Sell your Marvel collection.

Selling Marvel comics in the UK

Marvel is most of what comes through my door, and it is most of what I sell on Whatnot and eBay week to week, which is exactly why I can price it properly. I am not working from a guide that was printed last year. I am looking at what the same books sold for this month, in the same condition as yours, and making you an offer off the back of it.

Whether you have one key you have been sitting on, a run you built over years, or a loft full of boxes from a relative, the process is the same: a few photos, a straight number, free collection anywhere in the UK, paid the same day. If part of what you have is worth very little, I will tell you that too, because a collection is usually a handful of books doing most of the work and a lot of filler, and you deserve to know which is which.

The Marvel books that actually carry value

These are the ones I get asked about most and the ones I am always looking for. Every issue number here has been checked, because the wrong number costs people money in both directions.

That is not an exhaustive list, and I buy far more than keys. Complete runs of Amazing Spider-Man, Uncanny X-Men, Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, Daredevil and Fantastic Four all have buyers, and a long run in decent shape is often worth more to me than the same books sold one at a time.

What I actually look at

Condition first. The same Marvel key can be worth many times more in one grade than another, and with black or dark covers like Amazing Spider-Man #300 the gap is enormous. I grade honestly and I will tell you what I see, including the spine ticks and the colour touch.

First print or not. A lot of the big Marvel keys have facsimiles and reprints that look right at a glance. I check the indicia, the price box and the barcode. If you want to check before you send photos, the barcode guide walks you through it.

Newsstand or direct. UK distributed and newsstand copies of Bronze Age Marvel are their own market and can be worth more than the direct edition next to them. Here is how to tell them apart before anyone tells you your copy is the common one.

Graded books are welcome. CGC and CBCS slabs are straightforward to value. If your books are raw and you are wondering whether to grade before selling, usually the honest answer is no, and I will say so if the numbers do not add up.

What is usually worth less than people hope

I would rather say this here than on the phone. Most Marvel from the early nineties was printed in huge numbers, and a box of bagged and boarded 1992 X-Men and Spider-Man is common however carefully it was kept. Reprints and facsimiles of keys are readers, not investments. Water damage, missing pages and Marvel Value Stamps cut out of Bronze Age books take a lot off. None of that means I will not make an offer. It means the offer will be honest, and I will explain it.

Questions people ask before selling

How it works

Prefer email? lee@retrorelicscomics.co.uk