When I was a boy I sat with my dad in a bank loan officer's office when he was "applying" for a car loan. The conversation went something like this:
"So, Pete, how much did you need and what were you going to buy?"
"I need a loan for a car and I need $x,xxx financed to get the car."
"I'll have it done for you this afternoon. I'll call you."
(papers are signed, they stand up and shake hands, my dad and I leave)
A HANDSHAKE GOT HIM A CAR LOAN.
Granted, this was a long time ago, and this wouldn't be possible today due to the amount of garbage people try to get away with today, but this set my moral and ethical compass. When you shake hands your word is your bond. When you shake hands you follow through. When you give your word you keep it...no matter what.
When my son got into the buying, selling and appraising of comics with me I told him the golden rule in this business: don't ever, for any reason, deliberately cheat someone out of money. Ever. It's the honest, ethical and moral way to run a business. There is one exception. If you are buying a comic, on the spur of the moment at a flea market, garage sale, etc., and you honestly don't know the value, paying the asking price is fair game. An example is my wife buying an obscure comic I didn't recognize and asking me if $1 was a good price. It was in good shape, had a name I didn't recognize, and I couldn't imagine it being worth anything, so I told her it looked good. When we got it home we found the value to be $200 in the shape it was in. I don't feel as though we cheated anyone. That was a week ago.
Cut to yesterday.
My son and I went to a flea market in 80 degree heat to search out some good deals on comic books. While making our rounds we came across a kind gentleman who was not selling comics, but was selling superhero action figures.
"Do you ever sell comic books?", I said.
"No. I have boxes and boxes of them but I never bring them along?", he replied.
I introduced my son and I and gave him our card.
"We buy, sell and appraise comic books. Is that something you would be interested in?", I said hoping for the best.
"Absolutely! I'll give you a call and we can see what the value is of some of the comics I have.", he said. He actually seemed genuinely excited!
"Can I ask you your opinion on something?" he said hesitantly.
"I had the comic book with the first appearance of Ant-Man."
(As an aside, he is referring to Tales to Astonish #27)
He continued.
"I sold it the other day for $350, did I do the right thing?"
Now this is a question with no good answer for a couple of reasons. First, I have no idea what condition the comic was in. Second, this comic is of extreme value because it was the first appearance of a major character. Third, it's old and rare and I don't know how many would be available at this point in collector condition. I only knew what the approximate value was in Near Mint condition off the top of my head, but I couldn't bring myself to say it.
In Near Mint condition that comic is valued at $20,000. Chances are it wasn't Near Mint just because the older the comic the less likely it is to be Near Mint because comics weren't necessarily coveted in those days and people didn't store them well. Still, $20,000? Ugh. This guy is super nice, what do I say?
In my silence my son spoke.
"You made the buyer very happy. You did the right thing for him."
The answer wasn't perfect, but it was the truth. But do we share the value of the comic with him. If he's reading this he knows (and I am really, really sorry).
What many will say is that the comic could have been in extremely poor condition, maybe even falling apart, and probably wasn't even close to $20,000. That's very true. However, according to Comic Book Realm (which is a site I absolutely love!) even in reprehensible condition, I mean flat out crappy with creases and tears and rusted staples, it's valued at $600. Even at a rating of .5 out of 10, which is where a sneeze could vaporize the comic, it's valued at $100.
Now you're going to say, "Well, a comic is only worth what someone will pay for it." Um, yeah, and I can tell you that any moderate to serious collector would buy this comic because of it's incredible value. I would.
So, how to you view this? Do we feel sorry for the seller? I do. Some may say that he should have done more research before he sold it and I agree. But the real question to me is what did the buyer know? Did they know the value or didn't they? Did they see the comic, guess it might be old, and offer $350 in an act of pure honest ignorance? I don't think so. I'm going to guess that the buyer bought it knowing full well the worth and ran all the way home to tell his friends or, even worse, tried to sell it on eBay for $30,000 (trust me, I've seen it done).
Yes, I'm making an assumption. The buyer could not have known just like I didn't know about the comic my wife bought. But we're talking Ant-Man, my wife bought one of those "risque" comics, with actual nudity in it, so there's really no comparison. Did the buyer not know who Ant-Man was? not likely. Marvel has been pounding the release of this movie now for months. You can't walk 10 feet without tripping over a sign for the movie. They knew.
So, is the buyer at fault for taking this poor man to the cleaners or is the seller at fault for not doing their homework. I would say both have equal responsibility in this transaction, but I would also say that the kind gentleman seemed happy with the deal. So, who am I to trample on his happiness?
I let the words my son said be the final say in the matter. Thankfully the topic changed when his son said, "I have a mint condition Amazing Spider-Man with the first appearance of the Punisher, how much is that worth?" The answer is about $1,300 in Near Mint (any collector worth his salt knows this is Amazing Spider-Man #129).
I told him it was around $1,300 but I would have to see it. I could see in his face the sheer delight at what he had. He should be proud, there are a ton of people that would pay the asking price for that comic. Not only is Spider-Man huge, but the Punisher has made more than one movie appearance himself and has hundreds of comics with him in them.
The bottom line is simple. Get you comics appraised, know what you have, and get what they are worth. I am very happy, and I mean it, that the gentleman was happy with the sale. In reality that's all that matters. Would he have been much happier with a couple thousand? Probably.
Me? I'm amazed and frustrated because I think he was deliberately taken by the buyer. I can only hope that the kind gentleman has some incredible sales days at the flea markets because he deserves to make that money.
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