Selling Your Comics on eBay
By Reggie Denny
It seems like everyone owned some comics of one kind or another over the years and
there's nothing like having a relative clean out some boxes and find your old treasure
trove. But what do you do with them? Keep them or sell them? A lot of movies have been
made from comics over the years and there are many more to come. Now you have to answer
the big questions: How and where do I sell these things? Are they even worth the trouble?
How do I know what condition they are in?
You could go your local comic book shop, but most shops will only give you 50 percent
of guide price - if they are even buying. And yes, there is a guide - a few in fact. The
Overstreet Price Guide comes out once a year and is the benchmark for most comic shops
covering every comic release from the 1930's to today. Overstreet will also show you how
to grade your comics, but we'll get to that later. There is also
Wizard Magazine and
Comic Book Buyers Guide which come out monthly and tend to showcase the "hot" comics
people are buying.
The problem with going to your local comic shop is simply this: if you do sell them,
you have definitely left money on the table. "So what?" you say Daddy Warbucks. I know,
for older comics worth selling, the cover price is under $1.00; so anything you get above
that is fine right? But, if you bought a muscle car back in the '60's and still had it
today, would you sell it for 50 percent of what the current list price is? Hopefully not.
Honestly, when I have a comic I want to sell and I know it's worth a little bit, I put
it on eBay. Wait, wait - eBay is not as tough to use as everybody thinks. The setup is easy
and they walk you through setting up an account step-by-step. If you can email or check
the weather on the internet, you have enough gray-matter use eBay.
The next things you have to do it determine what condition your comics are in. CGC is
a service that will charge you $10.00 to mail your comic to them (please make sure that
you use something to keep it from getting bent in the mail...). Once they have it, their
team of professional graders will judge you book on a number of criteria, place it in a
plastic casing and the place a grading label on the case.
$10 bucks may seem like a lot to pay for a comic that you only may have paid 45 cents
for, but CGC grading will actually increase your comic's value to upwards of 100 percent.
Even in a lesser condition. That said - if you want to try to grade them yourself, use
the following guidelines:
Mint (CGC: 10-9.8)(Overstreet: 100-98)(Abbreviated as MT)
• I can pretty much guarantee that your comics are not in mint
condition. Most are already in NM condition by the time they arrive at the store. Many
people want their comic book to be better than it is, but few attain this high of a mark.
Those comics that do, especially CGC graded books, can attain the highest possible market
value that is out there.
• Outside: There should be no creases. The cover should have no fading
and look like new. The comic should lie flat and not roll or have curves. The Spine should
be straight with no rolling. Staples should be like new and not rusted.
• Inside: There should be no tears or cuts. The color should be bright
with no discoloration, or fading. There should be no stains or marks. Autographs are
acceptable but may actually bring the value down, depending on your buyer.
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