It’s time once again to pull back the curtain and give you an inside look at how well the Certified Comic Shop has been performing from a financial standpoint. Roll up your sleeves and let’s dive right in!
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 INCOME
If you haven’t seen any of my previous financial updates, the income I generated to use for building out my online comic book shop comes from comic book sales on eBay and Instagram.
In the past I’ve also included money that I’ve earned by providing digital marketing consulting services to family and friends. If you read my previous financial update, you may recall me saying that I wasn’t going to include my consulting income any longer. Welllll what I really meant to say was that starting next month I won’t include that money any more. I got a little too agressive with comic acquisition, so I needed to use it, but more about that later. First up, let’s take a look at the income I generate for the shop.
| Source | Amount |
| Opening Balance | $177.66 |
| Comic Book Sales Net Profit | $878.34 |
| Marketing Consulting | $300.00 |
| eBay Credits | $6.55 |
| Total | $1362.55 |
October and November combined to be the best two months of selling comics that I’ve had since launching the shop nine months ago. Overall I sold 62 comics (11 of which were graded) via my website, eBay store and Instagram. I’m feeling pretty good about the cash flow I’m generating which allows me to invest in acquiring more comics and helps keep this very website up and running.
ONLINE COMIC BOOK SALES
Here is a detailed look at the comics I sold this month at the Certified Comic Shop.
| Item | Order Total | Fees | Net Profit |
| G.I. Joe A Real American Hero #146 VF | $7.64 | -$4.61 | $3.03 |
| G.I. Joe 11 Issue Lot | $28.04 | -$11.54 | $16.50 |
| Thor #1 Zombie Variant NM | $5.52 | -$4.33 | $1.19 |
| Thor #5 JSC Variant NM | $7.28 | -$4.70 | $2.58 |
| House of Mystery #144 | $7.64 | -$4.61 | $3.03 |
| X-Force #8 CGC 9.6 | $50.00 | -$14.37 | $35.63 |
| Men’s Reversible Puffer Vest XXL Red/Black | $49.99 | -$13.16 | $36.83 |
| Spectacular Spider-Man #64 CGC 9.0 VF/NM | $112.00 | -$23.97 | $88.03 |
| Totally Awesome Hulk #22 CGC 9.8 | $149.99 | -$27.27 | $122.72 |
| Incredible Hulk #201 FN | $5.52 | -$4.33 | $1.19 |
| Totally Awesome Hulk #22 CGC 9.8 | $153.50 | -$27.72 | $125.78 |
| Marvel Presents #8 FN | $5.52 | -$4.33 | $1.19 |
| Unworthy Thor #5 CGC 9.6 1:50 Variant | $52.99 | -$21.59 | $31.40 |
| New Avengers #8 CGC 9.2 | $55.25 | -$9.76 | $45.49 |
| Secret Invasion #1E Dynamic Forces Variant | $6.52 | -$5.02 | $1.50 |
| Spectacular Spider-Man #64 CGC 9.0 | $120.00 | -$23.40 | $96.60 |
| Marvel Legacy #1 CGC 9.8 eBay Variant | $83.00 | -$18.63 | $64.37 |
| Avengers Kree-Skrull War #1 #2 VF+ | $8.99 | -$4.58 | $4.41 |
| Adventures of Superman #463 VF | $7.64 | -$4.61 | $3.03 |
| Action Comics #1J 1991 VF | $12.11 | -$4.63 | $7.48 |
| X-Force #8 NM+ | $7.64 | -$4.61 | $3.03 |
| G.I. Joe #152 #153 #154 | $48.15 | -$13.04 | $35.11 |
| Ren and Stimpy Show 18 Issue Lot | $29.49 | -$14.29 | $15.20 |
| New Gods #6 VF | $7.64 | -$4.89 | $2.75 |
| G.I. Joe #145 #151 | $15.40 | -$6.17 | $9.23 |
| G.I. Joe #144 #148 | $14.14 | -$6.00 | $8.14 |
| Batman #497 CGC 9.6 NM+ | $40.00 | -$13.08 | $26.92 |
| Fantastic Four #1 Marvel Milestone Edition | $6.53 | -$4.46 | $2.07 |
| X-O Manowar #0 CGC 9.8 Ivory Logo Print Error | $65.00 | -$17.91 | $47.09 |
| Marvel Tales #138 FN | $5.52 | -$4.33 | $1.19 |
| Spawn #9 CGC 9.6 | $50.00 | -$14.37 | $35.63 |
| $1,218.65 | -$340.31 | $878.34 |
*total fees includes charges from eBay, PayPal and USPS shipping.
With each new update I do for the shop, I like to add additional context to some of the sales that I made. Here’s what stands out most to me for October & November.
Totally Awesome Hulk #22 CGC 9.8
Back in September, Totally Awesome Hulk #22 started to blow up thanks to the first full appearance of Weapon H. On eBay raw copies were, and still are, selling for $40 or more. Thankfully, I used my tried and true method for buying comics below market prices on eBay and was able to score two raw copies for about $34 each.
Once the comics arrived, I quickly packed them up and sent them off to CGC for grading. If you watched my Totally Awesome CGC Unboxing video on YouTube, then you know that they both came back graded 9.8! I was able to sell them for right around $150 each, making the shop a tidy little profit on these two comics alone.
I just wish I would have had more available cash flow at my disposal to have invested a little deeper in this book.
Spectacular Spider-Man #64 CGC 9.0
Spectacular Spider-Man #64 featuring the first appearance of Cloak and Dagger is another comic that I ended up with two copies of. The first was one that I bought raw on eBay and sent to be graded by CGC and the second was a graded copy that I bought off eBay for about the same price of the raw issue plus grading.
In the end, I only made a few bucks off selling both of these, but it was a fun experiment in buying raw comics to grade versus buying below market price slabs to see what’s more efficient and profitable for inventory acquisition.
Ultimately there are pros and cons to each method, which I plan on exploring in detail in a future article on the blog.
No Joe! 🙁
I’ve talked a little bit about this before, but if you are a first time reader then I should tell you that I’ve transitioned from being a comic collector, to a comic seller. That means there isn’t a single comic in my collection that I’m not willing to sell.
Because I need steady income to use to invest in graded comics for the shop, I’ve been slowly unloading some of my most treasured comics to make it happen. My once full run of G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero continued to shrink the past two months as I sold 19 more issues from my collection.
I won’t lie, sometimes it’s hard to say goodbye to these comics that I’ve owned for such a long time. But in the end I remind myself that I have a higher purpose here, and to achieve my long term goals I have to make short term sacrifices.
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 EXPENSES
Per usual, I took most of the money that I made and reinvested it into the shop. Inventory accounted for almost half of the expenses, and the rest is split between supplies and infrastructure costs.
| Expense | Amount | Notes |
| Comics to CGC | $149.10 | 6 Comics |
| GoCollect Subscription | $11.98 | 2 months |
| GPA for Comics | $21.90 | 2 month |
| Google Storage | $39.96 | 2 months |
| Banking Fee | $15.00 | 2 months |
| Webstie Charge | $30.60 | 2 months |
| Inventory | $630.15 | Yikes! |
| Bags & Boards | $31.99 | 200 of each |
| Magnents | $29.99 | Sticker Mule |
| Packing Tape | $19.00 | Sticker Mule |
| Bubble Wrap | $19.97 | |
| Additional eBay Fees | $23.00 | Ad fees |
| Instagram Ads | $20 | |
| TOTAL | $1,042.64 |
The best part about making money by selling comics is using that money to buy more comics to sell!. I’m what I like to call a catch and release collector. I get the thrill of the chase for tracking down a key issue at a great price, and then I have it graded, make it available for sale and then admire it up on my shelf until it’s time to send it off to a new loving home. Here’s what I spent my dough on recently…
Comic Book Inventory
As I just mentioned, each month I buy a few key raw comics to submit for grading. Currently at CGC being graded are two issues of Weapon X #11 Deodato Variant featuring Weapon H, Deadpool: The Circle Chase #1 and two issues of Amazing Spider-Man #361. Hopefully I’ll be seeing high grades across the board when they return from CGC. Fingers crossed!
I also wanted to give a shout-out to my man Justin of @523comics on Instagram. I had the opportunity to purchase this graded issue of Hero For Hire #1 from him, and I’m stoked to now have it available here in the shop.
Instagram Ads
Because I have limited cash flow, I don’t get a chance to do as much advertising that I would like. However, when Black Friday was comic up I decided to do a 15% off sale and promote the event via Instagram.
My budget was only $20, but I can say that I not only drove a lot of traffic to my website, but I can also directly attribute the sale of one graded comic based off that ad meaning I had a positive ROI for the campaign. Once I have more inventory available and the funds to support it, I plan on running campaigns on the regular.
FINAL THOUGHTS
We’re fast approaching the end of 2017, and I’ll be starting the month of December with $320 in the ol’ bank account. A good chunk of that will be spent at CGC to have some comics graded, and then we’re off and running into the holiday season.
I’m looking forward to the new year which will be my first full year for the Certified Comic Shop. As always, I hope you find these financial updates useful and informative. My plan is to continue to put these together for as long as I have an online comic book store.
If you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to share them in the comments section below!
