How Much for the Stuff in my Basement: Comics and Collectibles

So you’re in the basement one day and you see an unlabelled box sitting quietly in a corner. Curious, you open it and you see stuff that might have been your ex’s, your parents’ or even yours from years ago. Your first instinct is to throw it out. After all, you don’t need it but before you do that, have you thought about selling it and pocketing the cash?

These days you can sell anything except your soul and other people, so let’s see what you can actually get for those old comics, collectibles, records, jewelry, furniture, clothes and art.

First up, comics and collectibles.

Doug Simpson, manager of Paradise Comics has seen many people come into the store with their comics.

He said, “We’ve had a few 20-something women come in and say, “I broke up with my boyfriend. What will you give me for this?” In those cases it’s not a lot of money, maybe 25 cents to $2 with a few issues at $12.” He said the reason for that is because recent books – especially those from the eighties – have little value because there were huge and multiple print runs on one issue to keep up with the demand from comic book investors.

The rare books such as The Amazing Spider-Man #1 8.5 which is on sale for $34,000do come along, but they come from different sources. “The higher-end older books we get are usually from kids. Their dad has passed away and they’re selling his comic collection.”

So if you have comics and you want to see how much you can get for them, Simpson recommends checking eBay and even Craigslist. He said, “Type in the name of the book and the number to see the prices. Those sites will give you the market value for the books.”

Action Figures

If your collection of action figures aren’t at least 20 years old, then they have very little cash value. “Action figures from iconic movies and shows are valuable,” said Simpson. “We’re talking Star Wars, Star Trek, metal Transformers and G.I. Joe. They all should still be in their original packaging or at least should have the original packaging available.”

And for the record, he means the first three Star Wars movies, not the prequels; so your Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi isn’t worth a lot.

Trading Cards

Is your collection of trading cards worth anything? Maybe, if your collection is from the seventies or you happen to have the rookie card of an amazing athlete.

“Trading cards are worth five cents to a dollar,” said Simpson. “What you need are cards from the 1970s. If you have a rookie card of, say, Wayne Gretzky, then that’s valuable.”

It always comes back to The Great One.

[Photo: Daredevil #1 CGC Signature Series 7.0, signed by Stan Lee. Worth $1,700]