Feel for you Tony, but I think the best way to approach comics is to think that they are worthless. Yeah, you could put a few hundred hours of work into making the most out of your older Spidey books, spending hundreds on slabbing and shipping, risking losing books on scammers, and maybe make 10 grand. Or you can spend those hours working overtime or a part-time job, maybe make the same money, have no risk of scammers, give away most of the books for a small tax deduction, and keep the Spideys.

That's the problem when trying to get rid of books, most of collector's "modern" books are in "amazing" condition. Plus, they aren't rare and most if not all are readily available for next to nothing. I've had tons of modern books given to me over the years from friends that just didn't want them anymore. I eventually gave them away to others and I still keep getting them in from the same friends. They just don't care and they were all in amazing condition. Read once and given away. I swear I had complete runs of Spiderman books dating back to '85 and I just didn't give a shit. I kept passing them on to others. All in amazing condition. Modern books are worthless. They are however worth reading.

What does that have to do with owning comics and trying to sell them or give them away?

I have worked thats how I was able to buy them.

There really isn't much work to sell comics.
You just have the list and post it somewhere or or just drop intom a comic shop or flea market on your time off.

That's just an odd thing to put those together that way.

Only missing 11 issues between 17-570 of Amazing.

Of which maybe 10 are in less than stellar condition.
All of Web of
All Spectacular
Missing 2 Marvel Team ups.
Many early annuals.

I think what Trevor is saying is that in order to maximize your return when selling comics, and not just offloading them in one big lot, you need to put in time. Between listing on ebay, packaging, trips to the post office, etc., it can really add up. His point was that you could probably get a much better return on your time by working a part time job, or overtime or whoring out your body, or whatever. Maybe it's hyperbole, but I don't necessarily disagree with him.

Yeah you dummy, what are you screwing around with comics for, get a job.

Might has well have been my parents posting that.

Still no correlation. It's not as if I've not been not working because I have to spend all day trying to sell my comics. No connection.

The comics are free time stuff.

It's an awesome collection. One that I dreamed having years ago. I remember thinking as a young teen that I was hot stuff for having an unbroken run of the past five years of Amazing Spider-Man.

Marvel and DC started capping collectors off at the knees when they started getting serious about reissuing large collections of back issues. I just bought the newish Tombstone trade, collecting Spectacular Spider-Man #137-150. It was priced at $11 with my discount at Instocktrades. I already had most of the issues somewhere in storage.

That is why it's nearly impossible to move modern comics in bulk.

What rocket said. One possibly can get "fair value" out of their collection, but it's probably going to take a lot of up front money (slabbing), time (scanning, writing ads, packing, post office runs), and risk (scammers).

You were talking about murdering yourself over not being able to get a good price on them, and I was just trying to help. I'll just let you live your life.

-Dad

You're taking it personally. You shouldn't.

He's simply stating that the work involved in netting you more money for those books wouldn't be worth the extra work you have to put in. That's it.

I can't believe I stumbled on to this thread. I'm supposed to go Monday to a comic book store and get an appraisal of what my comics are worth. I have some from the 70's but mostly from the 1990-93 era.

I was hoping for some decent money but now i'm not going to hold my breath. I'm not going to give them away. If I don't receive an offer of my liking, I will take them back home.

You can do a search and come up wit a handful of web sites that list key issues from that era.

It will give you an idea of value if you have any key issues.

Be a good idea rather than going in blind.

How many books do you have?

I would say around 100-150. Thanks for the advice.

Most comic books from the early 90s are pretty much worthless. The print runs were so high that there are more than enough to meet any collector interest. A few exceptions would be New Mutants 98 (first Deadpool), X-Men 266 (first Gambit), and pre-Unity Valiants (though I doubt those have held their value they had when the publisher was hot).

For common early 90s books, you'll be lucky if can get a nickel or dime a piece from most retailers. There's almost no demand for them, and there's an ample supply of them gathering dust in longboxes.

Since we're having fun, I had a pal who ran a Comics store back in the day (both the friend and the store are MIA these days) and I acquired a certain amount of promo and collectible stuff, -cards in plastic, small collectible issues, -the kind of thing most collectors of the period will be familiar with. Did that stuff retain any value?

If you mean back in the days as early 90's I doubt any promo materials are worth anything. I think If it says "collectible" and "limited" it isn't worth anything. I can't help but smile when someone mentions to me they have this or that and say they bought it because it states on the package it's collectible and someday it will be worth a lot.

Yeah, I meant all that '90s stuff, when there was a new "promo" or "incentive" item every week, -gold foil cards in plastic, mini-comics in plastic, -that of thing. Valiant had some special editions, as I recall. I'd be more specific but I'm not at home and haven't sorted through it in a while.

Thanks for the tip. It saves me a trip because the place is about 45 minutes from where I live. I don't even see the need in going now. I will just keep them and pass them on to my kids when they grow up.

and you won't have to hear, "So how much are you looking for?"

Or, "how much do you want to pay me to take them?"

Whotony, I might want to buy a few of your old comics if the price is right. I'll PM you sometime in the future.

Slightly off-topic, but the world definitely has changed in that regard, -I had to get rid of two (still working but too old to sell) televisions recently and I had to pay BestBuy $25 to take the one when they brought my new set, and had to pay $50 to have the other "re-cycled". I hated doing it, but I needed the room.

Does Goodwill or other 2nd hand stores take TVs as donations? I know they take comic books.

If I want to get rid of an old tv or appliance, I just leave it out on the curb in front of my house with the trash a couple of days before trash pick-up.

Someone will stop and take it, usually within a couple of hours.

In my case, I live in a condominium community, and if you pull that you'll get fined, -and a big fine, -by "The Association". Also, in my County, if you put out a large item (appliances, couches) you have to buy a tag from the county office before the waste disposal can pick it (price decided by the item). There is usually one "Big Trash Pickup" day a year where it's all free (though they won't take computers or televisions, -those have to be recycled).