Expert: Brian G. Philbin - 3/14/2009

Question
Hi Brian,

I have a bunch of old comics and baseball cards that I would like to somehow valuate.
Are there any websites where you can look up the current market value for old comics and baseball cards?

Thanks,

Steven

Answer
Hi, Steven -

Thanks for your question - you've asked a two-headed one, though, by adding baseball cards, with which I am not registered as an expert, nor would I even begin to attempt to answer anything related to them, as I know nothing about them, other than that if you have a Honus Wagner tobacco card or Babe Ruth rookie card, you're set for quite awhile.

On to the question at hand - there are many ways to go about valuation of your comics online - not many of them actually reputable.  I have several tools that will assist you in that area, but you will have to use some actual printed assistance, which you can obtain quite easily.

First and foremost, I recommend you take a look at this site for grading:

http://www.e-bigs.net/freetool.php

It will give you a visual guide to what is acceptable and what is not in each grade.

Then, market grade is difficult to determine.  If you want to know what your books might get at auction, you need to determine how you would sell them.  Selling them en masse gives you the least amount of money for each book and selling them one by one is time consuming but provides the greatest return.  

If you want to know what people are selling them for at a storefront, you'll need to use more than one source.  There is an online guide, but I don't find that it is as accurate as either Comic Buyer's Guide (the industry's leading monthly magazine, which has a partial guide every month) or the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, which is the bible for comics values.  At any rate, you can check this one out, but it will differ somewhat from the accepted authorities and I would recommend you either get a copy of CBG or check the Overstreet Guide out from your library as a supplement:

http://www.comicspriceguide.com/

Also, you may wish to look up each individual book on eBay, which will give you an idea of how much people are actually getting personally for the books.

Lastly, you may wish to consider further reading on my beginner's website at:

http://www.metropolisplus.com/comicsbasics.htm

This will also give you some additional ideas on how to proceed.

If you have any other questions, please let me know!

Pax, harmonia,

Brian G. Philbin