Comiclink Summer Featured auction -- post 'em if you got 'em (or got blown out)

[Sqeggs]

Even all the sites together don't make up the whole picture. There are so many variables.

 

A few years ago, GPA decided to include auctions in their data from a smaller auction house. I'm not going to name them because this isn't about them and I have nothing against them but many of the books I tracked went for record lows simply because they are not an established auction house IMO for higher end books.

 

Those recorded sales crushed some books on GPA and it literally took years for those books to recover on the open market. Why?

 

Because people would look at the recorded sales on GPA and assume that the book was in a death spiral.

 

And why? Because an auction house who didn't often auction comics was auctioning off high end comics.

 

There is also eye appeal, PQ, time of day, time of year and many other variables to take into account. And most importantly, time. It takes time to form a trend...like months. And maybe a year.

 

Analyzing things in a real time scenario will never give someone an accurate picture.

 

 

So what purpose does GPA exist then? If it has to selectively choose what books to track. Or should GPA now detail each sale with where and when it was sold?

 

I would love for them to list where it was sold. I've seen many high/low sales come up on there that were not from the main sites they report from.

 

It would probably be more work/trouble than they can manage, but it might help interpret truly screwy results. I remember looking at one book that was listed as selling at an anomalously low price. On inspection, I realized that the exact same book was listed as selling at the exact same low price (to the dollar) twice within a few months. Clearly something was off and knowing the venues were the book supposedly sold at that price would have helped.

 

Still and all, GPA is an invaluable resource to both buyers and sellers.

 

One other thought: I put in an early bid on every book I'm interested in in CLink auctions. Even though I win only a few (sometimes none), I have a record of the selling prices on the "My Bids" page.

[miraclemet]

The FF49 went for near its all time high. Looking at lower grades and their trends, someone overpaid. Unless someone wants the story run in the highest grade and price doesn't matter to them.

 

Personally I'm beginning to like FF 49 more than 48

 

+1

 

WAY better cover.

[blazingbob]

As a comic book dealer your comment was directed towards me.

 

I have no problem with a collector doing their homework and being educated about the book they are buying. However GPA doesn't have all sales channels captured, I do have years of sales data in my database on books and I never feel that I want to keep a book. I want to sell everything but frankly I cannot sell everything to everyone at the "price" that is their "GPA" number. If everybody wants to keep paying 10% less than the previous

GPA sale then by all means lets watch the tiolet bowl flush pricing spiral downward. If books go over GPA then clearly the buyer didn't do his homework or show some patience?

 

I prefer fair and if a deal is struck then both parties walk away happy. If not they are welcome to shop at the various venues.

 

I've been called a few things but a used car salesman is not one of them.

 

My new sales slogan, CGC, Be safe instead of sexy (CBCS), they're boxy but they're good.

 

 

[Junkdrawer]

As a comic book dealer your comment was directed towards me.

 

I have no problem with a collector doing their homework and being educated about the book they are buying. However GPA doesn't have all sales channels captured, I do have years of sales data in my database on books and I never feel that I want to keep a book. I want to sell everything but frankly I cannot sell everything to everyone at the "price" that is their "GPA" number.

 

I prefer fair and if a deal is struck then both parties walk away happy. If not they are welcome to shop at the various venues.

 

I've been called a few things but a used car salesman is not one of them.

 

[Silver Surfer]

Gentlemen keeps the barbs flying as I want to win a book in the next couple hours [hopefully below GPA], so please stay distracted.

[Garf]

As a comic book dealer your comment was directed towards me.

 

I have no problem with a collector doing their homework and being educated about the book they are buying. However GPA doesn't have all sales channels captured, I do have years of sales data in my database on books and I never feel that I want to keep a book. I want to sell everything but frankly I cannot sell everything to everyone at the "price" that is their "GPA" number.

 

I prefer fair and if a deal is struck then both parties walk away happy. If not they are welcome to shop at the various venues.

 

I've been called a few things but a used car salesman is not one of them.

 

 

[VintageComics]

Even all the sites together don't make up the whole picture. There are so many variables.

 

A few years ago, GPA decided to include auctions in their data from a smaller auction house. I'm not going to name them because this isn't about them and I have nothing against them but many of the books I tracked went for record lows simply because they are not an established auction house IMO for higher end books.

 

Those recorded sales crushed some books on GPA and it literally took years for those books to recover on the open market. Why?

 

Because people would look at the recorded sales on GPA and assume that the book was in a death spiral.

 

And why? Because an auction house who didn't often auction comics was auctioning off high end comics.

 

There is also eye appeal, PQ, time of day, time of year and many other variables to take into account. And most importantly, time. It takes time to form a trend...like months. And maybe a year.

 

Analyzing things in a real time scenario will never give someone an accurate picture.

 

 

So what purpose does GPA exist then? If it has to selectively choose what books to track. Or should GPA now detail each sale with where and when it was sold?

 

GPA serves a guideline but it doesn't give NASA level precision insight into book values.

 

As Bob said, if every single person wants to pay $10 less than the last GPA then nobody is paying fair market value...and while everyone wants their collections to be worth more next year, that only happens if people pay more this year.

 

Fair market value has always been based on a pattern, on a trend...not on one data point.

 

@ ankur, yes I do agree it can be difficult to price a rare book because many buyers want to pay as little as possible and many sellers want to make as much as possible.

[Silver Surfer]

Poo-poo head.

[The-Collector]

Nothing stops you from collecting your own publically available auction results and tracking them.

 

True - buts that's why I pay GPA to give me price info on my slabs.

 

That's like paying someone to write you a book report when they've only read the first three chapters.

 

If you want all the info, you have to do your homework.

exactly!!

 

and yet some whine when the teachers (CLINK) leave the answers (pending sales) lying around

 

I agree the pending info is good but considering E-Bay "publishes" the 90 day sales history then what does GPA give you that you can't get from both of those sources?

 

GPA gives you Heritage, ComicConnect (although delayed), eBay, Pedigree (FWIW) and a few dealer sales. Maybe more that I'm missing.

 

What GPA does is combine it all into a nice, easily navigated site. You can get all the data GPA provides, it would just take you a lot of time and effort, and that time is worth more than $11 a month IMO.

 

Way more.

[The-Collector]

Even all the sites together don't make up the whole picture. There are so many variables.

 

A few years ago, GPA decided to include auctions in their data from a smaller auction house. I'm not going to name them because this isn't about them and I have nothing against them but many of the books I tracked went for record lows simply because they are not an established auction house IMO for higher end books.

 

Those recorded sales crushed some books on GPA and it literally took years for those books to recover on the open market. Why?

 

Because people would look at the recorded sales on GPA and assume that the book was in a death spiral.

 

And why? Because an auction house who didn't often auction comics was auctioning off high end comics.

 

There is also eye appeal, PQ, time of day, time of year and many other variables to take into account. And most importantly, time. It takes time to form a trend...like months. And maybe a year.

 

Analyzing things in a real time scenario will never give someone an accurate picture.

 

 

So what purpose does GPA exist then? If it has to selectively choose what books to track. Or should GPA now detail each sale with where and when it was sold?

 

GPA serves a guideline but it doesn't give NASA level precision insight into book values.

 

As Bob said, if every single person wants to pay $10 less than the last GPA then nobody is paying fair market value...and while everyone wants their collections to be worth more next year, that only happens if people pay more this year.

 

Fair market value has always been based on a pattern, on a trend...not on one data point.

 

@ ankur, yes I do agree it can be difficult to price a rare book because many buyers want to pay as little as possible and many sellers want to make as much as possible.

 

Roy is correct.

 

 

[Spiderphill]

I don't get the dealer bashing. They buy in at a price point and have to make a certain margin to make a profit.

 

As for GPA, it's a guide. If there's a book you WANT, you use your judgement.

 

Whatever comic period/title/run you collect, study it, learn it, and memorize it. Be informed at all times. Learn the tight grading periods of the past, watch CGCs CURRENT grading cycles, and CPR books accordingly.

 

Thats our hobby in a nutshell.

 

P.S. you can also "collect" comics and enjoy them. That's a thing of the past though. Happy hunting.

 

 

 

[gpanalysis]

Even all the sites together don't make up the whole picture. There are so many variables.

 

A few years ago, GPA decided to include auctions in their data from a smaller auction house. I'm not going to name them because this isn't about them and I have nothing against them but many of the books I tracked went for record lows simply because they are not an established auction house IMO for higher end books.

 

Those recorded sales crushed some books on GPA and it literally took years for those books to recover on the open market. Why?

 

Because people would look at the recorded sales on GPA and assume that the book was in a death spiral.

 

And why? Because an auction house who didn't often auction comics was auctioning off high end comics.

 

There is also eye appeal, PQ, time of day, time of year and many other variables to take into account. And most importantly, time. It takes time to form a trend...like months. And maybe a year.

 

Analyzing things in a real time scenario will never give someone an accurate picture.

 

I don't know why you keep perpetuating this. You and I had a discussion about how statistically there is NO difference when you take a whole of market approach to the origin of the sale.

 

I also showed you at the time, using figures from those "smaller" auction houses and the general prices paid across the board that there is NO significant statistical variation.

 

On SPECIFIC books, yes, but that's called cherry picking.

[VintageComics]

I don't know why you keep perpetuating this. You and I had a discussion about how statistically there is NO difference when you take a whole of market approach to the origin of the sale.

 

I also showed you at the time, using figures from those "smaller" auction houses and the general prices paid across the board that there is NO significant statistical variation.

 

On SPECIFIC books, yes, but that's called cherry picking.

 

Across an entire range of books and all dollar values there may not be a noticeable statistical variation.

 

Across specific ranges, where a smaller auction house might fail to attract a very deep bidding pool with deep pockets, the same bidding pool that might rely heavier on GPA numbers, it did skew numbers.

 

I had customers coming up to my booth that year shortly after the auction telling me what a great deal they got at that auction.

 

I had trouble selling the books I usually sold because of that auction and the numbers that dropped. Certain books were killed for years.

 

Across the board, it may not have matter but for certain niches it clobbered the market.

 

 

 

[1Cool]

Good luck to all the buyers and sellers tonight. May the odds be ever in your favor.

[VintageComics]

And let me add that it's not GPA's fault that some customers take all numbers at face value (or choose outliers), but there is often more to the numbers than just the number itself.

[gpanalysis]

I don't know why you keep perpetuating this. You and I had a discussion about how statistically there is NO difference when you take a whole of market approach to the origin of the sale.

 

I also showed you at the time, using figures from those "smaller" auction houses and the general prices paid across the board that there is NO significant statistical variation.

 

On SPECIFIC books, yes, but that's called cherry picking.

 

Across an entire range of books and all dollar values there may not be a noticeable statistical variation.

 

Across specific ranges, where a smaller auction house might fail to attract a very deep bidding pool with deep pockets, the same bidding pool that might rely heavier on GPA numbers, it did skew numbers.

 

I had customers coming up to my booth that year shortly after the auction telling me what a great deal they got at that auction.

 

I had trouble selling the books I usually sold because of that auction and the numbers that dropped. Certain books were killed for years.

 

Across the board, it may not have matter but for certain niches it clobbered the market.

 

 

 

And as I mentioned at the time, on certain books they also got ABOVE average. See how that works?

 

Here's one way to look at prices. These kinds of statements are (generally) true:

 

- we have the record for the highest price paid for a comic

- we have the record for the highest price paid for these comics

- our customer service, depth of information & experience, and dedication we bring to the sale of your books means you will receive the best chance to maximise the price realised.

 

This is generally marketing malarky:

 

- we will always realise the highest price for your books.

 

As you mention, trends are more important than specific sales. So focus on that

[VintageComics]

As you mention, trends are more important that specific sales. So focus on that

 

I'm a big fan of trends and that's why I try to educate people on using them rather than just picking GPA data that suits their needs but it's hard to sell a big book that has consistently been X only to have it sell for 0.75X in a smaller auction.

 

I'd be interested in knowing the grade ranges and prices ranges that set record highs and lows in that auction.

 

 

[batman_fan]

Blown out so far. The one I was most interested in was the Tec 73. (I like Selkirk copies in art because I bought a couple of them from the original owner's son when they first came to market.) The bidding was above what I could pay even before the final day. When did that become a $10K book in 9.0? Is it just because the Scarecrow was in one of the movies??? I was expecting it to sell for right around guide when I first saw it.

 

.....enormously cool cover and not terribly easy to find..... especially in Fine or better. I would LOVE to have a copy. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

I got no nibbles when I tested the waters on my 7.5 copy at $3500.

[batman_fan]

I got one so far! I have my eye on one more but I suspect it will go outside my price range.

 

That is a beautiful looking copy !

[Columbia Comics]

the Ms. Marvel 1 in 9.8 is at $1800, on par with the craziness of the Nova 1 9.8.

 

I suspect there will be two books that will run again.