JIMs coming out of the wood work!

[Aman619]

somehow I dont think thats it at all...

[tth2]

somehow I dont think thats it at all...

 

I agree, JC seems to be surprisingly naive in his response. Must be on the lithium again.

[joe_collector]

somehow I dont think thats it at all...

 

Of course that's not ALL of the story, but if you think the larger dealers are just concerned with competition, pricing and petty sniping, then you're wrong.

 

A lot of these guys really love the hobby and want to not only make money today, but decades from now. Sure, huge short-term profits are great, but if too many people go too far in baiting the insufficiently_thoughtful_person speculators, we're looking at 1994 all over again.

 

If you disagree, then you're really missing an important part of what's going on here. Obviously not ALL, but a significant part.

[Aman619]

while Im pleased that you are taking a somewhat altrusistic positin on this as opposed to the usual total cynic about money motives in comics..... Sure the dealers want the hobby/game/business to keep going cause its their livelihood. But not at the expense of leaving money on the table!! Ive never seen a dealer WILLINGLY forego extra $1000s on a book or deal just to make sure he will be employed down the road.

 

If this JLA sells at 30K believe me the next copy Steve gets will be stickerd at $33K not $15K as would make sense NOW before such a sale enters the record books! Theyre no different than we as collectors are when we see a new plateau reached:

 

We are awed and sorry it wasnt OUR book that sold for so much!

and so are they!!!

 

this i ssilly - - what, weve never seen outrageous asking prices on dealer's websites???

They're just "asking!"

[Silver Surfer]

Agreed. You don't ask, you don't get.

[Aman619]

and often enough... you DON'T get.... no harm no foul.

[sfilosa]

A lot of these guys really love the hobby and want to not only make money today, but decades from now.

 

Actually, what you should have said is that "these guys really love MAKING MONEY IN the hobby".

 

The fact is as time goes on, less and less DEALERS will make as much money in the hobby. Doesn't mean they can't make a livelyhood, or that if they sell part of their collection, they can't make money. But the INTERNET has changed many business FOREVER. There will never be (nor need to be) as many:

 

Insurance Agents

Real Estate Brokers

Stock Brokers

Travel Agents

Comic Dealers

etc.

 

as there was before the internet. All of these people provide SERVICES that can be achieved in a much simpler way now than ten years ago.

 

Now if you want to say EVERYONE who sells on eBay is a dealer, there are more comic dealers than before. But I'm sure there are LESS NOW that can make a reasonable living at it. And as more and more books become CGC'd, that will also hurt the full-time dealers. Not to many collectors want to send their personal books to CGC to be graded, and then sell them in a bulk deal at a fraction of their value to a dealer.