UPC more or less valuable? 0

[acmeman]

I’m new to the CGC so this may be addressed somewhere else. For non variant cover books are comics with UPC codes generally more or less valuable than books without the UPC e.g. Spider-Man in the rectangle? I have notIced that it is pointed out on some eBay listings as the “newsstand” version. If the UPC is generally more valuable, why? Thanks for any input.

[shadroch]

There is no simple answer.

It depends on the book itself and when it was published.  In the early days of the direct market, non-news stand books were rare. Over the year the equation change so by the late 90s, the news stand books were the rarer version. Some Copper Age indy books were sold on news stands in limited locations so they can be rare. Except some seem to be overprinted so not so much. 

It's a complicated affair that a lot of collectors don't care about. 

[batmiesta]

On 8/11/2021 at 3:51 AM, shadroch said:

It's a complicated affair that a lot of collectors don't care about. 

I fall into this category, the fact that anyone would pay $$$ more for a new stand book baffles me. 

[shadroch]

It's why Baskin Robin has many flavors of ice cream.

I like double covers, others like price variants, some like Canadian versions with no ads and a few even go for pence copies. 

[Pantodude]

On 8/10/2021 at 11:43 PM, batmiesta said:

I fall into this category, the fact that anyone would pay $$$ more for a new stand book baffles me. 

Then you must never have been a stamp collector!    Or a coin collector.  Or  a currency collector.   Or...you get my drift.  .

Edited August 12, 2021 by Pantodude

[Pantodude]

On 8/5/2021 at 4:53 PM, acmeman said:

I’m new to the CGC so this may be addressed somewhere else. For non variant cover books are comics with UPC codes generally more or less valuable than books without the UPC e.g. Spider-Man in the rectangle? I have notIced that it is pointed out on some eBay listings as the “newsstand” version. If the UPC is generally more valuable, why? Thanks for any input.

There's a Youtube video for that!  Search for newsstand vs direct editions, presumably.  There were also discussions on this forum, but unfortunately the ones I recall took place within other-themed threads, so those discusssions might not be easy to find.  

Edited August 12, 2021 by Pantodude

[alwaysbronze]

i like newsstands. depending on the book i may be willing to pay a bit more, but not much more.

[jimjum12]

On 8/5/2021 at 4:53 PM, acmeman said:

I’m new to the CGC so this may be addressed somewhere else. For non variant cover books are comics with UPC codes generally more or less valuable than books without the UPC e.g. Spider-Man in the rectangle? I have notIced that it is pointed out on some eBay listings as the “newsstand” version. If the UPC is generally more valuable, why? Thanks for any input.

I'm not sure when the two versions began, but it's more of a Copper Age phenomenon, as the lion's share of Bronze Age was not distributed in a direct market, because the direct market didn't even exist yet in many areas. As was mentioned, by the late 90's the "newstand market" was on it's way out and those can be scarce. During the 80's and early 90's the newstand market was still fairly functional, but most issues were displayed on spinners and were typically not found in grades of 9.4 and higher. Premiums, naturally, can sometimes occur with those that survived in grade. The market seems to indicate price increases for newstand in some cases, but exercise restraint if you find yourself compelled to "bet the farm". GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

... if you want multiple copies of emerging Keys ANYWAY, getting a variety of newstand and direct may be the smart approach to hedging your bets. 

 

One thing I've noticed since I've been aware of this market niche, at least around here, is that I find less newstand copies when I encounter, say, a half dozen or more of the same issue in a box. We are in a mid sized urban area, where a lot of driving occurs, so our high ratio of Direct sales outlets may be the most popular (and feasible ... ) solution. In a large urban area this may be different, the higher retail rents may discourage a thriving niche market for low cost specialty items. 

Edited August 12, 2021 by jimjum12

[batmiesta]

On 8/12/2021 at 2:57 AM, Pantodude said:

Then you must never have been a stamp collector!    Or a coin collector.  Or  a currency collector.   Or...you get my drift.  .

As long as I have the book ( that I actually want, not a one that someone else is trying to influence me to get) in really nice shape, I couldn't give a  what is in the box.

[PeterPark]

For bronze, direct is rare and preferred. For instance, I'll always buy a spidey super stories if it is direct because those are so tough. When it comes to amazing spider-man, I want everything so I look for both. When it comes to other titles, I'll usually go newsstand if it's a nice copy or direct if it's still early direct market era. Copper age books are mixed and newsstand doesn't matter as much as the market thinks. It has the benefit of decades of abuse; I know my grocery store would manhandle them before you got it off the conveyor belt so that was always rough as a boy. For moderns, newsstands trend to much harder-to-find and are far preferred, for rarity. They don't look better. With modern newsstands there are more irregularities, like price variants or printing the wrong title name (this happened a lot on Spider-Man titles). Those are interesting curiosities but all newsstands had the same error except in rare circumstances. It can be a deep rabbit hole but part of the fun for me is the hunt, so I'm ok with it.

[Hulksdaddy1]

I only collect books that are upside down. VERY rare.

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by Hulksdaddy1

[batmiesta]

Can't be many of those bad boys around.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/15/2021 at 10:30 AM, batmiesta said:

Can't be many of those bad boys around.

[batmiesta]

So! They are as common as muck. 

[MattTheDuck]

On 8/15/2021 at 4:00 AM, batmiesta said:

So! They are as common as muck. 

Basically valueless in these examples, but I'm willing to give $10 each for them.

Edited August 15, 2021 by MattTheDuck

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/15/2021 at 4:32 PM, MattTheDuck said:

Basically valueless in these examples, but I'm willing to give $10 each for them.

My one is $20 cos it's a newsstand newsstand 

[MattTheDuck]

On 8/15/2021 at 9:11 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

My one is $20 cos it's a newsstand newsstand 

I'll have to think about it.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/15/2021 at 5:11 PM, MattTheDuck said:

I'll have to think about it.

It's a Mark Jewelers too?

[jdandns]

A small wrinkle:

There are some issues where the cover artist drew something in the UPC box, and that art was printed as part of the direct edition cover.

On those same issues of the newsstand version, it's a bar code in the box. On these issues, most notably the McFarlane Amazing Spidey run, given a choice of one or the other, I'd much rather have the direct editions with the extra art, even though the bar code version are harder to find in high grade.

[MGsimba77]

On 8/5/2021 at 4:53 PM, acmeman said:

I’m new to the CGC so this may be addressed somewhere else. For non variant cover books are comics with UPC codes generally more or less valuable than books without the UPC e.g. Spider-Man in the rectangle? I have notIced that it is pointed out on some eBay listings as the “newsstand” version. If the UPC is generally more valuable, why? Thanks for any input.

The answer is yes and no. They are more valuable but only specific to the highest grades from a certain time period (post 1985) because of how they were sold and distributed. Example being something in high demand (Hulk 340, X-men 266, ASM 298, 299, 300 and so on) graded 9.8, 9.6.

Generally the more in demand a book is within this category the more value it commands. The tricky thing is the further away you get from newsstands in 9.8 the harder it is to gauge a fair markup.

Most of the time when people list a newsstand copy they'll make note of it but that doesn't mean it's always deserving of a markup. I've seen them being noted in places other than Ebay like Clink and comicconnect now as well. You're right to ask about it because it requires some knowledge to navigate the market out there if you're into collecting copper age. Sometimes with a few specific issues here and there it gets even tougher to have an understanding of whether a high grade UPC should even get a markup at all. Some ASMs like maybe #316/360 come to mind just to name a couple of them. Its very possible those specific issues could have been treated differently/more carefully by the average collector way back resulting in lower attrition rates. That may explain why you see more 9.8 NS copies of those I mentioned. Hope that helps!