Comics Buying Tips for the Economically Strapped Comic Buyer

Our new contributor, Bayard Sartoris, asked a question in a commment on an older post asking for less expensive ways to acquire

trade paperbacks or for "Buying Tips for the Economically Strapped New Collector".

Here are the places I go to to buy stuff.

First online options:

While I do like to support my local comic shop, there isn't a local comic shop in the town where I live. Also, the nearest

comic shop is at least 40 minutes away and has a distinct focus on gaming. While I have nothing against gaming or gamers, when

I have to ask a table of kids playing Magic to move so I can look at the in the back issue bins, it isn't worth my time and

obviously the owner of the shops priority isn't comics. I acquire comics and trades from a variety of online sources.

You can buy trades, often at a decent discount, at Amazon (www.amazon.com yes, I know you know the URL, but since I'm providing them for the rest of the sites I'm suggesting...). If you have an Amazon Prime account, this is an even easier choice to select.

There are other options. If you're looking for new forthcoming trades you can use an online subscription service like G-Mart (www.g-mart.com) which I've written about here or Discount Comic Book Service (www.dcbservice.com).

Another site where you can pick up trades at a decent discount (usually pretty close to Amazon.com) is In Stock Trades (www.instocktrades.com). They are a sister site to the aforementioned Discount Comic Book Service and offer free shipping on orders over $50. They provide pretty decent service and for the money, you're usually no worse off than using Amazon and you're still supporting the direct market.

Watch Mile High Comics (www.milehighcomics.com) for sales and discounts. While they are one of the pricier online comic shops, they frequently offer discounts and sales promotions. My advice would be to get on their mailing list and you will get an email when they acquire stuff and offer sales. They also have a want list feature and since Chuck makes frequent buying trips nationwide, he can often find something you're looking for.

Another resource I check if I'm looking for something is eBay (www.ebay.com). You can build a search and when something you're looking for is listed, you'll get an email. Another benefit of eBay is you may actually get the comics instead of the trade.

Some comics are worth reading for back matter or ads or something similar which isn't offered in the trade. Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips is a series that I would recommend buying the singles as is Fell by Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith.

Brick & mortar options:

Sometimes a local shop will offer older or slower moving trades at a steep discount.

There is another option, if you have a local comic shop where the owner actually works in the store, if they have a large back stock of trades that aren't moving, you can always offer to buy some at a discount. At worst, he (or she) may say no or make a counter offer. I've gotten some trades at as much as 60% off this way in the past.

The beauty of one of the local comic shop options is if the owner and staff at the store are on the ball when you buy discounted stuff or ask for discounts on slow moving stuff, eventually they will ask you if you're interested in their slower moving stock at a discount. This helps both you, the discount shopper, and them, the store.

Another brick & mortar option, that Bayard already knows about is Borders (www.borders.com). They don't offer big discounts as the norm, but they frequently send emails with discounts of up to 40% and somewhat frequently around 30%.