SALES TO ASTONISH #35 - JULY 2025

School’s out for summer and if you are on a stay-cation then you’re probably feeling better about visiting somewhere in dear old Blighty than having to deal with another Air Traffic Control meltdown and cancelled flights.

Summer’s always a difficult time to sell non-essential (luxury) items as most disposable income starts to be spent on holidays. Equally I can’t imagine that, unlike me as a 15 year old when I took an issue of Amazing Spider-man for each day away on holiday to France, that anyone takes back issues away to read around the pool. Graphic novels maybe, but back issues surely not??  So the odds seem a little stacked against you if you are dealing in selling single issue comics.

This July was steady until the final day of the month when I saw the best Thursday launch of the year which was amazing. Byrne FF always sell well and I sold a number of other items as well as it appeared that carts that had been filled during the month were emptied. A big thanks to everyone who bought something during July because as I said earlier it’s a month where lots of people are away on holiday.

Picking up an almost complete run of Action Comics Weekly led to Ian interesting chat with a friend of mine about the value of comics and how I should pitch The Unreality Store. I was missing #639 of a series which (in my opinion) wasn’t that well received when it was published, doesn’t feature any key issues but probably is worth a read and there are a few nice covers - #639 has a nice Kevin Nowlan Phantom Girl cover. For me these comics are those that have been languishing in £1 boxes for years so when I went to try and pick up copy of #639 on eBay I was staggered to find it was selling between £5 to £10!!  Yes, the cover is nice but it surely can’t be a £5 comic??

Now when I started the Unreality Store I had a reasonable idea of pricing and where I wanted to pitch myself. I realised that there were a number of established business selling back issues but also hundreds of individuals selling on eBay (let alone comic fairs and Facebook groups) so I wanted to be priced competitively mostly against prices on eBay. I felt that rather than trying to grab a quick buck/pound/euro in the hope that someone who didn’t know much about comics would overpay, I felt that sensible pricing would lead to repeat business. And in the main it has as I am proud of the fact that I have a number of repeat buyers who have placed over 100 orders with The Unreality Store.

However, my friend’s take on my pricing was that I was too cheap and this would only serve to put a number of people off as they would think that something was wrong with the item. He went on to cite various examples of items like deodorant or coffee where people’s interpretations of price are that if it’s more expensive it must be better. The traditional discounter supermarkets have done a lot to debunk the myth that they sell poorer quality food or other items (and who doesn’t love The Middle of Lidl?) but people with the same level of disposable income  still shop in Waitrose and will only buy certain items in Waitrose despite a large difference in price to Aldi & Lidl. Are my prices too cheap? Possibly but businesses need a good cash flow and times are hard enough at the moment so i don’t think it’s the right economic climate to change things.

And I still haven’t bought that issue of Action Comics Weekly so the set/run remains incomplete and in storage...

I picked up a mainly DC collection a month or so ago which aside from some Silver Age Green Lantern and Bronze Age Lantern and JLA comprised mainly of Copper Age DC stuff. Not fantastic but the price I paid was fair and reflected the titles and issues from a re-sale point of view. It was a relatively straightforward deal which was fantastic as this is how the majority of discourses go when someone tries to sell some comics to me (and indeed this happened yet again at the beginning of the month)

‘Hi, I have some comics to sell. Here’s a list’

‘Thanks. Nice collection. What are you looking for?

‘No idea’

‘Ok I’ll offer £xxxxxx’

‘Oh is that all? I was expecting double (or treble) that’

Albeit a rather simplified version of the exchange I’m left thinking why didn’t you tell me what you wanted for them in the first place? You said you had no idea of their value and once an offer is on the table, there is a price that acceptable, and you did know what you wanted for the comics. It is so frustrating and such a waste of not only my time but the sellers too. Whilst I genuinely believe that there are people out there who discover or inherit a comic collection and have no interest, knowledge or inclination to find out about what they are selling they remain in the minority. Most people wanting to sell something collectible have an idea of what they want for their item or can do some basic research on eBay Sold Listings to establish a ball park figure. I sold my VW Beetle a couple of years ago. It wasn’t in great condition and the guys who bought it pointed that out but I told them what I was looking for and also some advice I’d received and after a quick chat we reached a price which was great for both parties

I love buying collections and will always try to give the best price possible so that I can to meet the sellers expectations. But if they have ‘no idea’ or expectations in the first place I can only go with a value that will give me the best possible return for the items. The upshot is that I have now made the amount someone expects for their collection a mandatory field on the submission form on the website - I’m expecting some people to have some fun with this ‘What do you expect to get?’ (Best Doctor Evil Impression) ‘1 million dollars’ 😆😆

One final note this month is I have tried to add a lot more items into the Roleplaying sections of the website. Instead of doing this via a traditional launch I’m doing it on an almost daily basis and then putting out a social media post highlighting some of the items. I’m still finding that I’m not connecting with the table top gaming community in the capacity that I would like and definitely see this as an area of growth for The Unreality Store provided I can start getting the website seen in all the right areas. What those areas are I’m not sure, so if anyone has any thoughts or recommendations please feel free to drop me a line.

Apparently the heatwave is about over. There’s the final test match against India to listen to on TMS. And I’m going away for couple of days to somewhere they have their own spring water for a little break. Ah summertime… 😎☀️🌅🌤️🌥️

July 2025 Key Sales

Captain Britain #8 FN £150

Captain Britain #9 FN £40

Detective Comics #880 VFN £85

Green Lantern Vol.2 #87 GD £40

Hulk Vol.2 #1 VFN £40

Wolverine #8 NM- £75

Uncanny X-Men #130 VFN- £90

AD&D S1 - Expedition To The Barrier Peaks  VG+ £35

MERP - Sea Lords of Gondor VG £37.50