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Where Do You Buy and Sell Your Comics?
Hemos asks: "I've been collecting comics for almost two decades now, and have been looking around for some back issues that I've never been able to find in the local shops. I'm also looking to sell some of the comics that I already have. Any recommendations for the good places online (or offline) for buying and selling comics?" Come to think of it, so would I!
M4d pR0Pz to Atlantis Fantasyworld in Santa Cruz. My wife and I have been buying comics there for ten years, even after we moved over the hill. Joe worked a mail order deal for us, he probably can for you too.
Contact information is at the Atlantis site
No Longer a Menace to Society.
Alexandria Morrigan born 2/22/01 l. 20.5in wt. 7 lbs. 5 oz.
Another resource is ComicFind which is a sort of Google for back issues...no really, check it out.
There are some big stores (e.g., Mile High) that sell back issues. I just dealt with Impulse Creations and was pleased. There's also Comic Link, which hooks up buyers and sellers - they are slanted towards Silver/Golden age.
As for selling, forget it. If you have some genuine key issues (hey, Fantastic Four #1 is always in demand) or a very limited number of hot issues, you may have something worth selling. The back issue market is dead, dead, dead and has been for many years.
Tangent: After the bubble of the late 80s (when stamp, coin, and trading card collecting also became hot as baby boomers reached nostalgic middle age and began spending their money on teenage memories), the market collapsed. And since the new comic book market was already in severe decline (as kids found video cames, computers, and a million other things were preferable to $2.50 comics), lots of shops closed and dumped their inventories on the market. End tangent.
Of course, the price guides are pure fantasy - check eBay's finished auctions or RACM for real values. As a collector, this is great for me - I buy and never sell ;)
I would give the required pitch to support your local shops. I've lived in four cities in the US and in each one I found Ye Olde Comic Shoppe, with a veteran behind the counter who was happy to talk comics, suggest good titles, heck sometimes even let you try a book or two on a trial basis. I buy the few new books exclusively from the local shop. There's a store about a half-mile from my house that sells trading cards, Magic cards, games, and oh yeah a few comics...I'll gladly drive to the other side of town to go to the place run by the guy who loves comics. At least in his store I sometimes see kids ;)
Oh, and re: back issue value, local shops also may be willing to take your back issues on store credit (trading) which will give you more value (if they have what you want, of course).
Excelsior!
Advice: on VPS providers
Just to add to this.
I agree completely regarding ebay. A knowledgeable seller can often sell for close to or more than what it would cost them to buy a replacement. Make sure to figure out by looking at past auctions the best way to raise revenue: that is high finally to break up the comics. Take into account shipping and hassle.
For example you might find:
whole collection will go for $20k
import series DD $1-285 will go for $2k each
series as individual issues might only go for $1k each and take hundreds of hours.