COMICLINK

Bruce, You are exactly right on this point if the trend is for buyers to assume GPA to be THE source of pricing data and not ONE OF the sources. A perceived ceiling is a danger for high dollar books that don't sell frequently and threatens to hurt the market for a book if the venue that sells the book for a record low reports the sale to GPA (to the extent that prospective buyers use only GPA for figuring a relatively scarce book's value). For example, this happened with Journey Into Mystery #83 CGC 9.0 (a non-pedigree) when sold by Heritage for $11,500 (a record low). Prior to that, ComicLink had sold multiple non-pedigrees for between $16,000 and $18,000, the lower end price being a less desirable one having cream to off-white pages. The problem is that the consignor put it into the Heritage auction with no reserve, was at the mercy of whatever the underbidder wanted to pay, and a strong one did not show up for the auction. Whether or not the high bidder would have paid more (making the book potentially worth more to someone) then becomes irrelevant because the book only sold for $11,500. I doubt that any dealer or collector would have ever taken $11,500 for a 9.0 Journey #83 if sold outright - that is a good buy price for the book and I'm sure most dealers would still be willing to pay it and wait for a collector to buy it for a profit. Now the Hulk #1 CGC 9.0 has sold for $17K lower than it sold for on ComicLink previously (and also lower than a CGC 8.5 sold on ComicLink). The recent sale was reported and accepted by GPA because I suppose Mastronet agreed to report all its data. To address those asking why I would provide data to GPA for some sales and not others, the reason is that even though I don't have interest in giving GPA a key to my database, the market could really use the help in select instances. If the Hulk #1 9.0 buyer relisted it on ComicLink and it sold for $50K again, it would benefit the buyer and the overall market for high-grade Hulk #1's, to have that sale reported on GPA too. Josh Nathanson www.comiclink.com

GPA shows prices realized for sales that they have recorded. Currently, no ComicLink sales are reported to GPA and GPA also lacks retail sales from many other sources. Therefore, their numbers are incomplete, and collectors preaching them as gospel is inaccurate and misleading. One high profile example of is the sale of Hulk #1 CGC 9.0 with white pages which sold in a recent Mastro auction for $33,378 and was reported to GPA. In March 2005, a Hulk #1 in 9.0 with off-white to white pages (I think it is the same book before the page quality upgrade) was sold by a consignor on ComicLink for $50,000. So, what is it worth? Taking the GPA number only, a collector would conclude that it is only worth $33K. Taking the ComicLink number only, a collector would conclude that it is worth $50K. Knowing what it sold for in both places, a reasonable conclusion is that what it is worth depends on who is looking for the book at the time, the client base of the selling venue, the scarcity of the book, and what the buyer (and underbidder) is willing to spend to obtain it. If you are a seller, what the book is worth will also have to take into account, keeping in mind the above factors as well, the total commissions (buyer + seller) of the selling venue. What the seller nets = what the buyer ultimately pays for the item minus the sum of the buyer and seller commissions retained by the selling venue. There are countless examples of items selling on ComicLink for higher than the average GPA numbers (the vast majority of which are comprised of eBay and Heritage sales) or even higher than the book just recently sold for in another venue. Of course, there are also examples where a seller is willing to accept less than GPA numbers for a quick sale (or doesn't know that a book can sell for more than their list price) and the astute buyer can obtain a relative "bargain." Alternatively, an uninformed or greedy seller on ComicLink or anywhere else may overprice a book that is not scarce and it is therefore a pitfall for any buyer that is going to resell in the short-term. Josh Nathanson www.comiclink.com What's behind your decision not to supply sales data to GPA? I actually recently offered to start supplying some realized prices (selected higher dollar sales) to GPA and they did not appear to be interested. Thanks, Josh Nathanson www.comiclink.com I'm sure that's because GPA wants all the sales or none of them. . Totally correct, it's all information that's required - I am a bit surprised Josh, I thought I put forward a compelling reason for you to include all sales if you were to report to us, not to cherry pick only a few - and I also explained that's how everyone who reports to us does it so I could not make an exception for one data supplier. BTW, I don't think collectors quoting values from those books traded more often are inaccurate or misleading. From what I see, they're within the range that's realized on ComicLink. And anyone looking at GPA or anything else to price a book based on one or two trades, well that's no different to a collector trying to gauge whether a book being offered by a dealer is fair if there is no historical information to give them some guide. George - you are misinformed - I know for a fact that some dealers who report to GPA do not report all of there sales information. In fact, I know of more than one who do not report most sales information and you still accept their data. I speak with some dealers that use ComicLink on a daily basis who have told me that is the case (that includes items NOT sold on ComicLink). Of course, there is no way for you to make sure this does not happen. I just want to make you aware that what you are saying you do not want, is what you are currently getting in some cases. I offered to give GPA some high-end ComicLink sales, not all sales, and if it is all-or-nothing I am not comfortable with handing over all of that valuable data to GPA or any other company. The offer I extended was based on thinking that GPA would prefer more data to less, especially in the high dollar department, as it is currently lacking all of ComicLink's high dollar sales. I thought it would benefit your customers to have more information in this department going forward, however little. Feel free to email me at buysell@comiclink.com if you change your mind. Anyway, my point was that to say something is only worth an average GPA price is misleading because there are selling venues (convention sales, ComicLink, dealers like Bob Storms, etc.) that do not report to GPA at all. These are different markets containing many customers that do not use GPA, and different prices can be realized. My main point is that GPA is not the definitive pricing source that it is assumed to be by some buyers and sellers. I am certainly not saying it is not a useful guide - just that like any guide, it needs to be taken into context. Josh Nathanson www.comiclink.com

GPA shows prices realized for sales that they have recorded. Currently, no ComicLink sales are reported to GPA and GPA also lacks retail sales from many other sources. Therefore, their numbers are incomplete, and collectors preaching them as gospel is inaccurate and misleading. One high profile example of is the sale of Hulk #1 CGC 9.0 with white pages which sold in a recent Mastro auction for $33,378 and was reported to GPA. In March 2005, a Hulk #1 in 9.0 with off-white to white pages (I think it is the same book before the page quality upgrade) was sold by a consignor on ComicLink for $50,000. So, what is it worth? Taking the GPA number only, a collector would conclude that it is only worth $33K. Taking the ComicLink number only, a collector would conclude that it is worth $50K. Knowing what it sold for in both places, a reasonable conclusion is that what it is worth depends on who is looking for the book at the time, the client base of the selling venue, the scarcity of the book, and what the buyer (and underbidder) is willing to spend to obtain it. If you are a seller, what the book is worth will also have to take into account, keeping in mind the above factors as well, the total commissions (buyer + seller) of the selling venue. What the seller nets = what the buyer ultimately pays for the item minus the sum of the buyer and seller commissions retained by the selling venue. There are countless examples of items selling on ComicLink for higher than the average GPA numbers (the vast majority of which are comprised of eBay and Heritage sales) or even higher than the book just recently sold for in another venue. Of course, there are also examples where a seller is willing to accept less than GPA numbers for a quick sale (or doesn't know that a book can sell for more than their list price) and the astute buyer can obtain a relative "bargain." Alternatively, an uninformed or greedy seller on ComicLink or anywhere else may overprice a book that is not scarce and it is therefore a pitfall for any buyer that is going to resell in the short-term. Josh Nathanson www.comiclink.com What's behind your decision not to supply sales data to GPA? I actually recently offered to start supplying some realized prices (selected higher dollar sales) to GPA and they did not appear to be interested. Thanks, Josh Nathanson www.comiclink.com

GPA shows prices realized for sales that they have recorded. Currently, no ComicLink sales are reported to GPA and GPA also lacks retail sales from many other sources. Therefore, their numbers are incomplete, and collectors preaching them as gospel is inaccurate and misleading. One high profile example of is the sale of Hulk #1 CGC 9.0 with white pages which sold in a recent Mastro auction for $33,378 and was reported to GPA. In March 2005, a Hulk #1 in 9.0 with off-white to white pages (I think it is the same book before the page quality upgrade) was sold by a consignor on ComicLink for $50,000. So, what is it worth? Taking the GPA number only, a collector would conclude that it is only worth $33K. Taking the ComicLink number only, a collector would conclude that it is worth $50K. Knowing what it sold for in both places, a reasonable conclusion is that what it is worth depends on who is looking for the book at the time, the client base of the selling venue, the scarcity of the book, and what the buyer (and underbidder) is willing to spend to obtain it. If you are a seller, what the book is worth will also have to take into account, keeping in mind the above factors as well, the total commissions (buyer + seller) of the selling venue. What the seller nets = what the buyer ultimately pays for the item minus the sum of the buyer and seller commissions retained by the selling venue. There are countless examples of items selling on ComicLink for higher than the average GPA numbers (the vast majority of which are comprised of eBay and Heritage sales) or even higher than the book just recently sold for in another venue. Of course, there are also examples where a seller is willing to accept less than GPA numbers for a quick sale (or doesn't know that a book can sell for more than their list price) and the astute buyer can obtain a relative "bargain." Alternatively, an uninformed or greedy seller on ComicLink or anywhere else may overprice a book that is not scarce and it is therefore a pitfall for any buyer that is going to resell in the short-term. Josh Nathanson www.comiclink.com

Guys - sorry to hear that you missed out on a book you wanted for your collection. Was it on your Wantlist? If so, you would have received a notification that it was available right when the book was listed. There are tons of books that you might not want to miss in the current Focused Auction on ComicLink (shameless plug but its true). There is no reserve so it will be a good opportunity to scoop up books for your collection at very reasonable prices, and combine multiple items in shipping. Josh www.comiclink.com