How To Make Money Buying And Selling Comic Books

There is a great deal of money to be made by buying and selling comic books. Comic books, once the domain of children and teenagers, have now become sought after high priced collectibles by adults who were once those children and teenagers who indulged in those same comic books. In addition to adults who are indulging in nostalgia, there are many people who have become attracted to comic books because of all of the movies based on comic book characters.

One of the first business strategies that Disney implemented upon its purchase of Marvel, was to ramp up its release of comic book inspired movies. Due to the popularity of Disney comic book based movies, and its competitor Time Warner's comic book based movies, there are now millions of people who have developed a fascination and interest in many comic book characters, whether popular characters such as Batman and Spiderman, or more obscure characters such as Bane or Deadpool.

So how can you make money buying and selling comic books?

For starters, you can search for comic book collections being offered for sale on Craigslist and on eBay. You can also purchase pallets of comic books from wholesalers and liquidators. You can also attend garage sales, flea markets, library sales, and estate sales.

You can also advertise through The Overstreet Price Guide, and try to connect with collectors who are more interested in receiving a lump sum than in selling their comic books one at a time. The larger the collection is, the less you should be paying per comic book.

By purchasing in bulk you can also have the opportunity to sort and separate the comic books into smaller lots, and then sell the comic books individually, enabling you to maximize the resale potential of each comic book. 

You can also reach out to comic book wholesalers such as Gary Dolgoff from Dolgoff Comics, Joe Koch from the Comic Book Warehouse, Michael Carbonaro from the Big Apple Comic Con, and Brian Schutzer from Neatstuff Collectibles. If you acquire a great comic book collection, or a vintage lot of comic books, you can also approach the above mentioned comic book dealers and obtain offers for your comic books. 

If you come across a collection that is out of range of your budget, you can approach one of these mentioned dealers and obtain a finder's fee for introducing them to the collection.

One of the strategies that comic book sellers utilize is to "slab" their comic books, which means to submit the comics to CGC or CBCS, which are independent grading services. These grading companies will encapsulate your comic books, and assign them a grade, from 0 to 9.8 (theoretically up to 10.0, although very rarely), along with a short summary of your comic book. A Comic books that is graded, especially if it's a rare comic, or published pre 1980's, can sell for many multiples of what the same ungraded comic book can sell for.

When it comes to selling your comic books, you can list your comics through eBay, or through comic book specialized online auctioneers, such as Heritage Auctions, ComicLink, Metropolis Collectibles, and ComicConnect. You can also shop your comic books to stores, in effect acting as a wholesaler.

Generally speaking, you will make the most money when you are able to sell directly to collectors, although a well known dealer can connect you to high spending collectors that you otherwise might not know.