Sell Vintage Comics on eBay

You?ll find people buying comics for more than just collecting value. Collecting value is strong and represents some of the highest finishing prices on eBay, but interest and consequently bidding wars are hotting up between bidders wanting comics for their stunning art work or as alternative investments to resell when prices peak or to keep for the proverbial ?rainy day?.

One thing is certain: Vintage Comics often fetch four figure sums on eBay and are worth searching out at boot sales, flea markets, local auctions and collectors? fairs. You may not find anything unique and worth many thousands of dollars at these local events, but they are great places to find really early comics which are still worth $10, $20, $100 or more on eBay.

* Generally the older the comic the more valuable it is mainly due to low production figures in the late 1800s and early 1900s when only the wealthiest families could afford them in the UK and USA and virtually all other civilized countries. Older generally means more valuable also due to the ephemeral quality of comics which, like newspapers and most other paper items, were made to be used and once used were usually discarded. Very few delicate paper ephemera items, including comics, survived the decades unscathed, if they survived at all. So a low production high quality item from the early days of the Platinum period are usually extremely rare and highly collectable. And highly priced!

* Most comics grow more popular and are printed in larger quantities the longer production continues, so you?ll find many more original buyers for comics in double or triple number issues (#131, #1001, for example) than for Issue Number 1, or 2, 21, 70. This is due to word of mouth recommendation and brand name repetition on the newsagents? shelves and generally more widespread advertising potential than existed in pre-television, pre-Internet days way back in the late 1800s to late 1930s, the so called Platinum Age. So it follows that early issues of hugely popular action hero comics from those early days are worth a premium over much later issues of these comic rarities.

* Comic artists are often in as much, perhaps greater demand, than the comics they originally helped to create. Original art fetches very high prices on eBay and elsewhere, especially from well-known names like Rowland Turner (Super Detective Library and Thriller Picture Library); George Studdy (creator of Bonzo Dog whose work appeared in hundreds of UK comics and as cartoons in serious newspapers and magazines from the 1920s to 1940s); Frank Hampson (creator of Dan Dare for the Eagle).

* Condition is vital to potential value of most comics although early rare comics can fetch hundreds of dollars even in generally poor condition. Comics have always been produced to be read, pages turned quickly, mutilated to capture coupons and free gifts used as incentives to increase readership. An early comic, in unread, pages unturned, uncut condition, is a rarity indeed, hence the high values often reached on eBay.

* Early comics were made from inferior paper which tore easily and quickly discoloured and darkened with age. Originally white or creamy coloured most early comics emerge years later as anything from off-white to dirty brown. The closer to white the more valuable a vintage comic is likely to be. Restoration is possible and is often worthwhile on very early and low number issue comics and will increase collector value way beyond the price paid to have them restored.

* Scribbles, writing, holes and other damage can reduce prices considerably and you must watch out for these problems on comics picked up at auction and other offline resources. On modern comics and virtually anything from the past twenty years or so, generally low value when perfect, even a tiny imperfection can render a comic worthless. I recall buying more than 100 Beano comics for ?80 (about $160) at an auction in Barnard Castle and thinking I?d make a quick fiver on each, maybe much, much more on rarer specimens. In the end I sold them all in bulk way below the price I paid even though to my mind the comics were in really good condition for their age, about twenty or thirty years. It transpired the buyer?s address, almost always hand written on publications to help paper delivery boys find their correct owners, was a major problem for serious collectors.

* Many comics had giveaways either printed as part of the comic or somehow bound into the pages or else added loose inside the issue. Comics with free gifts intact are worth a big premium over comics with pieces missing. Items cut away from the publication depreciates value much more than items like booklets which were often held intact by staples used to contain the main pages of the document and could be removed without damaging the comic itself. Even more desirable are loose inserts which like those we find on supermarket shelves were either lost in transit between seller and buyer or just parted company with the passage of time. If you buy a comic with FREE GIFT emblazoned across the front look inside to check the giveaway remains intact. At boot sales and auction where comics are often available in huge boxes or bundles check out the other contents in case the freebies have switched between publications or are placed separately somewhere else.

* Comic collectors are amongst the most finicky you?ll find anywhere on eBay so you will need to create really quality pictures and point out even the tiniest flaw in your listings. Use a scanner rather than a camera, the first creates close up images (couldn?t really be closer!) and highlights even the tiniest flaw. Camera images are usually too grainy and distant and rarely give all but a cursory view of the item you?re listing.