The Less Blob

I wonder why they bothered. Do they have Aussie geared ads inside. Why not just have it understood that you add 50 cents to the US price. I am going to assume the Australian market is smaller than Canadian just because Canadians are such rabid enthusiasts and Australians are so busy fighting post apocalyptic biker gangs.

It is exhausting. But I get it, if rma is really good at finding a $50 book he can press into a $200 book, I understand why he might devote his energy to that. It just seems like there are plenty of people hunting those books too, probably much harder to find good candidates than 5-10 years ago. I have a lot of 4.0-5.0 $3 books that might be pressed into 8.0 copies, just don't know if that is worth the effort.

I think folks are just excited to show the product of their hunt, don't want to think hard about which forum is corre t. I don't blame them. I would too if I hit some of these scores.

Where the heck do you go where you find this stuff???

I would see that as a challenge and adventure.

Where was that? I pulled some nice $10-20 type variants out of a dollar box section today. The store gave up on selling them in house, but there is an ebay market. Might go back tomorrow because I only got half way through. Did waste my money on 20 or so books I thought had a market, but do not (I hate looking up cheap books in a store).

I have an equal number of 8s vs.11s, so I have no horse in the race. But I've been hoarding 2s for nearly a decade, so...

I am trying to figure out why x-force 11 is 3x as expensive as 2. It's arguably not even the first domino. Was 2 really that much more heavily printed?

I still find good stuff. I spend my lunch hour at a few shops as I am within a 15 minute subway ride of several so I figure I rummage anyway. And at my yearly trek to a show, although that has become more of a $2 box situation. I don't have aptitude for figuring out what midgrade key can be pressed into a 9.6 or 9.8. I don't have specific books on my radaar so going into a dealer's "priced as marked" "good books" is overwhelming and frankly, they are usually priced beyond comprehension. 15-20 years ago I definitely went to shows looking to buy a mix of "good" books and hitting the cheap boxes, but I have found fewer and fewer deals to be had and half the time a pressable defect isn't treated as a defect in terms of pricing. I buy a couple of $10-20 items now and then and occasionally my shops have some things priced right.

Ahh well, I guess this thread is going Nowhere. Here is a 50 center...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/SHOWCASE-58-Enemy-Ace-Solid-Silver-Age-Midgrade-99-CENT-SALE-/253821432297?hash=item3b18efb1e9%3Ag%3AGtEAAOSwoyVbeI7U&nma=true&si=k5rBGBi%2BuujbAIA%2FqNJ8cW9pcBQ%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 https://www.ebay.com/itm/Showcase-58-CGC-9-6-2nd-Enemy-Ace-App-2nd-highest-graded-census-copy/183460448391?hash=item2ab7184887:g:fPsAAOSw0-BbK-SX Many that's a big spread between 4.0 and 9.6!

I just wasted 2 hours wandering around. Tried to find lots or boxes, it's all the same "random" or lots of not worth the postage. But I did find a really cheap beater of a silver age key for $21 shipped.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Archie-Jughead-Laugh-Little-joke-book-tv-pep-Reggie-MAD-house-Comic-Book-Lot/163358868141?hash=item2608f282ad:g:6qoAAOSwkxRayqlu Does he honestly think anyone is going to fall for the $250 post-it on the $2 archie mad house and the $60 post-it on the bent reggie? Makes the $100 post-it on the Little Archie seem reasonable..

How many hours a week do you spend hunting on ebay? You have it down to an art form. 15-18 years ago with scarey no images sellers and fewer flippers it was easier to sell and land scores (weird how that works), but nowadays, anything that looks like it has potential seems to get bid beyond a flipper comfort zone.

That is the NYC tax rate, 8.75or something. I understand they are likely to not know that tax rates for every county in the country.

West side comics in Manhattan. Owner creeped the hell out of me as a kid in the 70s and 80s. Lots of good stuff though. No idea in hindsight whether he was expensive as I hit the 4/$1 and 3/$1 boxes (those dang marks on the back of the books!). Had an AF 15 on the wall behind him for years. He apparently got amazing silver age collections all the time out of the projects and tenements just north and he would pay 5 cents a book. One guy was so ticked off he set up shop in front of his store and was giving his books away instead. Got evicted from an amazing lease because he insisted on selling videos too when his lease limited him to magazines/comics, etc.

Sorry, my in hand phone camera skills stink. Was getting too much glare laying it flat. It is issue #3, the 1:25 Granov variant.

Ok, it could be a quarter box or even a $2 box...get into the $3 or 3 for $10 box and that's too rich for my blood... (just kidding..maybe) The "books you can't find in the wild" thread has been getting some posts of awesome finds, but these common but sought after books really don't fit there. And we see cheap steals in the flea market thread and the ebay thread, but I think a thread for comic shop finds would be fun. These could be "this week in my collection," but that thread includes books bought for five figures too. And I certainly won't object if we slide a bit into copper or even bronze if you hit the jackpot on a stack of books. Here's one I got a little while ago while fishing around:

Not to be a party pooper, any potential newsstand editions aside, but other than mayyyybe the Punisher Armory 10, are these really "can't find in the wild" books? With that said, I really like the cover on Moon Knight 24 (and it seems ebay does too as it is now a $15-$20 book rather than the quarter box book it had been for years). We could have an "adventures in the dollar box" thread, that is certainly my cup of tea.

cool. I smagged a copy of the 1st app in mangazine for $1 last year (probably posted it here), but it is mid-grade

You are right about the tax sounding too high. Does it just default to the highest sales tax in the country?

Cash is king. If you are dropping $500-$1000 let's say on some books that may be priced at market, chances are you can work a deal and get the prices knocked down. If a $100 book costs you $75 because you did a group deal, you have a margin to work with. Alas, ebay and paypal fees eat a lot of that up, less so if you sell here or some other fee-less venue. But you need to know that's a book you can actually sell for $100, not just one you see other people trying to sell for $100.

That's the fun of the hunt! Don't worry, I buy plenty of $1 and $2 books that are worth about that much when I buy them and stay there for years. For example, I have a sick obsession with MCP Kieth Wolverine covers. I may have close to 10 copies of each of the cool ones. Thus far, not great flipping potential other than maybe a couple of the issues.

It took a bit of perusing to deduce this show is in Canada.

Gimme!