GPAnalysis: Good subscription to have if you're trading in CGC books?

[minutekev@50]

Hi George, I just signed up and I'm luving it. Great up-to-date info.

[gpanalysis]

Thanks for the kind words Minutekev. Be sure to try the GPA Market Reports and give us your feedback.

[sfilosa]

I also wish there was a way to open all the windows in a particular set (i.e. #1-20,21-40,41-60, etc.) with one click instead of having to click the + sign by each issue.

 

[gpanalysis]

Understand. The only issue we would have with something like that is the amount of calculations that would need to be done to present that kind of information in one dump - so it may slow down result refreshes. However, this is something that would definately be achievable with the Windows app we are building.

[valiantman]

Valiants and Image! Hot, Hot, Hot!

 

I don't think Image will ever be worth anything...

but early Valiant books appear to be doing just fine.

[dadaist]

Yep, we've had a few ask on that, and we've noted the suggestion - especially for those Power Collector subscribers who want to be taken directly to an expanded tree of a particular title/issue.

 

Just wanted to share a little insight that gpa might find useful as it forges its path to becoming a leader in online CGC valuation services.

 

There have been many threads that have clearly outlined collectors disatisfaction with an Overstreet supplement which covers CGC values. Even more so was Gemstones attempt to bring the guide to a PC near you, with its electronic version. I understand the technical limitations which a quark file presents in attaching any kind of meaningful data, and indexing comic titles which can be searched through an engine. So far, Overstreet has failed miserably in its quest to maintain its foothold on the future; hopefully the first kicks at the can will serve as a constant reminder that Overstreet badly needs to "get with the times", and do good on its claim as the authority on the comic market and values.

 

Having said all this, its pretty obvious at this point how I feel about gpa. I'm not a subscriber, and part of the reason is because I have a handheld device equipped with the market research I require to make an informed decision at the point of purchase. Because of this, I rarely find myself relying on my home computer to determine values. But then again, most of my purchases are made from private collectors, dealers, and some convention purchasing. My eBay purchases have dropped to nearly 1% of total purchases.

 

And there is no denying that there is a sense of empowerment when you can carry around a device that fits in your pocket, which contains in it all the information you need to determine comic values. I wish I could say that accomplishing this was an easy task. Firsthand, the Overstreet guide wasn't the easiest system to install on my Journada. It took a lot of reengineering, and some coaxing, but I finally managed to get the thing working on a CE version of Acrobat Reader. And was I EVER disappointmented with the results; clearly, no searching functionality, and panning that would make a person throw the device out the window after a few minutes of fiddling. But it works. And it comes in handy at conventions even if it takes a few minutes to process the info.

 

The guide, coupled with an excel spreadsheet of pertinent info related to certain books on my radar. But clearly, someone needs to deliver a better solution, and who better than gpa to respond.

 

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: gpa is way ahead of its time. What I'd like to see from the gpa team is a PDA/handheld version of their web site which can allow for web clipping (Avantgo), and usability for handheld mobile Web browsing? With the explosion of browser ready handheld devices (cell phones, RIM's, Palms, and Handheld PC's), and the gradual drop in delivering cellular broadband, it will be a matter of time before a certain segment of the collecting community will be screaming for the viability of mobile web browsing.

[Timely]

I have looked at the GPA website. Even though I have the free subscription that only lets you see older sales info, I have some serious concerns about the negative impact this will have on our hobby.

 

Let's say there are documented sales of a particular comic. We'll call this comic "Superzero #1". So after time there are a couple sales of this book in 9.4. Let's say in 9.4 the low is $500, the high is $1000 and the average is $750. Obviously the guy that bought the book for $1000 is already a loser. But what if the $1000 copy had "White Pages" and the $500 copy had "Tan to Off-White Pages", no one will know and the information is already misleading.

 

So now I see Superzero #1 in 9.4 on ebay, and like most people I want a deal! So I go to GPA and see that I could have bought a copy months ago for 500 bucks and the average is $750. That right there puts a cap on the value of that book. Naturally an investment based buyer would never go over $750, but may not even want to go much past the $500 mark.

 

So lets say the book sells for $600. Now the average on the book has gone from $750 to $700. A forth copy comes on the market and the astute buyer pays $550 for it. Average price goes from $700 to $662.50.

 

I'm sure my point has been made. I believe these are the same market influences that killed the coin, stamp and baseball card hobbies.

 

Knowledge is power, no doubt. But sometimes that knowledge does more harm than good. Something to think about.

 

Timely

[gpanalysis]

I'll answer two questions here (on a PDA with gprs at the moment so it takes a bit longer to type)

 

1. we do have a pda version at www.gpanalysis.com/mobile - the service is available free to all gold users

 

2. as far as our product doing damage to the market: please remember that we are a reporting service and NOT a guide to what people should be paying. hence I disagree with you. using your logic we shouldn't have any reporting

[OldGuy]

Not to mention QP.

[deathlok]

What you say makes sense. Yet, there are a lot more variables than just page quality that might determine the sale price of a book. There still needs to be a lot more information from the GPA that might be able to better determine the actual market. For example it might be interesting to not the source of each sale. Does Heritage bring higher sales than E-bay on certain books? Does the page quality make a large price difference, or does it even matter on some books?

[fantastic_four]

I believe these are the same market influences that killed the coin, stamp and baseball card hobbies.

 

Timely reporting of coin, stamp, and baseball card sales results killed those hobbies? What were these GPA-like reporting systems you're alluding to that killed them?

[sfilosa]

Actually what might happen is that if everyone uses the service, then we might not have huge price differences. While that might be bad for the flippers (and I've done that myself), it shouldn't hurt the collectors.

 

Timely - You are correct on the page quality issue. But we also know that a 9.4 book could look like an undergraded 9.6 or look like a overgraded 9.2 and have good or bad quality of production. That's not noted on CGC's label. The system isn't perfect, but I do like the way GPAnalysis also breaks out pedigrees (which if not known) could really misrepresent that data.

 

I use it almost everyday.

 

Last note:

 

I don't like it when I forget to Logout. I can't get back in for 20 minutes. In other words, if I just close the program (or my computer crashes), I'm out of luck for 20 minutes.

 

 

 

[gpanalysis]

I agree with you. In the near future we will have more information about the specific CGC book sale and also the origin. We can add alot more detail to our data - the trick is not to slow the service down too mych as you can appreciate being a totally web service. Again, a win-app woent have these issues. excuse the spelling mistakes, still on the pda

[gpanalysis]

On the 20 min issue when you have not logged out - if it happens just email the guys at tech support (subscriptions@gpanalysis.com) and if they are around (US-AU time difference) they can log you out manually. I know this is a pain - the feature is there to protect your account if someone else has somehow got your password and also to make sure accounts aren't shared.

[deathlok]

George,

Thanks again for coming to the boards to respond to the postings.

It really is great when collectors can get instant feedback.

 

[gpanalysis]

Not a problem. I apologize that we don't come on more often. Bruce is very good at emailing us when there are questions on the forums but we are often responding to subscriber questions directly through email or updating data and sections of the web site that we neglect the forum posts

[stynxno]

This is slightly off topic but I'm curious about what you guys feel about having price guides like GPAnalysis (i signed up for their 1 week service but since they don't support non-IE browsers, i won't use their product). If someone created a service to track one particular title, say, Iron Man or Batman, and tried to create a "price guide" based on ebay or heritage auctions, how useful would this type of service be? Would any of you take advantage of it? What if it was free or cost 5 dollars a month?

 

[fantastic_four]

If someone created a service to track one particular title, say, Iron Man or Batman, and tried to create a "price guide" based on ebay or heritage auctions, how useful would this type of service be? Would any of you take advantage of it?

 

Maybe. I'm certain that staunch, long-time collectors of a given title have a better feel for prices than any guide can tell you because they've often combed the dealers, cons, and private contacts and therefore have a wider range of pricing data to draw from. They know how available a given issue is and therefore how much more it might draw than a generic set of prices can.

 

However, I can't see someone paying for it...your prime audience probably knows as much about the prices as the guide does!