Collections drying up? 4 4

[NoMan]

Does anyone think there will come a time when the run collectors will have their revenge? A time when filler books will be expensive and tough to find/acquire?

Edited June 11, 2017 by NoMan

[Hamlet]

4 minutes ago, NoMan said:

Does anyone think there will come a time when the run collectors will have their revenge? A time when filler books will be expensive and tough to find/acquire?

It depends on what you mean by expensive/tough.  New books become keys and some keys fade over the years.  I bought a VG copy of FF67 and a F copy of Thor 165 for $5/each when I bought a bunch of $5 "filler" books on the boards a few years back before anyone cared about them.  They aren't huge books now, but they could pay for most of that order.

I think most run collectors do well simply by not chasing what is hot.  If you are buying comics you enjoy for small amounts of money, you don't have to worry about getting your money out of books.  If you can get something out of them when you are done with them, so much the better.

For people buying keys, however, there is a lot more to worry about.  If the market goes south on the guys with 6-figure collections of hot, key books, they probably won't be able to shrug it off.

 

 

 

 

[fastballspecial]

If you grind it out book by book there is still plenty of profit to be had.

But the majority doesn't have the patience or the buyers to do this. 
I got books I know I will hold for a couple of years. I paid less then $.50 each
They will make me $5-10 each in high grade or more sometimes. Been doing
this method for a very long time.

Its not huge profit, but its builds your buyer base and they come back.
The really high end while leads wonderful profits also has a ton of pitfalls.
Most don't want to scam you for a $10 book they are more interested in
scamming a slab or a high value book. 

 

Edited June 11, 2017 by fastballspecial

[Quicksilver Signs]

1 hour ago, NoMan said:

Does anyone think there will come a time when the run collectors will have their revenge? A time when filler books will be expensive and tough to find/acquire?

The run collectors of the 80's to early 2000's have already had their revenge. They had all the hot books no one cared about 15 years ago

[Ken Aldred]

On 08/06/2017 at 6:51 AM, thehumantorch said:

Stan Lee who is essentially this centuries Shakespeare

I suspect that William would've enjoyed Lee and Kirby's JIM and Thor comics.

[robocard]

9 hours ago, 1Cool said:

Giving away a book to the kids worked great at the Cons I set up at last year.  Even if the kids didn't buy any other books the mob around the table prompted other people to stop by and take a look.  Worse thing you can have is an empty booth.  There is a tipping point where it's too busy but I'd rather be closer to that end.  Giving away a free book to anyone under 18 led to me selling 1,200 $1 books at one 3 day con with all of them being 90s drek.

My wife has been in charge of our dollar booth for the past 5 years at the Phoenix ComiCon. I have three booths with one loaded with around 40-45 long boxes of dollar books. We started giving away dollar books from the beginning for several reasons:

- encourages them to make choices, read something, and walk away with something that is theirs;

- keeps the youngsters away from my better books that were getting hammered;

- keeps the kids occupied while the adult goes through boxes and spends money;

- potentially hooks the kids on reading comics with a side benefit that in future years, they might become buyers;

- some parents see the enthusiasm of the kids and purchase a few books  to add to the freebie;

- creates positive vibes as others notice and appreciate what we are doing;

Does it work? In May, we sold between 15-16 long boxes of the 42 we took. We bag and board every book so lots of labor involved but we have tremendous repeat business every year. We have dozens of repeat buyers who spend days going through every box and marveling at what they find, including SA. Three years ago, a parent told us that her autistic son would not read until he started with comics that we gave him. She let him pull a short box of dollar books; he was thrilled, she was thrilled and we felt great. In short, it does not always have to be about the money. Hopefully, we get several new readers involved every year and the results are very rewarding. 

Lastly, I just purchased around 1200 comics this week, 70-80 % will hit the dollar boxes (all were 1970s and 80s), 15-20% will be recycled as they were water damaged, etc. and not something we like to sell. There might be 20-25 books that will go to $2-5 boxes but probably not. It will provide another treasure hunt for readers at next year's show. It really is amazing the different genres and titles that people enjoy.

[thehumantorch]

12 hours ago, 1Cool said:

Giving away a book to the kids worked great at the Cons I set up at last year.  Even if the kids didn't buy any other books the mob around the table prompted other people to stop by and take a look.  Worse thing you can have is an empty booth.  There is a tipping point where it's too busy but I'd rather be closer to that end.  Giving away a free book to anyone under 18 led to me selling 1,200 $1 books at one 3 day con with all of them being 90s drek.

We give kids comics all the time.  I often offer a couple free $1 books to adults who buy something  off me.  Sometimes they come back with a pile and I make another sale

[1Cool]

20 hours ago, NoMan said:

Does anyone think there will come a time when the run collectors will have their revenge? A time when filler books will be expensive and tough to find/acquire?

I seriously doubt it - which is unfortunate.  For run books (especially 70s-90s) to become somewhat valuable again you have to have a demand for the books and that would have to come from readers/collectors and there is simply too many books to go around.  Unless for some reason a ton of 35-55 year old guys (or girls) decide they wanted to go back and read comics from their youth there will not be a huge uptick in prices and to be honest most of those books have not aged well from a reading material stand point.  Ever tried to go back and re-read copper Defenders or Conan books from that era?  I liked them as a kid and even I can't handle more then a few at a time as an adult.  There are still a select few hardcore reading, collecting fans but those people have found they quickly get buried in long boxes of books if they are willing to pay $30-$40 a long box.  A few years ago I had a guy who would buy large batches of late bronze or copper books for $1 a piece since he was putting together a collection for his son.  I completely swamped that guy within a year since he was the only guy paying that price for lower grade run books and I had an unlimited supply.

To answer a question asked earlier - I don't think the dealers/sellers have devalued books one bit.  Why would they - it's against a sellers nature to offer a lower price then he can.  Pre internet days you had a select group of local comic shop owners who controlled back issue prices in each town or city (if you discount mile high mail orders).  They charged whatever the market would bare and people paid that price if they wanted the book.  Now that everyone has access to pretty much an unlimited variety of books and possibly collections the sellers have to be really careful on what they pay since the buyers can easily go elsewhere and get cheaper copies if the books are priced too high.  If the buyers were still willing to pay $2 - $3 for any random bronze/copper filler book then dealers would be happy to buy them in bulk for $0.50 a piece.  The sharp rise in competition and lack of reader/collectors has driven the price for most mid grade filler books into the ground which has nothing to do with the dealers attitude or buying decisions. 

 

Edited June 12, 2017 by 1Cool

[lou_fine]

On 6/11/2017 at 6:47 AM, Artboy99 said:

Today at a local comic show we have several longs of books priced at 0.25 C each. I will report back here and let you guys know how they did.

Well, still waiting for your con report. 

Hope you guys managed to move out a few of your 200 long boxes before your have to start looking for some additional warehouse space. 

[Artboy99]

10 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

Well, still waiting for your con report. 

Hope you guys managed to move out a few of your 200 long boxes before your have to start looking for some additional warehouse space. 

It was a very disappointing show.

Our 50% off section did ok, our 0.25 c books did very poorly we only sold 1.5 longs of the 8 we brought. We likely would have done just as well pricing them at $1 each selling less of them but yielding more profit. The quality of the 0.25 books was not great I will say and that is a factor. The thing is, around these parts where it is winter 7 months of the year, the June shows are always the worst.

[the blob]

On 6/8/2017 at 4:26 PM, Von Cichlid said:

Blob and yourself must have come from a different era than me I guess.  When I was first into comics from the late 80's to around 94 or so nearly everything revolved around the X-Men.  The three friends I had that were serious fans knew all about the bronze to copper age X-Men universe, the characters origins, etc.  Even the two LCS owners that I visit with since I got back into the hobby about 6 months ago are able to reminisce with me about those issues.  

How do you not remember Nightcrawler almost being burned at a stake in Germany or Storm flying around naked in Kenya, Wolverine resigning by slicing his CO's tie, and Colossus smashing that tractor when Professor X recruited them?  These were the origins of characters that were the focal point of the Marvel Universe for over a decade.

Maybe I am wrong in projecting what I consider to be key eras in the comic universe onto everyone else.  Like I say, I've only been back into the hobby about half a year and the friends I used to collect with moved on long ago.  The only people I have to discuss this stuff with are the LCS owners and they are roughly the same age as me.  There is a convention in my city coming this fall.  I will probably get a better feel for the industry if I attend that.         

Because I have filled my head up with so much other krap I can't remember any of this stuff.

I read plenty of X-Men, but Spidey and the Thing resonated a bit more with me, being native New Yorkers and such.

Edited June 12, 2017 by the blob

[1950's war comics]

On 6/11/2017 at 2:20 PM, NoMan said:

Does anyone think there will come a time when the run collectors will have their revenge? A time when filler books will be expensive and tough to find/acquire?

Putting together GA runs is tough, many issues can take years to acquire... good luck, hope you have half a lifetime................

Click link for example

 

 

Strange Adventures #50 - The World Wrecker Robot Cover - CGC Grade 6.5 - 1954

[TheFifthHorseman]

On 6/10/2017 at 6:17 PM, lou_fine said:

Just curious, but what type of GA keys are crazy hot this year, but were dumb cheap only a short year ago? 

As far as I know, the GA books that are currently hot right now have been hot for an extended period of time.  Not aware of any new hot GA books that have just popped up onto the scene. 

Relatively dumb cheap. Let's take away the dumb and just call it relatively cheap.

Per GPA:

Black Cat Mystery #50

Nov 2016 CGC 9.0 @ $7000

Jan 2016 CGC 6.0 @ $1550

Will we ever be able to grab up a 9.0 for under/right around $10k? I doubt it; only three 9.0 copies on the census. $1500 seems cheap for a 6.0. To me, anyway.

 

Punch Comics #12

Dec 2015 CGC 7.0 @ $15500

Yeah, okay. Better bring $25k to even sniff a similar copy these days.

 

Etc etc. I'm not saying I'm right. I'm not saying you are right. I'm happy to have the conversation.

My opinion is that whoever is already invested heavily in GA is in a GOOD spot. You're correct - the GA keys have always been hot. They haven't always had several people willing to throw a ton of money at them however.

As comic book movies continue to do well a whole new generation will at least be aware of the comic book medium. Yes the world is digitizing, but vintage items can hold their value and have a certain appeal.

You think regular folks won't want a RARE piece of art in the form of a comic book?

I'm happy to have the collection I currently own. However if I had been smarter with my money, instead of chasing moderns, maybe I could be happier with my collection, and own more GA.

More difficult these days it seems. I'm gobbling up all I can.

Or maybe I'm all wrong.

[1950's war comics]

On 6/11/2017 at 2:20 PM, NoMan said:

Does anyone think there will come a time when the run collectors will have their revenge? A time when filler books will be expensive and tough to find/acquire?

I have been back in the hobby for five years now after a long absence and i can tell collectors that within that 5 year time frame there are many 1950's comics from established series that have particular issues that are almost non existent on eBay 

[1950's war comics]

4 minutes ago, TheFifthHorseman said:

Relatively dumb cheap. Let's take away the dumb and just call it relatively cheap.

Per GPA:

Black Cat Mystery #50

Nov 2016 CGC 9.0 @ $7000

Jan 2016 CGC 6.0 @ $1550

Will we ever be able to grab up a 9.0 for under/right around $10k? I doubt it; only three 9.0 copies on the census. $1500 seems cheap for a 6.0. To me, anyway.

 

Punch Comics #12

Dec 2015 CGC 7.0 @ $15500

Yeah, okay. Better bring $25k to even sniff a similar copy these days.

 

Etc etc. I'm not saying I'm right. I'm not saying you are right. I'm happy to have the conversation.

My opinion is that whoever is already invested heavily in GA is in a GOOD spot. You're correct - the GA keys have always been hot. They haven't always had several people willing to throw a ton of money at them however.

As comic book movies continue to do well a whole new generation will at least be aware of the comic book medium. Yes the world is digitizing, but vintage items can hold their value and have a certain appeal.

You think regular folks won't want a RARE piece of art in the form of a comic book?

I'm happy to have the collection I currently own. However if I had been smarter with my money, instead of chasing moderns, maybe I could be happier with my collection, and own more GA.

More difficult these days it seems. I'm gobbling up all I can.

Or maybe I'm all wrong.

Your post reminds me of the craze in coin collectors that are paying insane prices for brand new fresh from the mint so called perfect coins, 

where is the demand going to be to buy these 2017 coins in 10 years ??

 classic issues from the 1800's will always have some demand

[TheFifthHorseman]

52 minutes ago, 1950's war comics said:

Your post reminds me of the craze in coin collectors that are paying insane prices for brand new fresh from the mint so called perfect coins

Are there billion dollar movie franchises based on coins?

Edited June 13, 2017 by TheFifthHorseman

[Von Cichlid]

6 hours ago, the blob said:

Because I have filled my head up with so much other krap I can't remember any of this stuff.

I read plenty of X-Men, but Spidey and the Thing resonated a bit more with me, being native New Yorkers and such.

Man I feel you.

Sometimes I wish I could trade my really detailed and fairly extensive knowledge of comics and heavy metal (and to a lesser extent football and aquariums) into knowledge about math and the physical sciences (how I actually earn money).  If I could trade the countless hours spent pondering and researching those things into time spent seriously studying the latter, then I easily would have invented something or would be a leader in the academic field.  I would probably have a lot more savings to.  Oh well.  Having 8 long boxes of really good comics and around 2500 really collectible metal albums is still a lot better than having spent the money on gambling or drugs.  That is what I tell my wife, anyway.   

[1Cool]

There is definitely no shortage of buyers out there even if there is a shortage of collections.  I've got 10 long boxes of ok 90s books that are slated to be donated this year so I thought I would try to sell them via Craigslist / Facebook sales before going the donating route.  My Facebook ad accidently did not mention 90s books but I instead said they were all 25 year old whereas the Craigslist ad specifically mentioned 90s books in the title.  I got 9 responses for the Facebook ad in 3 hours and no responses with the Craigslist ad.  No difference in picture, no difference in price but one had 90s in the title and the other said 25 year old comics.  I'd change the Facebook ad but it won't let me so we will see if the Facebook guys go running for the hills after getting my detailed response.

[1Cool]

18 hours ago, Artboy99 said:

It was a very disappointing show.

Our 50% off section did ok, our 0.25 c books did very poorly we only sold 1.5 longs of the 8 we brought. We likely would have done just as well pricing them at $1 each selling less of them but yielding more profit. The quality of the 0.25 books was not great I will say and that is a factor. The thing is, around these parts where it is winter 7 months of the year, the June shows are always the worst.

I like your statement about the quality of 4x$1 books.  They are quarter bin books!  Use to be you had ok books in the $1 bins and the quarter in books were tattered junk which were destined for the junk heap if not sold soon.  Now the $1 bin books are the old full price books that have not sold in a year and the quarter bins are filled with the old $1 books.  Strange market for sure.

[Readcomix]

On June 11, 2017 at 2:15 PM, Fan Boy said:

I did the same thing in giving away free comics. I had 3 boxes under table. Some kids were grabbing batches of books they like. One dealer even took one box away. In my mind .. "good, less space for me to haul back home" 

Not a bad idea for LCS's to invent, if they have a trade group of somesuch to share the word -- "Free Old Comic Book Day." Might help create a few new run collectors, as new books don't drive that as much anymore (not that that's their primary job). But when you reboot so frequently that characters don't have a long, cohesive narrative history, every title is basically "What If?"

Anyway, to stay on track, there's worse ideas than giveaways. The advantage for the person parsing out the big collection as a reseller is not just good will; the sooner you "clear the dust" and enable yourself to focus on the profitable books the easier it seems. I parse collections backwards for that reason, quickly identifying the subset that I am happy to get anything for, and getting rid of them.