I love great deals and have made a few, but sadly I think I'm like a lot of people here who have to conclude they've overspent more than they've underspent.But I've had some moments....
I found a very sexy Fox jungle comic for $5 when it should have been worth $150. The online seller mis-listed it, mis-named it, misspelled it... I am not sure how I found it. But when I did, I said, "Whoa."
Found a few other really nice comics in a similar fashion.
I've also managed to get some excellent comics at a local auction. They were hidden among a bunch of comics that looked like they'd been run over by a truck. But sitting at the bottom was a FN/FN+ copy of Strange Adventures #9, and a VG+ copy of Mystery in Space #1. Those are early DC sci-fi comics and they're very valuable. Averaging them out with the other comics in the lot, I'd say I got them for about $30 each.
Other good deals have occurred simply because I was polite and responsive to sellers who had begun listing their comics, but confessed the process was time-consuming and frustrating, and they just wanted to unload everything and be done with it. Often there are people who come across treasures, but don't care if they get the ultimate best selling price, as long as they get something. One guy sold me a huge lot of golden-age horror and sci-fi comics for $10 apiece. Realllly great considering many of them are worth more than $100 (and most were in VG or better condition). One of them was Strange Adventures #8.
I've also found some amazing stuff hiding in lots. Somebody will have a lot that is almost all crap, then over in the corner there's a comic that's worth more than the rest of the entire lot combined. You just have to cross your fingers that you're the only one who has noticed!
Craigslist mostly sucks, but I've found a few great deal there. They're usually from people whose relative passed away, or who somehow came across the items in storage or at an estate sale, and they have no idea what they've got. The trick with Craigslist is you have to see and respond to the ad right after it's posted, otherwise you discover you're the 9th person to call and the seller already has a bunch of people on the way to their house, at which point you might as well forget it.
I did get some awesome Craigslist deals though. One was from a guy who posted what he had at around 11:30 p.m. on a Wednesday, and I managed to spot the listing first thing Thursday morning. Luckily I didn't have to work that day, so I could run right over. I got a couple grand worth of high-grade, golden-age comics for a fraction of their value.
The problem with the whole "great deal" finding thing is you have to put in TIME to make these discoveries. It is very gratifying when the time you invest finally pays off. But it's still time lost. Over the course of your life, you have to consider all the ways you could be spending your time, and figure out if it's actually worth it. If you can discover a $2,000 comic but you have to miss out on day after day of fun in order to do so, did you really come out ahead?
