going on because I cannot believe in 8 months time they are still selling the stuff. While I finally had a good experience with my purchase from CL, it is like heading into the abyss as you are meeting an stranger in a strange place, etc.