Author Topic: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?  (Read 6416 times)

MrThatsDifferent

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Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« on: October 07, 2017, 03:15:44 PM »
From 13-35 I collected comic books, it was my secret pleasure (closet nerd).  They got expensive and the thrill I used to get disappeared so I stopped collecting. I was never a true collector, didn’t treat them like pieces of art, everything was well-loved. But now I have boxes and boxes of them and no idea what to do. I don’t really have the time to catalog them and do the eBay thing, although this is exactly what I should do. I can’t just give them away or destroy them. I want to declutter and move on, just seems like an enormous amount of work, for probably a modicum of return, but I don’t want to keep these books forever. Only other option I can think of is to outsource the eBay work, which might be better than nothing.

Any other ideas? Thanks.

doggyfizzle

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2017, 03:44:14 PM »
Any chance you've got some of the Batman/Knightfall, Death of Superman and Green Lantern Zero Hour DCs in your collection?  I tried as a kid to assemble a complete collection of those threads (1993-1994) but wasn't ever able to do so.  I know you mentioned you're not interested in cataloging, but I'd certainly take some of those off your hands for you.

MrThatsDifferent

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2017, 04:58:15 PM »
Any chance you've got some of the Batman/Knightfall, Death of Superman and Green Lantern Zero Hour DCs in your collection?  I tried as a kid to assemble a complete collection of those threads (1993-1994) but wasn't ever able to do so.  I know you mentioned you're not interested in cataloging, but I'd certainly take some of those off your hands for you.

Unfortunately I was more of a Marvel fanboy then.

snacky

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2017, 05:03:46 PM »
Somewhere in your geographic area there is a kid who desperately wants those comic books. My kid literally saves up small change until he can buy old comic books, because he can't afford the new ones. What you are describing is a lifechanging windfall for some dorky kid. Go find that kid.

Fresh Bread

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2017, 05:27:02 PM »
You can just put them wholesale on eBay and get a fraction of the $ for a fraction of the work. Or maybe you could outsource the cataloguing on Airtasker and add the catalogue to the listing so you can raise the price a bit.

You could send the catalogue to a virtual assistant in the Phillipines to check potential value against some database maybe? And then pull out anything high value for individual sale and list the rest as a bulk lot. Bit risky if none are high value tho.

seattlecyclone

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2017, 05:39:25 PM »
My wife had a few hundred comic books that she bought before we started dating. She took them around to a few local comic shops but none of them were worth much of anything. I listed a few on Amazon and was lucky to get $2 apiece after Amazon and the post office took their cut. Most of the ones I listed never sold. What we eventually did was donate them to an organization called Comics4Kids. They appraised the collection (rather generously, I would argue) and gave us a nice letter stating the value. We claimed a tax deduction based on that value. If you itemize your deductions anyway, this can be a good way to get a decent fraction of the supposed retail value of your comic books back without doing any of the work with eBay or Amazon or whatever.

MrThatsDifferent

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2017, 12:06:15 AM »
Somewhere in your geographic area there is a kid who desperately wants those comic books. My kid literally saves up small change until he can buy old comic books, because he can't afford the new ones. What you are describing is a lifechanging windfall for some dorky kid. Go find that kid.

Ummm, I don’t want to be the grown man trying to find children with the allure of comic books.

MrThatsDifferent

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #7 on: October 08, 2017, 12:08:03 AM »
Thanks Freshwater and Seattlecyclone, both great ideas.

Sailor Sam

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #8 on: October 08, 2017, 12:17:58 AM »
Somewhere in your geographic area there is a kid who desperately wants those comic books. My kid literally saves up small change until he can buy old comic books, because he can't afford the new ones. What you are describing is a lifechanging windfall for some dorky kid. Go find that kid.

Ummm, I don’t want to be the grown man trying to find children with the allure of comic books.

I used to have a couple boxes of comics, but eventually I got tired of moving them from place to place. I kinda shamefacedly took the boxes to the local library, and asked if they'd be willing to take them as donations. I really thought they'd say no, based on the fragility of comics. Nope! Instead, the librarian practically ripped the boxes from me and danced away with them.

Donate them to the library, and feel great!

BlueMR2

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #9 on: October 08, 2017, 06:16:47 AM »
Unfortunately I ended up just recycling mine.  Some of my Dad's we were able to get a couple $ per large box for, but that was it.  Libraries weren't interested.  Tried the local kids, none had any interest.  Went to multiple comic book shops before we found one that had any interest at all and he wasn't very enthused.  Comic books, other than a few rare ones, just don't hold any value.

MrThatsDifferent

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #10 on: October 08, 2017, 06:37:36 AM »
Unfortunately I ended up just recycling mine.  Some of my Dad's we were able to get a couple $ per large box for, but that was it.  Libraries weren't interested.  Tried the local kids, none had any interest.  Went to multiple comic book shops before we found one that had any interest at all and he wasn't very enthused.  Comic books, other than a few rare ones, just don't hold any value.

This is my fear. And when I think of the money spent. Boy do I wish I had discovered and bought into MMM when I was younger.

human

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #11 on: October 08, 2017, 06:52:36 AM »
You want to get rid of them right? What difference does it make where they go. It's like saying the way you chew has an impact in how you poo.

Just trash em and be done with it. Whenever I see threads on decluttering and read about people spending weeks going through one closet I know they are hoarders in denial.

Last spring I went through our big storage closet in one morning. Donate or trash pile not really hard. Stop agonozing iver details.

DirtDiva

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #12 on: October 08, 2017, 12:37:57 PM »
Consider donating to a prison reading program.  Comic books are in demand in prison libraries.

Dave1442397

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #13 on: October 08, 2017, 01:51:27 PM »
If you have a Children's Hospital nearby, they usually appreciate this kind of donation, or maybe a Ronald McDonald house.


Vushnick

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #14 on: October 11, 2017, 10:09:15 AM »
I would be interested in the comic books if you still have them. 

Acastus

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #15 on: October 11, 2017, 11:12:20 AM »
Sell en masse to a comic store or to a dealer when a comic con comes to town. Sci Fi and fantasy have good overlap, so you can also try them. As others said, partial reward for partial work. My wife reviews books, which means we get about 30 books a month. She sells some on Amazon, gives some to the local library, and has dealer friends who will pay 25% of cover for a box full. You probably have a pile of trash with several gems mixed in. It might be worth selling the good ones yourself and flushing the rest.

acroy

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #16 on: October 11, 2017, 11:32:38 AM »
Somewhere in your geographic area there is a kid who desperately wants those comic books. My kid literally saves up small change until he can buy old comic books, because he can't afford the new ones. What you are describing is a lifechanging windfall for some dorky kid. Go find that kid.

Ummm, I don’t want to be the grown man trying to find children with the allure of comic books.
Well, don't be a creep about it ;)

Try your neighbors on Nextdoor - friends on FB - church network - whatever.

As a kid I was the recipient of HO scale model train stuff - miles of it - from a kind gent at church. Really nice thing he did.

ringer707

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #17 on: October 11, 2017, 12:09:35 PM »
I don't know anything about comic books, but if you have a 2nd & Charles bookstore in your area, they will buy comic books. No idea on the amount they'll give you for them, but they might be worth looking into.

waltworks

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #18 on: October 11, 2017, 01:48:54 PM »
Your comic books are worth exactly nothing, unless you are really old and were collecting them in the 1960s or earlier, and you kept them in good shape.

Same with your sports cards, pogs, beanie babies, etc.

Here's why: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_book_collecting#The_speculator_boom

I, too, as a naive teenager, bought multiple copies of various foil-covered garbage. Millions got printed, thousands actually wanted to read them... you can figure out the rest.

They will make some kid really happy, though.

-W

Heroes821

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Re: Getting rid of comic books, where to start?
« Reply #19 on: October 11, 2017, 01:52:05 PM »
My wife had a few hundred comic books that she bought before we started dating. She took them around to a few local comic shops but none of them were worth much of anything. I listed a few on Amazon and was lucky to get $2 apiece after Amazon and the post office took their cut. Most of the ones I listed never sold. What we eventually did was donate them to an organization called Comics4Kids. They appraised the collection (rather generously, I would argue) and gave us a nice letter stating the value. We claimed a tax deduction based on that value. If you itemize your deductions anyway, this can be a good way to get a decent fraction of the supposed retail value of your comic books back without doing any of the work with eBay or Amazon or whatever.

Not the OP, but thanks Seattle, I will check this place out.  I have only like 30 or so I'm trying to make some room for.