Vince G

Oh, and side note. My tax preparer, who has been doing this for 30+ years, tells me most people don’t report this type of income. The irs can’t audit everyone, but she says that even though it’s not likely that any individual would be the target of an audit, it’s still a roll of the dice. Her advice, better to report and show a gain, even a small gain if possible. Again, every situation will be unique so it’s buyer beware on this advice.

I think private sales give you more leeway, meaning, you can probably get away without reporting pending how you are receiving the funds. Then again, I am not entirely sure. My one big transaction was done on a private sale. It was over 10k, so I absolutely felt I needed to report that and be completely accurate in that reporting. No problem thus far.

I have only been selling for a few years now but even though none of the online sites have sent me a 1099, I went ahead and reported anyway to be on the safe side. The advice I'd been given as a small time collector/seller/buyer (hobbyist, not a business) is that as long as you show a gain, you probably won't run into a problem. Then again, for many sellers, especially those who are buying and selling all the time, this rule/guidance may not apply. And yes, of course, any transaction over 10k is automatically reported so that definitely needs to be on your return. It can certainly be a nightmare to dig through records and determine exactly how much you paid for individual books but in some cases, estimating total cost might be the way to go. Any books held for more than 1 year are considered long term and are taxed at the long term capital gain rate of 15% (or i believe 20% in certain instances).

That's where I've been focusing my attention recently. Mags have always been undervalued in my opinion, but based on the current trend upward, we may find ourselves on the outside looking in soon enough.

Agreed on the grading. The raw Vampi 1 seems to be graded on point. On a bad day at CGC, it's a 5.5. Lots of stress on that spine. And also correct that the Eerie 23 is undergraded likely by at least 1/2, maybe a full point. It presents extremely well, particularly for a black cover, and no doubt was reflected in the final sale price. I've been buying raw books on mcs for the past decade and in most cases, they do grade conservatively. However, I always zoom the front and back scans, which are more than adequate for identifying the defects on most books and deciding on how accurate their assigned grade is.

For now, gone are the incremental increases we used to see with keys. Now, all the increases are exponential. And to think, I thought 6k was too much to pay for a 9.0 copy of Hulk 181 in January

True, but I think that copy was graded accurately. Too many stress lines, in my opinion, to get into 6.5 or 7.0 territory.

I believe it was in the January MCS auction that a CGC 6.5 copy sold for a shade over 700. Crazy what's going on with prices these days.

The Eerie 23 looked much better than FN/VF, so I think that played a part.

Many of us have never seen anything like this and yes, that worries me also.

My question has always been, where's the money coming from? This has been driving me crazy for the past month or two but I think I partially answered my own question after doing some research. I think part of what we're seeing is the 401k penalty-free withdrawal provision of the 2020 Cares Act. I did not know this, but there is no penalty for withdrawing up to 100k, and you can spread the income taxes on the withdraw over three years. Additionally, if you can pay the full amount you withdrew back, you can claim a refund on those taxes. So, it could very well be that some are pulling money and splurging, particularly on collectibles, but others may be buying with the hope of reselling at a profit, before replacing their initial withdrawal. Then again, maybe it's just all those investors who cashed out on Bitcoin and GameStop thenn decided to throw some money into comics? If you're interested in a short high-level blurb about the 401k provisions in the Cares Act, here's a link: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/cashing-out-401k-covid-19

Can't say enough about MCS. Conan and Este did a great job working with me to handle two five figure transactions in parallel, and were very accommodating in providing me with options for completing both in a timely manner. Not much else I can say except top notch all the way! Thank you for all you do for us individual collectors.

I had a claim for a book that was delivered from CGC to the wrong address. Long story short, FedEx accidentally slapped a 2nd label on the box at a regional distribution center. The book went to the other address, was signed for, but was never able to be reclaimed from the person who signed for it. Declared a lost shipment. CIS resolved the case in a week and gave me current market value for the book. If anyone is wondering, it was a Weird Science Fantasy Annual 1 universal 3.5, that was delivered to the Winston-Salem NC area back in Sept 2019. Have had the service for 2 years and that was my only claim.

I'm in a similar situation where my branch was closed, and I do live in a warm climate. I will be checking mine next week. I have a similar question regarding deterioration, specifically page integrity and quality, and staining/oxidation. I have one book with some light staining on the back, which appears to be a small water stain. If stored in a high temp/high humidity environment, can that stain darken and possibly migrate?

While theoretically there may be a higher grade raw copy (its certainly not the Church), what we do know for sure is that there is a graded 9.2. Is the raw one (Allentown) nicer than that? Maybe, but it's not far fetched to say there is also the distinct possibility that it is not...

Congrats! Great price on this too!

Guess it's time to sell then!!

I'm probably very late to the party here but was curious to gather opinions. Unverified Stan Lee sig on this one but still, very high in my opinion. Can someone explain this to me? https://comics.ha.com/itm/silver-age-1956-1969-/amazing-fantasy-15-marvel-1962-cgc-vg-45-off-white-to-white-pages/a/7229-96169.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515

Thanks so much! I'm interested so will send you a PM.

Can you post the scan of the back, please?

I called them about 30 minutes ago and so far, they are operating normally. From what I learned, social distancing measures that are in place have resulted in some staggering of work within Heritage, so shipping times may wind up being affected. They told me that any change to operations would be noted either on their website or on your homepage/dashboard if you have an account with Heritage. Fingers crossed

Wondering how this might affect Heritage since they are based in Dallas. Anyone have any information to share? Not trying to hijack this thread so I apologize in advance if this is to purely be a discussion with respect to MCS.

Congrats! Damn, i'm always late to the party on the big books!

Yeah, I bailed out on the first 10 but did snag a couple of the later gerber 8s

Yeah, that auction was nuts. Some of those early FF books jacked up quick at the very last second (like the 5).