Are prices still climbing or have they eased up a bit??? 43 43

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 2/11/2023 at 9:56 PM, VintageComics said:

This info agrees with what my post a few weeks ago where I stated that dealers were saying that they're seeing a strengthening of prices in their sales. 

This sentence hurts my head 

[VintageComics]

On 2/11/2023 at 10:11 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

This sentence hurts my head 

Translation: I'm almost always right. 

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 2/11/2023 at 10:13 PM, VintageComics said:

Translation: I'm almost always right. 

That’s the gist of all your posts.  Please at least take a moment to give sentence structure a chance. 

[VintageComics]

On 2/11/2023 at 10:15 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

That’s the gist of all your posts.  Please at least take a moment to give sentence structure a chance. 

I agree that the above sentence was pretty bad. 

[Motor City Rob]

On 2/11/2023 at 9:56 PM, VintageComics said:

This info agrees with my post a few weeks ago where I stated that dealers were seeing a strengthening of prices in their sales. 

I'm questioning the Swaggle video. The first five Silver Ages keys I looked up were all down in almost all grades between December and January. Curious as to what books he picked to conclude that SA is up so much in January. 

[lou_fine]

On 2/11/2023 at 9:36 PM, Motor City Rob said:

I'm questioning the Swaggle video. The first five Silver Ages keys I looked up were all down in almost all grades between December and January. Curious as to what books he picked to conclude that SA is up so much in January. 

Most likely NOT the big SA keys which you most of us would think of and probably also the ones that you looked at.  

Especially since he said that his SA index was based upon the Top 100 SA books based upon a volume quantity count.  As a result, you would probably expect to see a greater number of sales of the semi-keys or even non-key SA books due to the simple fact that the big SA keys are too expensive to ever outsell a cheaper SA key when it comes to a strict volume quantity count.  

Then again, I don't know how useful his index really is if in fact it does end up missing out on the bellwether big SA books.  Coupled with the fact that his pricing is based only upon the final sale price for each once of the books for that month, as opposed to some kind of average to eliminate any possible skewing caused by just using one sales result only.  

[Stefan_W]

The last half of 2022 seemed pretty bad for comic sales across the board, at least from where I am standing, but so far 2023 seems pretty good. I limit myself to 10k in sales on Ebay per year (I can only stomach giving that site so much of my money), and I got that amount of sales in three weeks. This is a personal record for me for how fast I reach 10k there. I was selling bronze and moderns to do it. Private sales are also doing well to start this year.

The big thing to avoid on Ebay is selling through auctions that start at a buck. I just set reasonable prices (after make-an-offer) at about GPA and eventually someone comes along who is cool with paying that. I also never panic sell - GPA goes up and down over time and if I can't get a fair price now there is always next year or the year after.   

Edited February 12, 2023 by Stefan_W

[speedcake]

+1 regarding auctions starting at $1. See so many nice books sell for a fraction of what they could/should after only getting a bid or two. Inexperienced sellers, poorly crafted listings, the auction gamble.  Just list a fair BIN and be patient IMO. 

[Sweet Lou 14]

On 2/12/2023 at 1:16 PM, speedcake said:

+1 regarding auctions starting at $1. See so many nice books sell for a fraction of what they could/should after only getting a bid or two. Inexperienced sellers, poorly crafted listings, the auction gamble.  Just list a fair BIN and be patient IMO. 

From the buyer side, I love $1 auctions!  

In all seriousness, I think most books with strong demand and not much supply still do well on those.  There are plenty of BIN listings with ridiculously unreasonable prices where I find myself wishing the seller would test the market with an auction.

[DC#]

On 2/12/2023 at 10:34 AM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

From the buyer side, I love $1 auctions!  

In all seriousness, I think most books with strong demand and not much supply still do well on those.  There are plenty of BIN listings with ridiculously unreasonable prices where I find myself wishing the seller would test the market with an auction.

Agree on strong demand books regardless of starting auction price.   But if you are going to go auction route you have to trust the process (but do the work to help make them successful or hand over to someone to do it for you).  I roll my eyes at auctions with a starting price of current FMV or higher  - I can’t recall seeing any of those actually sell.    Just do BIN with best offer because obviously you don’t really want to do an auction unless there is upside….

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

As a buyer I, logically, prefer auctions because at least I have an opportunity to win the comic book at a price I'm comfortable paying. The vast majority of the current asking prices for the comic books I'm interested in purchasing are beyond what I am willing to pay for them. Of course, as I always note, the seller may be willing to provide a discount but I don't care enough to inquire. The good thing for me regarding this is that I reached the point where I'm content with the CGC graded comic books I own, far too many, and will only purchase others when they are, in my view, cheap. If no cheap ones become available that's the end of the line for me.

[1Cool]

On 2/13/2023 at 5:38 AM, Tec-Tac-Toe said:

As a buyer I, logically, prefer auctions because at least I have an opportunity to win the comic book at a price I'm comfortable paying. The vast majority of the current asking prices for the comic books I'm interested in purchasing are beyond what I am willing to pay for them. Of course, as I always note, the seller may be willing to provide a discount but I don't care enough to inquire. The good thing for me regarding this is that I reached the point where I'm content with the CGC graded comic books I own, far too many, and will only purchase others when they are, in my view, cheap. If no cheap ones become available that's the end of the line for me.

Buyers love auctions which should tell you how much you should utilize this format if you are the average seller.  Some dealers have built up such a big client base that they can get good prices but most sellers will get fleeced if they try out $1 auction.  

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

On 2/13/2023 at 8:25 AM, 1Cool said:

Buyers love auctions which should tell you how much you should utilize this format if you are the average seller.  Some dealers have built up such a big client base that they can get good prices but most sellers will get fleeced if they try out $1 auction.  

I agree which is why I wrote: "As a buyer I, logically, prefer auctions because at least I have an opportunity to win the comic book at a price I'm comfortable paying." In other words, I'm attempting to purchase the comic book on the cheap, as I also noted in my post. To repeat, I agree with you that many sellers will lose $ (or $$, perhaps $$$) in auction format.

[Rob]

On 2/13/2023 at 3:38 AM, Tec-Tac-Toe said:

As a buyer I, logically, prefer auctions because at least I have an opportunity to win the comic book at a price I'm comfortable paying. The vast majority of the current asking prices for the comic books I'm interested in purchasing are beyond what I am willing to pay for them. 

I agree.  I have several saved searches that I check several times a day, but rarely are they very fruitful as most BIN listings are sellers with pipe dreams of getting pandemic prices.  They're nowhere near GPA last sale or 90 day avg.  That ship has sailed.

Edited February 13, 2023 by Rob

[THE_BEYONDER]

Not too many real auctions on EBay anymore.  Most start at the lowest price the seller would accept.  I get it, but it’s not much fun as a buyer.  As a seller, I miss running $.99 auctions.  It’s pretty much exclusively BIN/BO these days for me. 

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

On 2/13/2023 at 1:18 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Not too many real auctions on EBay anymore.  Most start at the lowest price the seller would accept.  I get it, but it’s not much fun as a buyer.  As a seller, I miss running $.99 auctions.  It’s pretty much exclusively BIN/BO these days for me. 

Yes, far too few and the ones I bid on I typically lose by a quite a bit. As I've written before, I must be one cheap bastarrrd.

[Browns81]

On 2/13/2023 at 1:05 PM, Rob said:

I agree.  I have several saved searches that I check several times a day, but rarely are they very fruitful as most BIN listings are sellers with pipe dreams of getting pandemic prices.  They're nowhere near GPA last sale or 90 day avg.  That ship has sailed.

I collect baseball cards and the only way I’m ever going to get some pricier vintage cards is by checking and getting lucky with underpriced BINs.  It does happen, just need to be patient.

[Robot Man]

I sold at CalCon last week. GA & SA mostly. Mostly reading copies very few books over $200. I sold stacks at a time and I wasn’t giving them away but for the most part, what I thought were fair prices at very little if any discount. Still at prices that I made a good profit on. Lots of “run” books and every genre sold even humor and westerns. One of my best shows ever. People were elbow to elbow all day. 

I don’t think many in the room had affordable books. There were a lot of nosebleed books that probably sat. I sell books to collectors and readers and have a good selection. I try to find an audience that is often lacking at shows. 

The market is still VERY strong. The only problem I have is replacing all the stuff I sold…

[Motor City Rob]

On 2/14/2023 at 11:18 AM, Robot Man said:

I sold at CalCon last week. GA & SA mostly. Mostly reading copies very few books over $200. I sold stacks at a time and I wasn’t giving them away but for the most part, what I thought were fair prices at very little if any discount. Still at prices that I made a good profit on. Lots of “run” books and every genre sold even humor and westerns. One of my best shows ever. People were elbow to elbow all day. 

I don’t think many in the room had affordable books. There were a lot of nosebleed books that probably sat. I sell books to collectors and readers and have a good selection. I try to find an audience that is often lacking at shows. 

The market is still VERY strong. The only problem I have is replacing all the stuff I sold…

I agree the market is definitely strong compared to 2020 and earlier. For GA, it's as strong as ever, but I am starting to see mid and low grade GA remain steady, unless it's a key. Assuming you're making a profit on books you mostly purchased before 2021. Most people that purchased big SA keys during 21/22 aren't making much profit these days. A healthy correction in my opinion, but many dealers are refusing to accept that when pricing their books for shows. If they need to sell, they'll eventually make changes. 

[Robot Man]

On 2/14/2023 at 11:31 AM, Motor City Rob said:

I agree the market is definitely strong compared to 2020 and earlier. For GA, it's as strong as ever, but I am starting to see mid and low grade GA remain steady, unless it's a key. Assuming you're making a profit on books you mostly purchased before 2021. Most people that purchased big SA keys during 21/22 aren't making much profit these days. A healthy correction in my opinion, but many dealers are refusing to accept that when pricing their books for shows. If they need to sell, they'll eventually make changes. 

A lot of stuff like PCH and obscure GS books like these, sold themselves without any push or discount.

I am more than happy to undercut these folks and still make a decent profit.