ECC Report - jbud's View from the Con Floor

[Designer Toast]

Jason,

 

Great report and I enjoyed meeting you. Although, you will always be the guy that didn't think the Byrne run on FF was all that. Listening to you, Steve, and Jeff was a trip. The forum dinner was a lot of fun and I enjoyed talking to everyone. Except Greggy, I don't think he said two words to me at the dinner but seems to have a lot to say here.

 

Mike

I was sick and I didn't hear you say anything to me.

 

So either you or Royce got me sick. Thanks!

 

Just blame it on greggy...everyone else does.

 

I have to agree, greggy was a bit more docile this year.

[Buzzetta]

Besides the con, what else did you all do and go see? London is a place I keep meaning to get to but never get a chance to seize the opportunity to visit when the opportunity arises.

[Talapas]

if anyone has a picture of that guy who came as Galactus feel free to post it though as that Costume Rocked

 

Your wish is my command:

 

[HighRadArt]

Besides the con, what else did you all do and go see? London is a place I keep meaning to get to but never get a chance to seize the opportunity to visit when the opportunity arises.

 

The show is massive now so it took up all of my time. Besides, I live close enough to visit with the family. I had dinner with the wife last November in the Space Needle (a 360 degree revolving view of the city as you eat) and went to the Science Museum with the kids. The Duck tour during the summer is pretty cool as well. Lots to do in Seattle but ECCC is all about comicbook nirvana for three days.

[MCMiles]

I enjoy the reports with a lot of pictures, but this is the kind of report I wish more people would focus on, and not so much every detail of their journey.

 

On this subject (below): I've felt this way for several years now. I don't really blame the dealers too much though. For one thing: "good" inventory doesn't come cheap. It's got to be hard to keep restocking at costs that allow them any profit margin.

More so: There is the fear of leaving any money on the table. Dealers don't want to sell a raw 9.4 only to have someone (there are many of us that do it regularly) only to have them press it, slab it, and sell it in a 9.6 CGC holder, therefore they are going above GPA on raw books from the get go. This can also apply to slabs, because many do get the CPR treatment.

However, I have a harder time digesting the high prices on slabs. GPA isn't everything, and I can appreciate the desire or need to price above it especially on a hot book. Values would never go up otherwise. I get that as a dealer you never want to take a loss on a book, but I've seen a lot of books sit in dealer inventory at the same crazy price as the actual value steadily declines.

Again, there is nothing wrong with pricing up, but I wouldn't expect to sell many 9.2 slabs for 9.4 prices

 

 

On the Large National Guys in general ... As usual the word is 'Over priced' - above GPA on Raw books and most of the Wall slabs should be at the next Olympics because they were all seeking to break GPA records again.

 

What this means is that even if you get a discount, you are still over paying verses comic link and EBAY even when shipping and Tax (or whatever the comic link is calling it these days) is applied to the book. So why even strike up a conversation on very common SA and especially Bronze (I don't think the dealers have heard that Bronze and later silver are on the down slide )

 

I love buying the books in person, but I'm not going to throw an extra $100 a book to do so when the next round of auction house stuff is always just a month or so away.

 

 

 

 

 

[VintageComics]

I enjoy the reports with a lot of pictures, but this is the kind of report I wish more people would focus on, and not so much every detail of their journey.

 

On this subject (below): I've felt this way for several years now. I don't really blame the dealers too much though. For one thing: "good" inventory doesn't come cheap. It's got to be hard to keep restocking at costs that allow them any profit margin.

More so: There is the fear of leaving any money on the table. Dealers don't want to sell a raw 9.4 only to have someone (there are many of us that do it regularly) only to have them press it, slab it, and sell it in a 9.6 CGC holder, therefore they are going above GPA on raw books from the get go. This can also apply to slabs, because many do get the CPR treatment.

However, I have a harder time digesting the high prices on slabs. GPA isn't everything, and I can appreciate the desire or need to price above it especially on a hot book. Values would never go up otherwise. I get that as a dealer you never want to take a loss on a book, but I've seen a lot of books sit in dealer inventory at the same crazy price as the actual value steadily declines.

Again, there is nothing wrong with pricing up, but I wouldn't expect to sell many 9.2 slabs for 9.4 prices

 

 

On the Large National Guys in general ... As usual the word is 'Over priced' - above GPA on Raw books and most of the Wall slabs should be at the next Olympics because they were all seeking to break GPA records again.

 

What this means is that even if you get a discount, you are still over paying verses comic link and EBAY even when shipping and Tax (or whatever the comic link is calling it these days) is applied to the book. So why even strike up a conversation on very common SA and especially Bronze (I don't think the dealers have heard that Bronze and later silver are on the down slide )

 

I love buying the books in person, but I'm not going to throw an extra $100 a book to do so when the next round of auction house stuff is always just a month or so away.

 

On this chat forum there are lots of people who watch the market intensely. Mainly because we have nothing better to do.

 

Out in the real world, and especially at larger shows where you get a large cross section of people selling and shopping, many people (including dealers) still use the Overstreet Price Guide and have no clue about GPA. Many times Guide disagrees with GPA.

 

Sometimes you can get a deal (when Guide is underpriced) and sometimes the book looks expensive (when Guide is overpriced).

 

Cuts both ways.

 

Other dealers know exactly what they're doing. I had a dealer price a book at it's next grade. Why? Because he knew it was an upgrade, so he had no incentive to price cheaper.

[MCMiles]

I get that too.

Usually the books are priced at what ever the highest reflection is.

If GPA is higher, then that is the price used, and if a buyer tries to reference the guide in a negotiation then you can bet the seller is going to pull out their smart phone. If OSPG is higher a lot of dealers will price at that realizing that many, if not most, buyers are still using it and less concerned with CGC and GPA.

That's fine. I get it. A dealer needs to make a good profit. Dealer's should just not be offended if a seller uses real life data to negotiate against the dealer's selective data.

 

As far as the "knew it would upgrade" I already covered that. It's still a fear of leaving money on the table, and most dealers know that if you or me, or two dozen other guys are looking at it, it probably has potential. I don't blame them for wanting more. But someone has to take the risk, and you are rarely going to sell a 9.4 CGC book to a COLLECTOR wanting a 9.6 for a 9.6 price.

[Jeffreykli]

if anyone has a picture of that guy who came as Galactus feel free to post it though as that Costume Rocked

 

Your wish is my command:

 

 

Great pic, and the costume is even better because there's a little Silver Surfer figure flying behind his left shoulder.

 

Edit: you can make out the Silver Surfer in the pic.

[jbud73]

I enjoy the reports with a lot of pictures, but this is the kind of report I wish more people would focus on, and not so much every detail of their journey.

 

On this subject (below): I've felt this way for several years now. I don't really blame the dealers too much though. For one thing: "good" inventory doesn't come cheap. It's got to be hard to keep restocking at costs that allow them any profit margin.

More so: There is the fear of leaving any money on the table. Dealers don't want to sell a raw 9.4 only to have someone (there are many of us that do it regularly) only to have them press it, slab it, and sell it in a 9.6 CGC holder, therefore they are going above GPA on raw books from the get go. This can also apply to slabs, because many do get the CPR treatment.

However, I have a harder time digesting the high prices on slabs. GPA isn't everything, and I can appreciate the desire or need to price above it especially on a hot book. Values would never go up otherwise. I get that as a dealer you never want to take a loss on a book, but I've seen a lot of books sit in dealer inventory at the same crazy price as the actual value steadily declines.

Again, there is nothing wrong with pricing up, but I wouldn't expect to sell many 9.2 slabs for 9.4 prices

 

 

On the Large National Guys in general ... As usual the word is 'Over priced' - above GPA on Raw books and most of the Wall slabs should be at the next Olympics because they were all seeking to break GPA records again.

 

What this means is that even if you get a discount, you are still over paying verses comic link and EBAY even when shipping and Tax (or whatever the comic link is calling it these days) is applied to the book. So why even strike up a conversation on very common SA and especially Bronze (I don't think the dealers have heard that Bronze and later silver are on the down slide )

 

I love buying the books in person, but I'm not going to throw an extra $100 a book to do so when the next round of auction house stuff is always just a month or so away.

 

On this chat forum there are lots of people who watch the market intensely. Mainly because we have nothing better to do.

 

Out in the real world, and especially at larger shows where you get a large cross section of people selling and shopping, many people (including dealers) still use the Overstreet Price Guide and have no clue about GPA. Many times Guide disagrees with GPA.

 

Sometimes you can get a deal (when Guide is underpriced) and sometimes the book looks expensive (when Guide is overpriced).

 

Cuts both ways.

 

Other dealers know exactly what they're doing. I had a dealer price a book at it's next grade. Why? Because he knew it was an upgrade, so he had no incentive to price cheaper.

 

I totally understand that the CGC forum is not the center of the universe, but I'm thinking that a lot of people buying 500 + books are pretty in tune to the market. My overall point is that, whether the dealers accept this or not, they are competing with the Auction houses when it comes to the HG slabbed market.

[jbud73]

if anyone has a picture of that guy who came as Galactus feel free to post it though as that Costume Rocked

 

Your wish is my command:

 

 

Great pic, and the costume is even better because there's a little Silver Surfer figure flying behind his left shoulder.

 

Edit: you can make out the Silver Surfer in the pic.

 

Ya its hard to see from the picture but the model sized Silver Surfer was attached just off his shoulder. This costume was really cool to see in person, thanks for posting it. (thumbs u

[VintageComics]

I totally understand that the CGC forum is not the center of the universe, but I'm thinking that a lot of people buying 500 + books are pretty in tune to the market. My overall point is that, whether the dealers accept this or not, they are competing with the Auction houses when it comes to the HG slabbed market.

 

Lots of people buying comics in person don't look at auction houses, believe it or not.

 

Some people don't even know they exist, let alone GPA. For those people, Guide it is.

 

[Senormac]

if anyone has a picture of that guy who came as Galactus feel free to post it though as that Costume Rocked

 

Your wish is my command:

 

 

Great pic, and the costume is even better because there's a little Silver Surfer figure flying behind his left shoulder.

 

Edit: you can make out the Silver Surfer in the pic.

 

Ya its hard to see from the picture but the model sized Silver Surfer was attached just off his shoulder. This costume was really cool to see in person, thanks for posting it. (thumbs u

 

Superb costume !! And thx for pointing out the SS .... I didn't notice him before you said something (thumbs u

[jbud73]

I totally understand that the CGC forum is not the center of the universe, but I'm thinking that a lot of people buying 500 + books are pretty in tune to the market. My overall point is that, whether the dealers accept this or not, they are competing with the Auction houses when it comes to the HG slabbed market.

 

Lots of people buying comics in person don't look at auction houses, believe it or not.

 

Some people don't even know they exist, let alone GPA. For those people, Guide it is.

 

 

Thankfully I'm NOT one of those people

[jbud73]

I cherry picked Ron's good stuff before you got there, nitwit

 

That may be true, but he said he charged you more because he likes me better.