KEY ISSUES Comics

3 hours ago, fastballspecial said:

I disagree. They got the concept right for Morbius. They changed it some, but the concept is correct.

The trailer did its job. It has me interested enough to watch it. 

 

Same here. I'm sold. I hope it's a solid character piece. I'm tired of the constant CG special effects and action.

4 hours ago, 1Cool said:

That was me at the end of 2018.  I had 15 graded copies of FF Annual 6 horded away and ended selling them for something crazy like $10K.  It's all about having the right books graded and getting lucky with your timing.  Glad you had a great year!

Yep. I'm going to try and do the same with my ASM #101 CGC 9.2 now that the trailer has dropped.

7 hours ago, 1Cool said:

But if store owners are having to liquidate run books then they really can't buy anything except keys (unless they are paying pennies on the dollar).  I'm running into more and more flippers trying to sell me their run books or guys who have a nice collection but want top dollar for everything and not just the keys.  For example - I helped a local guy sell off his bronze age collection a few years ago.  I consigned some and bought him out when he got down to 10 long boxes or so.  He called me right before the holidays and said he had unearthed another 8 long boxes of "mags and odds and ends in his basement".  I ran over there lightning quick but it turned out the left overs where mostly late 80s books with some little demand magazines.  He was really disappointed when I made him a lower offer then he was hoping for (compared to the last purchase I made with him).  I had to explain the current market and how cheap non keys are going for right now.  He ended up declining and is just going to put them back in the basement.  I see this interaction be indicative of the current non key / hot modern market.

And it really varies from one market to another. I only set up at shows (with the occasional online sale & warehouse visit), and the folks who come out to the shows in my area are mostly looking for keys. I have a hard time selling run books of any era unless discounted, and I think my regular pricing is more than fair. I WISH they sold better, because I love selling runs to folks who enjoy reading them.

20 minutes ago, Cruzin' Thru Comics said:

Yea keys are great but as a shop owner I’d rather see more run collectors. I do have some younger run collectors but most are older. Most of the younger crowd (under 35) seem to only want key issues. Problem with that is finding buyers for the rest of the books. 

I feel your pain, which is why I've decided to liquidate most of my inventory. No sense in stocking long runs if they don't sell fast enough... Most younger buyers also hold onto their books for much shorter periods, even keys. Buying and collecting habits have changed enormously.

51 minutes ago, Aweandlorder said:

Seems to me like there’s less enthusiasm with moderns/movie hyped books of late. I wanna say, approximately 6 months now. 
im doing great with sales but I can’t point to any feeding frenzy books 

It would be nice if that became the norm again. It's just a matter of time before people realize they've overpaid on movie/show spec hype books.

7 hours ago, Rip said:

Still processing.

The good: C3P0 was great, Poe was good. Lando was fantastic. I think one of my sons teared up a bit. Emperor was cool. Dio was cool.

The bad: Very mixed, a massive amount of information tossed at me and it didn't seem to flow right. Not enough time to tell a proper story. Felt like some big editing and story gaps. Should have been 30 min longer and maybe a few less hoops. I understand the critics problems. Felt like they read message boards about the problems of the Last Jedi and was VERY overt on the fixes. (They are clearly listening, maybe a little too much at times)

Overall didn't hate it but felt a bit soulless. It really really tries to make everyone happy. I will watch it again to absorb things better.

Then the bad listed above makes it a bad movie. It's like ordering a pizza, then saying the crust was burned, the sauce was bland, the cheese was cold, etc. But I liked a piece of mushroom on it. Tell me, is that a good or bad pizza?

I think we've lost touch as a whole with what a "good" movie is (Not singling you out Rip by the way). We are conditioned to be unquestioningly brand loyal. It's as though we're afraid to dislike something with Star Wars or Spider-man in it. Heaven forbid we be critical! I LOVE Star Wars, or what once was Star Wars. This latest trilogy is just terrible. I could care less about the characters, the story and plot--what little there is--is mostly a rehash of the original trilogy. It's just fan service with a bunch of special effects. But that can be said about sooo many movies nowadays. Special effects should enhance a movie, not be the raison d'etre. 

Man, I sure do miss the old days before movies focused too much on F/X. However, the sheer quantity of quality of TV serials is astounding these days and ultimately makes up for Hollywood's downward spiral. I used to watch 3-5 movies/week, but my viewing habits have changed as TV/streaming sites have evolved and become the place to go for truly great content.

The Expanse anyone? 

35 minutes ago, Callaway29 said:

I couldn't make it through the first 20min...awful.

I got about 5 minutes in, lost interest then learned it was a Michael Bay movie. Makes sense.

Hehe... Keep up your sales thread Rob, as I snatch up some nice SA/BA/CA books locally while you're busy here... 

It's terrible.... What an eyesore. I still haven't figured out how to access the graphs. Where's the detailed sales history? Used to be so simple to use.... 

Very tempting...

16 hours ago, blazingbob said:

Interesting that as soon as there are some recent GPA sales the experts come back out.  God forbid some AF #15's sell on dealer websites because as we know you can only buy from the GPA Store.

Short term/instant profit gratification continues to be the norm.  If I can't upgrade it/I won't buy it continues.  Most of my listings should come with a "Where should I mail the check to" since clearly if it is upgradeable I should give you that money.  

Anybody with half a brain should be able to figure out that by adding in upwards of an additional 10% sales tax on top of buyer fees will drive down many of the big ticket GPA results since those GPA reporting websites are required to collect sales tax. 

Auction houses continue to be the "market" since we all know that this is the MOST clear communicator of the market.  CHURN em and BURN them since we make money whether you do or not.

Thanks for your input Bob, especially the taxes part. I haven't used Ebay in a decade, so I had forgotten about the changes made in regards to charging sales tax and that is my #1 reference (in tandem with GPA, which is essentially the same thing). So, yeah, that clearly has to be factored into the "value" of copies sold there. But it's been about a year since I've noticed a downward trend that is apparently continuing on sales made there. I'd figure that appreciation would start to compensate for the sales tax to bring the realized prices back to where they were a year ago, but it's not quite there. Still trending downwards.

And another poster claims that this "thread is wrong" and that this is a price correction instead of a drop in value. Is that not the same thing if the "correction" is a decrease in price? I'm not sure I understand that statement if I've accurately interpreted it. 

Great stuff folks. Insightful exchange for the most part. 

10 hours ago, Beige said:

Besides the incredible $10,000 paid for an incomplete 0.5 - current prices are right back in line with GPA 2017 averages. I speak only for GPA, not dealers.

 

The world is in turmoil, people are worried about $$ again, so maybe there is a slight air of caution in bigger books currently. Big events in UK in December and USA in 2020 might want to make people hold off on spending a fair wedge of disposable income.

When things settle, perhaps people will have more peace of mind to purchase bigger books.

 

It seems prudent, and lets not forget, some of the prices a 7.0+ have gone for will buy you a house. Maybe sometimes we forget how lucky we are to be able to afford such things, even in the lowest of grades.

 

I consider myself very lucky to have a low grade book (took a year to save for it) - and I only buy books with $$ I make from selling collections of comics,magazines,playboys etc etc that I buy in the wild.

 

No way would I have paid for an AF #15 out of my salary as things currently stand here in Australia - we are teetering on a recession and my home value has dropped 20% over the last 3 yrs - as has most everyone else's here.

I'm lucky that I have stable recession-proof employment, but a lot of people in the world don't, so I understand the caution around high value purchases for the average guy (like me!).

Thanks for sharing for one of the most simple, yet accurate reasons why the book has cooled off/plateaued the past year. I too own a copy that was obtained under similar circumstances as yours. 

Thanks for all the great input folks. Keep it up. Always good to get insights from different parts of the community.

On 10/13/2019 at 9:56 AM, GAMBIT said:

Most of the copies seen in 5.5 and lower are ones frequently for sale/flipped - and/or issues with lesser eye appeal for said grade.  If you see stands out in the range you are able to afford, I wouldnt wait on it  (it's not to often a good looking low grade copy hits the market IMO)

Yeah, then again there are those who are asking for twice GPA high in a given grade. I don't care how nice it looks for its grade, that's just mad! 

I'm sure glad I didn't pull the trigger on any of the copies I was looking at a few months ago with sellers asking all-time GPA highs in the given grades. Prices have continued on a downwards trend in most grades below 7.0. Time to look for a deal before the next resurgence. #patience

On 10/9/2019 at 12:17 PM, ygogolak said:

raw comics

Well obviously. I didn't think I had to point that out. 

You can also use GPA. Match the serial # there to the Ebay listing to see the actual sold for price I believe.

1 minute ago, GoldenAgeAddict said:

134 and 153 are left.  Looking for additional high grade 161 and 162 as I just purchased the cover art

I might have some. I recently picked up a run from the last 10 years. Is that the correct time frame for those books? If so, please PM me. Cheers!

16 hours ago, Shoomanfoo said:

What sale contradicts my observations?

are you ok Sir?

FYI those look to be Best Offers, which means that they most likely did not sell for those green asking prices. One might as well just guess what the actual price was, unless there's a way to find that out.

On 10/4/2019 at 1:47 PM, GoldenAgeAddict said:

May seem silly, but I am having a hard time finishing the Usagi Yojimbo Dark Horse series.  4 remain.  Have scoured online retailers and most comic book stores in Nebraska, Iowa and now Chicago.  

Which issues?

24 minutes ago, FlyingDonut said:

Lets keep it clean boys. I'll start. This was pleasant, seeing as I paid 43 cents for it.

That's a very desirable ASM and Campbell cover, and has been for quite some time. I can never keep it in stock. One of my favourite Campbell covers.

VENOM LETHAL PROTECTOR #1 GOLD EDITION CGC 9.8 WP SOLD via PM!

8 hours ago, blazingbob said:

 

3).  The Stack guy who feels more deserves a bigger discount.  What you call a stack and my expectation of a stack are VERY different.  $100-$300 of my high grade isn't floating my boat for the bigger discount.  

 

Yes! That highlighted part is my favourite. Sooo many folks think that pulling out 5-6 $3-10 books is a LOT of books, or as they like to call it "a bunch", and thus deserving of a discount. To which I tell them: "buying 20 longboxes is a "bunch."" 

Second and last bump.