Tag: collecting tips

How a Calendar Can Help Your Comic Book Collection

Sep. 30 Comic Book Collecting no comments

I know this might surprise you, but a calendar can help with your comic book collecting. Keeping a calendar for a particular purpose can also help to make your comic book shopping experience more pleasant.

Comic Book StorageWhat to Use the Calendar For

Every time I get the new issue of Diamond Previews and the new issue of Marvel Previews, I mark the comics I am interested in picking up outside of my regular pull. I then take the dates those comics are being released and place them on the calendar. That way I know when the comics are coming out.

Avoid Missing a New Comic

Many (if not most) of us have missed the release of a new comic we want to read. Maybe that premiere issue was the start of a great new series. Maybe it was one which skyrocketed in price because of the demand being higher than the supply. Either way, we missed out and have to hope for a second printing. Of course, this does not help with the price of the issue we missed. Keeping a collection calendar can help to avoid this situation. With new trades coming out each week, a collection calendar also helps with remembering when those trades are coming out.

Remember All Your Pulls

I have helped get pulls together for reserve customers, and I will be the first to tell you that mistakes can be made. The workers at Wonderworld Comics are great at getting all of the needed reserves together, but they are only human (at least that is what I have been led to believe). By keeping a calendar of releases, you can double check to make sure your pulls are correct each week.

Prepare Thy Pocketbook

As someone who reads a ton of comics, I know that the register receipt can add up quickly. My calendar reminds me when my cost-heavy and cost-light weeks are going to be during a month. I can plan ahead to make sure that I will not be short on a Wednesday when I really want the money.

Yet Another Push

I have spoken in the past about the importance of Diamond Previews and Marvel Previews. They open your eyes up to new series which you might not have considered otherwise. At the same time, they help you to prepare for your shopping months in advance. How can you go wrong for $4.50 for the two of them combined?

Being prepared for a new week of comics is important. The more prepared you are, the more pleasant your shopping experience will be.

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Bankrupt by Beanies and Collecting Lessons to Learn

Jul. 27 News, Toy Collecting no comments

The front page of Yahoo! highlighted an article about a short film entitled Bankrupt by Beanies which introduces the world to a family who became addicted to purchasing Beanie Babies in the mid-1990s. The family went to great extents to purchase as many Beanie Babies as possible and believed the collectibles would eventually appreciate to a point in which they could pay for the children’s education. There are many lessons to learn from Bankrupt for Beanies.

244838_f520Collecting for Money is a Gamble

If you are collecting items with the intent of selling for more money in the future – you are gambling. In Bankrupt by Beanies, the highlighted family perceived a future value much higher than the current value. They obviously did not perceive how the market might change. We should never assume our collections will pay for future events because nobody can predict all the permutations of a market.

Bankrupt by Beanies and Market Bubbles

Any market can burst. In this case, the Bankrupt by Beanies family did not pay attention to particular signs which point to when a market would burst. This is not necessarily their fault as most collectors don’t pay attention to certain indices such as a constant flood of “special” or “unique” offerings, the emergence of a high number of market speculators, the influx of non-traditional collectors, prices instantly rising on all new releases, and statements from manufacturers on how collectible certain items are. The market bubble burst, and thousands of people were left holding the (bean) bag.

Obsessive Collecting

I am a strong supporter of having goals, and doing what you can to achieve them but there is a line between trying to complete collecting goals, and becoming obsessed with a collection. Bankrupt by Beanies explains how the family in question would recruit neighbors, keep their kids out of school, and go through plans of attack on the days new Beanie Babies came out. This all points to obsessive collecting. When you believe that picking up $5.95 colored bags of  beans are more important than your children’s education – there is something wrong.

Non-Traditional Collectors

I never trust markets which focus on non-traditional collectors. You don’t have to watch Bankrupt by Beanies to know that the Beanie Babies market essentially focused on middle-aged women and the elderly. For many of these people, Beanie Babies were the first collectible they ever “invested” in. Items such as Beanie Babies and Llyadro figurines try to drag in people who are naïve to collecting in order to make as much money in as short of an amount of time as possible. We need to be quick to identify these markets and avoid them.

In the End

Bankrupt by Beanies should be a reminder to all collectors to be cognitive of warning signs in the collector’s market. Don’t get burned like this family did.

 

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