Newsstand vs Direct Edition, At Grader's Discretion?? 4 4

[GarBear]

I looked for any topic related to Newsstand vs Direct Edition without any success.  I use MyComicShop to sell my comics.  I was a collector for about five years starting in 1988 with my 14 year old son.  Stuck them away and close to retirement I was nudged by my son to start selling them, I start that in 2016 the year I retired.  Soon after I got setup selling them I noticed some comics would sell immediately and others at the same price wouldn't.  This puzzled me so I went back to see what I could see.  The only difference I could see was each comic that I sold right away had a UPC code and was dated after 1979 and prior to 2013.  After some fumbling around I found a few discussions on general internet sites about newsstand edition comics.  Walaa!  Some comics got rare for a reason!  Smart collectors were taking advantage of my ignorance and snapping up those more rare comics because they knew more than me.  That's the name of the game I suppose.

Well, since then I've been pretty careful about not just sending my comics in for grading, noting the difference of the newsstand vs direct edition but also how CGC noted if a comic was a Newsstand Edition or not.  Well, this week, I find CGC has a "policy" about this.  It's at the discretion of the grader whether a comic is "different enough" being a newsstand vs direct.  This doesn't mean the UPC vs Spider-Man's face (UPC missing) but rather "the grader" at CGC must decide if the whole cover is different enough to get the prize of being noted as a "NEWSSTAND EDITION"!

After reading a very good article by J-Monty Comics:  

What's the Difference Between Newsstand and Direct Editions in Comics? - J-MONTY COMICS There is a lot of confusion in the market about the difference between newsstand and direct editions. Knowing which newsstands are rare and which ones are common will keep you from getting taken advantage of and also help you find deals - and there are a lot of deals to be had if you know what to look for. jmontycomics.com

I found someone was pretty succinct on the matter!  This made me even "more well versed" in the overall issue!  So, when I noted a couple of my issues on MyComicShop were placed without noting its being a newsstand edition I contacted them and, as a customer, requested they add this notation to the description of my two comics.  Not-so-easy-I-found!  Their statement was if CGC, those "discetioned graders" don't put that in the label, MyComicShop "generally" doesn't either.  When I called CGC, noted above, their policy was very strict, thanks for calling, bye!

So, back to MyComicShop.  Did you know they've changed their pricing for consignment comics?  Coming by the end of the year is a monthly charge for comics that have not sold.  So, not only the 10% but now a monthly "storage fee" as well.  Oh, and CGC upped their prices as too!  Now to get the "professional grader" to do the "research" the cost went up another 10%, pressing went up 87.5% (no more quick press at $8 each, 15 comic minimum).  So a comic used to cost $28 (non-member) now costs $37.  My math tells me I just got dinged an additional 24.3% off the top.  So, after the initial charges for pressing/grading (not to mention handling fee and shipping back fee) I make that much less per comic.  For me those costs, which typically run around $550 for 15 comics when all is said and done  CGC has jumped my fee to roughly $683.65.  I'm a small guy competing in a corporate world of comic sales.  To stay even isn't an issue, I have no overhead but with taxes on my additional income, with the additional costs now by both CGC and MyComicShop, it's just getting a bit much!  My hobby just got a little less fun....

And now back to my original thought.  Newsstand Edition vs Direct Edition.  No help from either company in that arena!  Although I know they need to make money to stay alive, I'm not asking for something that costs a lot.  Simply, I'm asking for CGC to do the work I pay them for and note my Newsstand Editions.  It really doesn't take any extra time.  Gee, between 1979 and 2013, has a UPC code with only 2 numbers!  Goodness, that took me about one-second.  OK, now everyone can sound off on this when there's time.

Good Sales To You All!!

GarBear

[Lazyboy]

5 minutes ago, GarBear said:

Smart collectors Gullible fools who believe everything they read were taking advantage of my ignorance () and snapping up those possibly slightly more rare comics because they thought they knew more than me anything.

Fixed.

[GarBear]

6 minutes ago, Lazyboy said:

Fixed.

I have newsstand edition of Punisher #1 (second series) and direct edition.  Have you seen what they're going for on eBay?  Easy to say everyone but you is a fool.  I quit being the smartest guy in the room years ago! 

[Lazyboy]

18 minutes ago, GarBear said:

After reading a very good article by J-Monty Comics:

Umm... no.

There's a lot of stuff in there that's pretty close to being correct, but even more that is very, very incorrect and potentially very harmful to the aforementioned gullible fools.

[shadroch]

MCS charges a rental fee after a year. If your book hasn't sold in a year, the odds are it isn't priced correctly. 

[Lazyboy]

3 minutes ago, GarBear said:

Easy to say everyone but you is a fool.

When you're clearly more intelligent and knowledgeable than all the people you see doing and saying stupid things, it sure is!

[Lazyboy]

7 minutes ago, GarBear said:

I have newsstand edition of Punisher #1 (second series) and direct edition.  Have you seen what they're going for on eBay?

Newsstand editions are mostly a false market based on a mountain of hype and lies. Sell while the market is hot and the stupid money is there.

[GarBear]

Well, gee, could you take the time to share those "very, very incorrect and potentially very harmful" parts of the article so I am no longer a fool about that specific topic?  I'm being serious, no bashing or crazy stuff, just would like to know 'the truth' from someone that knows this stuff better than others.  Of course, if you don't have the time, I'll understand too.

Good Day To You 

[Lazyboy]

33 minutes ago, GarBear said:

Well, this week, I find CGC has a "policy" about this.  It's at the discretion of the grader whether a comic is "different enough" being a newsstand vs direct.  This doesn't mean the UPC vs Spider-Man's face (UPC missing) but rather "the grader" at CGC must decide if the whole cover is different enough to get the prize of being noted as a "NEWSSTAND EDITION"!

 

34 minutes ago, GarBear said:

Simply, I'm asking for CGC to do the work I pay them for and note my Newsstand Editions.

Yes, CGC's policy is completely arbitrary and asinine. But you aren't going to be the tipping point that changes it.

Plus, they do (theoretically) always note things like Canadian Newsstands (regardless of the incorrect terminology they use), but they are absolutely terrible at it and there are tons of copies out there that aren't noted as such.

[Lazyboy]

4 minutes ago, GarBear said:

Well, gee, could you take the time to share those "very, very incorrect and potentially very harmful" parts of the article so I am no longer a fool about that specific topic?  I'm being serious, no bashing or crazy stuff, just would like to know 'the truth' from someone that knows this stuff better than others.  Of course, if you don't have the time, I'll understand too.

Good Day To You 

There are multiple threads on these boards about the subject. Give me a few minutes and I'll post some links.

[Get Marwood & I]

20 minutes ago, Lazyboy said:

Plus, they do (theoretically) always note things like Canadian Price Newsstands Variants (just about the only regardless of the incorrect terminology they do use), but they are absolutely terrible at it and there are tons of copies out there that aren't noted as such.

[Lazyboy]

 

[valiantman]

https://www.newsstand101.com/

[Qalyar]

So... this. Some more.

I don't have a very high opinion of that J-Monty article. He takes on faith that well-used chart of direct market/newsstand ratios, and, stepping into my hat as a professional data analyst, I think that chart is misleading at best. Always have. Also, anyone who takes Mile High Comics' conclusions about newsstand printings at face value is misinformed, crazy, or named Chuck Rozanski. The same goes for anyone who takes PGX seriously as a grading company (except they're probably just misinformed or crazy, I bet even Chuck knows PGX is amateur hour). I think a great majority of newsstand printings on the market are badly overvalued relative to their actual rarity. I think some are undervalued. I think the entire field -- like a lot of comics collecting fields -- is poorly described, poorly catalogued, and frequently preys upon insufficiently educated collectors.

I did my time in philately before taking comic collecting more seriously, and I've dabbled in numismatics and rare books. In every one of those other collecting fields, very small differences in printings are recognized as significant. How they affect value depends on a lot of factors. But there are stamps that differ in prices by thousands of dollars because they were, basically, distributed by a different method (sheet vs. coil, especially some of the early US coils) or because they were printed on different paper -- and maybe not even a visibly different paper (watermarks, this means you!). Coins minted at different facilities (essentially, different printers) differ by a single letter but are considered entirely separate collectible entities with entirely disjunct pricing. The rare book folks, well... they tend to be obsessed mostly with distinguishing which copies of a book were the earliest physically printed; there's an ongoing discussion here about whether some of the UK price variants might have actually been the first-off-the-press copies rather than the domestic ones, and that would be serious business for many book collectors.

Comic collecting? Um, well... So far, frankly, most people don't take any of that seriously. We have no comprehensive catalogs, no standardized numbering system for variants and whatnot. Heck, we can even drum up a good old fashioned forum argument over what, exactly, counts as a printing vs. an edition vs. a variant, and whether or not specific books are or are not "reprints". And that's not even considering the licensed foreign translations of domestic books. Whee!

When I collect a series that is printed for both newsstand distribution and the direct market, I try to collect both. I also try to collect subsequent printings, and where feasible foreign editions. Yes, I often pay more for high-grade newsstands than the equivalent FMV for the comic in general. No, I won't pay the stupid multipliers that some people engage in; I have never, ever, bought a newsstand book from Mile High. My personal collection focuses mostly on small-run titles, and I enjoy the chase of running them to the most comprehensive sense of "completion" I can muster. Not everyone does. And that's fine. Yes, I wish CGC would respect the difference, just like they do for subsequent printings, but the only thing that bothers me about it all is that we have more than a few people here who seem to believe that's it is some sort of moral failing to treat newsstand and direct market books as separately collectible.

We're supposed to collect what we want, right?

[Lazyboy]

16 minutes ago, valiantman said:

https://www.newsstand101.com/

but don't forget

and there weren't far fewer Newsstand editions printed for Spawn #1 than Direct editions for Spawn #1 because Image was a new publisher, but because the DM ordered 1.X million copies and who knows how many years it had been since anybody printed a million or more copies of anything for newsstand distribution.

[valiantman]

32 minutes ago, Qalyar said:

... the only thing that bothers me about it all is that we have more than a few people here who seem to believe that's it is some sort of moral failing to treat newsstand and direct market books as separately collectible.

GPAnalysis has 112 sales for ASM #300 CGC 9.8 in 2020.  109 were direct, 3 were newsstand.

GPAnalysis has 354 sales for ASM #300 CGC 9.6 in 2020.  339 were direct, 15 were newsstand.

With those kinds of numbers, the arguments against newsstand being a separate collectible (or that "it doesn't matter") are rendered ridiculous... by math.

The only argument left for direct edition preferences OVER barcodes (in the market) is that "barcodes are ugly" and no one can actually lose an argument about "beauty preferences". 

 

16 minutes ago, Lazyboy said:

but don't forget

and there weren't far fewer Newsstand editions printed for Spawn #1 than Direct editions for Spawn #1 because Image was a new publisher, but because the DM ordered 1.X million copies and who knows how many years it had been since anybody printed a million or more copies of anything for newsstand distribution.

There wasn't an established "newsstand system" (of at least 30+ years) for Image (because it was a new publisher), and Spawn #1 was the first Image newsstand book - so unless they took a big risk in making a ton of Spawn #1 newsstands - which were all returnable - (and they had no danger of the 1.X million direct editions being returnable), it's just very unlikely that the new publisher "went big" on Spawn #1 newsstand (and the risk of unsold newsstands for a publisher with no history of returns/losses to reference).

We do have numbers now, though... it's not 1% newsstand for Spawn #1.  It was 8% newsstand in GPA for Universal CGC 9.8 Spawn #1 for sales in 2020 (71 newsstand out of 882 sales).

Edited May 27, 2021 by valiantman

[valiantman]

2 minutes ago, Brooklyn860 said:

22 minutes ago, valiantman said:

The only argument left for direct edition preferences OVER barcodes (in the market) is that "barcodes are ugly" and no one can actually lose an argument about "beauty preferences". 

Or maybe newsstand collectors are just poser fanboys desperately following the trends, afraid to miss out on the newest fake variant or miscolored misprint? 

Yeah, I checked on that.  Turns out math beats whining.

[valiantman]

Just now, Brooklyn860 said:

3 minutes ago, valiantman said:

Yeah, I checked on that.  Turns out math beats whining.

Hey, its not illegal to be a greedy false-hyping POS, so you keep on keeping on!

Welcome to the board you joined yesterday.  Perhaps you don't realize how BIG of a "poser fanboy desperate to follow the trends" I actually am.

I'll give you a hint...

That's one aisle of my poser fanboy CGC slab collection.

You'll also find my poser fanboy photo in every Overstreet price guide for the past 15 years, but that's just poser fanboy central registry, really.

[valiantman]

2 minutes ago, Brooklyn860 said:

"What do you collect, sonny?"

It's pretty funny that I'm a poser fanboy, but you're the one using "Brooklyn860" as a username knowing everyone will assume you're in THE Brooklyn - NYC - the Big Apple, when you're actually in Brooklyn 860-area-code... Connecticut.  Population: Zippity-Doo-Dah-And-A-Lemonade-Stand.

Edited May 27, 2021 by valiantman

[Lazyboy]

2 minutes ago, valiantman said:

Welcome to the board you joined yesterday. 

Oh, come on, Greg! You really don't recognize him?