Garf

97 has really left me hanging. I just can't see it going well for any place that Rick sees a future in. Looking back over the last few pages on this thread I reckon that the OA market will get big given enough time, and anyone with enough cash who sees it will try and flip it with reasonable success the first time around... and they will be followed by some re-flippers too (that's happening with the comics I sell, about 10% are getting listed by the buyer a week later!? crazy... speculation on all issues past 95 possibly past 96 looks like it has hit saturation. ebay looks like a LCS pre-order form). I agree it will get ruined for the fans but demand is demand. If it's like that with comics I bet a lot of people also don't know where they should be looking for pages in the first place or are just hardwired to ebay. If you are just reading the trades, just watching the show or simply can't complete your collection. It may well make sense to pick up a page from an arc or issue you love which is well within reach at the moment compared to buying some of the early first print comics. Why not just go for something unique as a fan? At least that was the rationale for my page purchase. I know I can't afford a full collection now but a nice piece will fill the void for me. Popped the payment through a few hours ago. Can't wait.

Confessions of a small time Ebay insta-flipper. Hi... I enjoy reading a lot of the comments in the moderns and gradings boards and thought I'd post a little something about the market as I see it and ask a question. I can't honestly say I know a great deal about the high end of trading, your board ettiquette or in-jokes.... other than if it has something to do with TWD I really should have started two seperate threads, one for the info and the other for the question ^_^ I have collected comics on and off for a long time... Batman, Mike Baron's Badger, Sandman and several other titles over the years. Mostly off right now as I have a family that comes first. Trades are my new best friend... bah! Roughly 2 months ago I caught The Walking Dead fever when I noticed some of the earlies were getting further and further out of reach. I love this series so I bought a few firsts on Ebay. I did feel like kicking myself at the time as I remembered deciding not to get an #1 at $160 even earlier. It made me wonder if they would increase in value, hold or dip. Then I read a comment from one of you guys answering a newbie question about making money with comics, saying that people should buy what they enjoy reading and not expect to make a lot of money if they are buying for anything more than cover (preferably less). LCS were still selling lots of back issues at cover price (still sometimes better if you phoned them) and are really running dry now. Really dry. It won't be long at all before the collectors have the main share. Much to my wife's disbelief I had without much warning sunk $1050 into TWD. Grabbing lots of different issues across the series. My ears paid the price but I saw it as a no brainer. The math isn't difficult to work out as far as ebay/paypal cuts went so I figured at the very worst I could flog this happily at break even in a heartbeat. It's a month later now and I have nearly made that back only about 60 issues into the stack with only 3x 33's and 2x 48's in sold and other keys held back (well minus some last minute reinvestment as early weekly will now flip nicely between 300 - 600% and rising). The prints have always been quite small so I don't feel that I have to worry about any comments relating to the price going anywhere South anytime soon... but as I am sure you have all seen there have been weeks where everyone has wanted to get in on the act. This did make me bung auctions on as a knee jerk pump and dump the first time but that was wrong. If there are some small flippers *makes dolphin clicks* out there reading this the money really doesn't seem to be in the auctions. It's a fast buck but you can easily find yourself on the wrong side of a glut. Take your time, TWD is not going anywhere. On average the mid "buy it now"s will sell within 30 days and get you more margin. I've only had 5 not sell in all the listings and one was an auction You get enough interest on combined purchases and PM requests come too. I can only see this working so well with TWD especially, a few other Image titles and some other no brainers (e.g. some soon to be DC sellouts). Yes you can group your issues into tens, trust me it's much less of a pain in the but you get less when you put less effort in. It is a good way of getting rid of some FN inbetween the NM if you make it clear to the buyer, or just charge a premium and be prepared to relist. Setting your delivery above 3 working days takes some of the sting out of postage trips as you can group more together. Maybe I'll get parts for the rest of my gaming rig and a holiday out of this without breaking a sweat, because that's all I really want. I have no lofty goal. This is a hobby to my day job. So... I'm just wondering would slabbing TWD keys and non keys really have netted more? I just can't see it being viable from the UK, being someone not in the know. Perhaps more of a long play? Some of the previous comments about non keys and bargain bucket issues in a few years just don't ring true from what I am seeing. This probably really is a modern classic. I haven't been able to put it down. The infected are out there... and they are buying comics. --------------------- Garf. --------------------- Pain in the spoon? Guess I'm going to have to get used to that! (pleased to meet you, or not, as the case may be)