2003 Overstreet, what's going up the most?

[COI]

That's what I'm afraid of...I hope you're not right!!

 

Why are you afraid that Overstreet does operate dealer-friendly? If you're primarily a buyer, how could you benefit from a price spike?

[fantastic_four]

Because it indicates an intentional bias, which ticks me off. I don't like seeing collectors screwed over by a bunch of people scratching each other's backs. Not that I'm convinced that's what's going on, but there's a distinct possibility.

[tb]

As much as I love conspiracy theories, this one is just plain

wrong. As a long time Disney collector, I keep thinking back

to what happened in the 1970s where a lot of my peers got

burned because O got caught with the speculation/short term

fluctuations. As a result, the books I care about ended up crashing

big time and did not start to recover until about 15 years later.

That is no fun at all(!), and I am sure Overstreet - who was a big

Disney collector as well - took a lesson from what happened.

I think long term collectors will eventually be thankful to

Geppi, Overstreet & Co. for putting a damping force to the

currently overheating market.

 

Here are a few NM examples from the 1977 guide:

 

Action 1: 5250

Tec 1: 600

Tec 27: 3600

More Fun 52: 1500

 

AF 15: 255

ASM 1: 255

ASM 129: 45 cents

 

Four Color 9: 1200

Four Color 16: 975

March of Comics 4: 1350

 

[joe_collector]

It's more than a possibility, and I can remember back in the late-80's when OS had some truly whacky prices on key issues like Captain America 100, Iron Man 1, FF 48, ASM 50, etc. (usually in the $10-$20 range) and dealers like Keith C would take them to task on it, and post verifiable sales in the $50-$100 range, or higher.

 

Then a year or so later, OS had to respond, and racked the prices on most of these mid-60's to late-60's keys, and the dealers were squawking like a bunch of stuck chickens. One chump even bemoaned the fact that his store might go out of business, because he now had to pay $30 for a NM Captain America #1, rather than the "usual $4".

 

I've said this many times before, but when you take out an old OS from after 1985 and look at some prices and think "man I wish I had bought X copies of Y", you're fooling yourself. Sure, prices were still low, but no way were Keith C and other high-end dealers selling CA 100's in strict NM for $10 in 1988.

 

OS also clouds the fact that comics do fluctuate wildly, and does not reflect these changes in the Guide. Instead they take the old smooth-out angle, and make the comic's market look like a pretty safe bet. If you have been buying comics for awhile, then you know OS is largely a joke for NM prices ever since the mid-80's, both good and bad.

 

So basically a comic that guided for $30 in 1988 (but sold back then for $100 minimum in NM) that now guides for $100 (yet sells for $50-$80 in NM) looks like a pretty fair investment, even though it is far from it.

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

Good Question Ninanina, and definitely worth thinking about... especially to ComicInvestors. However, even those of us that call ourselves collector's and readers are concerned about condition and mindful of what our books are valued by price guides, and wonder what they will be valued at in the future.

 

How many of us buy ALL of our books SOLEY on the premise that we want to read them? Not very many of us at all...and if that were the case, if we were not concerned with value, then we shouldn't be that concerned about preservation either. So even though we might be buying only the books that we "like", there is still a part of us that wants the books we already own to be more desirable and valuable, and it's because of this that we go to such measures to preserve our books. Anyway, now that I got that out of the way here are my picks for the books I think will show the highest PERCENTAGE (not necessarily highest $) of book value increase:

 

• 
  MOVIE HYPE, BELIEVE THE HYPE
  
• Spider-Man, The Movie - I think that ALL Spider-Man books (including Marvel Team-Up) will show an increase in value, with Amazing Spider-Man volume 1 showing the highest increase, especially for Silver Age and key isssues including the first appearance of the Green Goblin. Other titles such as Web Of Spider-Man took a sizeable decline in value years ago, but I expect even the titles with lesser demand to show an increase in value, if for no other reason than the prices went down to almost nothing, and Spider-Man is in demand.
  
• DareDevil, The Movie - Daredevil books will probably show an increase in value, especially the Frank Miller books and Electra appearances. I think DareDevil book will show an increase, even though the movie wasn't nearly as sucessful as the Spider-Man movie (which should have been expected to begin with).
  
• X-Men - This prediction sucks to me because I lack so many Uncanny X-Men books I would like to own, but I don't think X-Men 2 is going to hurt the popularity of the X-Men. Oh, and did I mention the new X-Men Evolution cartoon? The X-Men are the most popular Super-Hero team bar none, and even if there are a zillion copies out there, if the demand is high enough, even those books will raise in value. It's all about supply and demand...
  
• HULK, The Movie - I'm not sure if the next OverStreet is going to reflect any movie hype or not, but I expect in the next couple of years, Incredible Hulk books in general will show a steady increase in value.
  You might wonder, why would I pick movie hyped books with "hot" sales that have since cooled off, but let me explain. Surely we can agree that movie hype created more demand=bidders than there would have been otherwise and that some people paid outrageous prices for movie hyped books, and dare I say it, movie hype may have even influenced the purchases of a few of us. Ok, if we can agree on that, and IF guide prices reflect the AVERAGE of high and low sales, then I think it's safe to say that even though prices may have dropped, there is still enough "padding" from other sales to off-set the average, which for these movie hyped books should be higher than previous years.
  
• GOLDEN AGE BOOKS - There aren't enough to go around, especially in high grade, and from what I've seen, high grade Golden Age books generally go for multiples of guide, and it seems there are plenty of people will to pay for them.
  
• SILVER AGE KEYS IN HIGH GRADE - especially those hard to find in high grade DC's
  

 

If the question were which books do you WISH were going up the most? I would have to answer...Moderns in general. Especially Acton Comics, Adventures of Superman, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Man of Steel, and Superman (volueme 2). However, my biased answer might stem from the fact that I have tons of em'.

[underthebigw]

Do not underestimate the number of dealers and store owners around the country who are too busy keeping up with new books, subs, pokemon, magic and all the other [!@#%^&^] to go back and re-price their stock. Every once in a while you come across a store like this. I've mentioned elsewhere my experience finding a store outside Wash., DC that opened up and, after buying the monstrous stock of a retired dealer, focused on all the new, tangentially related [!@#%^&^]. The books hadn't been priced since 1990-1991 and filled 100's of holes in my Bronze collection with solid NM-NM+ books for 1-3 bucks a piece, both mainstream and off-beat titles. Ahhh, Christmas in July.

[Zonker]

Last minute prediction on what will go up:

 

WWII covers, perfect for CGC display, and timed to ride the wave of good feeling coming off of Operation Iraqi Freedom. We had a thread that starting listing these books earlier.

 

Cheers,

Z.

[Rob]

Does anyone know the official release date? I heard somewhere around April 11-April 15. We have the Phoenix ComiCon this Sunday (13th), and I was hoping to have it by then.

[fantastic_four]

Amazon.com says April 29th if I remember correctly

[notch_top]

https://secure.fandata.com/over_form_merch.cfm

 

These guys list it as Apr 10th opposed to the 29th that Amazon shows.

 

[TomG]

The on sale date is April 16th.

[ArnoldTBlumberg]

Yeah, what he said!

[CosmicBob]

I suppose he should know, right?

[14 of spades]

does this mean copies will literally be IN STORES on april 16?

[ninanina]

I do remember last year, they were late and the scheduled shipping dates were then and even in previous years very and I do mean extremely very unreliable, so I wouldn't hold my breath. They did arrive last week in April last year.

[Rob]

Man, I was hoping to have it for the Phoenix ComiCon, this Sunday the 13th. Maybe it's good that it's not out yet. This thread should give me an idea of what to look for, for maximum flipping profit.

[Crowzilla]

This thread should give me an idea of what to look for, for maximum flipping profit.

 

This brings up a question that I always wonder about.

Are you guys really that dependent upon the new Overstreet to decide what you

will pay for stuff? Or do you just like to see what has gone up and by how much?

 

If you already know that Marvel Team-up #1 in 9.4 sells for X amount of dollars, will the new Overstreet raising it's price on MTU $20, $30 or whatever really change what you are willing to pay for the book?

Same thing with almost any other book. If you collect FF's, you already know #12 and #13 are scarce in high grade, if prices go up 10-20% in the new Overstreet will that really affect what you were willing to pay for these books?

Does it really matter what Action #1 goes to in 9.4? No one has one for sale anyway, and we know it would bring at least a million whether Overstreet raises the price to that or not.

 

[clobberintime]

Very good point. Has the market on ebay and Heritage and other such big time sellers made the guide obsolete? I don't think the new guide will have Metro or Storms suddenly repricing books and I doubt any knowledgeable buyer on ebay will suddenly start doing things differently. I think you have to keep up with what's going on and get the feel for prices these days. prices fluctuate radically around movie releases and economic conditions. You kind of have to watch that sort of thing to get good prices. But I think Overstreet is a good foundation to start with. But it definitely won't control anyone's pricing or spending.

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

Are you guys really that dependent upon the new Overstreet to decide what you will pay for stuff?

 

Nope I won't give near guide for 99% of Moderns! I try and purchase most of them in large lots of 100 or more at a fraction of cover price. At least I'm honest about it!

 

Or do you just like to see what has gone up and by how much?

 

Yep It's somewhat of a "guage" to help with some purchases. Of course, my "guage" is pre-set lower than other "guages". Sometimes it's not a matter of how much I'm willing to pay, but what I can "afford".

 

If you already know that Marvel Team-up #1 in 9.4 sells for X amount of dollars, will the new Overstreet raising it's price on MTU $20, $30 or whatever really change what you are willing to pay for the book?

 

I'll take the fith on that one.

 

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

Very good point. Has the market on ebay and Heritage and other such big time sellers made the guide obsolete?

 

So how do we determine WHICH auctions are legit, and which ones are not?