blazingbob

I vote for the Butcher scale From a 1 chop meat to a 10 Filet mignon We can vote for the Best butcher of books, I have some in mind

Looks like natural scrapple from stacking under a exacto blade

I don't think the Restored blue labels were a driving factor. More like overgrading doesn't translate into higher retail prices and once you ruin your reputation it is very hard to get it back

Regardless of what color a restored book is in if the price differential between restored/unrestored is worth the cost and the work can get removed it will get removed. Which brings us back to your wanting restored books to sell closer to unrestored so that restored books don't get chopped up. You can always become the Pro-Restoration advocate. Buy restored books and educate the masses based on the different types of restoration why they deserve the pricing closer to unrestored copies. As they sell you will lead by example, not by posting. Numbers don't lie.

"I'm saying that if all labels were equal from the start, that this 2ndary market wouldn't have formed" ? This sure looks like an indirect way of saying that if the labels were the same color restored books would sell closer to what blue labels would.

Besides Blue is so soothing when you get a low grade when you expected higher.

Your post is all well and good but the reality is that most buyers were slowly trained visually that blue meant unrestored. CBCS went blue with Restored books and having bought one when I didn't look close enough I wasn't happy. Don't assume the customer is smart enough to read what is on the label. I have customers look at me with two heads when I explain what restored means on a raw book when they want to buy it. I ask if they realize it is restored and they don't get it. Colors they get, explanations I might as well be speaking a foreign language.

It is always about $$$$$ Pressing for Profit. Restoration Removal is all about Profit. Married covers, cleaning covers, lightening and removing water stains, taping spines are for profit. Micro trimming by Jason was for profit Undisclosed restoration is for profit. Love of the blue label has very little to do with it. Love of the dollar bill is more like it.

Both of these books can have a chip or a Pre-marvel chip that goes side to side on the back cover more towards the top 1/3 of the back. Always in the same place and if you've seen enough of these issues you can tell right away if they have it or not.

There will always be three camps Camp one that has one and wants the book to climb in value so when they are hanging out with their comic buddies you have something interesting to say. "Hey, have you seen what AF #15's are selling for now? Glad I got one :)" Camp two is the camp that wants the book to go down back into the price range that they can buy one at. After the buy they want to move to Camp #1. Camp three is the group that comes to my booth telling me that when they win the lottery they will buy one. It doesn't matter where the price goes. At some point somebody will always be right.

I'm not shy or passive aggressive when it comes to calling out a poster. The high end market "pulse" goes up and down based on that last GPA sale which is sad because frankly the biggest contributors to that index are the auction houses and frankly they don't care one bit about the market. As I said before the business model is Churn em/Burn em. If the market is up, great for us, if the market is soft, great for us to since we are still making money. Great business model, only risk is that auction results cover those auction consignor advances and that the buyers still come. Why do you think the auction houses are so aggressive to get material? You need to feed the machine. Comic Graded Crack and you'll be back.

Did I quote your post? Or are you proclaiming to be one of the experts that I'm referring to?

Interesting that as soon as there are some recent GPA sales the experts come back out. God forbid some AF #15's sell on dealer websites because as we know you can only buy from the GPA Store. Short term/instant profit gratification continues to be the norm. If I can't upgrade it/I won't buy it continues. Most of my listings should come with a "Where should I mail the check to" since clearly if it is upgradeable I should give you that money. Anybody with half a brain should be able to figure out that by adding in upwards of an additional 10% sales tax on top of buyer fees will drive down many of the big ticket GPA results since those GPA reporting websites are required to collect sales tax. Auction houses continue to be the "market" since we all know that this is the MOST clear communicator of the market. CHURN em and BURN them since we make money whether you do or not.

Yup, those starbucks product placements really pay off Highgradelicensing.com is in full swing McDonald's, the breakfast of comic dealers everywhere campaign is coming. Hi ho, hi ho, Scores is the way to go is in the works

Without GPA or something to tell you that it's a fair price the comic buying public is lost. Watch the look of panic when there isn't a recent GPA sale to figure out if the price of the book is fair or not.

AF #15 3.5 deal was completed.

AF #15 3.5 on hold pending deal completion.

Grouchy old guy post alert

I don't think Chuck is annoyed at all. However if you are ok with buying a book that "might be" restored from a seller who "may have not" disclosed it that makes my job as a on-line/convention seller difficult to compete against. You are basically telling me that even if the seller ripped you off you are ok with it. Not exactly the way I want to do business with my customers since a majority of them prefer disclosure versus I find out later when I get it graded or go to sell it. If somebody has been building a collection and then go to sell it to fund a college education or new home and start finding out their books are restored you don't get smiling faces that they got a "deal"

Using your example of FF #19-45 what grade expectations are you looking for at $30-40 bucks a book? FF #19 hot book, FF #25, 26 Battle issues, 36 is a key, 39 Dr. Doom cover, 45 is a key. I'm guessing GD's, maybe VG.

No offense but "Ebay" is a sales platform with a bunch of sellers. This is the same issue I have with "Last GPA sale was $xxxx". If you told me I went to Ebay and "Ebay Seller blah blah blah" generally has what I'm looking for and is a consistent grader then I get a more realistic pricing model to compete against. Same goes with last GPA price. If you can bring up a seller who has it a lot cheaper and the copies are similar in eye appeal then maybe that is the person to buy it from. However, if there is no seller out there at that price maybe the last buyer got a good deal. I'll put my raw grading up against "ebay sellers" all day long. However, I cannot match ebay sellers on pricing because frankly I have no idea of the financial motivation those sellers are in to move raw books. My experience with selling on ebay raw was a waste of time. Everyone assumes you can't grade.

My consignment fee on $10K+ sales is 8.75%, I don't charge sellers or buyers CC/paypal fees.

If a dealer is presented books that add up to $22 from the younger generation I think it is a good idea to discount it without them even asking. I prefer that another generation of comic buyers get a good impression since those younger buyers grow up to older ones with disposable income. A younger buyer may forget a good experience but a YOUNGER BUYER NEVER FORGETS A BAD ONE. Kiss your future business goodbye if you insult or rip them off. Some deserve it but try harder.

Sales were very good this year. San Diego was much much stronger then my NY show

As a High grade seller I seem to find the Silver Age Marvel buyers seem to be more plentiful that Silver Age DC buyers, especially with money.