Are signature series worth getting and should artists charge more for CGC book?

[revat]

PS. Sam's got a few more than 100 CGC ss out there...I've got about 60 of them myself.

 

keep it on the DL, I'm trying to keep prices high.

[the blob]

PS. Sam's got a few more than 100 CGC ss out there...I've got about 60 of them myself.

 

so, your effective cornering of the market helps keep these $150+ books (i mean that in a nice way...because look, you've kept them for your own love rather than just a flip)

 

does he not sign much or just not SS? i would love to get him to sign some books, not SS. i always buy his stuff when i see it. love me some same kieth. right now my LCS has about 25 MCPs I put in my "hold" pile for later pick-up. i know raw they aren't worth anything, but gosh darnit they should be and in my heart they are!

[revat]

PS. Sam's got a few more than 100 CGC ss out there...I've got about 60 of them myself.

 

so, your effective cornering of the market helps keep these $150+ books (i mean that in a nice way...because look, you've kept them for your own love rather than just a flip)

 

does he not sign much or just not SS? i would love to get him to sign some books, not SS. i always buy his stuff when i see it. love me some same kieth. right now my LCS has about 25 MCPs I put in my "hold" pile for later pick-up. i know raw they aren't worth anything, but gosh darnit they should be and in my heart they are!

 

I think he signs pretty rarely.

 

But as for hoarding to keep the value up...I would absolutely do that. BUT I think RMA is more of just a dude who's really really into comics, not that he won't sell any or against making a profit, but its probably just for the purpose of getting MORE comics he really really likes.

 

That's my guess anyways.

[RockMyAmadeus]

A good example on the "sigs don't necessarily carry a premium" topic.

 

Got two Batman #436s signed, Wolfman and Perez, sold the one to pay for the other. Thankfully, they both came out 9.8s, or I would have been dead in the water.

 

The guy who bought it from me paid $375 on eBay, with free shipping.

 

He then turned around and auctioned off his Perez ONLY signed #436 9.8.

 

It sold for $358 plus $13 shipping. Mine had free shipping.

 

Wolfman charged me $5 for the signature. The $4 price difference cost me another 51 cents in Paypal/eBay fees.

 

So, the guy got $371 for his Perez ONLY signed 9.8 and MADE MORE MONEY than I did with my DOUBLE signed book.

 

Marv Wolfman's signature gave me a NEGATIVE RETURN on the book.

 

It's a pretty stark example that clearly illustrates the problem. Before fees, I grossed $368.49, and the guy who bought from me grossed $371. Essentially what happened is that I got his book signed by Wolfman for him, and paid HIM to get it done.

 

 

And this is happening all over the place, all the time, with just about everybody.

 

Do I go back to Marv and say "hey, Marv....not only did your sig not add ANYTHING to the sale price of my item, I actually LOST money paying you for the sig?"

 

No, of course not. I wanted Marv Wolfman's sig, and I happily, gladly paid him $5 for it...but, see, I paid him $5 34 times....$170....and his signature hasn't added a dime and, in fact, cost me even more in terms of prep work and labor to get that signature. Again, I'm NOT complaining. I paid it because I wanted him to sign my books, and that was a "sunk cost" to me.

 

But... it would be nice, in light of that reality, if Marv wasn't operating under the illusion that people are making "fat stacks of cash" on his signature. If $5 is his price, hey, more power to him. But he's charging that money because he thinks people are profiting off of his signature.

 

Charging for his signature because he thinks people are "profiting" off of it is just salt in the wound when people are actually losing money because of his signature. Don't mind losing the money one bit. But to be thought of as a "scummy eBay profiteer flipper" while I'm actively LOSING money in the process...?

 

That stings.

 

If I was doing it for the money, I would be screwed. I would have to SERIOUSLY reconsider my business model, because what I'm doing is LOSING MONEY.

 

But, Marv Wolfman thinks that people are "profiting" off of his signature, and doesn't understand that that's simply not true.

 

It makes more sense at this point to just slab Blue copies, sell those, and buy SS copies of the same books, in the same grades, for around the same price.\, if they're available. There's more and more and more resistance to prices for SS books these days.

 

 

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

PS. Sam's got a few more than 100 CGC ss out there...I've got about 60 of them myself.

 

so, your effective cornering of the market helps keep these $150+ books (i mean that in a nice way...because look, you've kept them for your own love rather than just a flip)

 

I haven't cornered any market.

 

One, the vast majority of my Kieth SS books aren't for sale.

 

Two, of the ones that are, I've sold perhaps 6? 7? Four Sandman #1s the 9.6 MCP #89, double signed, and a Maxx 1/2 Gold. I clearly value them more than the market does. That's ok.

 

Three, there are a lot more than 100 Sam Kieth SS books out there. I would be very, very, VERY surprised if less than 300 were done at SDCC alone in 2013. I got 42 books signed myself, over three days, and 39 of those went into SS slabs.

 

does he not sign much or just not SS? i would love to get him to sign some books, not SS. i always buy his stuff when i see it. love me some same kieth. right now my LCS has about 25 MCPs I put in my "hold" pile for later pick-up. i know raw they aren't worth anything, but gosh darnit they should be and in my heart they are!

 

He doesn't sign at all. He signed in 2012, and twice in 2013, and that's it.

 

And he signed everything for free, and even did my two sketches for free. I bought one of his big, beautiful $50 coffee table books in return. It wasn't really my style, but he signed my books for free, so it was the least I could do.

[RockMyAmadeus]

PS. Sam's got a few more than 100 CGC ss out there...I've got about 60 of them myself.

 

so, your effective cornering of the market helps keep these $150+ books (i mean that in a nice way...because look, you've kept them for your own love rather than just a flip)

 

does he not sign much or just not SS? i would love to get him to sign some books, not SS. i always buy his stuff when i see it. love me some same kieth. right now my LCS has about 25 MCPs I put in my "hold" pile for later pick-up. i know raw they aren't worth anything, but gosh darnit they should be and in my heart they are!

 

I think he signs pretty rarely.

 

But as for hoarding to keep the value up...I would absolutely do that. BUT I think RMA is more of just a dude who's really really into comics, not that he won't sell any or against making a profit, but its probably just for the purpose of getting MORE comics he really really likes.

 

That's my guess anyways.

 

The only reason I sell comics...

 

...is to buy more comics.

 

That was true in 1990, and it's true today.

 

I don't have any more 9.8 Sandman #1 SS for sale. The one I posted here is the one I'm keeping until I turn the lights out on the whole thing.

 

I do not want 50 copies of the same book SS'd. But those 50 copies will, if they're the right book, pay for the other 100 unique books that I want done.

 

For example:

 

Sam Kieth, my goal is everything from Primer #5 to Maxx #35. Everything he's ever done between 1983 and 1998. Everything.

 

I'm abut 1/3rd the way there. But there is a boatload of books that aren't done and, frankly, if Sam doesn't sign again, will never get done.

 

I've got most of the "big ones" (to me) done. But I don't have a Sandman #2 9.8, for example, or Detective #654-658, or Secret Origins Special #1, or Target: Airboy #1, or Critters #21, or Blood of Dracula #3 (Apple Comics), or I Before E #1 or #2, or MCP #93-98, #101-109, #118-122, Maxx #3-35, etc etc etc.

 

We're talking quarter books in some of these cases. Certainly not worth the $30 even to have them slabbed.

 

But hey, that's what I want.

 

[the blob]

i think the moral of the story is that ebay auctions really suck right now and maybe have for a long time