Moderns that are COOLING on EBAY... 1 1

[Juice Head]

With comics, you can see some connections between reality and hype, be it TV shows, Movies, increasing readership, etc. But, there also starts to become a push to hype on properties of the book itself, independent of what its about. Artist, Writer, 2nd Printing, Exclusive variant, etc.

 

If a sports card that was worthless suddenly spiked in value, it would be because he got moved to starting position, traded to a new team, etc. A comic can get spiked just because a thread or news site can convince some people that it matters, the artist is the next Leonardo Devinici, or that how hard it is to find means its important, etc

 

Because a person, anchored in reality, has given their OPINION. I see....

Regardless of CBT's staunch anti-CBSI stance, I don't think you can ignore that being featured on the CBSI website does have quite a significant effect on a comic's availability and ebay pricing. Alas, there's no way to tell if the increase in demand and price is due to collectors, investors or speculators. If majority of the folks driving up prices are just investors/speculators and there's no genuine market demand to sustain high prices, then what you have is just a house of cards.

 

I can say as a reader, collector, and genuine fanboy.

 

I cannot keep up with what's hot and what's not.

 

Sooooooo...I follow the site as a reference to what is out there.

[CBT]

Regardless of CBT's staunch anti-CBSI stance, I don't think you can ignore that being featured on the CBSI website does have quite a significant effect on a comic's availability and ebay pricing. Alas, there's no way to tell if the increase in demand and price is due to collectors, investors or speculators. If majority of the folks driving up prices are just investors/speculators and there's no genuine market demand to sustain high prices, then what you have is just a house of cards.

 

I can say as a reader, collector, and genuine fanboy.

 

I cannot keep up with what's hot and what's not.

 

Sooooooo...I follow the site as a reference to what is out there.

 

@aerischan , I would just add to what you said, that you can tell if it "is collectors" when the books in question have been watched for years with no price change prior to the article, then a sudden extreme shift.

 

@head cBSi isnt about reading or collecting, its supposedly about "investing" or finding out about price movement before it happens. Except, the only movement they report on, are ones they themselves cause, and one day when I am bored maybe I'll take the time to do a forensic analysis of their recommendations, and where those books stand now, relative to the time of writing....

Edited December 14, 2016 by CBT

[ygogolak]

There are so many books coming out and new collectors all the time that they may not have seen books before and want them for their collection. I see new books all the time that have been around for a decade.

[fastballspecial]

I think in general its just a matter of knowing your market trends and selling at the right time so you're not left holding the bag. And if you're holding the bag, make sure you've sold more than enough other bags to cover the losses on the bags you're still holding. Or invest so little in the bag that it barely matters and you can at least get your money back if necessary.

 

And if its not working out for a person, they should stop doing it.

 

 

Agreed. I find a lot of the hot books in back issue bins for cover or less, some times multiple copies. It is little risk for me to flip stuff that others are willing to pay more for. I do not hold on to stuff very long and do not worry if I am "leaving money on the table" if I sell and it goes up. A profit is a profit.

 

Agreed. Many struggle with this due to greed. I just had a huge sales thread and many books I took less then ebay, but easily still made a nice profit on most of them.

 

[fastballspecial]

There are so many books coming out and new collectors all the time that they may not have seen books before and want them for their collection. I see new books all the time that have been around for a decade.

 

You think there is a large growth in new collectors? I am not sure I think there is large growth in new speculators currently.

 

I think the growth in new collectors is much smaller currently. It might not stay that way, but its why see at cons currently.

 

[aerischan]

With comics, you can see some connections between reality and hype, be it TV shows, Movies, increasing readership, etc. But, there also starts to become a push to hype on properties of the book itself, independent of what its about. Artist, Writer, 2nd Printing, Exclusive variant, etc.

 

If a sports card that was worthless suddenly spiked in value, it would be because he got moved to starting position, traded to a new team, etc. A comic can get spiked just because a thread or news site can convince some people that it matters, the artist is the next Leonardo Devinici, or that how hard it is to find means its important, etc

 

Because a person, anchored in reality, has given their OPINION. I see....

Regardless of CBT's staunch anti-CBSI stance, I don't think you can ignore that being featured on the CBSI website does have quite a significant effect on a comic's availability and ebay pricing. Alas, there's no way to tell if the increase in demand and price is due to collectors, investors or speculators. If majority of the folks driving up prices are just investors/speculators and there's no genuine market demand to sustain high prices, then what you have is just a house of cards.

 

I can say as a reader, collector, and genuine fanboy.

 

I cannot keep up with what's hot and what's not.

 

Sooooooo...I follow the site as a reference to what is out there.

See, this is an interesting conundrum. If you care about what's hot and what's not and maintaining value/price, there's an element of investment in your collecting (just with a more buy and hold mentality). Nothing wrong with that but as with buying individual stocks, risk is higher and there are winners and losers (likely more losers than winners).

 

I find there's a lot more posts in the moderns forum regarding what issues/variants are heating up or cooling down on ebay than there is discussion of what's actually good (to read).

[Juice Head]

With comics, you can see some connections between reality and hype, be it TV shows, Movies, increasing readership, etc. But, there also starts to become a push to hype on properties of the book itself, independent of what its about. Artist, Writer, 2nd Printing, Exclusive variant, etc.

 

If a sports card that was worthless suddenly spiked in value, it would be because he got moved to starting position, traded to a new team, etc. A comic can get spiked just because a thread or news site can convince some people that it matters, the artist is the next Leonardo Devinici, or that how hard it is to find means its important, etc

 

Because a person, anchored in reality, has given their OPINION. I see....

Regardless of CBT's staunch anti-CBSI stance, I don't think you can ignore that being featured on the CBSI website does have quite a significant effect on a comic's availability and ebay pricing. Alas, there's no way to tell if the increase in demand and price is due to collectors, investors or speculators. If majority of the folks driving up prices are just investors/speculators and there's no genuine market demand to sustain high prices, then what you have is just a house of cards.

 

I can say as a reader, collector, and genuine fanboy.

 

I cannot keep up with what's hot and what's not.

 

Sooooooo...I follow the site as a reference to what is out there.

See, this is an interesting conundrum. If you care about what's hot and what's not and maintaining value/price, there's an element of investment in your collecting (just with a more buy and hold mentality). Nothing wrong with that but as with buying individual stocks, risk is higher and there are winners and losers (likely more losers than winners).

 

I find there's a lot more posts in the moderns forum regarding what issues/variants are heating up or cooling down on ebay than there is discussion of what's actually good (to read).

 

AGREED!

 

I do collect and I like to collect things of value or that have potential to be so.

 

So yes..that is correct. Like some people collect cars. Or collect Ferrari.

 

Pride in value and desirability.

 

It's hard to keep up. I use the advise of this forum as well.

[trinitynzxt]

I think in general its just a matter of knowing your market trends and selling at the right time so you're not left holding the bag. And if you're holding the bag, make sure you've sold more than enough other bags to cover the losses on the bags you're still holding. Or invest so little in the bag that it barely matters and you can at least get your money back if necessary.

 

And if its not working out for a person, they should stop doing it.

 

 

This is what I've been doing for the past few years only applied to football cards (Yes I'm a die hard Seahawk Fan). But collecting autographed Russell Wilson rookie cards has started to become boring as I have most of what I want. Over the past few years I've invested and sold smart enough to wear I currently have about 2 grand in Autographed Russell Wilson Rookie Cards that haven't cost me a dime. Now trying to apply the same logic back into comics has proven somewhat more difficult than in sports cards. The markets I think are a lot more stable in sports cards and much more predictable vs comics which seems to have a ton of volatility one minute your 9.8 is worth $600 two weeks later its dropped a few hundred bucks and you're stuck. It's made me very reluctant to really want to pull the trigger on any big dollar items and one of the reasons I found my self on this board hoping to get an inside edge on trends or at the very least a better understanding of them. With that being said it almost at this point in time seems easier to just continue buying and selling cards and taking said profits into the comic arena where if I fail at least in the end I lost nothing.

 

With sports cards, there is a connection between value and the real physical world. Players actually exist, and actually play sports. You can hype up players to a certain extent, but ultimately, it's anchored in reality.

 

 

So if a player is good, their cards should be worth more and a player who has never been in the majors should be worth less? Definitely not the case.

 

 

Because a person, anchored in reality, has given their OPINION. I see....

 

There is speculation on sports cards especially in football and baseball where someone is coming out of the draft and heading into the MLB or NFL. A great example of this was the Marcus Mariota rookie card, a lot of the cards were selling for thousands of dollars and yet he didn't quite measure up to the hype his rookie year and those cards that were thousands have dropped 40-60%. However then you have Kris Byrant in baseball. His rookie autograph card was selling for 5 to 10 thousand depending if it was graded BGS 9.5 or BGS 10 he however lived up to the hype, won a world series with the cubs and became the National League MVP and those same cards have almost doubled in price because of it. But if you have an understanding of sports and of reality you can gauge to some extent if the hype is over inflated or if it holds water. With Mariota judging on his college play and the expectations the hype brought with his transition to the NFL I have a pretty good feeling he wouldn't make the cut and his cards that were a few grand would drop. With Bryant there was a legitimate chance especially with the team he landed on (the Cubs) that we would do great things and have and thus it looked to be a good bet that those cards would in fact in the worse case hold their value and best case explode in value. A great example of that is the 2013 Bowman Draft Chrome Kris Bryant Auto Superfractor 1/1 BGS 9.5 that just sold on ebay for 70 grand.

 

Transitioning that into the comic book world I almost feel like I need a crystal ball to understand what will hold value and what may one day become valuable. I do like to read comics so at least I can buy what I like to read with the hope it may one day be worth something. But this doesn't allow me to buy / sell to the point where I can make enough to afford the comics I want for instance Spawn #185 B/W Sketch or the Spawn #222 Kudranski Variant.

Edited December 15, 2016 by trinitynzxt

[CBT]

AGREED!

 

I do collect and I like to collect things of value or that have potential to be so.

 

So yes..that is correct. Like some people collect cars. Or collect Ferrari.

 

Pride in value and desirability.

 

It's hard to keep up. I use the advise of this forum as well.

 

Well, I would just suggest to you, that some of your sources of information are leading you to over pay for books.

 

Now, given that not everyone is willing or able to put in time to do their own research, that's probably ok. As long as it keeps you ahead of most people, you can get in somewhat early and feel good about what you buy.

 

Where we diverge is that I am accusing some of your sources as promising people great opportunities and advice, while in fact giving them a load of BS with a virtual pyramid scheme piled on top.

 

I think there is some decent opinion and content on the site, and there are probably more legit users than the few scumbags, but I would say put a nice hard cap on the per book spending you do with their advice.

 

$25 sounds about right. If you spend more than $25 per book on ANYTHING they recommend, write about, or suggest, you are too late to their party, overpaying, and virtually assured to lose money on a 12-24 month time scale. (Obviously if you dont sell, you havent "lost money" just grossly overpaid)

 

Their current paradigm is essentially identify (or self-print) a low print run book, write about it, watch the membership wipe it from ebay and the price goes up. Realize the pattern, and operate within it.

 

 

Last thing you want to do is build a nice Ferrari collection and find out in a couple years that they are all just kit cars

Edited December 15, 2016 by CBT

[Aweandlorder]

us discussing cards in comparison to comic books is proof that the end it near (again)

[Aweandlorder]

Dayumn

[CBT]

never was into that series, what was the peak for that issue?

[Aweandlorder]

threefiddy

[CBT]

From $350 to $3.50 is a big drop

[aerischan]

Dayumn

Just read that on Comixology Unlimited. Not my cup of tea.

[the authority]

I love the series. I grew up with AD&D and movies like Conan and The Sword and the Sorceror. Loved it and miss it. It was a great collaboration that had a great collapse. I'm hoping it rises like a Phoenix as I've heard volume 2 is on the way.

[aerischan]

Interesting article on CBSI with some points that should be driven home.

 

If this week's CBSI article is the first time you've heard of a specific comic, then you're probably already too late to the game. That said, I find reading months or years old articles to be pretty good for finding interesting stuff for the PC. The feeding frenzy by the site's avid followers would've already cooled off and prices are back to more sane levels in line with normal market demand.

 

Excerpt from http://comicbookinvest.com/2016/12/14/subject-23-pump-dump-aka-pnd/

This is a highly unstable market!

 

Just because you read an article about people investing in comics rather than the stock market doesn’t mean you should too. Today’s hot book can be tomorrow’s discount bin filler. Get used to it. It’s been that way for as long as the hobby has existed. It’ll stay that way long after all the fair weather collectors/investors have gone.

 

Everyone wants guarantees and stability. The safety of black and white concrete can’t lose investments. That’s not going to happen, this market is way to volatile. It’s driven by people who will tell you anything to flip a book. If there’s a direct financial gain for the person telling you about it, you need to research beyond that.

 

I’ve said time and time again, flipping/selling/investing in comics is a predatory game. You want to play, it’s gotta be a two-way street. You’ll win as many as you lose.

 

Learn to think independently and separate yourself from the herd.

 

Fact is nobody was holding a gun to your head to buy anything in the 90’s or today… So if you paid too much for a book there’s no one to blame but yourself. Information and intelligent makes a market stronger. Do your own research and don’t just follow the pack.

 

If money’s your only aim, do us all a favor, just cut bait and run. This is a gamble and you need to suck it up or take a hike. Stop blaming and accusing people because you don’t know how to “comic book” very well. That’s nobody’s fault but your own.

 

Remember… If you don’t already own it, the Dump’s ALWAYS on you!

[CBT]

I love the series. I grew up with AD&D and movies like Conan and The Sword and the Sorceror. Loved it and miss it. It was a great collaboration that had a great collapse. I'm hoping it rises like a Phoenix as I've heard volume 2 is on the way.

 

[Kyle R.]

Interesting article on CBSI with some points that should be driven home.

 

If this week's CBSI article is the first time you've heard of a specific comic, then you're probably already too late to the game. That said, I find reading months or years old articles to be pretty good for finding interesting stuff for the PC. The feeding frenzy by the site's avid followers would've already cooled off and prices are back to more sane levels in line with normal market demand.

 

Excerpt from http://comicbookinvest.com/2016/12/14/subject-23-pump-dump-aka-pnd/

This is a highly unstable market!

 

Just because you read an article about people investing in comics rather than the stock market doesn’t mean you should too. Today’s hot book can be tomorrow’s discount bin filler. Get used to it. It’s been that way for as long as the hobby has existed. It’ll stay that way long after all the fair weather collectors/investors have gone.

 

Everyone wants guarantees and stability. The safety of black and white concrete can’t lose investments. That’s not going to happen, this market is way to volatile. It’s driven by people who will tell you anything to flip a book. If there’s a direct financial gain for the person telling you about it, you need to research beyond that.

 

I’ve said time and time again, flipping/selling/investing in comics is a predatory game. You want to play, it’s gotta be a two-way street. You’ll win as many as you lose.

 

Learn to think independently and separate yourself from the herd.

 

Fact is nobody was holding a gun to your head to buy anything in the 90’s or today… So if you paid too much for a book there’s no one to blame but yourself. Information and intelligent makes a market stronger. Do your own research and don’t just follow the pack.

 

If money’s your only aim, do us all a favor, just cut bait and run. This is a gamble and you need to suck it up or take a hike. Stop blaming and accusing people because you don’t know how to “comic book” very well. That’s nobody’s fault but your own.

 

Remember… If you don’t already own it, the Dump’s ALWAYS on you!

 

That's just a puff piece to cover their asses. Smoke and Mirrors.

[the blob]

From $350 to $3.50 is a big drop

 

well, not $3.50

 

This did better a month ago:

 

htthttp://www.ebay.com/itm/RAT-QUEENS-1-VARIANT-Cover-CGC-9-8-Fiona-Staples-/322311043275?hash=item4b0b3c38cb:g:LHkAAOSwaB5XnQxCp

 

 

While they are not publishing new stories, it's going to stagnate. Once they come back with something it should perk back up. maybe not $350. was it really that high on multiple sales? I have a raw copy, which i did not get around to selling, and those were going for $75-$100 or so.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2016 by the blob