GPA Analysis posted by Peter in Portugal

[CSJournals-migration]

Fact or Fiction ?

 

Sure everyone's heard of it. I myself don't subscribe to it but I can't help but wonder...is GPA really that useful ??

 

I mean sure, as a collector/dealer etc. you get access to sale prices, trends etc. But from the free trial run I used up, there's one question I kept asking.

OK let's take 2 copies of the same book, for the sake of argument let's make it a copy of Hulk #102 CGC 9.6. One sells for $1,500, the other for $1,250. What factors came into play to explain the price drop (increased supply, decreased demand, economic conditions, lucky break on the second sale)??

 

These may be all valid reasons but there is also one that pertains to the comic itself which I doubt is explored. A perfectly centered copy with full cover gloss etc. will certainly sell for more than the same copy with say, a bad miswrap or a date stamp/writing on it etc..

 

If I have it all wrong about GPA (again, I'm not a member) and they actually supply details of each book sold (scans, CGC notes etc..), I'd be glad to know about it..I would even consider signing up.

 

But until I'm proven otherwise, GPA, at least to me, is more of a punch line primarily used by dealers to justify their asking prices than anything else.

 

My two cents...

 

See more journals by Peter in Portugal

[seanfingh]

 

If you buy slabs, why would you not want all of the sales information from reporting sources at your fingertips?

 

You are still free to filter the information with your own preferences for collecting. In the example that you have with two copies of the same book selling for 1500 and then 1250, GPA gives you the perfect starting point for determining where your price points are, or should be, for that book. If you find an exceptional copy, you know where the top end starts, and for less appealing copies, you know that there is a lower sale.

 

It may not be perfectly what you want from an informational standpoint, but it is very helpful and very inexpensive.

[Boozad]

Never heard of it.

[Point Five]

OK let's take 2 copies of the same book, for the sake of argument let's make it a copy of Hulk #102 CGC 9.6. One sells for $1,500, the other for $1,250. What factors came into play to explain the price drop (increased supply, decreased demand, economic conditions, lucky break on the second sale)??

If you're looking at a book that's only had two sales ever, data will necessarily be less helpful...not sure what can be done about that. But since GPA gives you sales over one month, six months, one year, etc across multiple grades... seems to me that for the average SA Marvel (as per your example) you've got a whole lot of data points to figure out what FMV of a book looks like. For the low cost of the service and given how comprehensive it is across all titles, not sure how much more it could realistically do.

 

 

[DrWatson]

Never heard of it.

You Welsh Fairy Folk are hilarious.

[Boozad]

Never heard of it.

You Welsh Fairy Folk are hilarious.

 

You're not the only gay in the village. Boyo.

[Mr.Diggler]

Never heard of it.

You Welsh Fairy Folk are hilarious.

Emphasis on fairy.