KirbyTown

On 6/24/2022 at 4:41 PM, jsilverjanet said:

While we aren't seeing the insane prices of 90 days ago, the prices we are seeing aren't pre 2020 (yet)

I agree with yet! 📉

On 6/24/2022 at 1:25 PM, DC# said:

Here are the Session 1 results.   Highly unlikely I am going to recap the later sessions this time....but we will see.    And you are getting a lot of red.   You can also just see the lower values between last and 90 Day on the GPA data.   

And this is the top tier stuff, not the garbage level stuff that I rant about.

On 6/24/2022 at 1:25 PM, DC# said:

Here are the Session 1 results.   Highly unlikely I am going to recap the later sessions this time....but we will see.    And you are getting a lot of red.   You can also just see the lower values between last and 90 Day on the GPA

Thank you so much for sharing this effort with us.

On 6/23/2022 at 3:35 PM, Jackson13 said:

Kaptain Myke  what a doosh. Is he still using a t-shirt press for his books?  

Aw, I was trying to be you know...nice...but now...no I'll refrain...for now. 😷

On 6/23/2022 at 12:13 PM, Drummy said:

I see what you did there.... 

A slight tangent...

On 6/23/2022 at 1:12 PM, Travaran said:

Well for me it's quality over speed. Idc who's faster as long as whoever it is gets the job done right

It'll take about a year and a half right now, no joke. (unless you're using an expedited method)

https://www.cgccomics.com/submit/services-fees/cgc-grading/

(ignore this space)

On 6/22/2022 at 12:28 PM, mrtoasty said:

Well I joined this group in May and now it is June. 

First of all thank you for your suggestions and comments.  Since I have started I have listed all my books on a excel sheet with all info.  I have looked them up on Go Collect and established a FMV, of course I am proably a high grader,

Now comes the problem, Why is there no one out there who has a reasonable turnaround time?  What is the best route to go here?  Why would I pay 40 or 50 bucks for a hopefully a 100 buck comic?  I took my collection to a comic carnival shop after I made an appoint ment and sent him a list.  He was a very nice man but gave me a very low ball offer, so I thanked him and came home.  

So I am ready to get my key comics graded and go from there, but I get to wait a year????

Any ideas I don't know about? I checked out the place in the south but it must be out of business.

Thanks for your help

Les

Sent a PM!

On 6/23/2022 at 12:42 PM, Travaran said:

So CGC sends my comic to CCS and they clean and press it? And what if something goes wrong in the cleaning/pressing process? What does CGC do for me then?

Technically, yes they do, and I have no clue what that process is if they botch it, sorry, I just know that Joe Blow probably isn't going to have any plan in place if he screws up, as opposed to CGC which more likely has a way of legitimately addressing such a concern...one would hope at least.

On 6/23/2022 at 12:20 PM, Bill Robinson said:

There are strides being made on staining. Kaptain Myke's new book has practical solutions including a Heat Press based and Blue LED light techniques. Fascinating stuff that takes a lot of practice, patience and probably destroyed books. They are getting stunning results, tho.

I'd highly suggest checking out Immaculate Comics as an alternative.

On 6/23/2022 at 12:25 PM, Travaran said:

It's basically all in the title. I've heard people say you should clean/press your comics before sending them in to get graded but nobody ever says how/who to send them to in order to get them pressed. So who's the CGC for pressing and cleaning?  Thanks for your time.

It's through CGC, you just mark it on the form. (technically they're called CCS, but it's through the CGC submission process.)

On 6/23/2022 at 12:18 PM, Travaran said:

Does cleaning/pressing a comic do any sort of damage to the comic? I feel like it would strip away some of the original color or something. I'm no expert of course but it feels like when people try to "restore" old coins or guns by using sand paper or a wire brush and they end up destroying a lot of the value. Is the comic community like basically united on this? That cleaning and pressing can do nothing but help the comic? 

It's actually one of the most divisive issues in the comic world!

In the hands of a true expert, neither pressing nor dry/wet cleaning is really risky. What's risky is using someone who isn't insured, so it often makes sense to entrust the press and dry clean to the grading company to cover yourself in the event of a mess-up.

On 6/21/2022 at 8:21 PM, JRTownsend said:

Yeah I get that a press can take out minor dents etc. But if a comic has none whats the point of a press? 

I guess a follow-up question would be if CGC gets two identical clean and flawless comics where one is pressed flat and the other was not... would they grade the pressed comic one tier higher than the not pressed book? Because in my mind they shouldn't. But with so much pressing going on and it becoming the "standard" before submitting anything.. does it lower the grade of an unpressed (unaltered) book by comparison?

Most people are not experts at grading and many don't even know how to view potential defects let alone identify them. People typically press with a submission in order to squeeze out whatever benefit they can from the book, and I'd say it's the norm because everyone wants the best grade possible. Since nobody knows why CGC grades the way they do, then at least you can say you tried your absolute best.

On the second question, technically no one's supposed to know whether a comic was pressed or not, graders included, so there's not really a question to be answered beyond what grade the two books actually are. More important to know is that even if you sent in two books where one was a literal clone of the other, there's no guarantee they would get the same grade.

Good luck! 🏆

On 6/23/2022 at 11:36 AM, shadroch said:

Or you are using them to warehouse your books for you. I'm sure there is some of that in play. 

Frightening, even at the minimums

On 6/23/2022 at 7:47 AM, cigars&comix said:

Picked up this mini collection this week. No its not an illusion, there are 4 copies of FF #49 in this set.

Dont get too excited, the FF 48 has cutouts inside but a near perfect cover.

Will be posting individually in PGM thread soon!

you can view the video here

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AsDdrq8cLwnQiY89OrF7-DyymUrA4w?e=ygOYzW

What were the circumstances?

On 6/22/2022 at 9:51 PM, Kramerica said:

I couldn't agree more. I have over 100 books in various stages of BIN or auction right now and I'm very, very happy with everything. You can eat cake or walk the dog or watch Umbrella Academy while MCS takes care of the selling. Mr Cake you'd dig it the most.

I always forget to mention these other benefits while I'm fanboying:

1. You essentially get to sell on Bay anyway because MCS puts your listing on Bay anyway!

and...

2. MCS lets you store your entire inventory for free in a secure and insured warehouse!

I've seen a couple of shops there with at least 1,000 slabs, one with 1,500. That's a lot of space you can freed up at home or wherever. And MCS only starts charging rent after 12 or 24 months depending on comic value...and only if you won't first either reduce the price bit by bit or just put it in auction. And you can always just pay the return fee if you really want the book back.

Wow, if you've been overpriced for that long though then maybe you've just...checked out. 😵

On 6/23/2022 at 11:12 AM, shadroch said:

In my case, one was a $182 offer on a book I was asking $207 on. He offered 167, I countered with $182 and it was accepted June 10th.  The other is a $52 offer on a $60 book.  In both cases, I'm into them for almost nothing.    They may still pay, or the books will be relisted.  Neither was an auction.

If an auction winner doesn't pay, I think MCS offers the option of seeing if the runner-up wants the book, but I'm not sure how it works.  I know a few years ago, I was outbid on a TTA27 and was offered the book when the winner didn't pay.  

I'm not sure what MCS can do about these non-payers besides banning the worst offenders, but even that doesn't get me paid. 

Thanks for the details, that sucks but at least it's only occasionally. Thinking about it now, I guess I just don't consider the money real until the check arrives. Like you've said a lot of us aren't into these comics for much, so it's more of being disappointed at having to deal with the damn book again rather than being late on a house payment or something.

On 6/23/2022 at 10:44 AM, dover said:

Both of my last two sales fell through. "buyers" both failed to pay. Time to start public humiliation.

On 6/23/2022 at 10:54 AM, shadroch said:

I have two offers that were accepted that look like they may fall thru.  There is nothing I can do about it, so I just don't count on a book being sold until the buyer actually pays for it.  It's not a perfect system, just the best one I've come across.

Are these expensive books and at auction that are being skipped out on?

On 6/23/2022 at 6:39 AM, Dr. Balls said:

https://jasonbeam.com/500keys/

I did this list probably 8-9 years ago. I'm sure out of date on some stuff, but that was my old collecting focus.

great list, thanks for sharing

On 6/23/2022 at 6:31 AM, piper said:

That would be an interesting thread: top 100 Marvel Keys.

On 6/23/2022 at 6:39 AM, Dr. Balls said:

https://jasonbeam.com/500keys/

I did this list probably 8-9 years ago. I'm sure out of date on some stuff, but that was my old collecting focus.

Great list! FWIW, the marvel supers I usually mention are those that, when considering the sales information only, would provide easy justification for shelling out $100-200 for a poor or even an incomplete at this particular moment. This may seem a cold criteria, but I'm usually making critique of the market and these values prove a solid demand over the history of the hobby and currently an immediate and more legitimately justifiable value range with serious liquidity. For Marvel these are all silver age except for about 10 bronze, which makes sense because the original, uncommon, universe establishing material has held up the best. They transcend the trends (fads, but that doesn't rhyme).

On 6/22/2022 at 7:54 PM, PKJ said:

I would like to report, I must be trying to get the same books as others who do not realize prices are suppose to be ease by now. Pretty sure I set a high on a Hulk #3.

I understand what you're saying. I believe that the 70-100 Marvel Super Keys will always respond as their own category because they will always be in legitimate demand regardless of the market. It's the rest of comicdom that stands to crash, all of the unjustifiably high-priced non-key books that Fools overpay for at garage sales and the "forced key" books that go viral after a youtube video or social post claims them be so because of some imagined movie cameo etc. The six Hulks will always be coveted no matter what price they're going for. (Hope this is what you meant?)

On 6/22/2022 at 2:44 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I remember conversations years ago of people saying there are stacks of BA books stashed away in warehouses that are waiting to be unleashed. Are people still spinning this yarn?

 

Ah yes, the Comilluminati; if those guys are still around surely they'd be dumping now. And where are these magical climate controlled warehouses that only store key comic books missing from the market?

It's true that warehouse finds do get found, and historically people have decried the books' lack of perceived rarity over books that haven't been found in warehouses!

I doubt anyone's aware of anything they may be sitting on at all, let alone doing so for any reason that concerns comic book enthusiasts.

ex. A shunned book.

On 6/12/2022 at 4:10 AM, Lpgk said:

The great great majority fall back down, some slightly, some dramatically.

I use Eternals #1 9.8 as my ultimate movie POP! example as the prices went up until the moment of the release date...then waited for the weekend enthusiasm which didn't come...and then began the decline. Had a $3800 high on May 10, 2021; Most recent sale $900.

Is there really enough legitimate interest in a 1976 Kirby Eternals #1 to justify even $900? I don't personally think so, not exactly an uncommon book, I just see in that price someone's hope for an Eternal's future. 🤷‍♂️

And speaking of common books, the thing about comic supply is that it can only INCREASE. Unless we go all Ray Bradbury, where are these books gonna disappear to rather than keep getting brought to market?

Eternals release date:

Nov-05

On 6/22/2022 at 1:21 PM, Gregd said:

NOT Buying at the top is tricky as most don’t know they are buying at the top- why dollar cost averaging is good practice. 

And not sure if you have a long view that buying at the top is all that bad- if you bought stocks at the top in 2008 or so and held you still did well if you didn’t sell. Same for real estate. Granted your returns are less but again- you most likely made a profit. 
 

Buying stocks and other investments now is probably a very good move - I kinda like this environment as I increase my 401k, IRA and comic spending when I see things falling. Not trying to predict the bottom - been burned once during the pandemic on that. Just buying for less than it was a few months ago.

My guess is most folks will be made whole no matter their purchases (with some crazy exceptions) if they have a long enough time horizon.

 

My comment was definitely tongue-in-cheek about buying at a theoretical all-time top since you could only lose, but I also mean people getting in at the top of bubbles...and most bubble Fools aren't the spider fund type. 🕷