Comic Dealer Tried to Rip Him Off! How to Value a Comic Collection!

#ComicInvesting #Comics
This comic dealer tried to rip off this collector. Let’s talk about valuing a collection and what this collection might really be worth!
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[@josesainz1979]

For a dealer to pay 40-60 percent of value is good. For some keys and good quality I have seen them pay 70 percent. You are correct, if you want the full value you need to sell them yourself. I sold a few book to friends for 85-90 percent value.

[@Sj60-zj4bs]

I’d like to know the name of this so called comic dealer. This person should be publicly shamed by the comic community. If it happened to me I’d be all over social media alerting my fellow collectors with the identity of this low life ! Thank you sir for bringing this to light.

[@robphoenix1182]

Agreed.

[@kurtpearson2793]

I’m the guy whose collection/story/reddit post this is about! I have this guys number in my phone!!

[@tazblazing]

Man finally someone told the truth.. I hate dealers ripping people’s off .!! For raw books yeah 30-50% value.. graded slabs reasonable 60-70 key and demand slabs ..!! Great video ..!!

[@ScarecrOmega]

Mint Hunter made a video recently where he paid 25% what a collection was worth, not the first time and he was proud of it and then he'll charge people 4x what he paid. There is definitely a line between a rip off and a fair deal but it's up to the seller to know what he has before selling it.

[@tazblazing]

@@ScarecrOmega yup he one of guy that proud to pay little to nothing on collection especially the desperate one … sad man but honestly to him that just part of business .. if I know I can make 35-50 % profit of buying collections key and demand slabs from a seller I would be reasonable with my offer not trying to buy the collection for nothing.. great example why brys is so successful due he know how to run a business and respect comics community especially when a comic book collector need little help due $ issues or whatever the personal issues is ..

[@ObsessedCollector]

​@ScarecrOmega I stopped watching him about 2 years ago during a claim sale. I said Hi, love your content! No reply. Another guy claimed a few items said the same thing, and MH was like hey! How ya doing??? MH only cares about lowballing and selling way over book/sold. Never once replied to any of my posts on his vids. I'm not bitter, but I know greed when I see it.

[@jesselynch1928]

I agree with the points you made. Also when you get a collection a lot of times you don’t know the value until you get it home and spend time with it. Sometimes it’s lower than you thought and other times it’s higher. You made some good estimates based on what you saw. I have heard people over the years brag on what they got it for. I would rather hear a person talk about how they tried to give someone a fair value and what they based their estimate on. That kind of thinking just helps the community as a whole.

[@Geoffreydarcy-pv4mq]

Every community has it's predators. 😬

[@robphoenix1182]

True

[@ronhobbs463]

The first (and last) time I sold my collection was when I was 17. I got $35.00 for my box of Silver Age gems that I bought as a kid. Long time ago, sure, but still hurts.

[@jorgedacunha2676]

When I was a kid, I used to pull out all the ads, especially the ones that were a full wrap from one side of the staple to the other. Didn't want anything that wasn't story. 😂 As an adult I realised I'd cost myself thousands. 😮😮

[@michaeltan4204]

Short term this dealer probably got the collection literally for a steal. But word of his unscrupulous dealings will eventually spread and diminish his returns in the long run. Dealers out there please be fair. We the buyers will love and respect your business due to your honesty and transparency.

[@gregahunt]

exactly

[@SinbadComics]

If you plan on actually processing and prepping the bulk for sale (versus a quick key-scan and dumping them in a dollar bin), then I'd recommend putting a much lower value on them than $0.25/book, It costs me (on average using round numbers) $0.50 per book to process bulk (scan, grade, and list) using quite a bit of automation to reduce labor. Given that roughly 70% of copper+ bulk will *never* sell, adding another $0.25/book cost just isn't profitable. Of course, all of that changes based on numerous factors (age of collection, type/desirability of books, whether it's been picked through, etc.). In a nutshell, make sure you can make your margins based on what you can see without including any of the bulk. I'm not saying that there isn't profit to be had in the bulk, but it's slow profit with a lot of grinding behind it.

[@AutomaticComics]

Yep, that’s what I said in the video when I talked about what I would pay from a dealer perspective. I only considered the keys in the price I would pay. The bulk would be tossed in as part of the deal. If there’s value there, great. If not, I can give it away at the curb to someone that wants it.

[@StevenWayneJones]

Raw books are rough unless they are clearly high grade, all the work of getting them graded and the expense is a ton of $$$. I’d probably offer $300 knowing I have dozens of hours of my time ahead of me to make a few hundred dollars is not a terrible offer. You need to pay yourself for your time, they make an easy buck. Shooting too low is not cool but shooting too high and working for nothing is not good either, but I’m not really a dealer anyway, just trying to find the habit.

[@kurtpearson2793]

This is my collection (and Reddit story) and my books are all unread and a potential 9.8- 👍

[@duanesoper6900]

If you are selling a collection you should have 3 - 4 people look at it and give you a quote. Also set if up that they review the collection in one or two days (so they can't communicate to each other). Take the highest quote. If it's a average to above collection never just take the first person to look at its quote. And let them know that there will be other people looking at the collection.

[@oldhippydudeoldhippydude813]

I remember about 7 years ago at my LCS that the owner had a person come in with a Amazing Fantasy #15 in about a 1.5 maybe a 1.8. And Amazing Spiderman #4 and 5 and a couple Tales to Asonish #38 and 45. The person asked if they were worth at least a hundred dollars! The owner of the LCS said I will give you that much!! Totally ripped the person off! I even told the owner that I couldn't believe you would ripped that person off. His reply was that he said that I offered him what he thought the comics were worth. In my opinion he ripped the guy off of at least ten thousand dollars!!

[@thrashingjedi72]

if i was approached like that i wouldve gladly paid $100,and what a score it would be.🎉

[@rsjerald]

This should be a basic guide for anyone selling a collection like this. Take the good stuff OUT, and either get them graded or sold individually raw. This guy would have made more just selling his top 10-15 comics than he got for everything. People see a bunch of boxes like this and they immediately want to pay bulk prices.

[@kestonsoldschoolcomicbooks6842]

A really well organized video. Thanks, Ryan.

[@boomjukez3911]

I feel like the "evaluation" was way off but in terms of buying a collection if you think its value or what you can get out of it is around $1000 paying $500 for a collection of that size you'll end up barely breaking even. Not worth the effort/ fees / customer service.

[@Gigdriver]

Yes go to a dealer, dealer says yes .10 per book 😂

[@hape361]

Yeah, I'd donate them before I gave them away for so little.

[@captainduck23]

My first rule of selling anything is to spend the time and research what exactly you have. Also to get multiple eyes on your collection to assess value, even if it is from people that aren't interesting in buying it. Unfortunately the world is full of people looking to rip you off and make a quick buck. I learned this the hard way when I hastily sold off my GI Joe collection from when I was a kid for a dollar a figure (plus Jurassic Park figures and a vehicle). I went back into the store a week or two later and saw that one of my figures was priced more than the entire amount the dealer gave me. On the flip side, I recently purchased a comic collection and after a cursory glance ( to make sure that I didn't intentionally rip the person off and because I was in the middle of work and pressed for time) I made what I thought was a fair offer to the person. After I got home and had the time to sort the books, I very quickly realized that I had vastly underpaid and felt guilty. I justified it by telling myself that it is the responsibility of the seller to know what they have and determine a price. *shrug*

[@gailtryon1453]

Very timely info. Thanks.

[@ralphleiva1165]

Wow thanks for sharing! I agree with all you said man.

[@nfterry]

Had the "advisor" stated that the collection was worth $XXX (a true FMV evaluation) but then said to not expect to get more than NN% of $XXX (per your example 50% to enable "doubling your money", or even just what their opinion was, then their advice would be valuable. Otherwise, they don't know what they are talking about. Apparently this advisor told the OP they didn't want to buy the collection but might have a couple of friends who would (common tactic I've seen to avoid culpability for low-balling a valuation.) Your estimations were spot-on and this video was an interesting one to watch because its similar to how I try to evaluate lots being poorly described on eBay.

[@joshuarogers8423]

Good video and assessment. 450-500 is a very fair offer for that collection based on limited information from photos

[@nowherebound2908]

Great topic - thanks for covering this! Reminds me of that time I messaged you when I found out my lcs bought a great collection with a low grade Hulk 1, plus 2-6, Fantastic Four 1, 48, 49, 50, 52, etc & a big Tales to Astonish Hulk run among them for $2,200! You agreed that was a steal & pretty low. Thanks for your thoughts, I’m going to look at a small collection soon & I’ll try to be in the fair ballpark!

[@ajguez]

The best move, assuming that they want low effort they should separate the wheat from the chaff, and donate the bulk books to charity. Then, with the keys, reproach multiple dealers/lcs and work out a deal(to your point, if there are fewer books to review risk on both sides can be reduced). If they still thought the offers were low, see if the dealer would take the key books at say 60 percent market value or see if they would sell on consignment.

[@MHamel]

Great video

[@andrewway2443]

Those appear to be long boxes and filled with bag and boarded comics roughly 300 per box so I'd estimate it at roughly 1450 comics.

[@kurtpearson2793]

This is my collection, happy to answer any questions! (Even about my dog) 👍

[@TheHartViper]

Hey Kurt, did you end up selling to the guy? And wondering if the photos in your Reddit post were all of the "keys" in your opinion. Also, your dog looks like a loyal companion, what's his/her name?

[@kurtpearson2793]

@@TheHartViper No, he recommended a friend who would buy if I was interested. I instead dove head first back into the hobby! No, on the key issues, I didn’t know what “key” meant when I pulled them from storage. I have fully embraced the keys issues and identified a ton more hiding in the system. (FF,ASM,Spawn, etc) And most importantly her name is Honey ( I call her Spitball) and she is a very good girl 👍

[@TheHartViper]

@@kurtpearson2793, thanks for the quick reply! Happy you dodged a bullet and decided to spend some time to find out the value. There are a ton of good people in the hobby that would have treated you fairly. You've got some gems there and happy for you! Give Spitball a hug and a treat for me.

[@TheHartViper]

@@kurtpearson2793 , FYI I use a tool called Covrprice that allows you to catalog and value your books at a very reasonable annual price. When I got back into the hobby in 2021 (been collecting since I was 8 in 1967) I found it helped me a ton.

[@jabezcreed]

For not knowing anything about keys, you definitely knew how to put them all in the table. This collection has way fewer Turoks and Magnus Robot Hunters than I'd expect to see. What's the story behind your collection?

[@RomSpaceKnight]

All about transparency. Then the buyer can decide and if they are good then it’s good.

[@ardathbey4150]

Good job... I agree

[@robertbanning6393]

I was a dealer for more than 2 decades.And unless the books were extreme high value keys.I never paid more than thirty cents on the dollar.

[@ToTheMoonComics]

I got me father’s collection and called a dealer to buy or just give some advice and he blow me off because I was female. So, I told him I was going to buy the property next store and run him out of business then hung up on him 😂

[@Rancoroth419]

The best way to get the most value out of your collection, is to know what you have, and have it priced out before you bring it in.

[@collectingcasually]

$500-600 was my initial guestimate for this collection - glad to see I wasn't too far off from your valuation. I wonder if there was any misinterpretation between the Redditor and the potential buyer, where "a couple hundred" to one person is $200-300, while the other is thinking $400-500?

[@YurrNext]

$600 is what popped into my head as a reasonable offer.

[@Ghostin93]

same

[@JLPelath]

Yep, same here.

[@melvincarter9640]

I would do 800-900, as a person who has been collecting on and off for 30 years I couldn't do that to a fellow comic book collector. I know the reason for buying a collection is to make a profit but dude you already value from the eye test at 1,200-1,500 and that was just a few on the table who knows what he got in the box. I also know the time and effort it's going to take but 800-900 seems reasonable to me, yet this is your show I'm just giving my opinion because like that guy, I see me in him. Even tho I have triple the long boxes that he have

[@AutomaticComics]

@melvincarter9640 I get it. But you can’t pay for what you can’t see. That’s how you become an out of business comic dealer.

[@melvincarter9640]

@@AutomaticComics I understand that but that's why you go through the books. I'm pretty sure if he got that out like that on the table it's more in the boxes. Sir you are the expert I'm not yet I know low ball offers when I hear one. What you offered was reasonable but I'm saying what I would have paid him based on what I saw in your video. You were trying to double your profit and I hope you succeed.

[@stampscapes]

Great vid. Seems strange that some guy was a collector, knows that comics can be valuable so they bag/board/box them, and then thinks to sell them but doesn't do any research at all in getting a gist of the value. They're online as they posted to reddit and went to their local store. This is usually the story of someone inheriting a collection where they know zip about collectibles and don't even know where to start.

[@kurtpearson2793]

I’m THE GUY who this story is about. And yes, I know that they have value, that’s why I had they looked at. Having them is storage for 20 had me out of the game and I felt lucky to have someone check them out-

[@stampscapes]

@@kurtpearson2793 Ah. What I wasn't sure about (watching this vid) was if the guy told you a vastly under valued fair market value or if that's the price they were offering to pay and if you sold. I, too, have a collection and mine were in storage for about 40 years before I took a look back in '21 when things were skyrocketing. I thought I better check them out and re-board/bag them all in mylars and take a look at values.

[@kurtpearson2793]

@@stampscapes I’m doing the same, pulled them out and fresh bags and boards for all of them!

[@stampscapes]

@@kurtpearson2793 Oh, okay, this is good news. So your post was just about being bummed out that someone gave you a low fair market value BUT you didn't sell. But, yeah, I didn't know about poly bags needing to be changed out every few years. One note, on mylar/mylites is if you're changing out all of your bags/boards, you can really get a great deal directly from E Gerber. I bought a few packs of 50 until I realized that buying in bulk direct from EG can save a huge amount of $. A pack of 1000 is about $200 then boards are about .10 each. Don't know if you want to go that way but you won't have to re-bag/board again if you're going to save the collection for a while.

[@brianwyde3829]

The problem with selling your collection - no collector needs or wants all your books / titles. Even if they like your titles - that means they already have some of them. The ONLY person willing to take your entire collection is a DEALER. The dealers are the ONLY people that can make any money off comics. They just constantly buy peoples collections for pennies on the dollar and resell the books to new collectors who eventually tire of the books and resell them to a dealer who does the exact same thing again.

[@williambethea8703]

I would definitely pay $700+ for a collection like the with toy collectibles. Especially early Star Wars figures. I do not know the entire collection, but I know here in the D.C. area, there is no way I am picking up his collection from an LCS for less than $1500.

[@Kirok2005]

Fantastic video. I'm 58 years old, and I've been meticulously inventorying my collection for the past 3-4 years. I've got about 5,000 comics, about half of which I bought off the stand from 1976-1986, mostly marvels, and I've slabbed over 150 books with CGC over the past 12 years. Notables are X-Men #94 9.4 ow/w, ASM 238 9.8 ow/w, ASM 252 9.8 white, MTU 141 9.8 white, ToTT #44 9.8 white, and the rest of the X-men 95-143 run, (#129 is 9.8 white; #101 is 9.2) and most of the rest are 9.6 or 9.8. Also a few notable moderns such as walking dead #1 9.6, and Edge of Spider-Verse 2 9.8. Pretty much the entire collection is in E Gerber 2mm mylars and boards with microchamber paper. Anyway, I'm thinking about selling...and I've considered everything you discussed from a dealer's standpoint. I know the dealer has to make money, but I don't want to basically give it away. THANK YOU!

[@jonr269]

And I understand it from Both view points. You want to get top dollar for your collection. But from a dealers stand point, they have to put the leg work into selling said collection and it could take weeks or even months to sell off those books and recoup the money they invested into it. So that they can then buy other collections to sell. Add in this inventory will sit on their shelves or in boxes they have to carry to comic-cons. So you have a lot of expenses you have to cover just to get these books out there for people to see and be able to sell. Which is why anytime someone says I want full value or Atleast 80% value for my books. Then my response is put the leg work in to price, and find people to buy it then. Same thing a dealer would have to do in your shoes. Otherwise sell it at 40-50% value cause Atleast then you get the cash without having to do of the work to sell it and move on and do other things with your money.

[@Caseshells123]

Heritage will sell it for you. They do all the work. Don’t sell to a dealer you’re going to lose money. FYI looking for super friends 1977. Series raw

[@nfterry]

@Kirok2005 I would sell your CGC graded books via Shortboxed (10% commission) via their new auctions. They are regularly getting FMV+ for auction listings. Heritage is also a great way to go. I've sold quite a number of books through both of them over the past two years.

[@Kirok2005]

@@nfterry Thanks for the tip! Yeah my LCS is terrible, the owner told me that even if someone walked in with an Amazing Fantasy 15 asking 25% FMV, he'd have to turn them away because he simply doesn't have that kind of cash to purchase stock like that.

[@ezscomicbookcollecting6244]

This was a great video-I just saw a video from Why Not Comics that puts this dealer guy to shame with ripping someone off. 😮Once you see what Why Not Comics picked up and the price he ended up paying you’ll see what I mean( best part is he acts like a hero because he gave the seller an extra $10 over his asking price)

[@AutomaticComics]

I just watched. I don’t really have much of a problem with that. He’s buying off of a guy that buys storage units, not really the same as buying from the original owner. It’s not like the storage unit guy spent his life building that collection. If a guy is buying storage units to flip, he should know better and check the books.

[@ezscomicbookcollecting6244]

@@AutomaticComics I guess I missed the part about the guy buying storage units…

[@wayneweidman1543]

A fellow local collector I know brought a short box of all key books to our local comic store. He has just moved to the area and the store owner didn’t know him(offer would’ve probably been better if the owner knew he was a collector). The retail value of all the books was roughly $2000. The store owner offered him $40 and said there was nothing in the box that he wanted that badly. That was about a year ago and we live in a small city approximately 45k people. Through word of mouth I bet half the comic collectors in town have now heard this story. So basically dealers and LCS owners should always be aware that collectors talk and you could do serious damage to your reputation and business by trying to scam our fellow collectors.

[@blairhartgrove7594]

I see all the time large, retail resale stores by collections for pennies on the dollar and then try to resell them for asking price what they see on eBay. That’s not even counting this so-called thrift stores such as Goodwill getting stuff for free and selling for eBay asking prices. But I agree with you doubling your profit is where I like to stay at least.

[@wlnorris75]

Many, many, many dealers pay you $0 for the bulk and only base price on keys/semi-keys. I don't think that is necessarily unfair. I mail order lots of $1 books. Do you know how much work goes into sorting/listing/packing/shipping $1 books? If I pay $0 for it, and sell for $1, that probably still isn't covering my time and expenses. But I do it for my customers who want to be able to buy $1 books. And usually some $5/$10/$20 books make it into that order too. I don't fault any dealer who operates that way, because I've walked in their shoes. I currently have 18,000 $1 bin or less books. I have books that I bought over 10 years ago that were part of bulk, that still haven't sold in quarter bins! Personally, I try to pay something for the $1 bin books, but generally try for $.10, and never go over $.20 per, depending on what they are. So here, assuming the grades are all worse than you think they look (which is generally reality when buying on the internet). These are probably all VG to FN books. If the keys are worth $700 and you had 900 $1 bin books, I think a dealer offering $350 would be a totally fair offer for a business model. And I could see how an upset seller might describe a $350 offer as a "couple hundred bucks". In fact, I see it all the time. All that matters to the seller is their books are worth something, and the buyers time to sell them is worth nothing. And when telling the tall tale, the $350 offer gets knocked down to "a couple hundred bucks"...

[@blairhartgrove7594]

@@wlnorris75 I was more talking about the goodwills and half price book stores. It’s always a different situation when buying.

[@macorourke2222]

Back in the 1990's. I dealer tried to rip Me off. I was a Young adult at the time. I told Him to get the fudge out of My house. I ended up selling them by myself. I regret selling them still lol. Thanks for sharing Your passion and adventures from Toronto Ontario Canada 😎👍❤️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️📚📚📚📚📚✨️✨️💯💯💯💯💯

[@jasonsalazar7126]

So hard to trust people these days. If you really collect, then you appreciate the people who see the true value of your collection. Unfortunately it's always going to be less than it's really worth unless you sell them yourself 😢

[@markleneker9923]

I wish Automatic would review my collection I could use the emotional boost! I suppose this goes without saying, but selling single issues (if you can do so) offers the best return if you've loaded up on keys.

[@comicbooknarcissist]

Automatic overvalued, dealer undervalued. 5-6 bills should reasonably cover it, unless they are really in stellar condition.

[@ScarecrOmega]

Just to debate, but a "couple hundred" to some people can be 400-500, which would be fair. Also for all we know the big keys could be 6.0-7.0 grades which would make them well below $100 each. I can't say for sure if he was ripped off without knowing how much exactly he got and to view high scans of the big keys, but if he got $200 for high grade keys then yes I agree with you 100%.

[@kurtpearson2793]

I’m THE GUY who this story is about, and I don’t read my comics so nearly every book is a potential 9.8 -👍

[@50TBRD]

As the initial seller of something, you need to be as informed as possible because there are far more people who are going to take advantage of the situation than people who will be fair.

[@brandonmetro7115]

I stopped at picture 2. He was under paid.

[@danalvin1184]

Longshot & X-Factor #1s are keys? It took me years to get $2 and change for my VF+ X-factor #1 recently. . .I think the first two Longshot appearances together netted me about $8 high grade after fees a year or so ago. . . :)

[@brute_nm]

jeez that's rough

[@jeffreyross2615]

Some onus on the potential seller to do their homework. Best money I have spent is taking the time to enter my collection into covrprice. At least I had a starting point with data (albeit flawed) when I went to negotiate with the dealer

[@newcompasscollectibles]

I agree with the message but this example doesn’t seem as egregious to me. I think someone giving an estimate to ‘what’s this collection worth?’… I’d expect them to answer with the dealer price, not the GPA price. The question implies to me, ‘how much could I sell this collection for?’ and of course that’s not retail price. If the question is for insurance purposes then that’s different, retail price is relevant.

[@AutomaticComics]

I have to disagree. There’s no way I would expect a dealer price when asking someone for the value of my collection. If the person qualified with “I would pay this as a dealer” then yes. But just someone offering to come over and value your collection for you, I’d fully expect the actual retail value. Also given the reaction from the person who owned the books, they also had an expectation of full retail value.

[@jabezcreed]

13:25, you can't use the graded GPA value to assign a raw value to a book. That's assuming the book is in fact worth grading, worth your time to send and grade, and something you can sell for that graded value afterwards. A raw book is worth the raw book value.

[@AutomaticComics]

I didn’t use gpa to value the book. I showed what the book could be worth depending on grade if graded. I specifically said this multiple times in the video.

[@Bar-Lord]

Yeah, I’m with you. The first impulse is to get it for as low as possible, but if you expect to maintain any kind of reputation, or have ethics, you have to let them know what they have. Once that’s clear, I’d have to again follow with your caveats of you being in it to flip them and can’t offer the values you’d see on eBay, etc and ask if they’d still like to talk about it.

[@visioneyeviewtv]

I would have paid at least $1k for all that

[@Unkindtaternuts]

Sad that this crap happens, that why dealers hate me when ask to valuate a collection i tell them what they are worth raw and graded once said they ask how could they get them graded and i tell them how and give the all the information avoid flippers who don't have good intentions for their collection

[@davidyoungblood7887]

How do you sell runs of books?

[@snyperlite]

Some clear spawn keys in the photos, a couple hundred + in those alone in good condition.

[@setaside2]

Big fan of the "small business" who recognizes the fact that the private individual selling a small collection under 1000 books, is even smaller... And that their reputation can hinge on how fairly and transparently they communicate, negotiate, and deal. I did feel that $450 proposal was too low. $650 seemed fairer, especially if we're already tossing out a portion of the collection in the valuation. Still, the "expert" described on Reddit deserves to have their name dragged within the community. The golden rule: don't be an @$$hole.

[@steelbat54]

The only problem I have with what possibly happened is that he resources that are available to anyone with a computer or smart phone. This person could have looked up any or all of the books he had. Whether it be on eBay or on the GPA. If you get ripped off you’re partly to blame.

[@AutomaticComics]

That’s not true. It’s only a small fraction of them that could be identified as fraudulent with online resources. And that took quite a bit of work to find those. The people that got scammed are not to blame at all.

[@steelbat54]

@@AutomaticComics I’m not sure I understand what your point is. If I have a collection I sure as hell am going to do “MY” due diligence before I’d sell one book let alone my complete collection. I’m not by any means saying that there aren’t unscrupulous dealers/people out there who would rip you off in a second but this person who sold his collection for a song most certainly has to accept a good portion of the blame for it..

[@AutomaticComics]

@@steelbat54 ugh. KZbin is showing your comment to me under the video about the CGC scammers.

[@dephiance]

In theory if I'm selling my collection and I had taken the time to re-bag and board every book and research pricing and basically remove the work for the buyer / dealer would I or could I ask for more? Is the sellers time worth anything?

[@AutomaticComics]

I know dealers will often pay more for a collection that has had that work already done.

[@Comic.Book_Fanatic]

What type of dealer are we talking about? One that does this on the side or an established business with bills, employees, etc. When you go to a brick and mortar you have to understand that ebay prices are what everyone comes in armed with, you have to lower some of those expectations especially when it comes to condition.

[@kurtpearson2793]

He (the dealer) was a collector who sells locally at shows- he only deals as a side gig-

[@kurtpearson2793]

These are my books, and they are in FANTASTIC condition, (98% of them!)

[@markvandervlist8967]

Please don't tell me that if you have a box full of keys, that you expect to double your money !

[@breakbeatz309]

Fun fact: there is no head underneath Ryan’s hat. It’s just hats all the way down.

[@marcloev2072]

I treat everyone like I’d like my mother or father, or any other family member to be treated. That’s my barometer. I would hope others feel the same but understand that’s not realistic.

[@grownassedgamergamer807]

I'm just getting into dealing myself and before you said your number I was thinking 500-600 for what was in there personally. 450- 500 is fair though.

[@kurtpearson2793]

This story is MY Reddit post! It’s Key Collector value is $10K - 👍

[@grownassedgamergamer807]

@@kurtpearson2793 10K seems like a lot based on what was shown in the video unless he missed a lot of keys. Are all of your books graded or at least 9.8 candidates?

[@kurtpearson2793]

@@grownassedgamergamer807 most of my 1400 books aren’t shown (covers) lots of ASM and FF (and stuff I had no idea was valuable) the Spawn run (1-160). Those pictures are from a week or so after taking them out of storage after 20 years- And YES! I did keep my books in FANTASTIC condition (never read anything after Judas Contract) just bagged after purchase- Also zero books are graded/slabbed

[@supersteve76]

Years ago I had an LCS owner laugh at my collection and said to me "those are only worth about $.50 each bud". I replied "you have a $.50 section??" I turned around and started looking for it. He said "no I dont". Then I said "then why would I sell for $.50 a book myself?". We didnt do business LOL

[@robphoenix1182]

Very true. This hobby has way too many predators/sharks/creeps(what I call them) what ever you want to call them. I could never be a dealer. I know how much a collection means to someone. I also think trying to be a dealer AND a collector can't coexist. A collector wants to try to find a deal so they can enjoy that item and not feel ripped off. A dealer what's the deal just so they can turn a profit. Adding them together, ouch, you get what you are describing. Just a sad individual that rips people off. Then you bring in more that wants to do the same. It grows and grows and grows. Until no one wants to collect!! Which I believe is where this hobby is almost at. The pandemic and youtube accelerated the growth rate of this progress exponentially!!! There are a few out there that want to do right by people still. However they are getting out numbered. Which is turning them to be just as bad as those scum you're talking about. This hobby indeed needs healing. It's sickness has infected the very source of the hobby as well. Why the prices of books has raised sooo much on their release even. No way kids can even afford the hobby today. No thinks of these things and it's super sad. The hobby is way more then just trying to see some dollar signs. It's soo sad to me!!😢

[@robphoenix1182]

No one*

[@knp33]

I would absolutely love for someone to do a prank video trying to catch one of these vultures in the act. Go in pretending you have no knowledge about the collection and collectibles and see what they offer. Would be a great youtube series to try and weed out the vultures

[@pbales8951]

I don't think the comic dealer's offer was totally off. You are pricing these with GPA--assuming they are graded and encapsulated. So, the raw books will not have the same value. When you factor in that the dealer would only offer at max 60% of their value, and the dealer has actually seen the condition of the books (not these crappy photos), I just don't think it's totally out of the question. Maybe the offer should have been $350. That's quite a bit more than $200, but there is no way I'd go any higher.

[@AutomaticComics]

I wasn’t pricing them with gpa. I priced them based on what I know they sell for raw (which I said multiple times in the video). I used gpa as a quick example of the potential values of a couple of the books graded. Also the expectation from that meeting based on the post was the person was there to give a value for the collection. Not to give an offer. So he wasn’t saying he would offer $200, he was saying it was worth $200. Which is completely off base and the only reason he’d do that I can think of (and from the comments on Reddit, everyone else agrees), was to try and buy it for even less later or have a friend come by later and offer less.

[@doctorshawn3461]

At least buying that collection gave you experience and probably 10 or so videos out of it (think of those positives also, in case you don't make your money back)

[@JJHall-kk5qh]

I would say $500ish is fair for a reseller.

[@utubevacc]

anyone got a link to that reddit post. want to read it at some point

[@AutomaticComics]

www.reddit.com/r/comicbookcollecting/s/oGjXnUuyAD

[@utubevacc]

Thank you and love the content.

[@gregahunt]

oof ouch. good video. yea this was a ripoff job

[@user-xq1ct5mm1j]

%50 value is fair.

[@dcal7406]

If we’re truly worth 1200 amd you wanted to make money of it with all the time and effort and due to the fact that most of it was bulk You cannot pay more than 40% amd that may be too high. Probably 30% is more like it

[@thomaspalmer6453]

He should get at least $550 for the collection. I think $450 would be too low. There are some decent keys in the collection.

[@kurtpearson2793]

These are my books and I’ll pass on the offer! 😂 Key Collector values them at 10K and I’m looking at second options!

[@danalvin1184]

You're off on your "at-a-glance" visual value assessment right out of the gate around the 8 minute mark, as the # of comics has little to nothing to do with the FMV. . .if those boxes had been full of generic 90s indies they'd be $10 to $20 tops EACH for most dealers who have more business acumen than compassion lol. . .can be tough to get quarters for those in many areas of the country even when you put them in people's hands for next to nothing lol :)

[@Cincinnatijames]

Really splitting hairs to dunk on someone else especially when the person may have actually seen that the keys were in poor condition.

[@kurtpearson2793]

These are my comics and they were unread and bagged from the store . Condition could be a 9.8 on anything on my table-👍

[@Cincinnatijames]

@@kurtpearson2793 You know how many times I've heard someone claim "mint unread, 9.8" on comics that wouldn't break 8.5. Color me skeptical.

[@kurtpearson2793]

@@Cincinnatijames Of course! Most people these days don’t believe anyone!!!! Still, my books are 100% unread and bagged after purchase. 👍That guarantees nothing, but every book has the potential!

[@chenowethfamily8044]

Hopefully he got a little "luckier" and didn't sell!

[@AutomaticComics]

From the comments, I don’t think he sold. Most people think the guy was trying to rip him off.

[@kurtpearson2793]

This is my Reddit story, (it’s MY collection) and no I didn’t sell, instead I entered them into Key Collectors ($10K value)

[@wayneweidman1543]

@@kurtpearson2793Automatic Comics would’ve been ripping you off with his $500 offer😂

[@wayneweidman1543]

Only problem with the collector apps is that they put $5 to $10 values on books you see in dollar bins all the time.

[@kurtpearson2793]

@@wayneweidman1543 Very True! They also assign Zero $ value on many older comics - 👍

[@radtoys501st]

Things are worth what someone is willing to pay. People think they are being "ripped off" because they have unrealistic values in mind or expect dealers to pay retail prices

[@donaldhaga956]

I wouldn’t give any more than 600. for this collection as shown

[@kurtpearson2793]

There’s spawn 1-160 in there as well, and 99% are unread and in bags immediately when I got home from the store (1400 books)($10K key collector value)👍

[@kurtpearson2793]

I’ll pass on the $600 offer!! 😂

[@donaldhaga956]

Um that’s why I said as shown

[@kurtpearson2793]

@@donaldhaga956 True! Hard to see most of the 1400 total books or their condition (which is FANTASTIC on 98%) but as shown it’s not a given!

[@dcal7406]

Ryan Too many ifs in your description of things. And if yiu were to offer 450 and someone else said 250 yes that is low but only 200 difference between your offer and with all the ifs yiu talked about is 250 really stealing it. ? Many people would probably say your 450 offer was a rip off as well

[@AutomaticComics]

I think you’re missing the entire point. I said the rough value would be about 1200 and my offer if I was going to buy it would be 450-500. And I also stated it could be much higher if I was able to look at it more closely, depending on grades. This person was there to give the value of the collection. He was not making an offer. He was telling him the value of the whole collection was $200. And then said that he had some friends that might be interested. It’s an underhanded tactic to give the seller a low value and then send someone else in to offer even less.

[@wowster-so8sx]

Maybe this dealer sold these comics for a buck each

[@user-tl7mj2bm4m]

I'd only offer about $300 tops.....and that's being generous.... There IS NOTHING VINTAGE THERE......sorry.

[@AutomaticComics]

Do you think only vintage books have value?

[@eggplantcomics8336]

Ooof such a fine line. I’m not sure this is the best example. Condition is a major factor so these might all be mid grade books. Even with the keys I don’t think most dealers would touch this collection for more than $250-300 and that’s probably generous. The next question will be how much do you want for it? If the dealer takes all the risk plus time and effort why not buy $2000 worth of books for $200? Now if there is an af15 in there we are in a totally different ballpark. But even then if you offer $5000 is the guy gonna get suspicious and or not sell once he sees dollar signs in your eyes? It’s a very complicated equation. Let the seller beware! Also for every person who gets “ripped off” 3 people over value their books and want $10k for what you see (I know what I have…)

[@AutomaticComics]

I have to disagree. I think normalizing a dealer thinking it’s acceptable to pay $250 for this is a big problem. Also the dealer was telling him that’s what it is worth. Not what he’d pay. Which clearly is a very very low valuation.

[@eggplantcomics8336]

@@AutomaticComics it’s a difficult situation for sure. Almost like trying to sell a used car.

[@jeffstanley6013]

"If the dealer takes all the risk plus time and effort, why not buy $2,000 worth of books for $200?" - If I may counter, the collector took risk in acquiring those books (values can go up or down) and more likely than not put substantially more time and effort into assembling the collection than the dealer is going to put into selling it. With that in mind, should not the collector be more adequately (could also say "fairly") compensated for their $2,000 worth of books? It's about respect. Dealers who show no respect to the collectors parting with their collections should have no respect shown to them either (i.e. don't buy from those dealers).

[@wlnorris75]

I don't fully agree with your points, because it really depends on the quality of the collection. Let's say you bought 100,000 dollar bin comics, are you supposed to pay $50,000? Certainly not. If you paid $10,000 for that, I wouldn't say you ripped anyone off. Also, did you not read what the guy posted, HE TRADED THE TOYS TO THE LOCAL LCS!!! So a couple hundred bucks was just for the comics pictured. You keep saying there are toys in that couple hundred bucks, but he traded those off for store credit! You are also assigning grade to books you can't possibly grade because you can't see them. Everything looks better in internet photos than it does in real life. So this is all sort of fruitless. Yes, with a few big books like a Secret Wars 8, it seems like a couple hundred bucks (I assume could mean as much as $275 and still be a couple hundred bucks), is lite. But there are also a few things you don't know for certain. 1) He said he traded in his toys for $1000 store credit and bought $700 worth of new books. You don't know if that $700 in books was there when the other person looked at it, like the Secret Wars #8. The poster says the "reinvestment books" aren't pictured, but do we really know that? 2) You don't know if that other person was appraising the collection, or making an offer to buy it. Since he was selling all the toys out of storage, was he trying to sell the bulk of the collection (minus the good books he just picked up)? 3) What is the point of comparing slab price to raw price? At $30+ a book for grading, you don't value a raw book the same as the $125 slab copy. 4) I don't know if I even believe this post of if there was ever a collector dealer. First he says he traded all the toys to a local LCS for $1000 credit, but then he talks about vintage Kenner Star Wars like it was valued as part of the collection. But how? He said he traded it off... 5) How is 4 and 2/3 boxes, effectively 6 boxes? By your estimate of 150 per box, that is 700 books, not 900 books... value dropping!!! Your keys seem to total up to about $700, so take them out and you have may have 900 dollar bin books depending on the condition, which you can't tell. I certainly think a $225 offer for 900 dollar bin books is a very fair offer. There is so much here that you don't know, that it seems like you are bad mouthing someone just to drum up some content... As a content creator, you have some duty to be fair. Look at how all your rabid fans are calling out "low-life", "low-life", not because of what the reality was, but because of the way you presented your assumed reality. Couldn't you have just made a video that showed the photos, and said, "Let's value the collection we see in these photos." I guess not enough clickbait for your revenue generation?

[@dirkaminimo4836]

One must be very lazy to get ripped off these days. I don’t want to hear the complaints of lazy people.

[@kurtpearson2793]

It’s my collection, I bagged and boarded everything and entered them into Key Collectors after the visit from the dealer (1400 books!)

[@dirkaminimo4836]

Can you explain the complaint to me then?@@kurtpearson2793