Hive mind help needed: eBaying comics

[IndigoPrime]

The maximums thing is insane. I sold off a box of Ultimate Spider-Man trades, and even the cheapest courier wasn't close to the maximum price eBay would allow me to set. So, yeah, ramp up your minimum and go for free postage – although do stipulate what said postage will be, or people get really frosty. (Hell, they get really frosty anyway. I've had people on eBay screaming with fury because something they paid for didn't arrive in two days, when the auction itself said usually within five.)

[Echidna]

I've been lucky - the only problem I've had as a seller is one item which got lost in the post. Fortunately I still had the proof of postage so after refunding the buyer I was able to get the full amount back from Royal Mail. Which reminds me: if using Royal Mail, always take it to the post office (comics won't fit in a pillar box anyway) and get proof of postage - if it goes missing they will compensate you up to £20. If the item's worth more than that, use tracked delivery and you're covered up to £50.

[Professor Bear]

As others have said, don't offer to combine postage for multiple items without weighing the package/checking the cost of shipping first.  A general rule of thumb with postage is (assuming you're posting in a jiffy envelope and not a box) 2nd class is about 1.50 for 5-6 comics, 3 quid for a "small parcel" of 10+ comics up to 2kg, but so much as a single gram over that weight it becomes "large parcel" (somewhere around 22-28 comics) and the price jumps to around 12-13 quid, so it might be cheaper to post them as two 10-14 comic bundles than bung them together.

Don't combine multiple items to save on postage costs if you're shipping overseas.  Just take my word for it that the chances of this going smoothly and not being a pain in the arse are slim.

Also remember that you can "block" certain buyers from bidding on your items.  Comics eBay is a surprisingly small world and you may want to prevent rematches with problematic buyers.

[Mattofthespurs]

I've been lucky - the only problem I've had as a seller is one item which got lost in the post. Fortunately I still had the proof of postage so after refunding the buyer I was able to get the full amount back from Royal Mail. Which reminds me: if using Royal Mail, always take it to the post office (comics won't fit in a pillar box anyway) and get proof of postage - if it goes missing they will compensate you up to £20. If the item's worth more than that, use tracked delivery and you're covered up to £50.

I've sold a fair bit of my friend's comic collection for him, usually in bulk, and post them in the long box.
I wrap the long box in clingfilm then two heavy duty rubbish bags very well taped down. Use Parcelforce and always have a voucher for 15% off so it's usually costs around £15, they collect, and there is £100 insurance with that.
Nice and easy and you can tell the buyer the exact date the comics will arrive and the whole thing is trackable. And no lugging them down to the PO.

[Jim_Campbell]

I'd be interested in seeing a list too!

Thing is, there isn't going to be a list. It's going to be a case of: open a box at random, flog any TPBs that are in it and set the singles aside. Repeat until I've unearthed enough issues of a particular title to sell in a bundle.

Last question: variant covers. Some of these books seem to have about dozen variant covers on some issues (yes, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, I'm looking at you). Should I leave the vanilla covers together in the bundle and flog the variants separately?

This is complicated! Sorry!

[Colin YNWA]

Last question: variant covers. Some of these books seem to have about dozen variant covers on some issues (yes, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, I'm looking at you). Should I leave the vanilla covers together in the bundle and flog the variants separately?

This is complicated! Sorry!

Not an expert by any stretch on such matters but if you want to know for sure a quick look on eBay will tell you if the variants are worth a damn. If so yeah sell seperately. If not I'd suggest bundling them in the runs as a sweetener.

If you can't be arsed with that sell them individually at 99p starting price each and see if the market finds them their 'worth'?