Ever since I opened up The Certified Comic Shop and started selling comics through this website and my eBay store, I’ve included a free comic book with every single order. I just did the math, and it turns out I’ve given away nearly 200 comics FOR FREE over the past seven months.
And these aren’t fifty-cent bin comics that are all jacked up mind you. These are comics from my personal collection that I purchased at a local comic shop at some point in time during the last 30 years. They’ve been well cared for over time, and are in wonderful condition.
“Buy why?” – You might be asking yourself – “Why give away your own comics?”
Well truth be told there are quite a few reasons. I tell the story that led me to this decision in the YouTube Video below, but if you’re more of a word-reader than moving-picture-watcher, I’ll break it down for you here as well.
I WAS INSPIRED BY ANOTHER COMIC SELLER
It was actually another eBay Seller that inspired me to give away a free comic with every single order. However the inspiration wasn’t because they sent me a free comic when I bought something from them. No, they accidentally sent me an extra comic along with the one I purchased.
When I opened my package and saw both the comic I ordered plus an additional one, I thought to myself “omg, how awesome is that? a free comic!”.
But then I noticed there wasn’t a thank you note, or anything indicating that the comic was intended for me, so I started to get paranoid. Not wanting to keep this extra comic if it truly wasn’t meant for me, I messaged the seller asking if that additional comic was included by mistake.
As you might expect, the seller did indeed put that second comic in my package by mistake.
So while I didn’t get the free comic myself, this even inspired me to commit to making sure every person who orders comics from me gets a free comic no matter how large or small their order is.
FREEBIES FEEL GOODSIES
The feeling that I got when I saw the second book in my package was one of pure joy. My next thought was this seller is a marketing genius! Why spend hundreds of dollars a month on Facebook or Instagram Ads trying to acquire customers, when you can simply include a nice bonus comic for those who do order from you.
Now it did turn out that the seller wasn’t a marketing genius, and simply made a mistake. But that doesn’t take away the fact that making someone feel good is the #1 way to make yourself memorable. Not only will those customers be more likely to look to you first for your comic book needs, but they’ll also be more willing to refer you to their fellow comic collectors as a reputable establishment to procure comics.
Or even better, they’ll give you a social shoutout talking you up to their followers!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXQl79-gu_D/
I HAVE TOO MANY COMICS
Look, I have thousands of comic books and they take up A LOT of space. When I opened my comic shop, I made the mental transition to go from comic collector, to comic seller.
My goal is to eventually be rid of all of my personal collection (with the exception of the full 402 issue run of Avengers Vol. 1 that I’m trying to put together. More about that another time) and only have inventory on hand with the express intent to sell it.
Also, the reality is that with the majority of these comics, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to put in the time and effort to continuously list them on eBay. So instead of sitting on these books, why not just give them away and consider them marketing materials? That’s my thought process anyway, and so far it’s been working quite well for me.
DO GOOD THINGS AND GOOD THINGS HAPPEN
And lastly, not to get all metaphysical on you, but I am a firm believe in karma. I’ve seen karma work both for me and against me too many times to question its realness.
I truly feel that my good deed of sending along a free comic or two with an order will come back my way at some point in time. Heck, there’s been times when I’ve lost money on a sale due to a comic selling for a low auction price, combined with free shipping and eBay fees, but STILL included a free comic with the order because I’m just not willing to compromise on this gesture.
As always, thanks for reading and watching! If you have any questions, just drop them in the comment section below!
