Did I Make Any Money This Year?

[@jeremymedina2791]

Glad you did well. I'm pretty happy with my sales this year.

[@skybornsamurai961]

Great video. Balanced view of the market and moving books. Subscribed. Best of luck in 2025.

[@MintHunterComics]

Appreciate the kind words, I appreciate the sub!

[@markleneker9923]

Best of luck for 2025. Best of luck to us all.

[@MintHunterComics]

Amen!

[@artdelgado8132]

Love your show, James. Wishing you all the best in 2025!

[@ToddToddley]

Can you do more of (That No One’s Ever Heard Of) series? It has lead me to finding a ton of super fun reads and wonderful stories I wouldn’t have found otherwise, especially DC books! I would love to see more from this series!

[@terraincognita3749]

So happy to hear the good news. And respect for your hard work, you deserve it!! Here's to a great 2025 😊

[@thoragami3238]

Congratulations arguably the largest youtube auction consistently week to week. Always graded accurately and we appreciate your candidness. Continued success.

[@minuswyatt2437]

Thank you for acknowledging that all collectors are real. Sick of this "real vs fake" crap. Who the hell is anyone to say otherwise?

[@MintHunterComics]

Bro facts

[@johnnydropkicks]

I am someone who can say otherwise, you fake collector. (Just kidding around) 🙂

[@Markus465]

LOL What exactly is a "fake" collector?

[@Mike_oliver1313]

@@Markus465someone who doesn’t collect? Lol

[@silverflash7773]

Hi James, Glad you are enjoying your job and making more money. Win-Win! I hope the coming year is outstanding for you.

[@buraddorun3043]

Congrats on having a good year!

[@CedRed]

Thank you for the transparency and here's to an even better year for you in 2025!!

[@bkotake]

Continue to love your content. Appreciate the frequency of new videos and it’s further cemented my interest in this hobby.

[@davecironelibrarykid]

Appreciate your honest views -- especially acknowledging that the market fluctuates so unpredictably. Good advice re: grading books vs raw.

[@PunguinYoga]

I enjoy seeing people love their work. Have a great 2025 and best wishes to your family.

[@ShowMeTheMendozas]

Love your content James. Thanks for being real, and for sharing. Love to see people doing what they love.

[@Scott.B.Chapin]

I'm loving the general drop in prices (as I don't, in general, sell my books), and have been looking for both raw & slab prices - in a couple cases, it's cheaper to buy the slab & crack it for the PC. Congrats on the great year - glad I could be a small part of your success.

[@tonyhill1141]

I have a lot of respect for what you are doing. Chasing something you love and putting it all on the line is commendable. I work in healthcare management. When Covid got nuts I took a year off and did nothing but sports cards as my income. It was the boom and I made more than I do working. So, to a point, I know what it takes to do this (though you are well beyond my level). It’s damn tough. I ended up going back to work and I love what I do but sometimes I miss it. Good on ya!

[@MintHunterComics]

If you stop working all the money stops. That’s what’s scary. So you just gotta keep chugging!

[@scottr2362]

I would love to see a video on "a day in the life of James" with what all you do to run your business. Grading, research, hunting, etc.... I don't know how you do it all.

[@PaulDavidCooper]

Congratulations on a successful year. I've been to your retail space. It was immaculate, well organized, the books were not only priced fairly, but many were in great condition for the price. If you were not so far away, I'd be a regular. Respect for the customer and a great selection will sustain resellers in a down market.

[@macorourke2222]

Congratulations Brother! Merry Christmas and a happy new year to You and Family from Toronto Ontario Canada 😎👍♥️♥️💯💯

[@leerogers5318]

I’m genuinely glad to hear that you’ve been successful in making money this year, especially considering that many LCSs and others haven’t had the same luck. This is particularly impressive if selling and buying comics is your sole focus. In my state, most other LCSs rely on additional sources of income-such as another job, a pension, or a spouse's earnings-to keep their brick-and-mortar businesses afloat.

[@MintHunterComics]

Oh believe me, I have plenty of irons in the fire. I don’t think this would work if this was 100 percent my income

[@davidpalfrey1303]

Buying or selling comics people have a passion on both ends of the industry, and the rare 9.8’s found in the bins, by flippers adds another book someone else gets to enjoy.

[@donaldmiller9648]

Glad you succeeded for year. I enjoy just watching your show...maybe encourage to finally sort my 40 year old backstock and rebah and board.

[@kyleelmore7250]

Congrats man! I found your channel this year and you are one of my favorite KZbin channels for comics I watch! It also helps that I am a huge Green Lantern fan as well!

[@MintHunterComics]

That’s how I got ya! Haha

[@mth80555]

Love this video. Thanks man. We’re all real collectors. I buy mostly raw but won’t turn my nose up at a raw

[@menofresh]

You’re living every comic book collectors dream. 👏🏼

[@pattongilbert]

As a new buyer of comics and keys, I can definitely say it’s been a solid year for me with those low prices.😊

[@Neufutur]

Glad you're doing well. I threw about 10K on bad Dylan Brock investment suggestions a few years ago and sales are sllllow. 🤣 Pricey lesson to learn.

[@DennyLeLe]

Congratulations man!!! Coming from a mortgage banker, I can see why you were an underwriter and why you are so detail oriented.

[@mattlane2310]

Good job this year. Hope you keep it up. Love your channel. Goodluck in 2025.

[@MintHunterComics]

Thanks man, I appreciate it!

[@tomaswortley1950]

It's a good thing that you're happy doing this job. It's hard, but a work of passion.

[@MintHunterComics]

It can be, but it's my jam!

[@WadeNslade]

Congrats 🎉

[@RudeMekanicals]

Keep living the dream, bro!

[@T-RexSuplex1]

Glad you made it out on top this year. Alot of layoffs going on

[@thornhillacquisitions593]

God Bless and good fortune to you and yours! Really enjoyed watching the journey and thank you for encouraging me to jump back in!

[@SamuraiKidMusic]

Thinking of buying some “cheap” golden age. There’s a flash 80 out there for 57$…it is missing some inner pages though…

[@MintHunterComics]

Good luck!

[@ddougherty8266]

Flat net income in a year like 2024 is a fantastic result. I agree with your point on big books. Unsolicited advice... Look at your gross $ sales for the year and then pick a percent (maybe 1 or 2% - I don't know) but pick it and make that the upper limit as to what you'll spend for any specific book, almost no matter how good the deal looks. In addition to a book not selling, there's a constant risk of theft or damage as long as you're carrying it. Don't know you well... but my sense is you were able to succeed in 2024 because of your work ethic and your flexibility. You worked very hard to increase your volume while prices were dropping. Many dealer complain their sales are down 20% and blaming it on the comic market - because unlike you, they're not shifting gears, they're not changing focus on smaller books to match the market, they're not using multiple sales channels, and they're not increasing the number hours they're putting in. 2025 will be equally challenging, but I think you're going to do fine. Kudos!

[@davidbooks.and.comics]

So cool! I am glad you are making money.

[@MintHunterComics]

Barely but I'm having fun!

[@thatonekid-gy2kt]

My heart goes out to the genuine comic dealers and collectors who care about the hobby. We all lost so much money on the books we love do to the deflated market, and it hurt the collectors and dealers who payed too much to scalpers and unreasonable price hikes. But, I think the hobby in general will slowly get better in the coming months, so I think the comic community will get back up and continue to breathe life into pop culture. Except for scalpers. Respectfully, get away from us.

[@adamleitman8116]

Good to hear we'll have more Mint Hunter in the future. My lil comic shop has been so slow since like Aug. had a pretty good summer tho

[@Markus465]

Nice vid, man! I don't always agree with your viewpoints, but I appreciate you and what you're doing! Comics are the best!

[@sixarms]

Thanks for sharing your comic year in review. It's good to hear from an honest buyer and seller.

[@maartenbouw]

Last night I went to a hoarder’s house to look at his 100,000+ collection, and he had some doozy’s in there. Thing is he wants $5 a book, and higher. I simply don’t have that capital. He does have a long run of the Daredevil issues I’m after in order to complete my run of volume 1. What to do James? By the way, keep up the awesome work with this channel.

[@MintHunterComics]

$5 a book is CRAZYYYYY He would need to have some seriously huge books in there to offset to the inevitable mountains of bulk

[@Lithograph_Comics]

Very happy to hear that you're doing well and sticking with it! I really need to make an effort to pop my head in your sales and at least say "Hello". Who knows...I might even chance upon one of those big books I've had on the hit list, as I'm one of the guys that buys them. 😜

[@MintHunterComics]

I’d love to meet you! Come on by

[@Lithograph_Comics]

@@MintHunterComics For sure. I'll make an attempt to make an attempt. We at least already have an ice breaker, as I was the 2nd place winner for the DC custom CGC lab contest eons ago, and created the Minthunter Comics 9.6 label for your Shadow of the Bat 17. That was a fun contest. 🤣

[@christiantormodsen9044]

Congratulations on a successful year. This is a very informative video for others who might want to take the leap.

[@tjwacks1]

May 2025 be as successful and bring many more subs for you!

[@Spreedem]

As someone who doesn't watch market trends, I would love to know what's causing the market to be low. Thanks for the vid, glad you are able to keep your biz going.

[@TripleDAdventures]

It's nice to see someone happy doing what they're doing for a living. Congrats. And thanks for the info.

[@MintHunterComics]

Appreciate the support man!

[@jesseduran7353]

Great to get a reality check on the state of the comics market from a seller like yourself. Easy to get wrapped up in a lot of doom and gloom.

[@AdrianTurley-z9r]

Being a small business owner is hard work and to make a profit is awesome!

[@nuctech99m]

It great to do what one loves I like your claim sales I've have been able to get some great books

[@olegopher]

Nice job James

[@JoeReedy-xt3hc]

Another good video. Thanks James.

[@BowlerBP]

Thats awesome to hear that you ended up with a better net year despite obviously a down year in prices. I know your followers appreciate the extra time/sales they get from you because of your commitment to making it up in volume. Also, as a slab collector myself....i think the problems with cgc have kept people from grading at the volume they used to. Prices are definitely down on slabs and its been a great year to buy though. As always, keep it up James!

[@clintstevens6831]

Thanks for the video. Interesting to hear from the other side of the cash register.

[@jerrygrice1953]

Love your channel buddy great content

[@koschei1975]

Picked up Batman #121 recently. A book a couple of years ago I wouldn’t have dared try & grab. It’s still pricey but pulled the trigger cause maybe in the coming years the market will see more of an up tick & I don’t want to let these great books get out of range again. Merry Christmas & Happy Nee Year to you & your family James.

[@grendel0013]

Faith in CGC is floundering. More folks also like to by raw (cheaper) and try to press/clean/upgrade and grade themselves to try to maximize a flip candidate. Too many books were getting graded anyway. It's starting to normalize now.

[@davidsamuelson2089]

If you have real keys to move, they’ll sell for premiums. The word “key” has become a joke with sellers trying to move junk.

[@AtomicTomLV]

As far as one of the trends you mentioned, speaking for myself, I always like buying slabs but I’m finding myself buying more raws lately because I’m getting back to reading comics more and I’m glad I am because there are a lot of fun reads out there. Good luck in 2025

[@MintHunterComics]

Thanks for sharing!

[@evanmccombs8165]

LETS GOOO! HARD YEAR FOR GROWTH! BE PROUD

[@MintHunterComics]

Yessir!

[@denniswheeler3852]

I'm looking for ASM 121 and 122. And always looking for more TMNT's 1 thru 4.

[@CC-xw1yc]

Congrats James. Best of luck in 2025.

[@davidallen8891]

"DC is the bew frontier" - I see what you did there 😂😂😂

[@garywilliams6910]

Pat yourself on the back for coming out in the black. You know what you are doing. Wishing you further success.

[@Mangocatz1]

I wonder if any of the many CGC scandals had anything to do with the downturn in slab sales? considering that the only real competition is CBCS.

[@Dev003x]

The last few LCS in my area aren't even buying any slabbed books. Blew out what they had cheap to pull list people if we wanted any of it.

[@davidmitchell1440]

You should do a mystery grab bag show. It would be fun to hear the comments of what people got.

[@Jeanmissial]

, glad to hear this. I have also been selling my stuff. And I wonder am I just selling to low, why do I have to sell. So much just to make a real dent!

[@williambaldridge1203]

I haven't made much money, because I'll tell you shipping costs have gone through the roof, and eBay tries to keep you from charging enough money for shipping, and it's just ridiculous.I live in Florida and if I have to ship something to California or Oregon it's really incredible how much the shipping is.

[@bumblebeetuna2120]

Wow another year gone by, keep up the good work!! I am aiming on getting an Incredible Hulk 340 and an Uncanny X-Men 133!

[@MintHunterComics]

You can do it!

[@garykos1308]

Can we get an updated tour of the store? New lighting, wall, case and slab stacks.

[@lukethomas1092]

I'm a DC comic collector/reader as of this year!

[@MintHunterComics]

Hell yeah!

[@dannbon13]

Well done James. DC always has a special place in my heart. Supergirl, Superboy, Green Lantern. How about them Eagles!

[@MintHunterComics]

Appreciate that, thanks!

[@RandallCody-h5n]

Awesome tidbits!

[@GrungeMadman]

I've been doing more selling myself this past year. Don't think I've gotten many profits with it yet, but at least i'm offsetting some of my spending with it 😂

[@DW3010]

I find it’s hard to sell comics personally. I just think it’s unfortunate in today’s economy not a lot of folks have disposable income. As is the way of the world, I guess. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@MintHunterComics]

Very true

[@lincolnrice4946]

I think the DC love is great!

[@reaperzslicer235]

As someone who prefers dc over marvel substantially I love the general lower prices for dc since I only really collect like 3-4 marvel characters. Mainly just Moon knight with that being most of my collection and what I’ve been chasing and will continue to chase this coming year. I finished collecting volume 1 about 2 months ago, halfway through volume 2, and I’m only missing 2 issues of volume 3. I hope to finish those two and also collect the two miniseries that come afterwards by the end of the year. In addition I also hope to finish collecting knightsquest and end and if I’m lucky start in collecting the bane the demon miniseries and the Batman contagion storyline

[@MintHunterComics]

True!

[@Syobnaf]

If you don’t already, I recommend doing dollar claim shows, those are my jam personally

[@MintHunterComics]

I just can’t dedicate time to it! It’ll kill me to spend valuable claim sale time dipping that low. The Sunday claim sale is how I make 90 percent of my money and it takes all week bagging and boarding and prepping!

[@Syobnaf]

@@MintHunterComics Yeah, that's perfectly understandable, and obviously you have to do what works for you. In my experience people are often willing to take raws (no bags/boards) or some mixture for dollar claims though, so that could cut down on shipping prep.

[@rsorapuru84]

I have had more trouble with smaller books meaning books worth $150 and under. Those affordable keys have been hard to sell. Big boy books $400 and up i have no trouble selling or moving. Probably because those books were so high 2-3 years ago. Plus I use other places to sell than KZbin and ebay. I use consignment pages and those high in books move faster than I can load them on there. Marvel in my case still out sell DC with ease. But that higher end DC does well

[@billlowe3618]

I’m glad your happy. Looking for Uncanny X-Men.

[@MintHunterComics]

Oh my gosh I have so much. Are you nearby NJ?

[@adamchace]

Congrats on growing your revenue in a hard year! Would you ever share your profit percentages? Were those stable year over year or did you have to give up margin to make the number this year? Thanks!

[@MintHunterComics]

Oh I always do! I buy comic collections at 60% of prrice. For anything that's an "easy mover" or over $500 I pay 80 percent on. I typcially sell books at 10 percent off, but I have regualrs who buy at 30 percent off every week. Leaves me with an itsy-bitsy tiny margin of profit every Sunday show but eventually it adds up

[@johnpiotrowski9194]

Congratulations!

[@pah-MIK-ter]

Great news for you and your Family!! I'm going to try this next year to get my grail....Avengers #57 in a 9.4 / White or better 🙂 Since I only collect 'The Vision' on covers nowadays...I might have to part with some Big Boyz e.g. y ASM 238 complete/newsie NM+/Mint, ASM 300 NM+/Mint, Wolverine 102.5 Wizard Authentic Signed by Boris V. NM/NM+ to get there 🙂 Hoping for all the best for you and yours in 2025!!!!

[@AndyBaker-x3t]

Hey I was just curious as a newer collector what are your opinions on facsimile edition comics?

[@theobsessedcollector]

Thank you for this video, James. It is refreshing to hear such open honesty. The many serious, deeply rooted corporate problems CGC has been suffering are a big reason for lower slab interest. Customer trust has been severely compromised by all these issues. CGC was bought by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities in 2021 (they provide opportunistic capital, timely investing decisions, and differentiated solutions). Think Gordon Gekko from the movie Wall Street. They lost an eight-year long defamation case this week, as a Philadelphia jury assessed $10 million in total damages against CGC. The jury found that a CGC employee had knowingly defamed Investment Grade Books, a comic book restoring business. The Holder Tampering discovery The firing of beloved customer support employee, nicknamed “CGC Mike”, as well as 15 “redundant” support staff. The hiring of cheaper, less skilled labour. Most recently, their attempt to recruit young high school graduates at a career fair at a school near their Florida offices. Shrinking submissions yet insanely longer turnaround times.

[@sirbaldsalot]

Keep the vids coming!

[@GodLovesComics]

I care more about art than Keys (which is not to say I'm not happy to have some Keys in my collection but even those I probably wouldn't own if I didn't like the art on some level), but at least regarding new comics I find DC vastly more interesting than Marvel. And I grew up greatly preferring Marvel and it still represents the majority of my collection., but DC just seems to have the more innovative art and better art direction and design. When I walk into a store (which is rare but does happen) everything filling the Marvel shelves just looks the same, while the DC and Image covers have aa lot more variety at a glance. I understand that the artists basically go back and forth between the big publishers anyway, so even if you see a Rafael Grampa on Batman, you'll eventually see him also doing some Marvel stuff, but overall DC just looks more exciting and accessible. Granted when you're talking about collectible comics and the back market it probably has a lot more to do with movie properties and keys, so that's surely still driving it...but purely based on aesthetics, I've gravitated towards DC when I buy a modern comic.

[@chadfiebelkorn3799]

Steady growth..

[@jesselaidlaw395]

Congrats!!

[@horderphelps1402]

High turnover is critical for dealers as they always need cashflow to cover on-going expenses. The more/faster prices fall the more turnover is needed to counteract this problem. Successful dealers have a good, reliable, fast distribution program. If you have a slab you have a fixed independent price benchmark to argue over, so it can be harder to flip reducing turnover. This is why raws are better for dealers because grading is tricky so they are harder to price. A dealer isn't really pricing raws based on grade as much they are pricing to get it out the door at a profit margin regardless of the price. This builds loyalty with customers. Collectors who are unloading aren't really selling books, they are really paying for lower cash flow now by forgoing alternate forms of slower, low-turnover distribution. Distribution risk always impacts collectors due to the uncertainty of future cash flows, especially in a falling market. This should be a dealers sales pitch when buying collections. Dealers are in fact book "bankers" funding collectors now in exchange for future inventory they can push out fast.

[@SonOfCrom-1932]

I actually started collecting again recently, and at first I hated slabs (had never heard of them before), but now that is all I want to buy. Being older, I am thinking of what my kids will get for my comics when I am gone and they decide to sell them 20 years from now. I have been buying like crazy the last 3 months, and have spent close to 100K on comics (maybe a 1%'er wanna be lol). Of course, one Golden age grail is taking up most of that cost. For newer slabs, (by newer for me, I mean from 1961 to present); I tend to buy them at auction mostly, so I can pay lower than the "lowest last price" on GPA; or I buy from collectors/sellers like you. Have you ever thought about having your own website? Would this save you money over Ebay fee's in the long run? (I am not sure, but just wondering). I buy from a collector/seller; who does use a website where I have bought several "big boy" books. Usually I do that because the price for the slabs are a tiny bit below the lowest last price average in the last 12 months, or lower a little bit than the last sell. This helps people that like to think "They are saving money" by buying from that dealer (like myself), jump on some more expensive books than I normally would (like buying a lot of 9.8s, when I would have been just as happy with a nice 7.0 at a much lower cost)! LOL I hope you continue to improve your profits and make a ton of money no matter what you do in the future. I know having your own business can be hard. Happy Holidays!

[@thurstonfaulkner4]

I see slabs as the premium for a character I like, therefore I can't afford them in this market, so I favor raws at the moment. It's not a revolution against slabs like many want to claim. Thanks for your thoughts James.

[@MintHunterComics]

Totally understand!

[@kchasecook]

Congrats man.

[@MintHunterComics]

Thanks, appreciate it!

[@ellenacarroll863]

Proud of you!

[@supercrusader1655]

James - given the price drops....WHERE would you say the best bargains are? For the record, I've always preferred raw books... when you own a slab, you feel more like a custodian of an object for future generations.... you can't open the book and really engage it......

[@johnmoran6418]

X-Men #1 in CGC 4.0 to 5.0 is my target book for the year

[@MintHunterComics]

You can do it!

[@matthewinman4376]

At the end of the day, your work is not really work because you love it so much. That's why i continue to do it myself. It's a banner day in my house when I break even after I sell off what i buy and still have some left over. You need to have a love for the industry so the grind doesn't wear you down. I certainly don't do it for the money. I do it for the thrill of discovery when you buy a collection and hope to find something you didn't expect in it.

[@juanayon9713]

Good for you.

[@MintHunterComics]

TY!

[@broll832]

I started collecting again this year and seems, just from earlier this year, slabs have plummeted while raw has definitely gone up. For older modern back thru silver, it seems slabs have more value than raws above midgrade....if you dont mind not reading it

[@MintHunterComics]

I hear you, it's a super interesting trend.

[@leemattes9461]

Just got my daredevil 158 9.6 signed by Frank Miller. Now I am trying find a decent copy of Batman 251 that I can afford. Love the cover art by Neal Adams.