Hudson

Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to respond and for letting me know what to expect.

Wow. Great price!

I don't think NoMan intended this as a joke. Some people are not comfortable in certain social situations.

i fully understand your thoughts on the what you label as the responsibility of a buyer and seller. I think there is often, however, more to the equation As a buyer, I don't want to always pay the absolute low price from a dealer. If I haggle a dealer down to their minimum profit, I don't think they leave the transaction with a good feeling and if they know the books I am looking for, this makes them less likely to contact me before trying to sell Tom someone else. I don't mind paying a little more to build a relationship in which a seller will contact me before offering the books to the general public. Aa a seller, I think the same can hold true. B if you squeeze every last penny out of a deal, the buyer remembers that and is less likely to go to you in the future. Repeat business and reputation may count for more than a few extra dollars on one sale. On another thought, do you "as a buyer" go into the grocery store and haggle over the price of a gallon of milk you are buying? You may shop around for the best price, but if you live in America, I doubt you "negotiate" the price on the vast majority of items you buy.

I understand.

If I can buy a book at a convention for the SAME price as eBay, see it in person, and take it home that day, I consider that a WIN! 10% under eBay would be a gift!

I don't!!! Then again, I also am a FIRM believer that dealers should make a reasonable profit. When "buyers" try to take all the profit away from dealers, they are killing the very people we need to supply our collections. I like your 10% under eBay.

The last show I went to (last month), I saw a book I was marginally interested in on a dealer's wall. I could not see the price on it (due to the price tag being hidden behind another book that partially covered the right side of the book I was interested in), so I was hesitant to ask. I did not want to bother the guy to get the book down if his price was way "out of whack". The guy, however, started talking to me and seemed friendly enough, so I decided to take a chance and asked him to see the book. As he took it down, I could see the price and immediately thought it was a little high. I probably would have looked at the book quickly and politely handed it back, however, almost as soon as he handed the book to me, the guy gave me a different price (About 30% lower than it was marked). The new price seemed good to me and so without further "negotiation", I bought it. Not sure why a "dealer" would price a book and then offer at a different price before any "negotiations" began, but I was glad he did. Had he not, he would have been out a sale and I would not have the book. Any thoughts on this dealer "tactic"?

Bob, I usually agree with you on most things. You have a great reputation on the boards and are well respected. I can even say that MOST people would likely agree with you, in that someone buying "a stack" should get more of a discount than someone buying a single book. I, however, do not understand this way of thinking. If a dealer has priced in say a 20% "wiggle room" factor on his books, then why can't a buyer get that 20% on one book the same as on a stack of say 10? Now, I am NOT talking about when that single book is a "key". I am talking about when that single book OR that stack of books is just "run of the mill" books. Maybe I am missing something here. I would be happy to hear other opinions on this.

I think that when one dealer starts marking up their prices by some factor over what they actually expect to sell the book for, it puts pressure on other dealers to do the same thing. Say a "buyer" at a convention becomes accustomed to being able to "negotiate" a dealer down by 20%(arbitrary number), then I believe that buyer becomes conditioned to "expecting" a 20% discount. If that buyer then goes to a dealer who does not price the same way, then the buyer may feel that he is not getting a "good deal" when that dealer only offers him 15% (the wiggle room that dealer had priced into the equation). In the end, we have a buyer who might not buy a book that is actually a "fair deal", just because he/she has become accustomed to a greater discount.

. i think you are one of the few that price pretty close to actual sell price.

I have no clue how "dealers" price books at conventions. A lot of prices that I see often seem "unrealistic", however, I know that going to a convention can be like going to a used car dealership. Many dealers are looking to price high and then "negotiate" the price. Maybe they "need" to get $3k for a book to make a decent profit, but they mark it at $4k in hopes that they get even more than the $3k once the negotiation is done. I don't really know. I do know that I personally hate to negotiate, so high tags usually make me just walk away. I would love to see a convention in which the organizers made a rule that every book must be sold as marked or not at all. In other words a "no negotiation convention", so a guy like me does not have to guess what the "real price" is and whether or not to waste my time at that booth. I know this will never happen but a guy can dream. This is likely the number one reason I don't go to many conventions anymore. I used to travel all over the place to attend conventions, but I just don't enjoy the whole "negotiation" thing and so with the invent of the web, I find myself traveling less to these things.

+1 (please excuse the old school +1, but this deserves more than a "like").

Just wait a bit and check Rick's sales thread. He doesn't let books get any dust on them before moving them on to new owners.

Has anyone been to this show in the past, that can tell me if this is a "comic book" show, or something else? I understand there are some comic artist there, but I guess what I really want to know is if this is a good place to go and buy Golden Age comics. Are any of the big dealers going to be there?

Join the boat (the boat I am in). I can't tell you how many of these I passed on thinking another would come along. I think the ship sailed on this one for me as well.

I agree with you 100% on this one, Bob. The perfect example of this is perhaps the recent price realized by the 1.0 copy of Suspense Comics #3.

Of course all this really only matters if you want to buy and sell. As a "collector" with no interest in selling, the FMV is not as important. Regrettably the world of comics has turned and is far more of a business than it once was. Thus the ability to "perfectly" price every book becomes the ultimate goal. No no disrespect to sellers, as without them I would not be able to buy.

Thanks for the report and all the photos, Jay.

This is an interesting way of grading. I don't think CGC grades this way, however, as I don't recall seeing any "positive" CGC notes. CGC typically notes the book's defects in their "grader's notes". I will say, however, that it is refreshing to see someone (like you) who looks at the positives in life (glass half full). Way to go.

I was happy to add this to my collection.

Thanks, Bob. I had often wondered what qualified as a "perfect 10" (besides Bo Derek of course).

Thank you for providing this insight. I did not look at it that way.

Thank you for this information. I knew about some of these past grading systems (such as Overstreet and even the 100 point system), however, I was unaware of others. Thank you for responding, for your thoughts, and for your very thorough descriptions of these other grading "systems".