Innovative online comic book dealer thriving

Jim Drucker is living proof that a man not only can learn to appreciate some nagging from his wife, but also build a thriving, innovative company as a result of it.

In Drucker's case, it is NewKadia.com, launched in 2000 and believed to be the only dedicated online comic-book dealer.

The Philadelphia-area company's inventory is 750,000; its average annual sales is 200,000 books, with profitability a constant since the second year.

Comics are just the beginning if the former head of the Arena Football League accomplishes his ultimate goal of building 'the world's most efficient sales platform for used products.”

Drucker said the reason behind that expansion plan is this concern:

'Superheroes will have their day. I'm aware this will have its day.”

But for now, the 62-year-old is reveling in their popularity, growing his retirement nest egg thanks to a collection of 500 comic books he amassed between the ages of 6 and 10 while growing up.

When he got older, his mother used to pester him to start tossing what she viewed as unnecessary clutter. It would later become the refrain of his wife.

Finally, in 1999, after Drucker had retired from his Arena Football League post, he turned to his comic books. Impressed with returns on two he sold on eBay, Drucker taught himself how to set up an e-commerce site.

The first day he launched www.newkadia.com, he got three orders - from New York City, Casper, Wyo., and Sydney, Australia - and concluded 'that there was something here.”

After two weeks, he moved the business out of his house into a small office. Six months after that, he moved again, into four times the space. But inventory kept growing 'because people were writing in saying, ‘I have a bunch of comics. Will you sell mine, too?' ”

Next came the move to an old soap factory that has been NewKadia.com's headquarters, warehouse and fulfillment center since May 2010. Currently, 53.4 percent of the inventory is from consignors, who get 50 percent to 80 percent of the sale price minus a $4-per-book fee. The rest is 250,000 comic books Drucker bought for a nickel apiece.

The key demographic are men ages 25 to 54. The typical customer will spend $403.17 in three years.

One of NewKadia's first consignors was Joe Koch, a New York comic-book dealer since 1975 with a warehouse in Brooklyn. Since 2004, Koch has sent 110,000 comic books to NewKadia.com to sell, with 42,000 remaining in its inventory.

'He's unique,” Koch said of Drucker's all-online operation. 'He far surpasses anyone who is doing this on the efficiency side.”