Hamlet

14 minutes ago, kimik said:

I agree it is worth $2 to read it, but buying them to resell later when you are retired at a higher price is not something I would bank on. Those books are even in the $1 and $2 at LCSs since they are so common in low grade. For every one or two that a dealer will move at $4-$6, it is not worth the storage cost. I see dealers all the time that have the same stock at shows year after year, some of it coming from my $2 boxes and 50% off GA/SA/BA boxes. They may just barely or may not cover costs, which is not worthwhile IMHO. 

FWIW, if you are a collector the 50% off GA/SA/BA stock that we (ClobberinTime Comics) have at the local shows is better than the good stock most other dealers have. 

Trust me, I’m not counting on any of my comics ever selling for anything.  The little smiley face after my comment about convention stock meant that I was mostly joking.

2 hours ago, kimik said:

Don't count on it. My guess is that those VG+ cheap SA DCs and Marvels will still be $1-$2 if you want to sell them. I have been selling at shows since 1999, and the price on low grade low demand SA and Bronze Marvel and DC titles has remained constant over the past 20 years. As the market moves more towards key/1st app/hot cover collecting only the demand for run books is dwindling. I put the common issues of pretty much every title into my 50% off boxes in sub 9.0 grades. If it is not worth slabbing, then it takes time to move.

It’s worth $2 to me to read and own a SA comic in decent shape. 

I have to hunt to find books like these at $1-2  -

Most dealers have them priced much higher (say $4-$6).  I assume they must occasionally sell a few or they wouldn’t keep dragging them to the shows.

40 minutes ago, FlyingDonut said:

Back on topic. $1100 from Facebook Marketplace last night. Saw the listing at 3. Pinged her at 3:01. She emailed back at 3:15 saying "you were first but need it tonight because there are multiple other people." Paypal sent at 3:30. Drove up there at 6:30. In my house at 9:00. So much win. $100 a long. Includes multiple pre-Code ACG horror books

And you’re also all stocked up on those late Miller Daredevils we were talking about in the other thread 🙂

3 hours ago, wombat said:

I buy the upgrade first, say I'm going to sell the undercopy and then never sell the undecopy. So I got that going for me. 

I had a book that I had a really rough raw copy of.  I got a CGC 9.0 of it in a ComicLink auction.  The problem is, I don’t really get much enjoyment out of the slabbed copy, but don’t want to burn the value by cracking it out.  So I’m on the lookout for a good deal on a nice F/VF raw copy.  Then I will have three copies of the book and will probably never get around to selling the extras.

5 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

Pretty spot on.  For me to grab books from $2 boxes I have to feel confident I can get $10 at least and those later Daredevil Miller books are just not $10 books unless they are perfect.  Which is a shame because I think they are great books but simply too many of them out there.

I consider it good for the hobby that there are still great books that are available to collect at a “buying purely for entertainment” price point.  I bought the whole Miller Daredevil run as a lot on the boards for about $150 a few years back.  They weren’t high grade ( 158 and 168 were about fine, the rest varied from VG to VF ).  I had a blast reading them for the first time, with no worries about whether I was going to leave a finger print on a 9.6 copy.  

Can’t afford to collect the Byrne X-men?  His runs of FF, Alpha Flight, and Superman are awesome and were still cheap last I looked.  The Simonson Thors are all still pretty cheap with one notable exception.

20 minutes ago, kimik said:

Agreed re: a lot of books not being worthwhile. My experience is that you are better off focusing on keys/1st appearances/classic covers than trying to sell a $2 bin book for $5. Blow out the cheap run filler stuff at shows and keep the better stuff from collections for the long haul. It is much less work, and the high demand books appreciate faster than the other stuff does. Besides, one long box of better books takes up way less space than 20 - 40 longs of drek.

On the other hand, I love pulling books like these out of cheap boxes for my collection, when I don’t already have them.  There are also some books that I pull out of these boxes when I see them because I am speculating/hoarding.  

I also own a lot of VG+ cheap SA DC ( late 60s Jimmy Olsen, Superboy, Adventure, Lois Lane, etc ), because I couldn’t pass up a 12 cent cover priced book in decent shape for $1-2. 

It will all make great convention stock when I retire. 🙂

1 hour ago, FlyingDonut said:

My eBay net on a book for $5 is about $3.50. My time for that $3.50 is about two minutes. I can put $40 in my pocket for half an hour of "work" that involves me listening/watching to a baseball game.

Yes, but you are really good at it and are able do it in volume.  I would need to learn how to scan and list books effectively and start making trips the post office.  For the number of books I’m going to find in the 2-3 conventions per year I make it to, it really doesn’t make sense.

You are also ignoring the cost of the books in that example.  We were talking about buying the books for $2.  That makes the net $1.50, which is a lot less exciting.  I’m betting you aren’t bothering to pull late Miller Daredevils out of $2 boxes.  I’m betting you have so much of that stuff from collections you’ve bought for the keys that you consider them pretty much free.

1 hour ago, the blob said:

I think there is a different perception for 182-181 vs. 158-181. Yes, 181 was a spec book, but is special. 181 afterward everyone started to speculate on the miller books, even more than before. I have sold nice copies for $5-8 with some waiting, but cracked double digits on earlier than 181 (and sold 181 for $30+). I am way more selective (shooting for nm in a $2 box) on any but the punisher issue after 181 because paying $2 for a potential $5 sale is a hassle outside a bulk sale maybe.

Yeah, the problem with paying $2 for a $5 sale is the shipping work and cost.  Unless you are setting up at shows, how do you sell a $5 book so that it is worth the work/expense?

The later McFarlane Spideys have had the same issue for me.  I was buying them for two dollars until I realized that I was just buying myself a low-wage chore that I will always be too lazy to actually do.

Sometimes I justify it with the idea that I am building convention stock for after I retire, but that is really just me enabling my hoarding nature.  🙂

1 minute ago, paperheart said:

great book, great movie. what are you arguing for? The Big Sleep 2? Ridiculous.

The Sleepening

29 minutes ago, Krishosein said:

I kind of agree as the top books aren't bought by the average person they are bought by the top income earners people with average or median income usually aren't buying mid to high grade AF15's with that much disposable income. The average person is usually saving for a raining day, retirement, housing, renovations, bills, etc... you only need a handful of people to drive the higher value comic prices and keep that end of the hobby going. 

So we might see a decrease in Filler's (hopefully) or "new keys" but I think the valuable or well known keys AF15, TOS 39, Tec, etc.. will maintain their values or more than likely increase. Just my 

That is certainly a likely possible scenario.  One question I have though is who has been buying the big keys lately, and what are their reasons for buying?".  I wouldn't bet money that matters to my lifestyle on those keys maintaining these new higher values going forward.  I think there are an awful lot of those books in the hands of people that are more interested in their price movement than any nostalgic feelings they have for the books themselves.  There is a danger that those people will quickly lose interest and sell if the market softens.  Add to that people who have overextended themselves buying these keys - they could end up forced to sell if the general economy hits a rough patch, which would probably accelerate the selling by the first group.

I'm not saying that that is going to happen.  I'm just saying that it could, and anyone buying books with 5-digit price tags should be prepared for that possibility.

What fascinates me is that neither of these books were really sought after 9 years ago.  I bought nice VG copies of both on the boards for $5 each.  Granted, that was a very good deal at the time, but still.  

Did everyone suddenly become big Warlock fans, or is this all potential movie hype?

I suspect it is some of each, because they are both cool books, but I'm not sure I trust the run-up to be sustainable long-term.  

Kind of like the run up for FF 45.  That book went from run book to hot key a few years ago, and has settled down at about half the peak, which seems rational.  It's an important book that was ridiculously undervalued for a long time, but it got hyped a little too much.

Of course, the peak is only obvious in hindsight.  

8 hours ago, PopKulture said:

I don't know if it's some form of latent paranoia or just a touch of pessimism, but I agree with you mostly, and yet I keep getting outbid on run books on the Bay at what seems like a 90% rate, even though my bids are often in line with the much maligned Overstreet. And I'm not just talking about something like a 12c Kid Colt Outlaw I'm missing, I get outbid on things just as obscure Rinty and Joe Palooka, especially if it's a popular seller like blissard or the like. 

Now, a downturn in the market no doubt would hit many of us that aren't cashing out now (if we are near THE peak), but I look forward to buying oodles of stuff I'm missing on the cheap when prices do come down. 

Yeah, I don't think run books are doing badly, all things considered.  They just look like no one wants them in comparison to the hot keys.  

1 hour ago, SECollector said:

This is correct, but some runs including of course ASM and FF have retained their collecting base and even "fillers" will always have a demand (if one would dare calling issues like 11 and more all less every issue up to 100 or even up to 200 a filler).

With that said, I personally came to realise how tough and sought after #11 in higher grade is, right after I completed adding the early keys in my run and started more seriously researching for the rest. "Fortunately" for me, my focus is on 7.5 - 8.0 grades for Ditko issues, so it shouldn't be impossible to find one, but definitely not easy either. 

Thank you for your very interesting post 

7.5-8.0 Ditko Spideys are easy to find, but expensive to purchase. 

1 hour ago, blazingbob said:

CGC is the same business model as grading coins and baseball cards.  Nothing new.

For the mentally challenged I will state that having a CGC graded book is like having a debit card.  It is already graded,  it can have a value that can be calculated since you've removed the grading debate and it essentially becomes a dollar/cents transaction.

Except that this isn’t really true.  Two books with the same CGC grade can vary fairly widely in market value.  

7 minutes ago, D84 said:

A lot of my friends who aren't into comics considered Endgame the end of the line for them.

We shall see.

I don’t think comic movies are going to disappear, but I can’t believe the market will support 5-6 tent pole superhero movies per year indefinitely.

4 hours ago, october said:

It will burn out at some point, but it's going to take much longer than you expect.

Nobody paid tens of billions for the intellectual property rights to Western characters. Disney is going to produce this stuff until we are LONG gone.

Disney is going to produce this stuff until people stop paying to see it.  I’m not sure how long that will take, but I’m starting to think they are going to have to dial it back at some point soon.  I’m actually getting tired of the movies.  I finally saw Endgame last weekend.  It was fine, but I got bored in the middle.  It was too long and frankly a lot of it was similar to past movies.  

If I am getting bored, when is the general public going to lose interest?

1 hour ago, Black_Adam said:

While I would be reluctant to auction a high-value comic via MyComicShop they do have good consignment rates for those who wish to follow that route - as low as 6% for sales of $3000 or higher. Otherwise, Comiclink has always been my go to as far as auctions go. 

 

I just mailed off a small batch of raw books to MyComicShop for the first time.  From what I have seen, they seem like a good spot to auction fairly low-dollar SA/BA/CA keys if you don’t want to do the work of scanning/shipping them ( and I sure don’t ).

I sent stuff like ASM 252, 316, FF 67, Marvel Premiere 1, Marvel Feature 1, Thor 337, etc.  Nothing all that high dollar, mostly $50-100 books. Stuff that would be a pain to sell and ship individually, but worthwhile to ship as a group to them.  From what I can see, their grading is very tight, but people have figured that out and seem to bid appropriately.

Hopefully it goes reasonably well 🙂

On 5/24/2019 at 9:49 PM, Pat Thomas said:

Amazing Spider-Man 153  "The Longest Hundred Yards"

This is one of my favorites.

6 hours ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

The marvel movie machine can turn the drekkiest of drek bin fodder into gold.

It’s actually a pretty cool book.  I have a mid-grade copy that I scanned and was going to sell a few years ago, probably for about $10-15 at the time.  I read the book before I listed it, and I really liked the Starlin art, so I decided to hang onto it.

At current prices though... 🤪

2 hours ago, F For Fake said:

I was never a big fan, but I definitely had some nostalgia tied up with that era. When they published the McFarlane Spidey Omnibus, I was excited to dip back into those memories, and was AMAZED at how terrible it was. What seemed dynamic and interesting as a kid appeared amateurish and shoddy as an adult. 

Adams still rules, though!

You have to compare the McFarlane Spidey's to what we were dealing with on Spiderman for the few years before he came along.  I started collecting ASM with issue 260 ( good ), and 261 ( good), but it was rough going for a few years after that.  My friends started making fun of me for sticking with the title.  Luckily, I was building my collection with back issues as well, which were quite a bit better.  Would you rather have these instead of a McFarlane Spidey--

On 10/23/2016 at 1:17 PM, jimjum12 said:

Chuck has his detractors, but those two page spreads in the comics themselves, with inventory to back it up from this hoard, really gave credibility and impetus to the emerging back issue market in those days.... it really was a stroke of genius....and yet another seized opportunity on his part. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

Nobody I knew would order from those ads because the only grade listed was "VG or better"

We were a lot less picky about grades then, but we still were not willing to buy VG books at NM prices.

20 minutes ago, the blob said:

Admittedly, I have dreams those dollar box books are t least $5 books, but I am often delusional

Do you add up their value in Overstreet to make you feel good about buying them too?

My technique is to go through dollar boxes looking for books that I think should sell for at least $3.  I buy them and put them in boxes in my house.  Every once in a while, I look at them and consider selling them, but decide that it would be too much work.  I follow the comic market carefully, so that when a book I bought cheap pops due to a movie/TV announcement, I can go look at it, decide that I will scan and list it soon, and then get busy and forget about it.