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My Bimonthly Review of the Values of My Collection
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108 posts in this topic

On 7/4/2022 at 12:59 PM, MattTheDuck said:

Like MT, I used GoCollect but they changed the offerings so I broke down and subscribed to GPA.  It's not a perfect solution as it doesn't capture all sales and only provides sales data for graded books.  If your collection is not graded (as mine is not - I have only about 50 slabs out of 4,500 books) GPA is even more imprecise.  MT uses it only for his graded books in his reports, and that data is probably as accurate as you're going to find, but as noted there will be books for which there is no recent data and he's developed a way to estimate.

I also keep a spreadsheet, and I use GPA to track changes in a variety of grades (for instance, for raw books I follow 9.8, 9.2, 8.5, 8.0 and 6.0) which gives me a sense of the range of costs, and usually includes at least one sale at one of these grades within the last year.  For books I don't yet own, but aspire to, I track everything 8.0 and above.  For one series (Planet Comics, a Golden Age title) I track every grade (some of which are just blank as they've never had a sale reported to GPA.  For many others, the last reported sale was 10 or 15 years ago).  

One of the funny things about this last series is that you'll see, for example, a book in 8.5 at $350 and a recent 3.0 sale at $1200.  This is how I would know, if I owned an 8.5, that my book was worth a lot more than $350, even if I wasn't also watching auction sites closely.  The other funny thing is when you own a book that's listed on GPA (for example, I have a Pedigree copy of a Planet Comics) it is listed and will always be listed at the price I paid.  But just watching sales of that book in the same grade only gives you a vague idea, as Pedigrees generally might sell for more than non-Pedigree books.

Nice that you have help to get this all organized! :)

 

Thanks Matt,,,,,,, our collections are very similar,,, I have relatively few graded books compared to my raw books,,,,,,,,,and Planet is one of my GA favorites!

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On 7/15/2021 at 10:00 AM, Chief1332 said:

Gocollect algorithm... tries to predict values as best they can.  Uses CGC and CBCS sales info?  Whereas GPA CGC reported sales only?  I like to use both sites, as well as eBay, and threads here on the boards.

using multiple sources is absolutely ESSENTIAL to get a handle on values

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On 7/5/2022 at 10:52 AM, fishbone said:

using multiple sources is absolutely ESSENTIAL to get a handle on values

especially with books that come infrequently to market.

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On 7/5/2022 at 2:19 PM, piper said:

especially with books that come infrequently to market.

Could you please elaborate on the sources you would use?

GPA, GoCollect, Ebay sold prices, Heritage sold prices, ComicConnect sold prices, and ComicLink sold prices are some of which I am aware.

I feel that there are some books that are virtually impossible to find, especially when you limit to a very specific grade. For example, I have ASM #50 CGC 7.5 autographed by Stan Lee and John Romita (yellow label). According to GPA, the last sale of this book was in August, 2018. If you can find another sale of this specific book between August, 2018, and today, I would really appreciate if you would let me know.

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On 7/4/2022 at 11:59 AM, MattTheDuck said:

One of the funny things about this last series is that you'll see, for example, a book in 8.5 at $350 and a recent 3.0 sale at $1200.  This is how I would know, if I owned an 8.5, that my book was worth a lot more than $350, even if I wasn't also watching auction sites closely.  The other funny thing is when you own a book that's listed on GPA (for example, I have a Pedigree copy of a Planet Comics) it is listed and will always be listed at the price I paid.  But just watching sales of that book in the same grade only gives you a vague idea, as Pedigrees generally might sell for more than non-Pedigree books.

I try to limit my searches to books within a two-month period. So, in my report above, I tried to limit my searches to between May 1 and June 30. For example, I have a copy of ASM #1 CGC 3.0. According to GPA, a copy of this book sold for $12,000 on June 5, 2022. I feel quite confident that my book has a value close to $12,000. It isn't always that easy, though. I have a copy of ASM #7 CGC 6.0. According to GPA, the last sale of this book in this particular grade was $1,050 on December 27, 2021. I feel that this value is not representative of FMV for my book. Fortunately, an ASM #7 CGC 6.5 sold for $1,085 on June 5, 2022, and an ASM #7 CGC 5.5 sold for $949 on May 16, 2022. I just took the average of $1,085 and $949, so I am confident that the value of my book is close to $1,017. Unfortunately, it is not always that easy. For example, if I have a 4.5 book that didn't have a sale between May 1 and June 30, I look for other grades that sold during that period. In most cases, I would limit the grades that I would look at to be between 6.0 and 3.0. I use this data to calculate a price per point, which is what I use to calculate the value of my book. I get a very approximate value of my book. I certainly wouldn't guarantee that my book would have the exact value I calculated. I have been by numerous people that this is not an accurate way to estimate the value, but it is what I have chosen to do. Lastly, I have found a book in my collection that hasn't had a sale within the past twelve months. I still try to calculate a value, but, at best, it's just a guesstimate, and, at worse, is 100% erroneous. 

Would I stake my life on any of the valuations that I have noted for books in my collection? Absolutely not. I try to be as accurate as I can be, but, in reality, the values I list for my books are estimates or , even worse, guesstimates. 

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On 7/5/2022 at 1:06 PM, Math Teacher said:

I try to limit my searches to books within a two-month period. So, in my report above, I tried to limit my searches to between May 1 and June 30. For example, I have a copy of ASM #1 CGC 3.0. According to GPA, a copy of this book sold for $12,000 on June 5, 2022. I feel quite confident that my book has a value close to $12,000. It isn't always that easy, though. I have a copy of ASM #7 CGC 6.0. According to GPA, the last sale of this book in this particular grade was $1,050 on December 27, 2021. I feel that this value is not representative of FMV for my book. Fortunately, an ASM #7 CGC 6.5 sold for $1,085 on June 5, 2022, and an ASM #7 CGC 5.5 sold for $949 on May 16, 2022. I just took the average of $1,085 and $949, so I am confident that the value of my book is close to $1,017. Unfortunately, it is not always that easy. For example, if I have a 4.5 book that didn't have a sale between May 1 and June 30, I look for other grades that sold during that period. In most cases, I would limit the grades that I would look at to be between 6.0 and 3.0. I use this data to calculate a price per point, which is what I use to calculate the value of my book. I get a very approximate value of my book. I certainly wouldn't guarantee that my book would have the exact value I calculated. I have been by numerous people that this is not an accurate way to estimate the value, but it is what I have chosen to do. Lastly, I have found a book in my collection that hasn't had a sale within the past twelve months. I still try to calculate a value, but, at best, it's just a guesstimate, and, at worse, is 100% erroneous. 

Would I stake my life on any of the valuations that I have noted for books in my collection? Absolutely not. I try to be as accurate as I can be, but, in reality, the values I list for my books are estimates or , even worse, guesstimates. 

There's a tremendous amount of educated guesswork involved in determining some of these values.  I think you have some of the uncertainties dialed in about as well as one can expect.

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On 7/5/2022 at 3:42 PM, MattTheDuck said:

There's a tremendous amount of educated guesswork involved in determining some of these values.  I think you have some of the uncertainties dialed in about as well as one can expect.

One must extrapolate the data and do a very amount of educated guesses.  Ultimately, it probably doesn't matter unless you are selling your collection or need it for insurance purposes.  When in doubt, put it up for auction?

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On 7/5/2022 at 1:38 PM, Math Teacher said:

Could you please elaborate on the sources you would use?

GPA, GoCollect, Ebay sold prices, Heritage sold prices, ComicConnect sold prices, and ComicLink sold prices are some of which I am aware.

I feel that there are some books that are virtually impossible to find, especially when you limit to a very specific grade. For example, I have ASM #50 CGC 7.5 autographed by Stan Lee and John Romita (yellow label). According to GPA, the last sale of this book was in August, 2018. If you can find another sale of this specific book between August, 2018, and today, I would really appreciate if you would let me know.

I think you've covered the biggies.  At times, I will also ask for guidance from board members.  I will also look at listings on places like My Comic Shop.

Of course that doesn't help you when you are selling a golden age book that is infrequently sold.

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