Joosh

8 hours ago, Jesse-Lee said:

I've posted about GoCollect's seeming inability to keep up with this book in the past, but now I'm honestly starting to wonder if something shady is going on with them. Before I thought they maybe couldn't keep up with this book, since it seemed to continue to climb at an unbelievable rate - that was at least plausible and maybe understandable. But now... in the past couple of days they finally upgraded FMVs a bit - 9.8 was at $3,400, 8.5 was at $475 (I paid attention to these two as basically the top grade and the grade I own).

But today they updated again. They downgraded FMVs across every single grade. For example, they downgraded 9.8 FMVs to $2,700 and 8.5s to $375.

The last 5 eBay sales of CGC blue 9.8 were $4,999; $4,124.95; $4,451; $4,368 and $5,200. The last 5 eBay sales of 8.5s were $500; $585; $500; $675 and $600.

Up to now, it was a point of annoyance in what seemed like a situation where GoCollect couldn't keep up to the FMVs of a fast-increasing book. At this point though, after a half-measure upgrade two days ago and then a seemingly blatant downgrade of this book's FMV on 10/31, it begs the question if there are ulterior motives at play to suppress the true value of this book. I know GPA is the standard, but for a lot of people (like myself) who don't deal in a lot of graded books, GoCollect was billed as the best alternative. But if FMVs are this far off, and especially if they're being manipulated, that's a big problem.

I looked at what you are saying and found they use a 180 day average. Since the massive increase happened around 60 days ago, there are a large number of $2K 9.8 sales dragging down the average of the newer much higher sales. 
Assuming you have paid subscription, you can dive deeper and set your own average. I just changed mine to 90 day avg, and the 9.8 rises to $3,700. 180 day avg is too long for a high volume seller, I think.
The recent large FMV change you mentioned is beyond my understanding. I can guess it has something to do with not having any ebay sales entered for 13 day in October, then the subsequent catch-up after fixing the bug.

GoCollect has a very responsive and helpful customer service in my experience. I’m sure they can help.

Im too young to have gotten any cheap silver age key issues.

I was poor when IH181 was affordable.

I splurged and got my ASM300 9.6 in 2018, no regrets. I wanted a 9.8 but refused to pay over 2X a 9.6 without being able to inspect it in hand.

I can’t see myself dropping $5K on a 9.8 today, but I also can’t see this book going back to $2K for 9.8.  I think this book is the next IH181, but at a lower price point overall due to higher grades and larger supply. It’s even an actual 2nd appearance, just like IH181, 😂.

A few of these I may have shared previously, a few fresh back from CGC. 

You mentioned spending a couple thousand/month on comics for investment... with that budget you could save up for major key issues, purchasing one or 2/year. That’s the smartest play for strictly investing in comics long term. When liquidation time comes, it’s just as much work to sell a $200 Black Lightning #1 as it is to sell a $25K Amazing Fantasy #1. The AF15 will probably be an easier sell too.

First off, knowing which issue under consideration will provide best advice.

  Most here on the boards will say go for the best presenting book. In this case, it’s the 9.4.
 

I say it depends on your reason for purchasing.

For pure speculation/investment purposes, the higher grades tend to yield greater returns overall.  

From what I’ve seen, well centered books can see a bump in value in grade, but rarely exceeding an off-centered higher grade. 

CGC will separate everything possible and charge shipping for each. Reholder is a separate invoice and therefore a unique shipping charge. They will even separate 2 books from same tier if one has a custom label added.

Their sole legitimate competitor will combine everything to save on shipping and has no $5 invoice fee per tier, so there are options. 

4 hours ago, shadroch said:

If they didn't mention the double covers, the books were not accurately graded.I'd want a refund. The outer cover could easily be a grade or more different than the inner cover.

Absolutely. As soon as I get them in my hands I’ll be ready to get CGC Customer Service involved and get it all sorted.  

@Jeffro. grades are not posted until books are shipped, so I have to wait and see. There’s actually another book in this batch that was wrongfully labeled as incomplete, so yeah this sucks. I’ve had close to 100 books graded since July and I’ve been impressed with everything until now. 
 

This particular 13 book batch has at least 2 errors as well as lower grades than expected, with grading notes mentioning pressable defects on books that were pressed. 

My grades came in today and CGC did not notate double cover... figures. 

I’ve got a double cover book getting graded right now.  It better be marked on the slab regardless of whatever notes I did or didn’t add.  Identification and authentication of such instances is a significant reason for CGC existing and the only reason I sent that book their way.

I like this idea.

Make the newsstand editions with unique covers and newsprint interior and they’ll be cheaper to manufacture; add a 50¢ to $1 to cover price in select regions, creating additional variants.

Limit titles to big sellers and one shots/miniseries. 
I recall getting DC newsstands in 2017 and poor Aquaman was always in full supply, Batman and Detective were selling out.

And just maybe sell them outside of Barnes&Noble and BaM, increase impulse buys from non collectors. Dollar General and similar convenience stores are everywhere nowadays; perfect places to sell comics.

The Walmart Marvel 3 packs (not newsstand sales but comparable) seem to be selling well and they are not cheap. $10 for 3 books, and speculators only really want the Variant in front anyway. The hidden fillers are heavy with non-key 2nd prints and overprinted 1st prints.
 

CBCS has their own forum on their website; all can be answered there. 
There’s no reslabbing time set that I’ve seen; most important, for all slabbed books, is proper storage conditions.

I just had an Absolute Carnage 1 graded 9.8, it is missing the code from manufacturer and CGC didn’t even notate it. 
 

I’ve got an ASM698 with 2 stickers, all crooked. Haven’t had that one graded though.

I personally think 9.9 and 10 are too fragile to pay a premium for. As was mentioned, these books can be damaged within their slabs accidentally, especially through shipping, with nothing to insure against such occurrences. Way too risky for me.

He knows exactly how valuable those two are, I helped him pick them out a few months ago. The Spawn was purchased through the CGC selling forum. 
His next goal is to get a Superpro #4 signed by Lawrence Taylor, the NY Giants player featured on the cover. 

Here’s what I have in my collection that are on the TBD list. None are 12-10-13, bummer. 

Deadpool 18: 11/19/2013

New Avengers 11: 11/26/2013

Superior Carnage: 12/03/2013

Wolverine 10: 11/19/2013

Thor: God of Thunder 14: 11/19/2013

I’d send him the money back and tell him he sucks at being generous, nice try.

weird, to say the least.

5 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

Go to PGX, where you belong!

Eww gross! PGX deserves every bit of  thrown its way.  Boooooo

CBCS verified signature will cost significantly more than Qualified CGC label, and if it’s not a clean typical sig it may not be verifiable, even if it is authentic. 
Unless the signature’s verification adds more than $50 in sale value, I wouldn’t bother. Jack Kirby sig would be worth it, Tom Lyle, probably not.

I use both CGC and CBCS depending on a multitude of factors; they each have their quirks. Unless I’m a paid spokesperson I see no incentive to hate on one or the other.

When i first submitted books to CGC I did the math and found the $150 membership was my best deal. I had mostly sub-$200 moderns and a few silver age. I think it was 15 books total. Its been a few years now.

This year I’m over 100 books submitted as I plan to sell off a large portion soon. Once again, I got the $150 membership, but I had initially planned about 50 books. It got out of hand a little. I’m still not sure which venue(s) I’m using to sell yet. We didn’t used to have all these selling options!

I would go for modern facsimile reprints, like the FF1 as shown.

For more $ you can get the Golden Record reprints of some Marvel #1’s that were printed back in 66. Their covers are nearly identical to original; just missing cover price marking.

3 minutes ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

Do you believe that you should be treated like a customer when you access these boards? No.
Are the boards an ad for CGC? Yes.
Do they serve as a place for CGC to sell ad space? Yes.
Do you think CGC makes money off of you being here and participating? Yes.
And should you expect any minimum level of service as a result, much as you would at a store of any kind? Yes.

Had a few $1 and $2 finds at a local festival. 

ASM 615 in the middle has “FRIENDLY NBHD SPIDER-MAN” as its UPC caption.