Bam! Pow! Crash! The Comic Book Reselling Hustle

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

Hey there, what's up? Chris Guillebeau with you here, back in the studio to record episode 2005. 2005 of "Sight of Soul School." Thanks for joining me. Today we're gonna talk about comic book reselling. And what's crazy is I'm not sure we've ever actually featured this topic on the show, even after more than 2,000 episodes.

And that just seems surprising to me because selling comic books is almost a quintessential reselling hustle. We've had all kinds of reselling stories, but I had to go back in the archives to confirm. And all I found was an episode about a comic book subscription box. That was episode 685. I think that subscription box is still going strong.

But anyway, in this story, guess what happens? A mechanical engineer smashes his debt with an online collectibles business. He is indeed drawing on his childhood affection for comic books. He's able to make a good amount of extra income. He's also got a few tips for anyone interested in slinging superheroes for profit.

The story's called "Bam! Pow! Crash!" the comic book reselling hustle. It's coming to you right after this. [Music]

Ollie Subs remembers sitting on the stoop with a friend, looking at his buddies' Marvel cards and comic books.

At the tender age of just six years old, he was already hooked and comics became his passion for many years to come. Just one problem, money was tight. So when Ollie went out shopping with his parents, he always looked for comics with 99 cents on the cover because $1.99 was too expensive for his family. He dreamed of having his own comic book store someday so that he could read all the comics he wanted. Years later, as a teen in the early 2000s, Ollie would go to local conventions with 20 bucks he'd earned from doing chores.

Money was still tight, but luckily $20 went a long way back then. Ollie would scour the 50 cent and dollar bins at the conventions, buying anything that caught his eye. Little did he know that a lot of what he was buying would be worth much more money later on. After college, he went to work as a mechanical design engineer and his lingering student loans were heavy on his mind. Ollie decided to sell his personal collection of comics to pay them down, and he actually ended up raising almost double what he needed.

And that was the inspiration and the moment for starting Sub-Zero Comics. Ollie realized he could have his dream of owning a comic book store, that childhood dream, at least in a way, and keep the day job he liked and still need it. Since it was possible to sell online, he didn't need to invest in a brick and mortar store, an online store would do just fine. After selling down his inventory, Ollie realized that most comics aren't all that rare. He learned he could easily start over and rebuild a collection while making money at the same time.

He just had to put in the effort, which he did. Now it can be tough to find comics, but once he has them, they're easy to sell, as long as he's got the right knowledge about a particular issue. And one of his most successful strategies is making deals with local antique stores to build his inventory. A lot of those store owners don't have any knowledge about comics, especially newer ones. So, Ollie tries to build a rapport.

That way, he hopes they'll call him when one of their clients has comics to sell. Profits for this business can vary, but on average, he earns between $10,000 and $20,000 in extra cash each year. He's now living that childhood dream, making money on the side, it's a good feeling. And for him, the best part of Sub-Zero Comics is getting to meet people and hearing their stories. The business has helped him interact with people more, get out of his shell, and be more social.

It feels like he's getting to know the person through the comics they love. Now, that said, his biggest struggle, these things sometimes go hand in hand, the biggest struggle has been having to deal with some unscrupulous people who don't even read comics, but think they're knowledgeable enough to sell them. He says this isn't just a quick way to make money, you have to know what you're talking about when looking to buy inventory, and you have to be able to set realistic prices. If you collect comics already, you wanna get into selling them, Ollie says you should consider the reality that you might not be able to collect them anymore, since this kind of creates a conflict, because when you come across something really cool, you just wanna keep it for yourself, which doesn't actually bring you any revenue. It is possible to collect and sell at the same time if you know what to invest in, but do your research and don't get attached to inventory.

Sometimes the right time to sell is right now, even if you love an item and really want to hold onto it. Going forward, Ollie is happy to just keep on hustling and hope for the best. [Music]

Well, there you have it. After more than 2,000 episodes, we have finally got to comic book reselling. What a great story, what a great example.

I used to sell so many different things when I was a young would-be entrepreneur, or at least a would-be 20-year-old who didn't wanna work for someone else, whatever you might call that. Don't know that I would say I was a capital E entrepreneur at that point, but of all the things I sold, I don't think I ever got into comics. I just didn't get around to it, but it definitely seems like a cool little industry. Of course, lots of fan arts and fandom and community associated with it as well. So congratulations to Ollie.

We're gonna link up Sub-Zero Comics on the notes page. I encourage you to check it out, especially if you wanna learn more about this business or if you just want to perhaps be inspired and maybe buy some comics. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is even better. Those show notes will be at sidehustleschool.com/2005. If you've got a comment or question for the show, just come to sidehustleschool.com/questions.

I hope you will subscribe, follow, come back tomorrow. Got a new episode coming up just like I do every single day. Take care of yourself out there today. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]

From the Onward Project.