Getting GPA Current?

[roulette44]

Hey boardies.

 

So, a little discussion has surfaced in the Silver Age section, and thought CG was the place to get the best breadth of views.....

 

Many collectors, investors and speculators refer to GPA as the gospel. Some of us use GPA as a tool, but certainly incorporate other data as well (such as - does GPA make sense, given the circumstances)......but, right or wrong, TONS of people use GPA as their barometer of how much to pay for a book

 

Getting to brass tacks, I believe the problem is the lack of consistency for GPA reporting. Consider this

 

As it relates to auction sites

Ebay, Heritage, Pedigree - Yes

Comiclink - No

Comicconnect - Sometimes?

Others - ?

 

As it relates to private dealers - no need to name names, but....

Some - yes

Others - no

Others still - used to, but don't report anymore

 

Guys, as ambassadors to the hobby and in the interest of trying to maintain some order, i submit that the major dealers (atleast) submit their book sales to GPA. There are just too many examples where the GPA on a book is way out of line (high or low) relative to market value.

 

Perhaps George of GPA has ideas on how this would work, but something as simple as a very basic form (GPA slab #, date sold, price sold) completed once a week or so by top dealers is really all that's needed.

 

I'm sure some of the large-volume dealers would prefer some anonymity, which makes sense to me (and there's no reason why we'd have to know that x sale was from Greg Reece or y sale was from Rick Whitelock)..........let's just get the data current, so buyers, sellers (and the market at large, which is the real issue here) can make informed decisions. Of course, we need a mechanism in place to ensure the data reported reflects actual sales (and changes, reversals, etc, can be tracked too).

 

Okay, forumites - let's keep it clean, above the belt only and TRY (please - try) to stick to the issue at hand!

 

Welcome your thoughts

Joey

[lscomics]

Some people though, buyers and sellers, don't want it made public what was paid for a book. There's never going to be a system in place that is 100% accurate and up to date. Even Overstreet since it's inception could only track some of the information. I just don't see this ever being as updated as you would like it to be.

[Pike's Comics]

Who do we know of the major dealers actually submits there sales?

 

Also maybe someone should take it upon themselves to submit all the sales from the boards? To make it easier on them we create a thread just for submissions to GPA.

 

David

 

(HI JOEY!)

[skypinkblu]

Wasn't there a thread about Pedigreed comics reporting select sales and reselling books to skew the numbers? It's probably a slippery slope to have random numbers flying in.

[Bomber-Bob]

There are many inherent problems with reporting dealer transactions.

Often the transaction involves trade, time payments, credit, in person cash discount, discount on the stack = it's not always a straight dollar amount like an auction.

I don't like it.

 

[Junkdrawer]

Wasn't there a thread about Pedigreed comics reporting select sales and reselling books to skew the numbers? It's probably a slippery slope to have random numbers flying in.

Very slippery +1

[bababooey]

Expansion to include more data points doesn't necessarily make GPA better.

 

The things that make GPA a sound market barometer are things like "verifiable results" (no anonymity) and the "all or nothing" aspect from participating reputable dealers.

 

 

 

[Jeffro.]

Why only the major dealers? If you want true accuracy (if even such a thing is even possible) then anyone who sells a slab must submit their sales data.

 

That's the crux of the argument here correct? Without buy in from every seller, you cannot even begin to approach accuracy.

 

I maintain that GPA is but one of many tools and should not be used as the be-all and end-all of comics pricing. However, that still won't stop people from trying to sell their comics at full upper end (or higher) GPA. No one seems to try to sell at the GPA low however.

[Boba]

Hey boardies. So, a little discussion has surfaced in the Silver Age section, and thought CG was the place to get the best breadth of views.....

 

What I said in that conversation:

 

I can't tell you how it galls me to see some of my pedigree books listed on GPA at the sales prices buyers paid for them way before I purchased the books. I wish there was a way to update the sales data on unique, easily identifiable books like this on the census. And to hear that someone who moves as many books as you do Rick is not reporting sales, and one can surmise others have "dropped the ball" on reporting sales (or only selectively reporting them) well it does put into question whether it's really as accurate as it once was.

[Erndog]

At the end of the day there will never be a perfect all encompassing system.

 

And when you think of it, why should only major dealers submit their book sales to GPA? There will be "smaller dealers" out there who have mega-books that sell as well. Those X-Men #1 CGC graded 9.2's should be noted regardless if a major dealer sold it or some small fry who only sets up at a few shows a year. It's the BOOK that matters not the venue it was sold through.

 

The problem, as skypinkblu points out, it's a slippery slope to have random numbers flying in. Two random people can "verify" they bought/sold a book only to have alterior motives.

 

GPA is a guide. It shouldn't be taken as gospel. I'm sure we've all paid above and below GPA at some ppint... It's a solid reference point for both buyer/seller.

[Boba]

Without buy in from every seller, you cannot even begin to approach accuracy.

 

True - but maybe it could be a little better with more people submitting data, backed by sales receipts or other documentation.

 

If the deficit of sales data is that high, more inclusivity, i.e. capturing more of the sales currently missed, sounds like a move in the right direction. Even if some of the data is skewed, doesn't the significant missing data have a similar effect of skewing the data?

[Erndog]

Without buy in from every seller, you cannot even begin to approach accuracy.

 

True - but maybe it could be a little better with more people submitting data, backed by sales receipts or other documentation.

 

If the deficit of sales data is that high, more inclusivity, i.e. capturing more of the sales currently missed, sounds like a move in the right direction. Even if some of the data is skewed, doesn't the significant missing data have a similar effect of skewing the data?

 

 

People can barely leave feedback for one another, now we're going to ask them to submit sales data, plus receipts, plus a confirmation to who they sold it too.... plus we would then need the buyer to confirm and perhaps release some sort of payment method verification, etc.

 

Consider all the big deals at cons, etc, it ain't happening.

[Boba]

People can barely leave feedback for one another, now we're going to ask them to submit sales data, plus receipts, plus a confirmation to who they sold it too....

 

I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to leave a boardie feedback for a purchase and there's no link to their feedback forum

 

I hear you, but all I'm saying is that a little more data could make a difference considering the hole there is now.

 

[Waylander]

This is virtually an impossible task. Bearing in mind how many cash deals are done, deals between non traders and the trades, how can they be all be reported - and how do you value a trade?

 

GPA is a tool that will never be truly accurate and the only way it will be is that they will have to pay for the information. But then will it still be accurate?

[slym2none]

 

I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to leave a boardie feedback for a purchase and there's no link to their feedback forum

 

Start one for them!

 

 

 

 

-slym

[Jeffro.]

Without buy in from every seller, you cannot even begin to approach accuracy.

 

True - but maybe it could be a little better with more people submitting data, backed by sales receipts or other documentation.

 

If the deficit of sales data is that high, more inclusivity, i.e. capturing more of the sales currently missed, sounds like a move in the right direction. Even if some of the data is skewed, doesn't the significant missing data have a similar effect of skewing the data?

 

 

People can barely leave feedback for one another, now we're going to ask them to submit sales data, plus receipts, plus a confirmation to who they sold it too.... plus we would then need the buyer to confirm and perhaps release some sort of payment method verification, etc.

 

Consider all the big deals at cons, etc, it ain't happening.

 

It's pretty unrealistic to expect that level of committment from everyone who has ever sold a slab.

[Jeffro.]

I hear you, but all I'm saying is that a little more data could make a difference considering the hole there is now.

 

Certainly more information is a better option. No one will dispute that.

 

Whenever I look at GPA and the data for a particular book is scarce, I start looking for sales elsewhere (Comiclink for one) and see what pops up. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.

[bababooey]

 

I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to leave a boardie feedback for a purchase and there's no link to their feedback forum

 

Start one for them!

 

 

 

 

-slym

I don't know why people think that's the solution.

 

How can you find someone's feedback thread if you don't search using the sort by "thread starter" option?

 

Are you supposed to skim through hundreds of threads to find the one someone else started? Since we're not likely to do that, does it help the kudos forum for one boardie to have multiple feedback threads started by multiple boardies?

If they don't have one, they don't care about the kudos.

 

Of course none of this applies if it's a sale of a WD #1, super-kudos go in a new thread in general

 

[shadroch]

What is in it for anyone to submit information to GPA? Does GPA give contributors free GPA or anything? I don't buy enough CGC stuff to justify spending $150 a year on the service, so I really don't know much about it.

[shadroch]

People can barely leave feedback for one another, now we're going to ask them to submit sales data, plus receipts, plus a confirmation to who they sold it too....

 

I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to leave a boardie feedback for a purchase and there's no link to their feedback forum

 

I hear you, but all I'm saying is that a little more data could make a difference considering the hole there is now.

 

I don't have a kudos thread because I think they are useless. As you can't say anything bad about a transaction, what good are they?