What do I do with all of these?

[Sprucejedi]

OK guys, as you can see by my info, I am new here. As a kid, I was very into comic book collecting. I have boxes and boxes and boxes of them in my house that I have moved along with me throughout college, multiple jobs, across the country and now into my house where my family is being raised. I have a 2 year old daughter and a son that is slated to be born at some point this coming May. This means that the bedroom that I have been able to store all of my childhood awesome stuff as well as my adult awesome stuff is now being taken over to make room for my son. My wife has mentioned that I should probably look into unloading some of my comic books. What the heck do I do with all of these? There are no comic shops around where I live. I live in Northern Michigan, not a real comic collectors area. I have looked into some of the comic auction sites, but they seem to only want to deal with the real high dollar stuff. I looked on Amazon.com, if I sell one for 2.99, it cost me 2.79, and I would net .20 profit. Not worth my time.

I collected from the late 80's through the 90's and into the 2000's. Everything I have is in great condition, well cared for. Just curious what the suggestions are. I don't want to unload everything but it is probably time to thin the herd. I pop the boxes open now and then and get drawn right back into the days of my childhood. Let me know, thanks guys!

[El Sombrero]

The vast, vast majority of comics from that time period are worthless, and dealers won't even take them off your hands. If you have some full runs, try to sell those on eBay. If you're sure nothing is valuable and you don't have full runs that would be desirable to collectors, you're probably best off donating them / recycling them to save the space.

[Ekrosn]

Sprucejedi, if I were you, I'd do a little research as to what exactly you have. You are bound to have something that is more valuable than its original direct market price. Like EL Sombrero said, look to see if you have any runs that you might be able to sell. Also, ask around to see if anyone would be willing to buy your whole collection. You probably won't break even on the comics, but at least you know that someone is enjoying them now. Hell, if I had some expendable income, I'd buy them off of you. The late '80s to mid-90s is my favorite period in comic history. Anyway, do some research to see if you have something of value and ask around to see if anybody wants your whole collection. Hope this helped. Also, message me if you have any runs you are interested in selling. I'm interested in buying some 80s and 90s stuff.

[zryson]

Hi Sprucejedi firstly hello and welcome to CBR. Secondly these are my thoughts regarding your collection:

1) Make a list of everything you have. Noting any variants, special editions, limited releases.
2) Make a note of full runs you might have.
3) Look online and see what respective comics are going for.
4) Take clear good quality photographs of your collection.
5) Dont have too high expectations because the market is flooded with comic books from collectors/stores seeking to offload their collections and though guide says one thing, in real world prices are often much less.
6) Dont get rid of everything (which you already noted) as many collectors get rid of everything and then years later regret the decision and rebuild.
7) Look at local listings in your area, maybe somebody in your neighboring area could be interested. Sites like ebay are also good.
8) When listing, maybe do themed orientated listings? So Batman might include Batman, Detective Comics, respective mini series?
9) If you are absolutely not sure about what to expect for your comics, set a minimum price.

[Volkditty]

If you want to keep track of what all you have, you can catalogue them free at Stash My Comics. If you don't have anything high-value enough to go on a collector comic auction site, you can still check the lists at Lone Star Comics or Midtown Comics to see if you have any back issues they're interested in. Outside of that, some eBay auctions for a full run will stand a better chance that individual issues most likely.

[chastmastr]

I'll take them! :)

(Actually, I would.)

[jackdaw53]

First up, as others have suggested: forget about making a "profit" IF by that you mean getting more than original price. With comics of that era you'd be doing pretty well to get a dollar a comic.

You could go to trouble of looking at individual prices for each comic, and selling any valuable ones separately... but its a lot of effort, and overall you'll just be minimising losses.

BUT, if you definitely want shut of them, then you could regard any cash generated as profit: potentially any cash is better than something taking up room, if you're never using them again. That's the line that I take with comics that I don't like enough to re-read. I then:-

1/ Any long runs of a single series that I want rid of, I advertise on e-bay. They go for reasonable prices... but appreciably less than catalogue prices. (Those are prices pro retailers will sell them to you... those prices are rarely achieved when its your turn to sell.)

2/ Give the rest away to anybody that wants them locally... often charity shops.

[Kid Montana]

Have you considered adoption? Those kids will just cost you more and more $$$ in the long run! :)

Count up how many you have, and put a blanket price for the entire collection on craigslist. You get a local buyer, no shipping, and a lump sum even if it is paltry compared to the single issue price that at least you can do something with, without looking back.

[Sprucejedi]

Thanks for all of the input! I am not real worried about making a profit. While my soda can money back then was hard earned, I think even if I got 10$/book I would still be losing money. I have spent far more than that toting them around the country and moving them into countless apartments and houses. I have not read a single one of them in 15 years or so, and actually last night was the first time I have taken the lid off of a box in a very long time. I think I will put them all on stashmycomics.com just to get an idea of what I have. Then maybe go the craigslist route or donate them. Thanks again guys! Maybe I will just pick a new line of comics and start reading and collecting them. It has been a very long time since I have stepped foot into a comic book store. Not even sure who is around any more.

[Ebon]

I'm pretty much in the same boat. Right now, I'm looking at http://www.mycomicshop.com/webuycomics to sell the entire collection at once, with some stuff also going to Goodwill, Vet's Hospital and St Jude's Children's Hospital (for the more all-ages stuff). All of the last three are tax deductions, so you can at least 'get' something for them.