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Book collecting seems harder today then it was last year
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57 posts in this topic

I've found that the general rise in prices has scared some rare, but low-demand items out of hiding. So it might be a good time to look for books that are interesting and elusive, but... aren't what other people are looking for, shall we say? If you're trying to assemble runs of major titles, or -- even worse -- pick up conventionally desirable key issues, this is sure an expensive time to collect, if nothing else.

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On 12/21/2021 at 11:30 AM, Old Fashion PB and J said:

 I essentially have been priced out of collecting. No more pre code, no more GA Tecs..

I hear ya.  I have as well.  I got back into collecting in 2011 and only recently (last few years) have started to go after minor keys and interesting books from the golden age.  I've been able to grab some on my want list but in looking back, I went about this all wrong.  With reintroducing myself in 2011, I started on bronze and some silver, only moving into GA later on.  If I could have a do over, I'd have grabbed GA and silver keys back then, and saved everything else for now.  Honestly, it took me a long time to truly appreciate GA, and now that I have, I've been mostly priced out.  My bad.

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On 12/21/2021 at 2:02 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

It is much harder to collect comic books today, I think, yes. But it's not just down to price increases.

Comics are in my DNA, and I can't imagine a life in which they do not play a significant part. I am a collector, because I love the damn things, but I am also a researcher, because I love the damn things. I find myself in trouble in both camps, currently. The books I would love to collect - mostly Marvel - are mostly out of reach financially now. What a drag. So what about the other stuff? Overall, there are two sorts of book out there. The ones the majority love and want, and the ones the majority don't. So, priced out of the books that the majority want, I now concentrate on the ones that the majority don't. They tend to be cheaper, if a little harder to find (because hardly anyone cares about them). Up until recently, there were fairly good pickings to be had online, at fairs and even in the few, ever dwindling UK shops that stock back issues that don't have the words Marvel or DC on them. But, and foolishly some might say, I have researched and posted all about them here. In doing so, I have picked up competition from the tiny minority of like minded collectors who now outbid me on the books that I would almost always have been the only bidder on.

So I've shot myself in the foot, so to speak, by alerting that tiny minority with a love of the the off grid books to the presence of the variants that exist for them. Silly me. I now have US sellers snagging Charlton 15c variants for a few dollars, then offering them to me for $200. I have stiff competition now for Miller indicia Marvels. And I got outbid on a King pence Popeye when I bid £70. Pre-research value - a couple of quid. Ditto Archie, ditto Gold Key.

Currently, I am researching and collecting around five separate groups of books which no one knows exist yet, because I haven't told them. I don't mean that to sound big headed, but it's the truth. Ordinarily, I would start a thread here heralding their existence and outlining what I have found to exist. I love doing that. The downside if I do though, is a few off worlders then get enthused about them and then start outbidding me as I try to collect them. So I keep quiet, but the researcher in me is longing to bring them to wider attention.

So what is better? Keep shtum, and carry on quietly collecting, gathering. Or, publish, enjoy the interaction that follows, but accept that someone may want to start to try collecting them too. A conundrum, for sure. Thing is, if you don't post about new finds here anymore, then what's the point of being here at all? 

Right on target, as usual. Keep up the good fight, but mum's the word on what we're actually fighting for...  :shiftyeyes:

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On 12/21/2021 at 1:41 PM, MattTheDuck said:

Exactly.  What would a couple of guys who have become multi-millionaires using precisely that strategy know about it?

The way I interpret "the time to buy it is when you see it" is to search for books in nice shape that are reasonably priced and pretty tough to find. I don't actually find many like that anymore, but when I do I don't pass them up without making a serious effort to acquire them...  :foryou:

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On 12/21/2021 at 9:26 AM, Rip said:

It's depressing at times when books you really wanted are out of your price range and impossible to find. Or when books you sold are tough to get again due to the massive price jump.

Sometimes I just have to change my collecting focus. And while its much harder to find deals, they DO still come around, and its all the sweeter when they do.

I've spent a lot more money this year than last, but also had to spend a lot more time searching. The hobby has certainly got more aggressive..

Indeed. I have actively collected longer than most you guys have been alive. :roflmao:

I learned very early on the best place to find old comics cheap were garage sales, estate sales, flea markets, and antique shops. I made more great scores than I can remember often with very little competition.

Slowly, these venues started to dry up. Probably because most of these GA/SA books have been dug out and in the hands of collectors.

But in the past two years, competition has become fierce. Seems like every young flipper with a cell phone is on every pile of swill that I run into. Luckily, many don’t know about the early stuff, pulps, old girly mags with airbrushed covers and the like. I had a young guy push over a box of old crime and horror pulps to me at a flea market. Priced at $20. each. I couldn’t get my money out fast enough. Kept some I liked and put the rest on the bay. Made an insane profit which I can now roll into better comics.

So yeah, change your focus a bit! 

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On 12/21/2021 at 9:56 AM, Bluemedgroup said:

Finding good prices seems harder today then it was last year.  Do you feel the same way?  Here is my theory: I think Covid brought in a ton of new collectors / speculators who stay at home and are more tech savvy.  They monitor deals with multiple alerts and as soon as they see a good deal, it's snatched up.  I read a similar story last week about an Bored Ape NFT that got listed for sale at $3k instead of $300k due to "fat fingers".  It immediately got purchased by a "bot" programmed to find deals.  I wouldn't be surprised if there are people out there with bots looking for comic book pricing mistakes as well on eBay or whatever.  

I don't know about comparing now to 1 year ago since it feels the same to me.  But if you compared today to 10 years ago I would 100% agree that finding deals (especially killer deals) is 10x more difficult compared to 2011.  There are many, many more people looking at garage sales, scoping out e-bay books or just out hunting for deals that they can flip.  The huge delays at CGC have not been caused by collectors filling in holes in their collection - it's all the newbies grading every high grade book the can find.  The number of hot books popping out of the $1 bins seems to be slowing down and with the 4 month turn around time at CGC we may see some of the new guys going back to other means of making some money.

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On 12/21/2021 at 1:02 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

So what is better? Keep shtum, and carry on quietly collecting, gathering. Or, publish, enjoy the interaction that follows, but accept that someone may want to start to try collecting them too. A conundrum, for sure. Thing is, if you don't post about new finds here anymore, then what's the point of being here at all? 

Well, I have asked board members to comment on a book that I am thinking about purchasing. I don't mention where I plan to buy it, as I don't want another board member to swoop in and buy it before I do.

I think what might work best for you is to wait to post your issues when you purchased most of the issues that you wanted. We can enjoy you sharing your interests, but you won't have to worry too much about price increases, as you will have most of the books in hand. 2c

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On 12/21/2021 at 9:28 AM, comicjack said:

I feel sorry for the average collector looking to complete runs in this market. The search for good deals have just dried up as greed has taken over.I hate bidding on auctions now because you feel someone is always is pushing your bid up.I have switched to other genres that doesn't cause nose bleeding or empty pockets :cry:

The market is changing and evolving. When I started my Avengers run, there were less than 125 issues including Annuals and Specials. Outside of a very few, nice copies of every issue were $10 or less. I paid $150 for my first #1.  If you start today, there must be a thousand books with many costing hundreds of dollars. 

I think the days of the run collector have passed. 

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I understand the frustration when some say “I’ve been priced out of the market”. Not being able to buy the books you like anymore sucks.  It does.  But damn if I wasn’t priced out on books I wanted 12 years ago when I started collecting heavy again.  Believe me, I’d love to be able to go back in time to 2010 when I was buying Marvel Mystery issues in the teens in VG for 500 a pop.  It’s over.  It is what it is.  Yeah, rant time.  I’m sick of hearing about it.  Everyone is getting priced out on something at some point.  It’s sucks.  It really does.  There are books I’ll never have now because they’re now selling for more than I can afford.  Nothing I can do.  You either shift your focus and find something else you might enjoy, like another genre.  Or, pack up and be done.  Move on.

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On 12/21/2021 at 2:41 PM, Robot Man said:

Indeed. I have actively collected longer than most you guys have been alive. :roflmao:

I learned very early on the best place to find old comics cheap were garage sales, estate sales, flea markets, and antique shops. I made more great scores than I can remember often with very little competition.

Slowly, these venues started to dry up. Probably because most of these GA/SA books have been dug out and in the hands of collectors.

But in the past two years, competition has become fierce. Seems like every young flipper with a cell phone is on every pile of swill that I run into. Luckily, many don’t know about the early stuff, pulps, old girly mags with airbrushed covers and the like. I had a young guy push over a box of old crime and horror pulps to me at a flea market. Priced at $20. each. I couldn’t get my money out fast enough. Kept some I liked and put the rest on the bay. Made an insane profit which I can now roll into better comics.

So yeah, change your focus a bit! 

I concur.  Competition is way more fierce today.  Recently I went to a garage sale that had comic books advertised.  0800 I’m in line waiting with about 6 other guys waiting for the long boxes to be brought out.  Funny thing is I didn’t even realize one of those people knew me as I was too busy trying to go thru the books.  To make matters worse, it was all drek Lol.  

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On 12/21/2021 at 7:56 PM, Bluemedgroup said:

Finding good prices seems harder today then it was last year.  Do you feel the same way?  Here is my theory: I think Covid brought in a ton of new collectors / speculators who stay at home and are more tech savvy.  They monitor deals with multiple alerts and as soon as they see a good deal, it's snatched up.  I read a similar story last week about an Bored Ape NFT that got listed for sale at $3k instead of $300k due to "fat fingers".  It immediately got purchased by a "bot" programmed to find deals.  I wouldn't be surprised if there are people out there with bots looking for comic book pricing mistakes as well on eBay or whatever.  

I was literally thinking this a few days back

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On 12/21/2021 at 10:41 AM, lizards2 said:

It is amazing. I was trying to put together runs of carppy Marvel horror stuff like Dracula and Werewolf. I socked quite a few of those away, but recently, prices have just gone apechit. I get blown out of the water on every book on eBay. Last week, I did accidentally "win" a Dracula 63 in VF/NM when I mis-keyed a bid in the $5k range - luckily, I only had to pay $51 total (plus shipping) for that mistake. :p

Darn!  9_9

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On 12/21/2021 at 3:35 PM, Bluemedgroup said:

I concur.  Competition is way more fierce today.  Recently I went to a garage sale that had comic books advertised.  0800 I’m in line waiting with about 6 other guys waiting for the long boxes to be brought out.  Funny thing is I didn’t even realize one of those people knew me as I was too busy trying to go thru the books.  To make matters worse, it was all drek Lol.  

I still do a couple flea markets a month. I always hope for that lucky find (I know if I don’t go, it sure won’t happen), but I don’t expect it.

But, I collect and deal in a whole lot of other stuff like old toys, advertising, vintage photos, music and sports items. I almost always find other cool items. If I come home empty handed (and have) it Is truly a bad day.

I can always sell off the other stuff I don’t want at a profit and put the proceeds toward maybe overpaying for a nice comic once in a while. 

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