1Cool

On 9/25/2023 at 1:34 AM, the blob said:

well, folks used to come here to hype some book they had 50 copies of too

 

People are not hyping any copper / modern (or Bronze for that matter) because there is nothing that can be classified as hot.  Books are selling (very slowly) for sure but I've not seen much newer stuff that isn't cool to ice cold.  Just my observations.

I'm setting up at this show and bringing my better books along with a ton of $10 / $20 high grade books.  Always a packed hall and the promoter is telling us there will be a lot of new blood at this Con.  Come check it out this Sunday.  I'm sure we will have the Browns on the radio.

On 9/21/2023 at 10:54 AM, drotto said:

Again this could backfire.  If you force people into longer commitments, they are more likely to say no thanks.  So if the monthly fee is significantly raised, it will cut down on rotation of subs, but what price for a 5 or 12 month sub becomes attractive? 

 

As an example if they push one month to $25, what is a tempting price for 6 months? Perhaps $100, so 2 months "free"? All this will do is cause people to drop or stretch their rotation.  

 

The prime issue with streaming will always be this, the old popular content will spend years on these serviced, there is no rush to see it.  To pull new people in you therefor need to add old but popular stuff (Friends, Sienfeld, the Office), or popular new content. You need several Stranger Things, Wednesdays, One Pieces, or even second tier stuff like the Boys, every year to get people to say that is worth it. But even say you get 6 shows a year that are must see material, you can sub for 6 months every other year and easily get through all that material. Since the popular stuff will not get pulled.

I agree there is no really good route forward at this point since any changes will push down subscription numbers which will off share holders.  But if I produce 6 great shows (and 10 not so great shows) for billions of dollars that you can stream in a couple months then it's a loss for me as the producers.  If all services push monthly fees up to $30 but then offer a year long subscription for $15 will give you locked in people money.  And at this point if all the subscription services start raising prices drastically what options do people have?  We have all cut the cord so there really is no going back to the old ways (where we were all paying $100 a month).  Things will have to change once all the services lose tons of cash.

On 9/20/2023 at 2:17 PM, CAHokie said:

I started the rotation model recently and it is the way to go.  Currently I am using a promo for Starz. As soon as finish the Power Series, John Wick 4, and Heels, I will drop it and decide what to watch next.  Netflix and Prime are the two I keep permanently as of now.  I had already paid for HBO for a year but I will most likely let it go for a while after the term ends. 

Streaming services will have to lock people in for 6 or possibly 12 months to combat people switching services each month.  Monthly services will double in price and the only way to keep the "cheap" service will be to lock yourself in kind of like they do with phone services.  The current price structure is just too cheap considering how much shows can be digested in a month (even 2 hours a day is 60 hours of entertainment for $15 ).  The number of people signed up will plummet but they will also plummet with everyone switching every month or two.

On 9/14/2023 at 4:52 PM, whetteon said:

Um, Amazing Spider-Man #347 CGC 9.8?  

ParadiseComic's copy has 44 bids and 52 watchers. I go and show the lowest to highest and I see ParadiseComic's copy at the lowest basically verifying that you can't really find it cheaper than $83.. WTF is happening here?  

I see quite a few past sales for well over $100 so if people are starting to be desperate enough to put CGC 9.8s up for auction I can see why it's getting a lot of action (especially if it's only going for $83 in CGC 9.8).  Prices for slabbing are way up and CGC seems to still be strict so I'd not expect a $50 copy to pop up any time soon.

On 9/15/2023 at 4:04 AM, lou_fine said:

Looks like the Silver Surfer 4, at least in highest graded CGC 9.4 condition is still holding relative to the super hot 2021 Covid time:  

https://comics.ha.com/itm/silver-age-1956-1969-/superhero/the-silver-surfer-4-marvel-1969-cgc-nm-mt-98-off-white-to-white-pages/a/7341-91037.s?lotPosition=1&ic16=ViewItem-BrowseTabs-Auction-Archive-ArchiveSearchResults-012417

Holding steady at $66K in Heritage's Signature Auction yesterday which in line with the $67K that CL sold their copy for in the summer of '21, but still nowhere near to the $90K for the CGC 9.8 Oregon Coast copy also in that same summer.  

As Roy recently stated, the Uber high grade books are still holding their value and if anything still going up since the big bucks guys are now concentrating on the cream of the crop and there isn’t much of that stuff.  As money (or stocks) concentrate into a few 1% books then the rest of the market will probably continue to recede.

On 9/13/2023 at 5:15 PM, blazingbob said:

?????????????

I can see with glasses. 

I just take them off when I'm grading

I was commenting on his obvious inability to see if he thinks you’re warm and cheerful  

On 9/13/2023 at 3:48 PM, ttfitz said:

Shirts, yes! That's it, I thought there was something different, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

There typically is some huge shirt booths right in the center of most bigger cons that I've gone to and I didn't see any of those this year.  There was shirts to be bought but the mega shirt booths must have not been profitable. 

On 9/13/2023 at 12:49 PM, El Toro Rojo said:

Yeah, filming and even trying to SEE books was tough thanks to the glare - add the fact that a lot of dealers had their books in old, wrinkled bags and it became a game of "what issue is that? how much?" every 10 seconds.

But yes, LOTS of dealers, LOTS of comics and LOTS of...weapons? What was with all the sword, knife and light saber vendors?

Must be what is in demand.  I saw a lot less Pops booths then a few years ago and there seemed to be less mystery box / shirt booths also.  I do agree there was a lot of sword booths!

On 9/12/2023 at 11:57 PM, MrBedrock said:

I think Bob is incredibly warm and fuzzy.

Isn’t being blind a severe disadvantage as a comic dealer?

There was a booth at Baltimore which was offering boxes and boxes of variants for $5 a piece but you could get a whole short box for $100 (which is less than $1 a piece).  I don't venture into that end of the pool but that one booth is what I think of when people ask about variant fatigue.

On 9/11/2023 at 4:29 PM, blazingbob said:

My take on Baltimore this year was good buying,  very bad selling show for me.

I either didn't have the Timely's or DC Golden Age,  Horror books that customers wanted this year or I didn't have the books customers did want at the price point they wanted to buy at.  

There are always shows out there that require "you the dealer" to have a tractor trailer in negotiation room in order to close the sale.  Baltimore is one of those shows.  Motor City was one of the shows,  Megacon another.  If you don't hit that buyers "version of fair" after your offer the "I'll think about it guys" move on looking for that book that qualifies for their version of a "Deal". 

Box stock didn't sell that well and It looks like it is time for a inventory evaluation.  

Cash/trade offers this year unfortunately were on books that while I liked them didn't have the eye appeal to make them easy to sell.  And frankly if a cash/trade offer is net a check to the customer I would prefer getting something that I like.  

Even though there are plenty of "reports" stating dealers won't adjust their pricing lets NOT FORGET those owners of books having a hard time letting go of what their collection WAS worth a year or more ago.  The Bronze age Billionaire's as I call them aren't exactly singing the "Hills are alive with the sound of cha-ching" in their new reality.   

My assessment on the Bronze age market is one where I really feel like it is marching to the Gasoline market.  Up and downs every day where I'm happy one day and disgusted the next.  It almost feels like I don't want to be a buyer of this part of the business for awhile.  I'm tired of stepping up,  paying what I feel is a fair price for something and 3 months later looking at it going WTF did I buy this?  But look while I may be disgusted at this time of the day on this post doesn't mean I will feel the same way tomorrow.  Fanexpo Chicago was a great show for me which was a very pleasant surprise.  Baltimore was a very big disappointment and frankly I'll own up to my issues on why it was.  

Thanks for the detailed review of what you experienced.  I heard quite a few seller expressing similar lack of sales so you were not alone in having a bad sales year.

On 9/11/2023 at 5:36 PM, wombat said:

Honestly I think the restaurants are fairly priced for being in a city. Nothing more than I am used to anyway. And definitely a good variety. 

I'm not sure where you stayed, but we always stay close to the aquarium and have never felt unsafe fairly late at night. I will say one year we stayed a few blocks out from there and it wasn't exactly the best experience getting from the hotel to any place else. 

This is the least crowded I remember in the last several years. We always go in right at opening on Saturday and usually know we only have a few hours before the aisles get really crowded. Not this year. It never got very crowded. And cosplay seemed to be way down. Way less scantily clad ladies than I remember. 

Awesome you had a good time!!!

I did hear a few people complaining about the smaller crowds and some complained about the lack of onsite grading.  The on-site grading definitely added some excitement to the Con which has been missing.  A ton less cosplay on Friday which makes me wonder if that “fad” is winding down. 

I ended up staying 15 minutes south of town and it worked out great.  Hotel was much better - beds were great - no charge for parking over night.  I’ve not had terrible experiences staying near the convention center but being able to leave the city at night had its merits.

On 9/11/2023 at 3:28 AM, Kevin76 said:

A lot of dealers were complaining of slow sales, people coming up to the booth wanting books that are priced under current GPA, are wanting an even bigger discount, and then walking away when they have been back around 2 or 3 times.  I don't know what to tell these people, you can only bend on the price so far.  .  Then there are other,  "I'm looking for Spawn 119"  Yes, I have it right here"  response is "Ok, I'll think about it"   then never see them again, books are fairly priced with current market.  Starting to think most people just go to comic cons just to look at books they have no interest in buying unless it's dirt cheap   

With dozen and dozens of dealers in one place there has to be a lot of window shopping for the lowest price for a book.  

On 9/10/2023 at 10:29 AM, Robot Man said:

What would be a “hard to find” Bronze book? 

I didn’t see many Bronze books trading hands unless they were severely discounted.  High grade Silver and golden age seemed to be the in demand books this year.

The vibe at the Con on Friday felt very tame compared to previous years but I did see quite a few big purchases being made with most of them being dealer to dealer.  If you had the goods they were selling and guys like Burns who keeps his prices low seemed to do very well but I did hear some grumblings from guys who didn’t have the goods.  Lots of discount signs came out Friday and I wonder how far the discounts will go today.  

I brought $1,500 to spend and I ended up spending my bank roll but I ended up having quite a time finding books that I felt still had some meat left on the bone even after booths were cutting prices by 30-50%.  Wondering around the room really highlights how many copper / bronze books are out there waiting to find a good home.  My two big books was a ASM 229 and ASM 230 both in CGC 9.8 cases.  I don’t typically buy slabs but I’m hoping they will do well as a combo.

All pictures are showing not flipped so I’m not sure what is going on with the last few sets.  But you get the gist - this con is a sea of comic booths and killer comic artist!