Is game theory applicable to collecting?

[valiantman]

Then why is Chuck always whining about his financial woes?

Tradition... the same reason Notre Dame fans still think every year is going to be "the year". Notre Dame fans are overly-positive, Chuck is overly-negative. Tradition has its own zero sum across fandoms.

[kav]

Scrolling through Mile Low's feedback the vast majority of his sales are books under $5. So I don't think he's successful at all-the high value books just sit there. The mid value books just sit there. And sit there....

[That Ron Dude]

I'm sure game theory applies but I don't know how.

 

He buys books cheap and stores most of them but sells some of them high. While only his accountant knows for sure that seems to be enough to pay his expenses and leave some for him. He plays the game well.

 

The Church story doesn't help him but the Church books did and do.

His bulletins probably don't help him but his one about the San Diego Comicon last year was probably one of the most read things about comics on the internet.

I am told that he works hard.

I know one person who thinks he is a nice fellow. Others may think that way too.

 

I know nothing about his personal life.

 

He has been in the business about 40 years. That, in itself, is an accomplishment. He is the Gordie Howe of comic dealers. He doesn't care even one little bit about what I think about him.

[kav]

Somehow he keeps a roof over his head selling tons of $3 books. The real gold mine of income remains untapped. Hoping for a flood of suckers one day....

[valiantman]

Scrolling through Mile Low's feedback the vast majority of his sales are books under $5. So I don't think he's successful at all-the high value books just sit there. The mid value books just sit there. And sit there....

True, but a lot of the $5 books are probably under $0.50 cost on his side.

 

That margin is very good, particularly since people probably spend an average of $50 on orders (ten of those $5 books, or 25 of the $2 books, etc.), and he's going to (eventually) get $50 for every $5 he spends.

 

Since it's a ten-fold (1000%) multiplier, it probably doesn't matter how many years the books sit unsold.

Even if it takes a decade to sell a bunch of $0.50 books for $5 each, that's still 58.5% compound annual interest per year.

That's incredible when you think about it.

[the blob]

Then why is Chuck always whining about his financial woes?

 

I'm always complaining about my financial woes too, but to 98% of the folks out there I am doing great. Oh wait, right, I'm lousy at managing my money. Probably Chuck's problem too.

[romanheart]

The only way those books from the 70s and on are going to get rare again is if his warehouses literally go up in fire. Then the several thousand in his basement will be worth something.

[Aweandlorder]

Price inflation happens alot in the software world. As we all know, a CD, DVD, flash rom or even HD do not cost alot to manufacture, but yet some high end software will run you big bucks, some to the tune of thousands. Part of the justification for the high pricing is not so much research and development costs, but actually the huge toll software developers pay by having their product shared freely online illegally

[the blob]

Price inflation happens alot in the software world. As we all know, a CD, DVD, flash rom or even HD do not cost alot to manufacture, but yet some high end software will run you big bucks, some to the tune of thousands. Part of the justification for the high pricing is not so much research and development costs, but actually the huge toll software developers pay by having their product shared freely online illegally

 

yes, chuck has spent millions of dollars trying to convince the world that newsstand copies from the late 70s and 80s are hard to find, so he has a lot of R&D tied up in that proposition