Expert: Mark Harmon - 12/18/2008

Question
What is the best way to go about selling my collection of comics? Are they worth anything now that we have digital comics?

Answer
Hi Nabs,

The value/worth will depend on what your collection consists of and the grades.  If your collection includes popular titles from the 1980s and earlier and they are in high grade condition or at least in decent shape for the older comics, then you should be able to get a decent price for them.  

If digital comics have had any impact on the back issue sales market, I haven't seen any evidence of it yet.  For me personally, this past year was my best as far as sales go.  In my opinion, collectors still want an item that they can lay their hands on while comic readers would rather kick back on the couch or their favorite chair than sit at a computer screen and read for hours.  

The main value I see in the digital comics is where the older comics (Golden Age for example) can be accessible to those of us who will never have the money to purchase an actual copy of Action Comics #1.

As far as selling goes, you can always go the eBay route which still gets high traffic and, despite recent changes that have impacted sellers, I have no problems making sales there.  There are other sites available to sell your comics on as well where there are lower fees than what eBay charges and some sites where you can list for free.  Two other sites that I've sold on include eCrater.com and iOffer.com.  I would suggest experimenting with each them and then decide what works best for you.

When selling low value items, I will generally group them into similar lots (all Spider-Man titles, all DC comics, westerns, war titles, etc.).  For older material or key issues, I will sell those comics individually.

If you have anything of substantial value, you might want to consider having one of the Auction companies that cater to comic collectors sell them for you.  Heritage Auctions which has live auctions as well as weekly internet auctions seems to do pretty well when it comes to selling the pricier comics.  

I hope this helped.  Let me know if you have any other questions.

- Mark