I started selling comics full-time in 2010 and wanted to track my progress against the online back issue markets. Here’s a look at the current comics aftermarket and my progress in achieving my goal of becoming a prominent back issue dealer.
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one month change | one year change | five year change | |||||||||||||||||||
| Listings in eBay’s comics section | 2,443,311 | -19.37% | -15.18% | +63.70% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Cyberspace Comics listings | 93,780 | +1.39% | +19.54% | +1,201.60% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Cyberspace Comics “market share” of comic listings on eBay | 3.84% | +25.84% | +41.11% | +695.13% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Number of eBay comic listings that are auctions | 121,144 | -18.97% | +5.03% | +67.92% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Percentage of eBay comic listings up for auction | 4.96% | +0.57% | +23.95% | +2.65% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Number of listings sold in eBay’s comics section (90 days) | 1,099,070 | -1.99% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of listings sold in eBay’s comics section divided by current listings | 44.98% | +21.54% | ||||||||||||||||||||
 Total number of listings in eBay’s “comics” section My current eBay feedback (unique): 46,254 Here’s a look at the top five categories in my eBay store from the past 90 days.
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one month change | one year change | five year change | |||||||||||||||||||
| Listings on Atomic Avenue | 1,219,500 | +0.41% | +0.32% | -12.60% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Listings in the Cyberspace Comics Store on Atomic Avenue | 89,808 | +0.62% | +18.06% | +156.81% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Cyberspace Comics “market share” of comic listings on AtomicAvenue | 7.36% | +0.19% | +17.64% | +193.83% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Cyberspace Comics estimated “market share” of AtomicAvenue orders | 8.14% | -6.33% | +14.81% | +80.89% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Number of unique issues on Atomic Avenue | 225,516 | +0.62% | +9.41% | |||||||||||||||||||
| Cyberspace Comics “market share” of unique issues on AtomicAvenue | 39.82% | +0.01% | +7.90% | |||||||||||||||||||
 Total number of comics listed on Atomic Avenue |
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one month change | one year change | five year change | |||||||||||||||||||
| Number of members on ComicCollectorLive | 123,285 | +0.18% | +23.82% | |||||||||||||||||||
| Number of items for sale on ComicCollectorLive | 1,666,999 | +0.32% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of items sold on ComicCollectorLive | 2,081,654 | +0.56% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of stores open on ComicCollectorLive | 100 | -0.99% | ||||||||||||||||||||
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one month change | one year change | five year change | |||||||||||||||||||
| Number of listings in Amazon’s Entertainment Collectibles – Comic Book section | 178,775 | +8.21% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of those listings that are in the Cyberspace Comics Amazon store | 89,266 | +1.95% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Cyberspace Comics “market share” of comic listings on Amazon | 49.93% | -5.79% | ||||||||||||||||||||
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one month change | one year change | five year change | |||||||||||||||||||
| Number of listings in HipComic’s Comic Books section | 160,060 | -6.94% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of those listings that are in the Cyberspace Comics HipComic store: | 92,546 | +0.06% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Cyberspace Comics “market share” of comic listings on HipComic | 57.82% | +7.53% | ||||||||||||||||||||
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one month change | one year change | five year change | |||||||||||||||||||
| Number of listings in Bonanza’s Comics section | 131,711 | -1.39% | ||||||||||||||||||||
This has been an interesting snapshot of the current market. Mycomicshop has suffered a database problem that caused them to go down over the weekend. Their dropout of the ebay marketplace has thrown the numbers off considerably as the total number of listings on ebay plummetted due to their loss. I suspect they’ll be back by next month and the growth in the next month’s market report will seem very high. Ebay’s new store plans have kicked into gear now – anchor stores get 10,000 free fixed price listings and 1,000 auction listings each month. The number of auctions on ebay hasn’t been this low since July 2015. It’ll be interesting to see what effect their new store plans will have on the auction/fixed price balance.
Atomic Avenue‘s total listings are continuing their slow climb out of their most recent 5-year low brought on by a combination of increased selling fees and stricter selling metrics that removed some members (while other members left proactively). But, more importantly, their number of unique issues continues to rise consistently – and has done so since I began tracking this data.
Comic Collector Live continues to see consistent growth in their user base even though one of their member stores has closed.
Amazon‘s collectibles marketplace is too new to draw any conclusions but is still showing steady growth in its selection.
HipComic, which debuted in January 2016, just hit a major snag. The marketplace has been temporarily shut down due to a legal motion from Stanley Gibbons. The website explains that a hearing on the matter was held on May 23 and they are currently awaiting the result.
Bonanza lost a small number of listings but nothing to be concerned about.