As a collector, what does this situation make you think of the market?

[Walls]

The seller decides the price. The buyer decides to accept. Thats that.

 

Fair market value, gpa, overstreet are just guidelines. Noone is beholden to any of them.

 

Stop hurting inside.

 

 

OK, I get it. adult discourse doesn't work here, I'll stop.

[comix4fun]

The rare, unexpected, Donut Triple Tap.

 

You might want to get a room.

 

 

 

One can either choose to reject or accept the wisdom of the donut, harsh as it may seem, to their ultimate detriment or benefit.

 

<3

[HouseofComics.Com]

OK, I get it. adult discourse doesn't work here, I'll stop.

 

This place is about making friends so you can have the good conversations via PM.

[comix4fun]

The seller decides the price. The buyer decides to accept. Thats that.

 

Fair market value, gpa, overstreet are just guidelines. Noone is beholden to any of them.

 

Stop hurting inside.

 

 

OK, I get it. adult discourse doesn't work here, I'll stop.

 

 

 

What wasn't adult about what he just said?

 

It's obvious this entire chain of transactions really bothers you. The high price you paid, the loss you took, the price that's being asked now, all of it. It really bugs you. That's ok. There's plenty of stuff that bugs me and I let it out all the time on the boards. That's what they are for.

 

I think he's telling you (perhaps begging you) to own it, and then let it go.

 

If you had a dollar for every book, piece of art, car, collectible, etc. that you found that was overpriced you could buy every single copy of X-men #135 that's out there and thus end the discussion for all time.

 

You were free to undersell your book, which you did.

 

Would you be ok with an owner of that same book coming on here and RAILING against you for wrecking the market, screwing up the GPA average, and costing him in perceived value of his book by selling it for $45? Does he have any right to tell you what to do with your property?

 

Basically, railing against the wind won't make the sun shine.

[HouseofComics.Com]

If you had a dollar for every book, piece of art, car, collectible, etc. that you found that was overpriced you could buy every single copy of X-men #135 that's out there and thus end the discussion for all time.

 

I love the idea/flight of fancy that someone could do that.

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

The seller decides the price. The buyer decides to accept. Thats that.

 

Fair market value, gpa, overstreet are just guidelines. Noone is beholden to any of them.

 

Stop hurting inside.

 

 

OK, I get it. adult discourse doesn't work here, I'll stop.

 

 

 

What wasn't adult about what he just said?

 

It's obvious this entire chain of transactions really bothers you. The high price you paid, the loss you took, the price that's being asked now, all of it. It really bugs you. That's ok. There's plenty of stuff that bugs me and I let it out all the time on the boards. That's what they are for.

 

I think he's telling you (perhaps begging you) to own it, and then let it go.

 

If you had a dollar for every book, piece of art, car, collectible, etc. that you found that was overpriced you could buy every single copy of X-men #135 that's out there and thus end the discussion for all time.

 

You were free to undersell your book, which you did.

 

Would you be ok with an owner of that same book coming on here and RAILING against you for wrecking the market, screwing up the GPA average, and costing him in perceived value of his book by selling it for $45? Does he have any right to tell you what to do with your property?

 

Basically, railing against the wind won't make the sun shine.

 

You belong in the Buffyfan Oil drum for X-Mas thread in the Water Cooler. Harsh reality and fanciful idealogy just don't mix well. (thumbs u

[Park]

So last year, I purchased a copy of X-Men 135 in 9.4 white pages on eBay for $75. This was a few months after I got back into the hobby as a collector and before Jimbo responded to one of my posts telling me about a GPA (thank you so much, Jimbo). I was still trying to figure out how to buy books at reasonable prices.

 

Earlier this year a number of items came up that I wanted and I decided that I wanted a better grade copy of X-Men 135. Now having access to GPA, I went on the site, reviewed the documented sales, looked at the 12 month average and posted the book on eBay and priced it a little lower than the gpa average at $45. I wanted it to move. I lost $30 bucks on the book plus shipping but, you know, caveat emptor and all that. Here's the eBay listing:

 

My xmen 135 sale

 

The book sold back in early January. So, I have some rules set up in eBay and one of them is to let me know when late bronze/early copper x-men come up for sale. So basically I get an email on any x-men books between 100 and 142. Yesterday, I was reviewing my email and I noticed this item for sale:

 

New xmen 135 sale

 

I thought wow, that looks just like the one I had. I zoomed in on the picture, got the cert number and reviewed my records and sure enough, it's the same book. They're asking over 100% more than what I let the book go for in January. I reviewed GPA again and I guess this new prices is based on a single documented sale in Feb for 90 but still higher than that single sale. I'm hugely curious about the details of that sale. I'm not questioning that its valid but was it another uninformed buyer or some other similar situation?

 

Anyway, nothing truly unethical or wrong about what the buyer/seller is doing but, as a collector and buyer, it makes me much more skeptical and distrustful of the hobby and kind of leaves, at least IMHO, a bad impression. Plus, this is going to make it more expensive to pick up a higher graded 135. Possibly, to the point where I may not pick up another.

 

Finally, the buyer picked up two well priced items and never left me positive feed back after receiving the items.

 

 

A couple of things I see from your Ebay listing. Your starting price was $45.00. With an auction site such as Ebay starting at $9.99 might have worked better or having a BIN of $70.00 and make an offer may have worked better. Starting right in the middle may not have been the best idea. Certainly open for debate.

 

Your auction ended on a Thursday at not really a good time. 4:45 PST. A Sunday evening ending would have been a better choice.

 

Also, I can tell that the winning bidder put in a snipe seconds before the end of the auction. Who knows how much higher he would have been willing to bid? You obviously needed one more interested party in the book but with your ending time and the (what I would say) odd starting bid, a lot of people may have missed it.

 

The scans of the book aren't that great. It is an old label 9.4. Some feel CGC was tighter on the old label. A better scan may have possibly appealed to someone that was looking to press this book into a higher grade. Sure they could call and get graders notes and maybe pressing isn't a possibility but the low quality scan doesn't help push anyone towards that possibility.

 

The description is short and to the point. Not much enthusiasm. While you don't need to be a carnival barker, a little enthusiasm would help.

 

Now putting all these things together doesn't that book is going to set the new GPA high but it could have enticed at least another buyer and in an auction format, all it takes is two.

[Walls]

The seller decides the price. The buyer decides to accept. Thats that.

 

Fair market value, gpa, overstreet are just guidelines. Noone is beholden to any of them.

 

Stop hurting inside.

 

 

OK, I get it. adult discourse doesn't work here, I'll stop.

 

 

 

What wasn't adult about what he just said?

 

It's obvious this entire chain of transactions really bothers you. The high price you paid, the loss you took, the price that's being asked now, all of it. It really bugs you. That's ok. There's plenty of stuff that bugs me and I let it out all the time on the boards. That's what they are for.

 

I think he's telling you (perhaps begging you) to own it, and then let it go.

 

If you had a dollar for every book, piece of art, car, collectible, etc. that you found that was overpriced you could buy every single copy of X-men #135 that's out there and thus end the discussion for all time.

 

You were free to undersell your book, which you did.

 

Would you be ok with an owner of that same book coming on here and RAILING against you for wrecking the market, screwing up the GPA average, and costing him in perceived value of his book by selling it for $45? Does he have any right to tell you what to do with your property?

 

Basically, railing against the wind won't make the sun shine.

 

Well, the words whining/hurting/butt hurt/etc just doesn't strike me as a conversation I'd have at work or in a meeting. Now if you said, well I can see your point, but have you considered this. Now, that could really work to change my opinion.

 

The transaction isn't huge for me but as in vintage's case it got me thinking about prices and I'm looking at it from the buyer's perspective. Honestly, $35 dollars isn't a big deal to me but I was imagining how this behavior would work when I'm looking at multi-thousand dollar transactions. Maybe, that's not a big deal to you but keep in mind some of us are just collectors. While we want our beloved items we also have mortgages, college funds,etc. Prices increasing too much or for no apparent reason can knock us out of the hobby. Personally, I'm not sure that's good for anyone. I mean in the short term maybe you'll make money but who knows the market could overheat just like real estate market. IMHO, comics have no inherent value beyond what the collectors are willing to pay for them.

 

And I think your example is flawed, unlike the seller I used GPA as the guide. I did not have the lowest GPA sale I used the average and knocked a few bucks off. If I had taken the lowest recorded sale and then subtracted money from that your example would be valid.

 

And this isn't meant to be a rail, it was an evaluation to get other folk's thoughts. I apologize if it came off as a rail.

 

[Hepcat]

That is true, but even the Nasdaq and Dow Jones doesn't double in a month.

 

You can't compare a 9.4 copy of X-Men 135 to even the most average stock. A 9.4 copy of X-Men 135 may change hands two or three times a year. The average stock trades two or three hundred times per day. In other words, the average stock is thousands of times more liquid. A market characterized by low levels of liquidity is one characterized by high spreads between bid prices and offering prices. There's accordingly no continuity in price between one transaction and the next.

 

 

That could be, but when I see evidence that a price has coalesced at a certain price point, I'm skeptical of any unexplained, major deviations in that price.

 

There was no good evidence of coalescence. If there were ten transactions per month, you might have a workable average but GPA is generally based on far too few transactions.

 

[Walls]

So last year, I purchased a copy of X-Men 135 in 9.4 white pages on eBay for $75. This was a few months after I got back into the hobby as a collector and before Jimbo responded to one of my posts telling me about a GPA (thank you so much, Jimbo). I was still trying to figure out how to buy books at reasonable prices.

 

Earlier this year a number of items came up that I wanted and I decided that I wanted a better grade copy of X-Men 135. Now having access to GPA, I went on the site, reviewed the documented sales, looked at the 12 month average and posted the book on eBay and priced it a little lower than the gpa average at $45. I wanted it to move. I lost $30 bucks on the book plus shipping but, you know, caveat emptor and all that. Here's the eBay listing:

 

My xmen 135 sale

 

The book sold back in early January. So, I have some rules set up in eBay and one of them is to let me know when late bronze/early copper x-men come up for sale. So basically I get an email on any x-men books between 100 and 142. Yesterday, I was reviewing my email and I noticed this item for sale:

 

New xmen 135 sale

 

I thought wow, that looks just like the one I had. I zoomed in on the picture, got the cert number and reviewed my records and sure enough, it's the same book. They're asking over 100% more than what I let the book go for in January. I reviewed GPA again and I guess this new prices is based on a single documented sale in Feb for 90 but still higher than that single sale. I'm hugely curious about the details of that sale. I'm not questioning that its valid but was it another uninformed buyer or some other similar situation?

 

Anyway, nothing truly unethical or wrong about what the buyer/seller is doing but, as a collector and buyer, it makes me much more skeptical and distrustful of the hobby and kind of leaves, at least IMHO, a bad impression. Plus, this is going to make it more expensive to pick up a higher graded 135. Possibly, to the point where I may not pick up another.

 

Finally, the buyer picked up two well priced items and never left me positive feed back after receiving the items.

 

 

A couple of things I see from your Ebay listing. Your starting price was $45.00. With an auction site such as Ebay starting at $9.99 might have worked better or having a BIN of $70.00 and make an offer may have worked better. Starting right in the middle may not have been the best idea. Certainly open for debate.

 

Your auction ended on a Thursday at not really a good time. 4:45 PST. A Sunday evening ending would have been a better choice.

 

Also, I can tell that the winning bidder put in a snipe seconds before the end of the auction. Who knows how much higher he would have been willing to bid? You obviously needed one more interested party in the book but with your ending time and the (what I would say) odd starting bid, a lot of people may have missed it.

 

The scans of the book aren't that great. It is an old label 9.4. Some feel CGC was tighter on the old label. A better scan may have possibly appealed to someone that was looking to press this book into a higher grade. Sure they could call and get graders notes and maybe pressing isn't a possibility but the low quality scan doesn't help push anyone towards that possibility.

 

The description is short and to the point. Not much enthusiasm. While you don't need to be a carnival barker, a little enthusiasm would help.

 

Now putting all these things together doesn't that book is going to set the new GPA high but it could have enticed at least another buyer and in an auction format, all it takes is two.

 

Quote, thanks for the tips but I'm really not a seller I'm a buyer. I've got a few things up that fell out of my focus and if they go, they go, if not, well, I haven't quit my day job yet.

 

[Walls]

That is true, but even the Nasdaq and Dow Jones doesn't double in a month.

 

You can't compare a 9.4 copy of X-Men 135 to even the most average stock. A 9.4 copy of X-Men 135 may change hands two or three times a year. The average stock trades two or three hundred times per day. In other words, the average stock is thousands of times more liquid. A market characterized by low levels of liquidity is one characterized by high spreads between bid prices and offering prices. There's accordingly no continuity in price between one transaction and the next.

 

 

That could be, but when I see evidence that a price has coalesced at a certain price point, I'm skeptical of any unexplained, major deviations in that price.

 

There was no good evidence of coalescence. If there were ten transactions per month, you might have a workable average but GPA is generally based on far too few transactions.

 

 

That could be, but from a buyer perspective its much better than buying hoping the seller's going to look out for you and hold your hand.

 

[Westy Steve]

Hey, FWIW, it's a very, very good thing for a buyer to sell something once in a while just to cross-check their buying decisions. Everyone should do it, even if they are only "collect".

[lizards2]

Hey, FWIW, it's a very, very good thing for a buyer to sell something once in a while just to cross-check their buying decisions. Everyone should do it, even if they are only "collect".

Pretty good advice, in my book. I've certainly learned lots from doing just that.

[Park]

So last year, I purchased a copy of X-Men 135 in 9.4 white pages on eBay for $75. This was a few months after I got back into the hobby as a collector and before Jimbo responded to one of my posts telling me about a GPA (thank you so much, Jimbo). I was still trying to figure out how to buy books at reasonable prices.

 

Earlier this year a number of items came up that I wanted and I decided that I wanted a better grade copy of X-Men 135. Now having access to GPA, I went on the site, reviewed the documented sales, looked at the 12 month average and posted the book on eBay and priced it a little lower than the gpa average at $45. I wanted it to move. I lost $30 bucks on the book plus shipping but, you know, caveat emptor and all that. Here's the eBay listing:

 

My xmen 135 sale

 

The book sold back in early January. So, I have some rules set up in eBay and one of them is to let me know when late bronze/early copper x-men come up for sale. So basically I get an email on any x-men books between 100 and 142. Yesterday, I was reviewing my email and I noticed this item for sale:

 

New xmen 135 sale

 

I thought wow, that looks just like the one I had. I zoomed in on the picture, got the cert number and reviewed my records and sure enough, it's the same book. They're asking over 100% more than what I let the book go for in January. I reviewed GPA again and I guess this new prices is based on a single documented sale in Feb for 90 but still higher than that single sale. I'm hugely curious about the details of that sale. I'm not questioning that its valid but was it another uninformed buyer or some other similar situation?

 

Anyway, nothing truly unethical or wrong about what the buyer/seller is doing but, as a collector and buyer, it makes me much more skeptical and distrustful of the hobby and kind of leaves, at least IMHO, a bad impression. Plus, this is going to make it more expensive to pick up a higher graded 135. Possibly, to the point where I may not pick up another.

 

Finally, the buyer picked up two well priced items and never left me positive feed back after receiving the items.

 

 

A couple of things I see from your Ebay listing. Your starting price was $45.00. With an auction site such as Ebay starting at $9.99 might have worked better or having a BIN of $70.00 and make an offer may have worked better. Starting right in the middle may not have been the best idea. Certainly open for debate.

 

Your auction ended on a Thursday at not really a good time. 4:45 PST. A Sunday evening ending would have been a better choice.

 

Also, I can tell that the winning bidder put in a snipe seconds before the end of the auction. Who knows how much higher he would have been willing to bid? You obviously needed one more interested party in the book but with your ending time and the (what I would say) odd starting bid, a lot of people may have missed it.

 

The scans of the book aren't that great. It is an old label 9.4. Some feel CGC was tighter on the old label. A better scan may have possibly appealed to someone that was looking to press this book into a higher grade. Sure they could call and get graders notes and maybe pressing isn't a possibility but the low quality scan doesn't help push anyone towards that possibility.

 

The description is short and to the point. Not much enthusiasm. While you don't need to be a carnival barker, a little enthusiasm would help.

 

Now putting all these things together doesn't that book is going to set the new GPA high but it could have enticed at least another buyer and in an auction format, all it takes is two.

 

Quote, thanks for the tips but I'm really not a seller I'm a buyer. I've got a few things up that fell out of my focus and if they go, they go, if not, well, I haven't quit my day job yet.

 

 

Sure but all these things that you didn't do led to keeping the price of the book down more so than anything else.

 

Your impetus of the thread was the fact that another seller has your same book priced higher than what you sold it for or what you thought the market was at the time (1 month ago).

 

Is it possible that your sale was the outlier because of the issues I noted and the other seller is closer to the market value right now?

 

His may not sell at $94 either and that would invalidate your other argument. I think his price is high and your missteps in your auction led to a low price. Which puts the probable market value somewhere in between like say $75 or so.

 

Just throwing some stuff out there. Don't worry though, I won't be this serious again for at least another week or so due to the fact that every time I do, I say something really stupid.

[VintageComics]

Don't worry though, I won't be this serious again for at least another week or so due to the fact that every time I do, I say something really stupid.

 

Trees.

 

 

[500Club]

That is true, but even the Nasdaq and Dow Jones doesn't double in a month.

 

You can't compare a 9.4 copy of X-Men 135 to even the most average stock. A 9.4 copy of X-Men 135 may change hands two or three times a year. The average stock trades two or three hundred times per day. In other words, the average stock is thousands of times more liquid. A market characterized by low levels of liquidity is one characterized by high spreads between bid prices and offering prices. There's accordingly no continuity in price between one transaction and the next.

 

 

That could be, but when I see evidence that a price has coalesced at a certain price point, I'm skeptical of any unexplained, major deviations in that price.

 

Exactly! You got it. (thumbs u

 

Be skeptical of the $90 ask price for the X-Men 135. It's well outside of the established market range.

 

IMHO, the book will sit a long time at that price.

[lizards2]

Don't worry though, I won't be this serious again for at least another week or so due to the fact that every time I do, I say something really stupid.

 

Trees.

 

Glee

[Park]

Don't worry though, I won't be this serious again for at least another week or so due to the fact that every time I do, I say something really stupid.

 

Trees.

 

 

 

 

trees.

 

[Hamlet]

Yeah, their price is too high. It is very unlikely to sell at that price.

 

That would be a rational price for a nice 9.6 White copy.

 

Anyone want mine?

 

 

 

 

Exactly! You got it. (thumbs u

 

Be skeptical of the $90 ask price for the X-Men 135. It's well outside of the established market range.

 

IMHO, the book will sit a long time at that price.

[comix4fun]

The seller decides the price. The buyer decides to accept. Thats that.

 

Fair market value, gpa, overstreet are just guidelines. Noone is beholden to any of them.

 

Stop hurting inside.

 

 

OK, I get it. adult discourse doesn't work here, I'll stop.

 

 

 

What wasn't adult about what he just said?

 

It's obvious this entire chain of transactions really bothers you. The high price you paid, the loss you took, the price that's being asked now, all of it. It really bugs you. That's ok. There's plenty of stuff that bugs me and I let it out all the time on the boards. That's what they are for.

 

I think he's telling you (perhaps begging you) to own it, and then let it go.

 

If you had a dollar for every book, piece of art, car, collectible, etc. that you found that was overpriced you could buy every single copy of X-men #135 that's out there and thus end the discussion for all time.

 

You were free to undersell your book, which you did.

 

Would you be ok with an owner of that same book coming on here and RAILING against you for wrecking the market, screwing up the GPA average, and costing him in perceived value of his book by selling it for $45? Does he have any right to tell you what to do with your property?

 

Basically, railing against the wind won't make the sun shine.

 

Well, the words whining/hurting/butt hurt/etc just doesn't strike me as a conversation I'd have at work or in a meeting.

 

 

Well "butthurt" is copyrighted comics general shorthand for getting upset over a transaction, comment, purchase, sale, or other experience that leaves you with the feeling as though someone peed in your cheerios.

 

It's not a personal thing, it's the parlance of the community.