Wizard and OS are not the real price guides... Ebay is!

[blazingbob]

my new bronze age collection that some of the forum members saw in Baltimore has a lot of non keys. Some who saw it can comment on the quality. However on NM and better issues I was charging up to 2X guide but discounting 15%. But much of the stuff was $7-10 in guide and they were soooo nice.

 

bob

[joe_collector]

Cool, can I send a want list?

 

Hint: If it says Byrne Art and it's 1970's, I want it.

[blazingbob]

Send one over. I'll check the collection and send you the prices back

 

[uclapeterg]

I completely agree. I would hope most are in the hobby for COLLECTING purposes, not to make money. Discussing which "guide" is moe accurate is kinda moot. It all comes down to one question: Are you willing to pay $xxx for the book?

[Comiclover1973-migration]

I disagree Discount man. If your idea of guide holds true, than there should be around an equal number of people paying less than guide as there ae paying guide or more than guide. I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen a non-cgc graded book sell for more than guide on Ebay.

 

People collecting comics are willing to spend more money if they feel it is a good deal. They feel it is a good deal when it is less than OS price guide. So in a sense, the guide does set the market, not just reflect it.

 

 

[Comiclover1973-migration]

God help me, true genius at work.

 

"Ebay is the market", God help me when the local flea market for dumping books becomes the price standard for comics.

 

Top ebay sellers (Non-CGC) will get 50% of overstreet. Yup, this makes sense. All those collectors who don't want to list their books on Ebay will now get offered 25% of whatever guide is out there. But this is a hobby of love, not about making money.

 

I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and don't usually talk so rudely.

 

Ebay is not a "local flea market". Most Ebay sellers would take offense to that. There are many professional based sellers that take the utmost care with whatever they sell, comics or otherwise. There are a lot fo Ebay sellrs that also maintain a store front.

 

It's used to be common for non-key books to be sold to dealers at 25% on guide anyways. Ebay gives them an opportunity to sell for more. When it comes time for a buyer to buy and a seller to sell, the EBay price is what the book will sell for.

[lighthouse]

eBay is another guide for determining prices, but it is substantially less stable than the other guides. And while it's easy to predict future sales results on an item that turns 500 identical units a day on eBay, its use in predicting sales for hard-to-find items is spotty at best.

 

Look up any book on GPA (which tracks eBay results) and you'll see what I mean. Sales for the exact same item vary by 10-100% over a short time period. It's a matter of "Did one person see this or did seven?" Say an item sold four times this month at $100-120, and then yesterday closed at $60. What's the guide price according to eBay? Is it now $60 because that's what the last one sold for? Is it $100 because that was the median this month? Is it $110 because outliers should be thrown out? If the next one sells at $90, is the price now $75 because that's the average of the last two?

 

Ask yourself this. How much is your house worth? What's its appraised value? Now how much could you get for it if you had to sell it tomorrow? Big difference. The house isn't worth less because the right buyer can't find it in one day. How much could you get for your car in a day?... Why is a $5K comic worth less because the right buyer can't find it in a day? Did the value of 35c Spidey variants drop to $2 because a couple of them went for that on eBay last week? If they did, be sure and sell me all of yours, I'll throw in an extra buck each just to be nice...

 

I could mark down 10 random books in my store to a penny a piece and mix them into the boxes. If after a week I still have some left, does that mean those books aren't even worth a penny? No... It means the right customers didn't find them.

 

Price guides are just that, guides. They tell you that the first ten Daredevils will cost you less than the first ten Spideys. They tell you that high grade stuff from 1973 is worth more than low grade stuff from 1967. They tell you that photo covers from the 50's sell better than similar books without those covers. But the buyer and seller determine the price, they always do. The buyer determines his price based on what he has seen from other sellers, and the seller determines his price based on what he has seen from other buyers... Pretty simple really... In the absence of personal experience with a certain book, either party may use a guide and compare it to something else they do know. "Guide says it's worth twice as much as the issue before it, which I sold for $30 last week. How does $60 sound?"

 

And just to avoid some replies about my one-day comments versus eBay's 7-day auctions, when's the last time you browsed the Silver Age listings that were on day 4 of 7? I thought so. You do the same as everybody else. You look at stuff about to end, stuff that's new, and stuff that matches your searches. Nobody goes looking through all the listings in order...

[PovertyRow]

We need someone to publish a new guide using Ebay as the primary source for pricing.

 

And what about all the books that have never made it to ebay, or made it to ebay only a few times? How many grades would you break out for the ebay-based guide, and how many of those grades would be suitably represented as having sold on ebay for each title? And don't be fooled by the huge number of postings in the various comic book catagories. Many of them never get a bid.

[Darthdiesel]

Did the value of 35c Spidey variants drop to $2 because a couple of them went for that on eBay last week?

 

cosmic_spider-man is a treasure hunting god!

 

Nobody goes looking through all the listings in order

 

Actually that is how I found my hidden 30 centers last week

[lighthouse]

Did the value of 35c Spidey variants drop to $2 because a couple of them went for that on eBay last week?

 

cosmic_spider-man is a treasure hunting god!

 

Nobody goes looking through all the listings in order

 

Actually that is how I found my hidden 30 centers last week

 

I have found many that way too... But it's not like you are checking to see if that copy of Captain Marvel 26 is worth $5 or $7... And I bet you're not checking all the Golden Age listings for mislisted Bronze variants...

[blazingbob]

I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and don't usually talk so rudely.

 

Please don't give me the benefit of the doubt, I woke up on the right side of the bed and if this is rude than I'm glad you weren't in front of my table or in earshot if I heard this conversation.

 

Ebay is not a "local flea market". Most Ebay sellers would take offense to that. There are many professional based sellers that take the utmost care with whatever they sell, comics or otherwise. There are a lot fo Ebay sellrs that also maintain a store front.

 

I have a Ebay store front, I'm a seller on Ebay. It's the 2000 version of a flea market with some very nice HTML around it. Price, picture and some great auction tools.

 

I'd be very fortunate if I bought a high grade collection at 25% of guide. In fact if I did it consistently I would be held criminal by many of these very forum members.

 

 

 

 

[supapimp]

I'd be very fortunate if I bought a high grade collection at 25% of guide. In fact if I did it consistently I would be held criminal by many of these very forum members.

 

 

 

[lighthouse]

I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and don't usually talk so rudely.

 

Please don't give me the benefit of the doubt, I woke up on the right side of the bed and if this is rude than I'm glad you weren't in front of my table or in earshot if I heard this conversation.

 

Ebay is not a "local flea market". Most Ebay sellers would take offense to that. There are many professional based sellers that take the utmost care with whatever they sell, comics or otherwise. There are a lot fo Ebay sellrs that also maintain a store front.

 

I have a Ebay store front, I'm a seller on Ebay. It's the 2000 version of a flea market with some very nice HTML around it. Price, picture and some great auction tools.

 

I'd be very fortunate if I bought a high grade collection at 25% of guide. In fact if I did it consistently I would be held criminal by many of these very forum members.

 

A little confusing with the lack of formatting, blazingone...

 

For those following at home, I changed blazingbob's replies to red...

[blazingbob]

Thank you for the editing

[lighthouse]

No problem, Bob... I thought parts of your post sounded a little familiar...

[Bugaboo-migration]

What do you know about anything, rookie? I'm beginning to think your brick and morter store is just a front to launder money and operate a prostitution ring.

[lighthouse]

What do you know about anything, rookie? I'm beginning to think your brick and morter store is just a front to launder money and operate a prostitution ring.

 

Man, you're dumber than I thought if you're just now beginning to think that...

 

Short bus, coming through...

[supapimp]

[shiverbones]

hey comiclover1973 i have sold HUNDREDS of comics on ebay for over guide. You dig out a great book like Perfect Crime with the strangulation cover in low grade and watch guide melt away. Every book has its strength in a different market. If i had that perfect crime at a local show at guide, it would still be there. If i have a new Hulk #25 at a local show could i get $40, yup. On ebay, maybe $20. Guides are irrelevant knowing HOW to sell WHAT is the key.

[Shield]

hey comiclover1973 i have sold HUNDREDS of comics on ebay for over guide. You dig out a great book like Perfect Crime with the strangulation cover in low grade and watch guide melt away. Every book has its strength in a different market. If i had that perfect crime at a local show at guide, it would still be there. If i have a new Hulk #25 at a local show could i get $40, yup. On ebay, maybe $20. Guides are irrelevant knowing HOW to sell WHAT is the key.

 

Again I agree with you you 'ol shivering bones you. Pull out an Archie Comics #2-9 in ANY grade and watch the guide melt away. I just sold a good Archie #6 for 2x guide, with noted resoration.