AboutBrian G. Philbin Expertise I`ve collected comics for 40 years and I'm able to answer most questions regarding comics, creators, fandom and the industry from the Golden Age through the Silver & Bronze Ages up through today`s comics, with an emphasis on super and action heroes. I have knowledge of the Western, Funny Animals, Romance and other genres, but to a lesser degree. My expertise lies in DC Comics/National Periodical Publications, although my general knowledge extends well into Marvel, Tower, Archie, Charlton & many of the "Independent" companies that began in the late 70`s & 80`s.
Experience I have been a comics reader/fan for over 35 years now and have followed industry trends from distribution to creation to fandom to retail and back again. I have had several letters published in Comic Buyers Guide and have several websites dedicated to comics at:
If there's a question I don't know the answer to, I usually know who to ask and have been providing online information to a wealth of inquirers for over 10 years now. I'll do my utmost to answer your question, no matter whether it is simple or in-depth.
Question I have the opportunity to purchase about 100 DC silver age comics that are all within the 4-6 grade range. The overstreet book value is 2400$ for these comics. What would be a fair price to offer? Online I have seen people say that 30% of the value would be fair - is that correct?
Answer Hi, Shawn - thanks for your question!
There are many ways of finding general comics values. Overstreet and Comic Buyer's Guide have a great network and larger samples for mathematically determining their estimates and are generally more reliable.
However, a price guide is, quite simply, a guess at what the current market will bear nationwide. You can actually find this out by monitoring eBay.com for a few months and finding a similar item in order to get an idea of what value it might hold to collectors.
"Market Value", of course, is a retail value - meaning if you owned a comic book store, this is what you would likely be able to ask for the books and expect to be paid if you had a buyer. This is a price that would not necessarily be expected to be attained in, say, a typical eBay auction.
Being that this is being offered to you directly, it's a matter of what the comics are worth to you and what you're willing to pay for them in the condition they're in and how much you want them.
Thirty percent of the guide is probably a very nice offer. There are comics shops and comics sellers that would pay about $3-$5 per book, or less, if they were buying them in a large collection.
Being that they're grouped the way they are, any offer is fair if both you and the seller agree to the price. That's the real test of what a "fair offer" might be.
I hope that's been helpful. If you have any other questions, please feel free to let me know!
