|
Ebay
isn't the only show in town!
A look at some of the other auction sites on the Internet
By Jamie Tarquini
Everyone knows that if there is an item that you can't
seem to find in the stores you can go to ebay
and not only find it, but usually get it for less. This goes
double for comic book collectors. What most people don't know
is that there are a few other auction sites that specialize
in this genre. They get virtually no PR but have even more
hard-to-find goodies than you will ever see on ebay. This
article will take a look at some of these sites and I'll give
my impressions on what they have to offer.
As a warning
most of this stuff is way too expensive for the average collector,
but if nothing else it's fun to look at! You will also find
a large selection of original art and rare collectibles that
you may never see again. What is also interesting about these
sites is while no item appears to have a reserve, they actually
ALL do. If an item doesn't reach a respectable amount the
seller can choose not to part with the item. In other words,
don't expect to snag an "Amazing Fantasy 15" for twenty bucks,
but to get it under guide value may not be too hard.
Please
take note that these sites have different rules for bidding
and paying than ebay does. For example, these websites make
money by charging a "Buyers Premium" (or the "juice" as I
like to call it), which is a 10-15% tax, ADDED on to the final
bid. So if you win an item at $100 you may have to pay an
extra $10-15 + shipping before its over. Most of these sites
have running auctions that are much longer than what ebay
allows. An auction may run anywhere from 2 weeks to a month.
Some sites even let you look at items (without being able
to bid) for a few days BEFORE a month-long auction.
If you
are looking to sell any of your books consigning items to
any one of these sites to sell them for you may be a good
idea, but make sure to read the fine print on the process.
What I'm trying to get across with all of this information
is that if you're going play on these sites make sure you
read the rules and know what you're getting yourself into.
OK? Good, now... on with the fun stuff:
Heritage
Comics - Most likely the biggest of the other auction
sites. It was recently home to the Nick Cage and Stan Lee
auctions. Nick's collection sold for a total of 1.6 million
(woof!), so you can imagine that these guys really know what
they are doing. Heritage also has a large selection of movie
posters at new as from the 1990's and some dating back to
the 1920's, which are a lot of fun to look at.
Most of
what sells here are high grade, non-modern, CGC books but
it's always worth checking out because you never know what
will fall through the cracks. Occasionally there will be a
mid-grade run of Marvel books that will be affordable (even
after the 15% juice), for example.
The website
itself is also very user friendly. You can track as many items
as you want and large, high-resolution scans are the norm.
I had to call Heritage once and everyone was quite helpful.
My items (2 books from the Stan Lee collection) arrived safe
and sound. As a bonus, after winning an auction you will begin
to get their catalog for every auction thereafter which is
valued at $50 a pop. Theoretically, you could drop $200 and
get you're money's worth in catalogs over a year! They also
have a monthly auction that ends the first Sunday of each
month besides the occasional special events (such as the Nick
Cage collection) so there is a constant flow of new material
to bid on.
Jay Parrino's
"The
Mint:" - is somewhat associated with Heritage and have
similar items up for grabs. Over the summer Heritage and The
Mint combined items and put them all up on Heritage together
so that their auctions wouldn't compete with each other. However
when auctions are run from their own site they are run a little
differently.
First
of all, you can only search by lot number. This means that
you have to look through the entire selection of items available
(which is fun, but time consuming) and you have to keep track
of the listings you are interested in on your own. But this
is certainly a good place to go if you feel like dropping
a good chunk of change on the quality books and original art
around. The Mint has many pedigree and highest graded books
available, if that's your thing.
Vault
Auctions - Not a bad site, although it's run in the UK
so everything is in pounds, but all dollar amounts are also
listed. They only have a 10% BP, which is as low as it gets,
and helps out a somewhat. I won a golden age book from them
this summer and it took over a month for my book to get here,
so if you like instant gratification this may not be your
site.
The lots
are easily organized by categories such as comic age (ex:
silver age, bronze age, etc) for easy perusing. You can't
track items, which is annoying, but there are a ton of deals
to be had and most of the books are in the mid-grade range
with very few CGC books. Make sure that you take a good look
at the scans and descriptions because many of these copies
are "pence" copies, which means that all of the books were
printed in England. There really is no difference except instead
of 12 cents on the cover it's 10 pence.
This site
is often overlooked because they only have a few auctions
a year and many people don't like to have to wait for packages
from other countries. I suggest bookmarking the Vault and
checking back often!
All
Star Auctions - is another one for the heavy hitters.
They mainly seem to have original art and golden age books
and hold very few auctions, but when they do have an auction
- look out! Nothing but the high CGC graded books and they
cater to the golden age crowd by having categories for Frazetta
and Infantino on their homepage. All Star also claims to be
"the#1 source of original comic art and related material dedicated
exclusively to the field" and pawns off not only comics but
also newspaper strip art, Disney, science fiction, fantasy,
comic character toys, movie posters and animation.
I haven't
had too much experience with this site but have has friends
who have had a pleasurable experience. The competitive 12%
juice they tack on certainly makes them at least worth checking
out.
ComicLink
- This site is different from the rest. It is one great, big
list of books with "asking prices" (mostly CGC silver and
bronze age books) and if you want to buy one at the listed
price you just call, e-mail, or fax them. You can buy a book
at the asking price or you can offer a few dollars less. A
seller will more than likely reject an offer of 50% of the
asking price, but reasonable offers may be accepted.
None of
the books listed have an auction time, which means a book
is posted and it stays there until either it is sold or the
seller removes it. A buyer can get an idea for how popular
a book might be by seeing how long it's been posted because
the posted dates are always listed. Not every item has a scan,
which drives me nuts, but I'm sure I could get one if I was
really interested. Lately they have been posting more non-graded
books at reasonable prices, and there is no juice! Instead
the site makes money by automatically taking 10% of the sale
price.
It can't
hurt to register with these sites either. A few of them have
newsletters that will update you when new auctions are coming
so you can know when to start saving your pennies. There are
many other comic book dealers and stores that have their own
websites with a huge inventory of books. While they may not
be auction sites, you can sign up for their newsletters that
will alert you to occasional sales on back issues, which can
be helpful.
Have any
of you had good/bad experiences with any of these sites? Do
you have a favorite comic auction site? Do you have any questions?
Start a thread on the message board or send me an email and
let me know!
Jamie
Tarquini currently sells blood to fuel his comic habit.
|
