What does "willing to pay GPA" signal to you as a Seller? 3 3

[wombat]

1 hour ago, D84 said:

If it has a price sticker, they are legally required to sell at that price.

Interesting. I would assume this is a state by state law. I've certainly never seen it in practice in a comic shop. And I can think of one business that would cease to be if this was the case. There is a huge vintage/older toy store by me where 75% of the items have whatever the original sticker was and you have to ask them for a current price. 

[wombat]

14 minutes ago, Shrevvy said:

No one should think offering $550 on a $600 book is lowballing. I routinely get offers on items at half or less of asking prices through eBay.  

This debate has certainly taken place before on the boards. Seller lists a book that is going for $50 for $150 with a best offer. Some would consider offering $50 a lowball offer simply based on amount off the original asking price without considering what the book actually goes for. 

[Timeless icons]

14 hours ago, kav said:

Could also mean the book is heating up so they want the old price.

This.

or the GPA is so outdated that paying GPA would be a steal. Good example is Hulk 1 cgc 7.5 (42,000) last gpa  6.5 gpa is 55,200.00 and 7.0 is 51,000.00 and even that 7.0 sale has been destroyed on clink at 62K I believe. Yeah, I'd pay GPA for a 7.5 too! 

[serling1978]

2 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

I wouldn't say that. It's an odd statement - to me - to say, "I'll pay GPA/FMV!" Well, no sheesh, if you don't then someone else will.

Oh yeah, if it's worded that way. I was referring to the gap between GPA and FMV recently .   GPA could show a lot less than what's considered FMV (at least in March through May) but as the explosion in prices seems to be leveling out, GPA and FMV may become closer again. 

[jsilverjanet]

4 hours ago, blazingbob said:

The other thing to consider when you are selling a book is do you want a museum piece or a sale.

I tell people all the time, I'm here to sell not run a museum.

granted my stuff is not a museum anyone would want to go to

 

[jsilverjanet]

If someone refers to GPA then I would think they understand somewhat the relative value of the book in the current market. Usually it's a harder to find book (at least the times I've bothered to review the request) therefore GPA seems a good starting point for the transaction.

if they are using GPA to manipulate the price based on lack of sales, well you can usually tell that right away based on the book, frequency of sales etc what their intent is and what the outcome is going to be

 

 

[Sweet Lou 14]

In the spirit of adding something to the discussion and running the risk of being called a genius or a fool or both, here's a specific example of an impulse buy I made this morning.

I've been trying to upgrade my Bronze Age 9.4s to 9.6 WP, and one of the books on my list was Astonishing Tales #25.  Do I really care that much about Deathlok?  Do I really think he's worth speculating on?  If I'm going to be honest, no on both.  But hey, I'm a completist so that 9.4 needed to be upgraded ... eventually.  Not a high priority for me but once the idea is in my head, it's inevitably going to happen.

So, about a month ago I watched a 9.6 WP copy sell on Heritage for a whopping $2,160, waaaaay out of band with GPA.  Taking a glance at the GPA history for 2021 alone, there's an upward trend from $550 in January to $900 in April, which sounds about right for this crazy market.  But $2,160?  That's nuts.

Anyway, a very nice-looking 9.6 WP popped up on eBay this morning, listed at $984.  Still outside the band if I ignore that one outlier.  But can I really ignore that outlier completely?  I have no idea if this seller was aware of it and decided to ignore it himself.  But I do know that a sale like that tends to become the "new market" for both buyers (in terms of auction results) and sellers (in terms of asking prices).

So, I bought the book at $984.  Still may be an overpay.  But I got to check a book off my list and not worry about having to pay twice that much.

What would you have done in my place?  All opinions welcome, please be kind.  

[blazingbob]

2 minutes ago, Sweet Lou 14 said:

In the spirit of adding something to the discussion and running the risk of being called a genius or a fool or both, here's a specific example of an impulse buy I made this morning.

I've been trying to upgrade my Bronze Age 9.4s to 9.6 WP, and one of the books on my list was Astonishing Tales #25.  Do I really care that much about Deathlok?  Do I really think he's worth speculating on?  If I'm going to be honest, no on both.  But hey, I'm a completist so that 9.4 needed to be upgraded ... eventually.  Not a high priority for me but once the idea is in my head, it's inevitably going to happen.

So, about a month ago I watched a 9.6 WP copy sell on Heritage for a whopping $2,160, waaaaay out of band with GPA.  Taking a glance at the GPA history for 2021 alone, there's an upward trend from $550 in January to $900 in April, which sounds about right for this crazy market.  But $2,160?  That's nuts.

Anyway, a very nice-looking 9.6 WP popped up on eBay this morning, listed at $984.  Still outside the band if I ignore that one outlier.  But can I really ignore that outlier completely?  I have no idea if this seller was aware of it and decided to ignore it himself.  But I do know that a sale like that tends to become the "new market" for both buyers (in terms of auction results) and sellers (in terms of asking prices).

So, I bought the book at $984.  Still may be an overpay.  But I got to check a book off my list and not worry about having to pay twice that much.

What would you have done in my place?  All opinions welcome, please be kind.  

Robocop #1 9.6 would have been cheaper.  Six Million Dollar Man #1 9.6 would have been cheaper.

Afterall isn't Deathlok just another cyborg.

[Sweet Lou 14]

28 minutes ago, blazingbob said:

Robocop #1 9.6 would have been cheaper.  Six Million Dollar Man #1 9.6 would have been cheaper.

Afterall isn't Deathlok just another cyborg.

Very true.  Still time for me to go chase those down!

[Sweet Lou 14]

6 hours ago, serling1978 said:

To me it means that GPA/FMV is confusing AF in today's market. Used to be sellers were specifically looking for buyers willing to pay GPA. Now it seems like a buyer willing to pay GPA is seen as some kind of trickster? 

I think this is a difficult time for both buyers and sellers.  Hard to know for example if last sale or an IG sale is now the FMV or just a case of crazy market FOMO resulting in overpaying. Buyers don't want to pay based on an unsubstantiated high sale and sellers don't want to use potentially outdated GPA data for the average. 

I agree with this, especially the bold part.  Particularly here on the boards, "I'm willing to pay GPA" used to be a very attractive message to sellers.

[kav]

3 hours ago, D84 said:

If it has a price sticker, they are legally required to sell at that price.

Could you theoretically slap down your money and take the book and if they called the cops nothing would happen to you?
Asking for a fiend.

[blazingbob]

Too many sellers feel like leaving meat on the bones translates to Quail bones these days.

[blazingbob]

Just now, kav said:

Could you theoretically slap down your money and take the book and if they called the cops nothing would happen to you?
Asking for a fiend.

What fiend are you asking for?  

[kav]

1 minute ago, blazingbob said:

What fiend are you asking for?  

@oakman29

[greggy]

7 minutes ago, kav said:

@oakman29

That's what she said. 

[kav]

Just now, greggy said:

That's what she said. 

Oakman's wife?

[Jesse-Lee]

17 minutes ago, kav said:

Could you theoretically slap down your money and take the book and if they called the cops nothing would happen to you?
Asking for a fiend.

It's funny you say that - I found an outstanding first print of Rage by Richard Bachman (Stephen King's pen name) at a Half Price Books years ago, marked $1 and sitting on the spinner rack. That was my exact plan; I put a $5 bill in my hand, and if they tried to tell me no sale, my (possibly poorly thought-out) plan was to toss the $5 on the counter and run out the door. My logic was that it wouldn't be shoplifting if I paid 5 times asking. I just really, really wanted that book.

Anyway, I got it for the $1 price.

Edited June 4, 2021 by Jesse-Lee

[serling1978]

5 minutes ago, Jesse-Lee said:

It's funny you say that - I found an outstanding first print of Rage by Richard Bachman (Stephen King's pen name) at a Half Price Books years ago, marked $1 and sitting on the spinner rack. That was my exact plan; I put a $5 bill in my hand, and if they tried to tell me no sale, my (possibly poorly thought-out) plan was to toss the $5 on the counter and run out the door. My logic was that it wouldn't be shoplifting if I paid 5 times asking. I just really, really wanted that book.

Anyway, I got it for the $1 price.

Good plan. How much is said book worth these days? 

[Jesse-Lee]

2 minutes ago, serling1978 said:

Good plan. How much is said book worth these days? 

Last few eBay sales of copies in a similar condition to mine have been between $1,650 and $2,000. I don't think I'd ever sell mine though, or at least not for a long time.

[serling1978]

Just now, Jesse-Lee said:

Last few eBay sales of copies in a similar condition to mine have been between $1,650 and $2,000. I don't think I'd ever sell mine though, or at least not for a long time.

Nice score. I don't know enough about books to have any clue about what anything is worth but I imagine there must be a lot of flippable books at Hpb and yard sales, etc.