I never grasped this ?

[etanick]

Why do I consider plods an attractive opportunity for my collecting?

 

(I) You can get a book that esthetically looks really good in hand. Its an enjoyment everytime you take it out to look at it. Encapsulated books are a kind of artwork. There is something extremly sesously appealing to these 30,40, 50 years old picto-pamphlets

(II) Almost everytime you can get a steep discount on plods. 80-90% discount is not unheard of. Even a little dot of something will hammer the book into purple

(iii) If you have a nice plod. Yeah well sure it has been worked on. But in hand you can see that its usually not that bad. Slight can be just a 0,5 grade tick down. Mod and Franken is quite another ballpark. But look for instance at the Pre Robin Bat-Tecs. They are a type of books where plods are becomming ever more liquid. Restored early Tecs are indeed desired in the marketplace. And I can perfectly understand that.

(IV) In terms of *collector value*, - the plod is getting you a bang for your buck by the motherloads.

(V) In terms of investor value, - youre gettin' ... well: close to nil

But who cares? I love my books. I dont need to or plan to put'em up for grabs anytime soon ...

 

only because of the supply and demand issue...for a few hard to get Golden Age books, no doubt PLODs will sell at a "slight" discount but still sell quickly....go outside of key GA and key SA books, and you will likely have to sell at a steep discount

 

[Mr. 10%]

Why do I consider plods an attractive opportunity for my collecting?

 

(I) You can get a book that esthetically looks really good in hand. Its an enjoyment everytime you take it out to look at it. Encapsulated books are a kind of artwork. There is something extremly sesously appealing to these 30,40, 50 years old picto-pamphlets

(II) Almost everytime you can get a steep discount on plods. 80-90% discount is not unheard of. Even a little dot of something will hammer the book into purple

(iii) If you have a nice plod. Yeah well sure it has been worked on. But in hand you can see that its usually not that bad. Slight can be just a 0,5 grade tick down. Mod and Franken is quite another ballpark. But look for instance at the Pre Robin Bat-Tecs. They are a type of books where plods are becomming ever more liquid. Restored early Tecs are indeed desired in the marketplace. And I can perfectly understand that.

(IV) In terms of *collector value*, - the plod is getting you a bang for your buck by the motherloads.

(V) In terms of investor value, - youre gettin' ... well: close to nil

But who cares? I love my books. I dont need to or plan to put'em up for grabs anytime soon ...

 

only because of the supply and demand issue...for a few hard to get Golden Age books, no doubt PLODs will sell at a "slight" discount but still sell quickly....go outside of key GA and key SA books, and you will likely have to sell at a steep discount

 

For GA and SA keys we are still talking +90% discount.

Just look at the recent c-link AF15 9.0 slight PLOD sale as well as the Heritage TEC27 PLOD Ext. 8.5 sale

[etanick]

 

90% discount that you mentioned has to be mention in context of each book and restorations done.

 

Lets break down that AF 15 9.0 PLOD, it was trimmed on one side and had a little color touch. What would that book be if it was un-restored? 7.0? hard to say and back to my main point of why if it is possible to figure out what that book was before the restoration was done, a more "fair" price could be placed on that book by SOME BUYERS. Is it a bargain 90% below what a blue 9.0 is? my opinion is yes, it should be priced higher but at $9k, it is priced equivalent to a 5.5.

 

What do you think is a fair price for that book? and can you justify your valuation?

 

I totally understand the stand point of some collectors that they rather own nice looking books than beaters...heck how else would Matt stays so busy. Apparently a lot of people feel this way.

 

[faster friends]

I think the cost of restoration should be taken into consideration like Mike was saying on the M(P) and E(P)

 

Not so much with the trimmed AF 15, Because I doubt trimming and a dab of color touch cost that much to perform.

[Mr. 10%]

90% discount that you mentioned has to be mention in context of each book and restorations done.

 

Lets break down that AF 15 9.0 PLOD, it was trimmed on one side and had a little color touch. What would that book be if it was un-restored? 7.0? hard to say and back to my main point of why if it is possible to figure out what that book was before the restoration was done, a more "fair" price could be placed on that book by SOME BUYERS. Is it a bargain 90% below what a blue 9.0 is? my opinion is yes, it should be priced higher but at $9k, it is priced equivalent to a 5.5.

 

What do you think is a fair price for that book? and can you justify your valuation?

 

I totally understand the stand point of some collectors that they rather own nice looking books than beaters...heck how else would Matt stays so busy. Apparently a lot of people feel this way.

 

What a 'fair price' is? Geesh I hesitate. Is the marketplace primarily about 'fair'. Is it not rather about 'how much you willin to spend to get what you want/need'? I.e. walking the fine line between greed (to get what you want) and fear (of loosing because you overpaid).?

 

Structurally the AF15 in question was altered very little (under the assumption were talkin micro-trim here). But its easy to see that the book was wayyeeeee above 5.5 before the work. we *could* be talkin an 8.0ish book here.

 

 

 

 

[etanick]

and you wonder why there is a huge price swing on PLOD books in the same grade...

 

difference in opinions...duh since when is "fair" value not determine by potential buyer as well as the seller? call it what you want, greed or fear or anything else...unless the seller thinks your offer is "fair" to him or her, you won't get the book.

 

take a look at this blue 7.0, do you think a trim on top to give razor sharp look as well as a little color on a few areas near the spine can make it a 9.0?

 

http://www.comiclink.com/itemdetail.asp?back=%2Fsearch%2Easp%3Fwhere%3Dsell%26title%3Damazing%2Bfantasy%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26ItemType%3DCB&id=859987

 

going back the adding the cost of repair to the PLOD as Mike used in his analogy with a house.

 

If I buy a house for $300k in 2005 and then poured in $60k in repair, do you think I can ask for fair marvel value per square footage + $60k or is the $60k of repair depreciated 5 years later? I doubt any buyers right now will say ..."oh a similar house right now sell for $150k but I am going be fair and offer you $210k for your repaired work. The cost of repair worth something to the person that paid for it....after the work is done...it is in the hand of the "fair" God.

 

p.s. just so we don't go in circle on the using of the word "fair", I am not talking auction transactions where greed and fear and whatever else are the driving force on the final price more often than "fair"

[Mr. 10%]

 

 

Mindblowing 7.0 copy !!!!!

And yes within slight it could (maybe) reach 8.5/9.0.

 

And yes the market changes constantly. So what is "fair" will judged differently at diffrent times

 

Dependent on what you pay, - when you move into frankenberry, you 'can' get burned. But there are also great books to be had.

 

And what I like best is this:

 

(i) As a collector (book-lover) these books a great to acces if you cant afford blue

(ii) From a financial point of view, the plods have lots of room to grow in pricewise without getting near the universal books.

[bluechip]

I feel that a pre restoration grade defeats the purpose. To have people judge a books value on what it looked like before the work, then there wouldn't be much reason for doing it except out of conservation as an out of pocket expense. If you have a 3.0 and spend $500 making it a 7.0 , shouldn't you get at least the 3.0 value plus the cost of the work? I think yes but the sad truth is most of the time it doesn't. You are already discounting the book for being restored so why ding it further by depreciating it with previous grade?

 

Think about it. What other business model do you know of where product is bought, restored and then sold for the original price and not include the cost of repairs? If that’s you and you buy and sell houses, fix them up and sell them for what you bought them for and not include your cost for renovations then I want to buy a house from you. (thumbs u

 

This analogy makes no sense to me. You think you can never lose money on a house just because you put money fixing it? what planet or country is this going on? obviously not on this great US of A in the past 3 years.

 

 

You would lose money fixing up your house if you were forced to paint it purple and realtors told all your potential buyers that purple houses are never to be considered investments and that they are all the same regardless of how much was done to them.

 

 

[Mr. 10%]

I feel that a pre restoration grade defeats the purpose. To have people judge a books value on what it looked like before the work, then there wouldn't be much reason for doing it except out of conservation as an out of pocket expense. If you have a 3.0 and spend $500 making it a 7.0 , shouldn't you get at least the 3.0 value plus the cost of the work? I think yes but the sad truth is most of the time it doesn't. You are already discounting the book for being restored so why ding it further by depreciating it with previous grade?

 

Think about it. What other business model do you know of where product is bought, restored and then sold for the original price and not include the cost of repairs? If that’s you and you buy and sell houses, fix them up and sell them for what you bought them for and not include your cost for renovations then I want to buy a house from you. (thumbs u

 

This analogy makes no sense to me. You think you can never lose money on a house just because you put money fixing it? what planet or country is this going on? obviously not on this great US of A in the past 3 years.

 

 

You would lose money fixing up your house if you were forced to paint it purple and realtors told all your potential buyers that purple houses are never to be considered investments and that they are all the same regardless of how much was done to them.

 

 

That being the situation (as a theoretical scenario) most houseowners would end up sorely *spooned*.