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On 6/10/2024 at 9:19 AM, Math Teacher said:

As I understand it, some of these expenses are not available to you unless you're a dealer. But then, I'm not a tax accountant.

That's not exactly true but the things you can deduct will depend on if you are recognizing the income as long term capital gains taxed as collectibles on Schedule D or as business income on a Schedule C. 

You would use Schedule C if you are a flipper/dealer/whatever (and you don't need an LLC or be set up as a business to do this). You'd use Schedule D if you've collected for years and now you're selling the collection, i.e. everything you have owned over 1 year. 

Grading and restoration should be deductible in either case because they add to the basis of the book in question.

Shipping is iffy on the Schedule D - I am not 100% sure on that one.

Storage you can deduct if you are using Schedule C - you'd deduct that year's storage cost but nothing from prior years. If you are using Schedule D that's gonna be a no. 

On 6/10/2024 at 1:52 AM, shadroch said:

Suppose the original owner estimates the book is worth $250 and gifts it to his son, who sells it for $200.  

What tax is owed, and by who?

The son's cost basis in the book is the same as the father's assuming the book was given while the father is alive. If the son inherited the book his cost basis is the FMV of the book on the day he died. Son owes tax when he sells it regardless of the situation.

On 6/10/2024 at 6:09 AM, jimbo_7071 said:

Did you just admit to tax evasion?

The best is when people do this in collecting groups on Facebook with their full legal names and locations available for anyone to see. 

Can't forget the MCU fatigue factor either. The interest/outlook on the MCU was much different in 2021 vs now. 

On 6/6/2024 at 3:52 PM, 1Cool said:

My answer would be not a chance.  Comics exploded partly because bros were stuck at home for a long time period and they saw buying and selling comics as a way to make quick cash while they sat at home with big government stimulus checks (and Gamestock / AMC winnings).  You also had a ton of non bro buyers who where also stuck at home and buying pretty much everything they could get their grubby little hands on and comics became a hot thing to speculate on (sports cards also saw a huge jump for the same reason).  Unless that perfect storm comes back (highly doubtful for various reasons) then I don't see a similar spike coming.  Minor blip is possible but nothing like those two years.

Agreed

The S&P 500 is up over 25% over the past year and QQQ over 30%. If there was any coming back thanks to the stock market it would've already happened. 

On 6/3/2024 at 10:49 AM, 1Cool said:

Are you buying back books now that book prices have gone back to where you were comfortable at?  I hope you are especially if you enjoyed them but I hear more and more that people have just moved on and don't intend to buy back most of the collection they sold during the spike in prices.

Pretty much moved on. There are a couple of books I want to buy (watching the restored Detective 29 at Heritage now) but every time the end of an auction nears I bring myself back to reality  Bad part of having expensive taste I guess. 

On 6/3/2024 at 10:11 AM, Hepcat said:

Yeah, well I'm on the side of the buyer/collector upon whom incidentally the whole comic market depends. If investors/speculators/flippers who bought in at nosebleed prices in 2019-23 are now taking a haircut, so what? Who's forcing them to sell the comic they valued so much as to pay those prices? And if they don't really cherish that comic, why did they buy it?

Speaking for myself - the runup in prices is exactly why I stopped buying books for my collection in 2019 and have done nothing but sell since. I could no longer justify owning these books that were worth multiple months of my salary. At that point how can you not place an emphasis on the value over the sentimental/nostalgia factor? I still have some books I will likely never sell but the overall values involved are much more comfortable for me now. 

On 6/3/2024 at 9:23 AM, 1Cool said:

All data is beneficial but the list from the recent ComicLink auction is pretty easy to read with all the red and a scattering of green.  ComicLink isn't the entire market but it's a very good representation of what books are selling currently via auction.  The list from the ComicLink auctions covers quite a large swath of the market from true keys to spec books to old hot books so you can't say it's biased or weighted toward one part of the market.  I looked again and the Avengers and FF4 sections are just a bloodbath  

Agreed, the change % vs 90 day GPA column is insane.

On 6/2/2024 at 6:41 PM, Telegan said:

Unless the index tracks your specific purchase of Hulk 181, I'm not sure that's how an index works.

Just questioning the methodology, i.e. what books were included, how is it being calculated, etc. If you have a bronze age index then Hulk 181 is basically your Apple, Microsoft, and Google all rolled into one, and if that book has basically done nothing over the past 5 years then how are we getting these percentages. 

I would also question if the list of books includes books that were winners in hindsight (MCU spec paid off) and maybe excludes things that people were actually buying in 2018 on MCU spec that maybe didn't pay off. 

On 6/2/2024 at 11:12 AM, Q.N.S. said:

Swagglehaus posts an update every month on the index as it is released. 

 

These charts are great news for people who haven't bought a single comic since 2020 I guess, or bought the right books. I bought a Hulk 181 9.2 more than 5 years ago and it is barely selling for what I paid for it, so I really question what books he is using in this "index". 

On 5/17/2024 at 11:22 AM, Q.N.S. said:

Just a reality check. Since 2018, the Dow has risen about 58%, and the S&P 78%. 

As of April's data, the Silver Age Index is still up 252% in the same time frame. The Bronze Age is up 110%, and the Copper Age is up 69%. 

The big difference is that stocks, metals, etc, these are at their 5-year highs, but comic books are way off their highs. 

Comics are around their supports, and still compare favorably, while the others are far extended.

 

Gonna need you to show your math on this one 

On 5/10/2024 at 1:15 PM, Telegan said:

 

I watched it last night and was happy to see he isn't offended by opposing viewpoints.  To me these indexes/indices are kind of fun to look at, but I'm not sure I take them too seriously with the way collectibles are "traded".

And it's always a floor.... until it isn't.

The video Swag references is below (another guy whose channel I enjoy watching) :

 

I love Reserved Investments, great channel

On 4/30/2024 at 10:38 AM, batman_fan said:

I remember a poll done on the boards a while back to look at the age of collectors and the peak was definitely on the older side.  I would say it suggested the slowdown in prices was out a ways (20yrs?) but that poll was years ago.  May be interesting to refresh.  I still spend a lot on stuff but I am prepping to clear out about 10,000 comics and about 100 boxes of toys, cards, etc. after I retire in 2 years (actually 594 days not that I am counting).  Trying to figure out the best venue to sell through.  Considered an EBay store but selling through EBay seems like the you risk a lot of scammers.

I think the MCU and DCEU declines probably sped up those timelines  

People invest poorly in all kinds of ways, what's new  

On 3/13/2024 at 9:52 AM, Robot Man said:

Kept records?  I was way more busy digging up stuff for my collection than documenting what I paid for it.

This endevor has always been just a hobby for me. I never in my wildest dreams thought this stuff would be worth much. Any money I made usually just went back into buying more junk most people just threw away. Stuff that taxes were paid on when new.

I’m just a little fish hobbyist not a financial genius. The financial gain I might make is a pure accident if I were to sell it all. And certainly not my motivation.

There are 1%ers out there making billions and paying nothing or next to nothing in taxes. And, yet they waste their time on folks like me…

Unfortunately it's because the rich have all of the resources to challenge the IRS on their audits and they don't have the manpower to make them pay up. It's infinitely cheaper and easier to send automated notices to the common man that received a 1099 from PayPal that they can tell didn't get reported on a Schedule C without having a human involved, and the common man is more likely to pay up without a fight. Just the world we live in. 

On 3/4/2024 at 10:52 AM, piper said:

So it’s a good time for me to buy a copy?

Probably not a bad time. I paid $7250 for a 9.2 in 2019 and it looks like one just sold for $7,600  

Those Hulk 181 results, yikes. 

You'll want to compare the value of the book raw vs the book in the same condition graded and take into consideration the grading fees and pressing if you are going that route as well. Personally I never bothered grading anything worth less than $1,000 due to those factors. 

An easy way to analyze it: if you had the value of your collection in cash today - would you spend it to buy those books? If not, sell. 

Also consider opportunity cost. If you plan to put the money in stocks, real estate, etc. - you have to consider the returns you'd expect to make on those investments vs what you think the comic market might do. 

I sold half of my collection a year ago and put it in the S&P 500. It has return over 25% in that time. The stuff I held onto went down 10-20% in that same timeframe.  

edit

On 1/29/2024 at 10:48 AM, BeardedBubba said:

Congrats!  I was watching your first print on here and Facebook wishing I was in a position to grab it.  I've sold two first prints in the past 10 years and miss them both. 

Thanks man. I will probably end up regretting it and miss it but at the same time it just sat in a safe rarely to see the light of day  It was nice to own though for sure. 

Sold most of my collection over the past few years. I think this is the only book I will miss. Bought raw in 2017 on Craigslist. 

Sounds like someone who sold an ASM300 on eBay in 2022 is about to have a bad day. 

On 1/12/2024 at 1:26 PM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

I realize the question wasn't directed at me, but I can tell you Bob supports either model.  I always ship (or hand deliver) my books to him because that is waaaaay cheaper and much less hassle than shipping each one when they sell.  Hope that helps.

Thank you I may look into going that route for one of my books