How to fix the Overstreet Guide...

[joe_collector]

Overstreet will always lag the market. Its to a great extent a publishing issue.

 

Maybe if they only published every five years....

[Aman619]

in todays internet time, it SEEMS like 5 years!

[garthgantu]

THAT's why moving the Guide entirely to digital format would be a boon... imagine it: you get a CD, load it on your PC, and voila, you have the latest edition. You can search, you can sort, you can list, you can rank, etc. Each month, you dload new sales data from various sources to which OS has access: mail order, shops, eBay, whatever. The prices are updated automatically upon dload. Any new info re: individual issues is added, errors are deleted, and new issues of books published since last month's dload update are added as well.

 

Yes, you'll still want the hardcopy for portability, but the digital edition becomes the living, evolving resource between hardcopies.

[fantastic_four]

The Krause "Standard Catalog of Comic Books" already does this; the collection tracking software "ComicBase" includes their prices in it. Actually it includes the last 6-7 years of Krause's prices, last I noticed.

 

Like everybody else, I'm heavily Overstreet biased, but since their prices don't seem to reflect the reality of the market for the books I collect...it just occurred to me that I don't know why I just don't go with ComicBase.

[Aman619]

cause theyre not Overstreet prices. Both systems are off from reality, but only ONE is true OVERSTREET! Ask for it by name!!

[joe_collector]

Maybe they should change the name to Understate Comic Price Guide?

[garthgantu]

The Overstreet Understated Interactive Comic Book Price Guide... rolls right off the tongue!

[fantastic_four]

Wonder why Gemstone won't create an electronic Overstreet? Like Arnold said, they've got people asking to do it left and right...and Geppi's loaded...wonder what the deal is?

[Aman619]

If instant price and sales updates are important, subscribe to GPAnalysis,. This is their stated mission, isnt it? Overstreet does not feel compelled to go this route (yet?) But as a price comparison, GPA is what, $100 a year versus $30 for OS. And GPA only covers the comics that sell lately and only in the venues they cover. Not complete, but probably covers the price activity our crowd needs. Whereas OS lists information for 100s of 1000s of comics: more than the usual HG SA/BA Marvel collector needs anyway!

 

ButI dont see OS/Geppi investing megabucks to staff up to track prices on a daily basis any time soon. And as long as the Guide is annual, it aont ever be an acurate price guide for anything that changes in price often.

 

One other aspect is, after all these years, we all interpret the OS prices in relation to the real world pretty well. A too low guide price never stopped a dealer stickering ABOVE Guide: or a collector from paying that price. A radical chamge by them might result in a total lack of relevance for their price data.... not a better acceptance of it.

[fantastic_four]

it aont ever be an acurate price guide for anything that changes in price often.

 

I don't get your point. Are you thinking that Gold and Silver NM prices just jumped dramatically within the last year or two?

[Aman619]

it aont ever be an acurate price guide for anything that changes in price often.

 

I don't get your point. Are you thinking that Gold and Silver NM prices just jumped dramatically within the last year or two?

 

I dont get th equestion realed to my line you quoted... ask it again, por favor..

[ArnoldTBlumberg]

We'd have to hire too many Oompa Loompas, it's cost prohibitive.

 

And I'm outta here - Happy New Year everybody!

 

Arnold

[Aman619]

it aont ever be an acurate price guide for anything that changes in price often.

I don't get your point. Are you thinking that Gold and Silver NM prices just jumped dramatically within the last year or two?

I dont get th equestion realed to my line you quoted... ask it again, por favor..

 

okay I think I got it, youre saying why does OS still lag the market by so much when the CGC effect (price runups) are already three years old at least? Good question, if I got it right.

 

SInce Bob et al have sat down only twice in all that time to digest the changes in the market, they have already made changes, but still lag the pricing dynamics of that period. Im guessing that 2 guides ago, in the fall of 2001, they decided that the CGC effect was a short term blip, and chose to take a wait and see approach on goosing guide prices to match the sales data coming in. So they did the usual across the board incremental bumps.

 

In preparing last years guide, they realized that the changes were real and profound, as was CGCs effect on the marketplace. And they made (for them) huge changes: adding more price levels by grades and creating the 9.0 grade and goosing up the 9.4 prices closer to street levels (not close enough I know but somehow Im thinking that if Bob posted here on the boards with us, he's be expecting a correction if not a crash like many others) I mean, they increased the physical size of the book itself - - not the usual Bob inertia we expect year after year...

 

SO we really cant judge OSs relevance fully until we see the next guide. Then we can judge whether they truly do "get" the new comics economy or not. My guess, however, is that they will opt to raise prices only a "healthy amount" as usual along the overall lines they usually do, and at least try to come closer with some of the hotter buzz books of the last year. I still think Bob believes in trailing the market. Thats HIS vision of the purpose of HIS guide...and it will stay that way until book sales lag as a result of a switch in the comics market away from his product from a lack of trust in it.

 

[shadroch]

I read OS for the market reports,the ads and then for the prices. All the prices show me is which runs have heated up this year,and which books have broken out within the runs. It is a guide,afterall, not a bible.

With the exception of it continueing to omit certain books,I'd say it does a great job of informing both novices and experts about the market.With the change in 33s,a HC that lays flat, this was the first year a guide lasted 12 months for me. Mine often fell apart by Sept.

[UnrulyAppendage]

If everybody knows the guide is wrong, is there a need to update?

 

What I mean, those that need the information on cgc prices already know they are going over guide. Those that need immediate info track items on ebay or the other various online guides. It just seems to me that Overstreet would devote more time to getting information that a small segment of the collectors need that is being provided by other means.

[Rip]

Don't expect the Overstreet to change years and years of conservative pricing overnight. An interesting discussion would be, "What if Overstreet DID radically change their pricing?" What potential downsides do you see as a result?

[fantastic_four]

If everybody knows the guide is wrong, is there a need to update?

 

Not everybody knows, just a few hundred people. The average collector doesn't know, the majority of the 3000 or so local comic shops don't know (if the 40-50 shops in my state are any indication), most small regional dealers at conventions don't know (I say this because I consistently buy 9.4 books from dealers in my area priced at Guide and then they knock 10% or so off when I buy), and insurance claims adjusters don't know.

 

It seems like only national dealers and high-end collectors know...and it effectively allows new material to flow into their hands at well below market prices. How hard is it for a dealer to go ahead and offer an original owner the full Overstreet NM price for Gold, early Silver, or key Bronze to see if they bite? I can't imagine that's not just standard procedure--if not offering HALF guide, which is what the essays at the front of Overstreet have always suggested as the most you can expect a dealer to pay. Not hard to see why some people think that's the real reason the Guide prices are too low...although I prefer not to jump to that conclusion, I suspect it has more to do with caution and uncertainty related to inaccurate grading and the lower prices associated with it.

[towards2112]

arnoldt,

Tell us the truth,

Gemstone is interested in continued revenue from publishing,

not necessarily any devout interest in comic book prices... correct?

IE: the companies main mission statement is that Gemstone

generates revenue. Sell advertising, develop a contractual product,

'the overstreet', license it's information and data, produce this product

in a highly marketable format with the smallest amount of fiscal

investment, market the product, stream the product to vendors and

hopefully place 7 to 11% profit on the bottom line.

Is that not Gemstones goal?

Now, instead of pressuring the fine publishing firm of Gemstone,

perhaps we should apply pressure to the editors of

the Overstreet. Seems that would reap more profitable

results.

[Timely]

guys - - the Guide comes out ANNUALLY.... how accurate can you really expect it to be in today's fast-paced marketplace? If you expect it to an up-to-the-minute pricing guide for slabbed books, a annual paperback book will NEVER be the solution.

 

Overstreet will always lag the market. Its to a great extent a publishing issue. And partly by design, which, of late, just may need some tweaking to stay relevant. But there i sno way it can be 95% accurate for every book in every grade, whether old or new, or HOT or cold, with a movie coming out, and not....unless its updated daily like the financial pages and websites.

 

Anyone wanna invest in setting THAT system up and keep it going until its profitable?

 

The Guide IS annual. When it comes out in April/May it is reporting sales from the previous year. I believe the OS advisors send in their pricing info around November/December. So as you see, OS is already outdated the second you get it in your hands when it comes out in April!

 

I cannot believe you guys on this board! In one (more like 100) thread you talk about the "crash" and how books are going to be worth less (and worthless) and yet in here many of you same members talk about how the guide is too low and Bob is off his gourd with the low pricing!

 

Timely

[drice6900]

The Guide IS annual. When it comes out in April/May it is reporting sales from the previous year. I believe the OS advisors send in their pricing info around November/December. So as you see, OS is already outdated the second you get it in your hands when it comes out in April!

 

I cannot believe you guys on this board! In one (more like 100) thread you talk about the "crash" and how books are going to be worth less (and worthless) and yet in here many of you same members talk about how the guide is too low and Bob is off his gourd with the low pricing!

 

Timely

 

Hey, we wants our cake, and we will eat it too!