Buying An Entire Comic Book Store - EBAY FEES AND PROBLEMS 

I've bought and sold thousands of comics on eBay for over 15 years now and it's been a mainly positive experience. Unless the sold quantity is more than a dozen, I've always sent them in well protected padded envelopes, and can scarcely remember anyone complaining about receiving damaged books. Since I've been grading my comics for over 35 years, I can't remember anyone complaining about my grading either. It's been a mostly positive experience for me over the years.

Charge for shipping. Charge market value. Don't be lazy with your pictures. No returns. Constantly revise your listings to flow with the market. Or best offer, is a fun way to interact with the eBay community. Don't count on eBay as main source of income.

I've been doing ebay as a buyer and seller and love it... get sick deals on auctions, understand that seller fees on eBay are cheaper than owning a store and paying rent, and have yet to be screwed on books... only complaint is some amateurs suck at shipping

We just launched Comic Art Mall, a marketplace just for comic art and comic books. You can import your eBay feedback and eBay listings. We only collect a 4% fee, no listing fees, no monthly fees, and you have full control over customer service, refunds, etc. So it mitigates some of the frustrations you guys mentioned in the video. We have big plans for the website and are improving it every week. Anyways, I really enjoyed the video. 50 cents a comic is a bargain! I also agree that sellers should ship in BOXES for books and art. There has been so many times my comics and art got damaged because they were shipped flat. Maybe that is why customers ask how the item is being shipped.

Great video Tom, really enjoyed it! Just wanted to share how quickly the fees add up for those who may be interested. I added up the numbers for the last 200 comics I sold on eBay. Total Sales were $7,610. Total eBay/PayPal/USPS fees were $2,049. And that doesn't include the shipping boxes I buy from Uline & Gemini.

I was driving down to pick up my son, about a hundred miles, and I couldn't find one podcast that I liked most of the way. Fortunately I found this video and time passed very quickly. This was a great interview and good content. I am now a subscriber! Thank you

I’ve been selling comics on eBay for years and never had a problem. First you need to charge shipping for your books. Free shipping doesn’t work for a business. You need to undergrade the books , so when a customer receives it, they are happy. You need to put disclaimers in your description that you are selling book(s) as is and you are not a professional grader

Love your chats about the industry. Very eye opening and entertaining.

1. Use Mercari it's easier. No relisting, no extra fees and they do taxes. 2. Say high mid or low grade dont give numbers or fine very fine etc. 3. Use geminis or bubble mailers with 2 pieces of cardboard. 4. If your buying get yourself a delivery bin so the postal worker doesnt shove it in your mailbox. 5. I buy on ebay because basically the seller gets screwed and I pay less and sell on Mercari because I always make more.

Really enjoying the episodes and insight with your dad. Thanks!

Just watching some of the older content. Love it. I have been selling on eBay since 2006 and I still learn tips and different ways of doing things. Anyone who thinks they got it all figured out is fooling themselves!

I can tell you. 9/10 times someone complains and wants some money back, tell them to send it back for a full refund. They usually just want to keep it. You have to play hardball. I don’t do partial refunds anymore because someone else will buy it at the same price.

It's 2022 and people still do not grasp the concept that eBay is a full time job if you really want to make money utilizing it to it's fullest.

wow! surfing around YT and found this video...very interesting video...have to now go see all the other podcasts!

Wow man! This is a crazy eye opener for selling comics.... That's insane and I really love the honesty! Keep on keepin on!!

How have a never had this bad experience on eBay and I have been selling my comics for years there? Never sell with free shipping or even for cost, cover your fees if you actually want to make money.

Loving these life stories!!! Dang 50 cents a bk that dealer must of had a field day! 😭😂

I love how there is an AVP Deadliest of Species #1 highlighted in the background. Those comics don’t get enough love AND it’s a Claremont story!

I really need this guys problems buys a whole comic store then complains about moving a 100 long boxes in his guest house. That's some serious shit to deal with.

People sell comics outside ebay to avoid fees but they still ask for the same price than eBay!!! so is the same crap, everyone based his prices on eBay, no matter if they sell on or outside eBay. So what's the point of sell outside eBay if you charge the same price than eBay?

EBay fees are even more ridiculous in the UK because of the VAT that gets charged too (currently 20%)

...wheres part 2 of this conversation???

I just found your channel because of this video. Since watching it yesterday I've gone through about 12 other videos you've put out with the weekly top 10 being some of my favorites. Just wanted to say I dig your stuff Tom, keep it up, Subbed. #GeekResponsibly

What is the "next" Continued episode from this video? We thought it was amazing and informative!

Is there a second part to this, I want to hear what happened after the convention

I sold retro video games on eBay for years. It’s hardwork, and the number one issue I always had was shipping. Trying to minimize the cost for me and the seller while protecting the merchandise. It seemed no matter how well I packaged the buyer would have a complaint. From scuffs on the shipping cardboard to not enough bubble wrap even though the items weren’t damaged. That’s why I don’t sell my extra games on eBay anymore.

Another great vid Tom. Enjoying these talks with you and your pops. Keep them coming. #IGcomicfamily

21:30 a prime example, I was at the Toronto Comicon in March of 2019, I asked a retailer there “do you have ASM 316?” He had a NM raw copy for $100. I hmm’d and thought for 10 seconds, not about the price but about my budget to make sure I had enough cash for the day’s expenses, and the guy said “I’ll do $75” I couldn’t believe it!

Two really good rules of thumb for eBay is: 1. Always have a paper trail for shipping (there are some thieving, slimy scumbags on eBay that will get their item and then they will draw up a case for refund just to get the item and the money too!) 2. Stay away from international if you’re just starting. Something about assholes overseas don’t understand that they are OVERSEAS and want their stuff in three days time! They are a whole host of problems that you can avoid with the click of a mouse. In fact I always wonder why they are on the American version of eBay anyway when they have all kinds of versions of eBay for various parts of the world. Other tips are just basic stuff like only use PayPal, make your buyer pay for everything, always show your product in detail and state clearly on your page what your terms are (ex. If they are complaining about how long it takes you to ship, if you have on your page handling time is 5-7 days, it’s nothing they can say. That’s their fault for not reading!) and it is all business on eBay so don’t be “nice”. Respectful and courteous yes, but if they buy from you then say “this is not what I thought it was or I decided I wanna get a refund”, your answer is always no. Be courteous but firm. You’re there to make money not friends. You can not afford to be nice because they take advantage of that real quick. Whatever they threaten you with just let them because in the end, they are not gonna do anything. Every transaction that you do should be straight up and down business you sell with integrity and they buy with integrity meaning even if they have buyers remorse they just eat it and keep moving and you sell in an upstanding non-deceitful manner. Never let someone buy something and then they find out about the real flaws after they have paid you. That’s gonna bite you in the ass for as long as you are on eBay and honestly it is so not worth it. If these are things that you don’t vibe with then my suggestion would be to stay away from eBay.

MOST EBAY SELLERS DONT TAKE ENOUGH PHOTOS AND OR USE STOCK IMAGES LOL...photos of the front and or back cover and trusting another humans words are usually risky......but photos are indisputable and eBay lets you take/upload 12 photos for free.........you will find most sellers very lazy to take many photos to sell items on eBay....just my 12 cents :)

I sell comics really well on Ebay and have always done well. I should come work for you 'hint,hint' lol. All the best from the U.K.

“What is it with G.I. Joe?” Comedy gold.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience on the show. The main take away points for me were join social media comic book groups. Instagram/Facebook. Problems with selling comics online: disagreements of grading, the overhead cost. @16:27 the numbers 13% ebay/paypal + shipping. Sell in person or don't sell. I like this philosophy, I have been collecting comics for about a year now. I know at some point I am going to have to make a decision as to what to do with my collection in the future. thanks again for the info.

I’m new here, I like these guys 🤔 they’re no bullshit tell it exactly as it is and they crack me the fuck up doing it 🤣👍👍👍

thx guys and have a great day.

This is a very in tuned Education Knowledge glad I'm I looked this up I'm so done with EBAY SALES AND SELLING It's a lot of B.S. and problems like you said and your losing tons of cash from the paying of Fees and your giving away very Pricey Comics So thanks for the Education!!

Tom, where is your dad from? I can't place the accent. That aside, this is such a cool episode and interview about yours and your dad's experience in the industry. Love it

I always charge just a bit extra for shipping . Helps pay for my fees

Interesting video! I have to agree that it does seem like you'd have to grade all the comics no matter how you wanted to sell them....but I mostly want to say that is one kick-ass RAtM shirt he's wearing!!!

I wish there were more videos from vendors perspective. I love these

Never had problem shipping comics … or anything collectible, toys, sport cards on eBay. Agree shows and going to LCS is fun but nothing is easier and has more eyes on your listing than eBay.

I'm a comic book fan, mainly UXM but Marvel in general. My first comics were GI Joe and Transformers (mid-late 80's), and then I picked up UXM #222 (Wolverine/Sabretooth cover)... hooked! I collected comics during high school, then before I joined the US Army I sold the lot. About 15 years later I restarted collecting (roughly 2007) and really got into the whole grading and value aspect, joining CPG and cataloging my collection (all 10,231 before I sold them all, and boy was the dumbest f@#$%^' thing I ever did!). Back in April I decided to start again, and this time my UXM collection is going to be what I call 'The 9 Collection'. My main source is eBay, and the first thing I'll say is that TOO DAMN MANY SELLERS WAAAYYYYY OVERSTATE THE CONDITION. Without joking or exaggerating, roughly 1/3 of my buys have been bogus. "Its NM" is sometimes VF... wtf. My favorite is "VF/NM", which is really a way for sellers to bullshit a buyer because thats technically anywhere from a 7.0 to a 10, and most of those come out to 8.0 or 8.5. Give me an 8.0 or lower and I'll crucify you with my feedback. If I graded an 8.5 (and even though I try to be strict I'm not gonna lie, I'm still a bit of a softy on grading) that i bought, I'll give positive feedback. Same with someone that puts 9.0-9.4, I'll give positive feedback, that's a pretty tough call sometimes when grading. If you put 9.6 or better and its under 9.0, we once again have a problem, because 9.6-10 is about as easy as it gets to grade, practically no-brainers. (*One seller on eBay says its tough to grade "high grade" and doesn't put down grades above 9.0... complete rubbish, its the easiest; from 8.0 down is rough because of all the faults and defects that accumulate, its almost impossible to give a grade that isn't completely subjective. Out of the 10-12 comics I sent to CGC I never once missed the mark on 9.4 or above comics, the few below I'd miss by a whole point. :P ) Anyway, back to eBay and sellers... I firmly believe that at least 1/3 are either dishonest and just trying to cheat buyers or don't know what the hell they're doing. An almost bigger problem imo is that most buyers don't know what the hell they're doing either, getting shit comics pawned off as VF/NM and giving glowing praise to these sellers. DON'T. DON'T DON'T DON'T DON'T DON'T!! Every comic book buyer and collector should learn to grade to the best of their ability and hold sellers accountable. Good sellers will be rewarded, bad sellers will be weeded out. After a month or so I lucked on to 'zillaf4' on eBay, and he was AWESOME. Reasonable prices, grades were in the ballpark. I bought some 60 UXM comics from him, listed as NM... one was 8.5, the rest were 9.0 to 9.6. Thats a winner. Not even joking, I've bought 3 UXM Annual #4's from other sellers, all listed as NM, all 3 I graded 8.5. (*One I'm going to press myself, going to start doing that myself, and it has promise to hit 9.0-9.4.) I think I've bought 4 or 5 UXM #218's (and a dozen other #'s as well), all listed NM, all 8.5 or lower... fml, its pretty damn aggravating. I've even given one business a second chance on eBay, a 'sponsored' business, and been burned twice by them, where half the issues were below or well below NM. The thing is, if the business just listed the real NM issues and didn't try to screw me on the others, that business would have gotten A LOT of money from me... now they won't get dick. And when I start going after other titles when I'm done with the UXM run I want and don't really want NM copies, they won't hear from me either.

Great video, love the conversation.

This is why business and pleasure don't work too well together

Silent Interlude is amazing!!!

I’m not sure if you’ve made an updated version of this video yet but would be nice. This video is still great tho

great conversation , thank you for posting this...

I've been selling comics on eBay for almost 2 years and have grown more and more frustrated. Besides the subjects mentioned, (fees, customer complaints, etc) my personal biggest problem is getting PAID by buyers for auctions they won. I've seen bidding wars go down to the last second and then the winner just will not pay. I've seen no pattern with this either. The books have ranged from $1.99 to mid $20s, The buyers' positive feedbacks have been in the thousands, but also many new to eBay have been deadbeats. I would say one out of every twenty auctions I run has been a no pay deal. Yes, eBay will refund the fees in that event, but it's just such a hassle. Am I the only one experiencing this?

This was very interesting and informative.

I sell on eBay and I've come to the best solution to grading a book. DON'T! Leave it up to the person bidding. I do not give a grade. Let the pictures do the talking for you. I was able to do this when eBay only gave you 12 pictures, now its 24. Take as many pictures as you can. Every listing description begins the same; "Grading is always subjective. please examine all phots and make your own assessment of their condition before bidding."

I want your rage shirt!!!!

My only problems with eBay is that you get 50 listings free and after that it’s a $0.35 insertion fee . Amazon you can list unlimited amount but the 15% is a killer. I’ll still take eBay over amazon

Woah there comicbook cowboys! You’re bashing eBay pretty hard, but the truth is.. it’s the biggest market place with millions of people searching for things everyday. Sure, we pay a high premium as sellers to sell on eBay, but there’s no better way to get your product in front of people. Yes it’s a pain to list everything but it’s better than paying rent for a store/show or whatever and you get to work from home, set your own schedule and be your own boss. Anyone who owns a store today knows the only 1% of sales come from walk ins and 99% comes from internet sales. Guys this guy could have made a ton more money had he been patient and listed responsibly.

Hey what’s going on yes I understand everything about eBay but if you need money ASAP you will get top dollar because there are very few dealers that will pay you retail price for your comic books. You are always going to get a royal SCREW when you sell to a comic book store or any situation similar to that. You are only going to get top dollar if the buyer is using the book for his own personal collection. Nobody will ever give you a fair deal. But I will tell you something since I gave up working because the comic books years ago. Metropolis Comics pays top dollar especially for any amazing fantasy 15 restored or not restored they will pay you the going rate. I cannot think of anybody else that will do that. Yes you will get top dollar on eBay or any auction site but after the fees you are not making top dollar. So it’s a no-win situation because if you want total retail you have to sell the book to somebody that is using it for his own personal collection believe me I got screwed plenty of times it’s my own fault🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

eBay works for me

awesome vid, new subscriber just started collecting again......

Great Show

Freaking fantastic video gentlemen, very very informative 🤗👍🍻

Good video thanks for the information my lCBS has been around for years he bought out all the other lCBS in the area and does real good on eBay as well

It is not easy to keep running an comic book store online. Scanning and listing takes much time. The problem is when you start listing comic books which sell only few times.

Little did he know in just 2 years coronavirus and SWJ PC would crush the comic world.

I don't want to completely shit on evilbay but something's gone wrong with their system. No communication between PayPal and customers for one.

My coworker paid $2700 for a comic shop's entire inventory of 49,000 comics back in the 90's during a going out of business sale. The owner's wife told him not to bring home any comic books or she was going to divorce him.

Thanks for the run down insite was key for what i want to do if i want to sell

I buy 95 percent of my books on Ebay the biggest issue I have gone through is horrible USPS deliveries...I find all my good books there..i also do not give a seller a hard time about their grading..hasn't been any issue there at all.

Very interesting. I've never given a tought about the " back office ebay life".

Selling anything on Ebay is a rip the fees are insane and Ebay is in bed with shipping companies and the buyers are the worst. I caught countless people lying and trying to scam me.

Ive been selling on ebay for over a decade and its totally a buyers world now not a sellers world. For the most part its been great but there is always that one PITA who just ruins the fun. Great podcast!

I bought some charlton space 1999 comics by john byrne on ebay, the books were ratty basement water damaged books, that bastard!

Where else can you see WALDO chatting to DR PHLOX from STAR TEK ENTERPRISE? two comic book characters

ComicTom this still applies today!

I’ve been selling comics on eBay for 15 years. Just a few issues. It’s not as bad. It’s just some people can’t handle it I guess.

@22:37 no...you did not make a mistake! You were there to sell...you got your money...as a dealer you aren't suppose to care what others do with the merchandise! If you do care, then your no dealer, your a collector and this is why so many shops fail!

I been selling on eBay for years it gets harder n harder. Shipping increase, sales tax and now 1099 😢

CGC Forums is the way to go

I literally just bought from eBay last night

I charge for labor, packing and supplies. I invest time to detail the book and never have had a problem. Both of you are not customer oriented, y’all want it to be easy , selling and product stating sold will never be 100% , and times box arrived banged up usps took care of cost, and in most cases still sold the book.

I've only been to one show. Are all of the vendors stores or are there collectors, too?

Are those AKG P220's? I like those.

Great info. Love the channel

yeah, I ordered a lot of comics from a store in PA and the envelope they sent it in was insured but so flimsy that it ripped open while in transit and the $45 of comics were just gone.

Does anybody know about how long it should take to sell a comic at mycomicshop if the book is priced right?

For someone like me , from NicAragua, where would be the best place for me to buy ? I send the stuff I buy to Miami , I mostly buy on eBay and Amazon. With PayPal or debitcard

Is thundercats #1 9.8 worth the 600 ive been offered ?

Ive been selling on eBay for 8 years, from Canada. Ive almost stopped using it, and use facebook more now. Ebay keeps changing the rules and metrics, and never in favor of the seller. I also sell almost only raw books. Unfortunately, I cant even offer a grade estimate, but just pics, or the vultures pounce almost immediately.

I been selling and buying comics on eBay for years never had a problem most of the time I have only made money even after fees. One good trick is use media mail shipping people

I enjoyed this, where is the rest of this conversation?

I was born in 1979 so I'm an 80s kid too, but I could give two rips about GI Joe comics. I had one or two years ago that I sold and was glad to be well shod of them. I was more a fan of He-Man and Thundercats anyway.

I am just looking over the comments right now and eBay is the quickest way to get top dollar but you have to worry about the extensive fees. Remember to always set a reserve price so your book does not undersell . And never never ever ever ever ever bring your comic books to a comic book store because they are definitely going to lowball you. It’s common sense😧😧😧😧😧

I thought I heard somewhere that the guy on this video was selling all his comics and getting out of comics completely

Is there comic expos like sports cards expos how do I look them up in California?

I remember watchin this sooo long ago thinkin to myself "bro where else can I even sell if not ebay!"

Dealers probably put up the price on the books they bought

Where are these .70¢ boxes

I did a one time sale on ebay. I had no idea they had a after sale fee already on top of a selling fee. O sold a product worth more then a 1000 I gave the dude a screaming deal. Since then every month they charge me 65 dollars. I wont pay a seller fee every month for a one time sale dont sell on ebay.

Only veteran comic buyer's buy comics online. Brick and mortar stores cater to new comic buyers and local comic buyers who offer great subscription discounts.

I have been collecting for years. I have some pretty choice comics id like to sell. running out of storage room. Id like to maximize profit like everyone does.

For every 250 pounds I brought in, I got to keep 54 pounds. Then after a few years they upgrade turbolister and everything you've saved goes on a new computer so it still runs. And then friends and relatives constantly ask you to sell their collections for them in exchange for a quarter of the profit.

I have a collection of about 6000 good comics I’d like to get rid of in its entirety if you know anyone?

I am going to try the Instagram route for selling comics. Does anybody have any advice? Thanks!!