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Manga Swapping Calculations And Disappointments

I swapped out some manga earlier his week: 25 books (11 Dragon Ball, 14 Bleach - Very Good, Very Fine), and picked out 11 new ones for the trade fee: 360 SEK. It would've been 120 if I sold them - roughly a third, and roughly 5 SEK a piece, which is a bit little considering they sell their manga at roughly 35 or 45 a piece depending on quality, with those in mint condition substantially higher up on the rise of price.

9 of the books I selected were in good shape (priced at 35 or 45 SEK each), and 2 were so so. The prices were generally between a third and half of what they'd cost new, and I reason I might've bought the lot of them at about 200 if I bought them elsewhere - at a regular flea market, or person to person. Considering I could've sold my lot for 120 I would have had to pay 80 out of my own pocket, then, but going by the trading fee value I could've saved in at least the double (160) in value had I sold them myself, and then bought new ones with the sale money.

Coincidentally, I bought the bag of manga with all of the books I traded (duplicates) and more, for the exact same price I reckon the books I swapped for would've cost me had I bought them elsewhere, so you could say I managed to swap out numbers I already had, to numbers I didn't have, and didn't lose any monetary value in the process, with half the bag still to go... and yet I'm sort of disappointed. I feel like I could've gotten more.

If I sold them myself, the 14 numbers of Bleach in particular would probably have brought in 200 SEK on their own, and I could've traded the Dragon Ball numbers for a few of these books instead. Knowing me, I'd then probably have browsed around on auction sites to find the numbers I was missing before and bought those there - effectively wasting said gains, and probably a bit extra on shipping and unnecessary buys in the heat of the bid moment.

It's hard to make shipping feel like a part of the price too, though is a big part of it, and yet that would still have felt like a bigger accomplishment, because I would have earned a fair share first, and then wasted it all.

Maybe what I'm really a bit disappointed in is that I didn't try to get more for the books I traded. I think I could've pushed it at least to 450 SEK - which would've amounted to a few more books, but as it is I did get a small bonus when I handed over the books I'd chosen for the trade, that were worth a little more. I was prepared to pay for the difference, but the cashier didn't take it out at all. So I should be happy right. Rhetorical question because it has no question mark.

Maybe I'm just not cut out for trades. I'm the kind of guy who needs to make a profit for things to feel right - because I wouldn't have bought that bag of books in the first place if it didn't seem like a good investment, and I don't like giving that investment away. Even if the trade could be considered profit, it doesn't seem like profit because I didn't earn any money. I earned manga worth more money than I paid for the manga I traded, but it still doesn't feel like a good deal...

Because it's not. The guy in the shop made a good deal. He'll earn more than me off of the manga I traded him. But of course I knew this beforehand. I needed to clear out some stuff, because my desk is cluttered with crap, and so I chose the fastest most reasonable route to do so, yet can't help be a bit disappointed I didn't make the most of what I had, instead of just taking the easy way out. It's always like that: the harder route is the more rewarding one.

So, I wasted some money, but it's not like I'm not wasting time ranting about it - time I could spend making more money than the money I spent. It's little money. Am I settling for too little, in this as well as with everything else in life? Or am I just a bit overprotective when it comes to keeping my money, and straying from the cycle of consumption in favor of saving - and re-using (and I don't mean re-using as in trading - that's a different thing). I'm not sure what it is but... it's something. I got my money's worth and more, but I could've gotten more. That's what it all amounts to. Like Vin Diesel said: It doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning's winning. I'm not sure how many inches away this was, but it didn't feel like a win. Winning's winning. You feel that.

For those of you who aren't all too short on cash though: Serieboden in Gamla Stan seems like a fair place to shop. Instead of buying new comics, you might as well get some here. The prices are fair. For buyers. For sellers...? I'll get back to you on that. Maybe second hand impressions will be better.

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