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investing right now
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195 posts in this topic

On 3/31/2022 at 9:23 PM, Lord Gemini said:

If they are facts, prove them. All I see is someone who is projecting their own bias onto the marketplace.

:screwy:

Look harder. Much harder.

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On 3/31/2022 at 9:35 PM, Robot Man said:

There is a local store that won’t sell to me. He knows I know the market and he doesn’t. Scared to death he might leave a little on the table. Just stupid because I am one of only a couple of people that come into his store ready to spend decent money.   (shrug)

I feel like my local comic shops are the one place I go where everyone is delighted to see me walk in the store.  

 

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To respond to the OP - 

Between the two books you highlighted, I imagine the UF4 in 9.8 would do better long term than the MS5. I could be wrong and I don't generally recommend buying moderns, but I think the 9.8 grade will create relative scarcity and Miles is pretty big with the kids these days (and I've got two little guys that love him).

It reminds me of Spidey 300 when I was a kid.  All us kids wanted venom and all the older collectors told us, it would never be worth anything. 

MS5 will more than likely do just fine itself. And at the risk of sounding like I'm saying "buy what you like", I don't think either would be a bad choice...

 

As for comic book investment advice I'll pass along my thoughts.  Buy SA Spiderman keys.... They've been red hot, like everything else, so they may correct in the short term. But long term the popularity of Spiderman will countiue to make them as safe a bet as there is.  (I don't follow this advice.... I foolishly throw my money at books with very limited growth potential, but I enjoy them). 

The other thing I'll share is, I live a few hours south of a well known dealer who has been at this for many decades. Over the last few years I've driven up to buy books probably 6 times... On one of those occasions he said, the two books in this hobby that always have demand and get gobbled up the quickest are Hulk 181 and AF15.  Depending on how much money you are tossing around, the 181 seems like a pretty safe bet. 

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On 4/1/2022 at 8:44 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Good or bad investment?

212489D6-1DA8-4F1E-8615-F2951BF1513B.jpeg.6a7d8b25c92a3924ab53e34f9e63fa41.jpeg

It depends on what your investment horizon is. Will the return on that book out pace the stock market?

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On 4/1/2022 at 6:02 AM, FlyingDonut said:

It depends on what your investment horizon is. Will the return on that book out pace the stock market?

Yep. 

If one takes a 10-year horizon, that $30,000 book would need to be valued at $120,000 in 10 years to match the return that the S&P has had over the past 10 years (~14% annually*). 

*past performance does not guarantee future performance

 

 

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On 4/1/2022 at 10:09 AM, jcjames said:

Yep. 

If one takes a 10-year horizon, that $30,000 book would need to be valued at $120,000 in 10 years to match the return that the S&P has had over the past 10 years (~14% annually*). 

*past performance does not guarantee future performance

 

 

I'm more of a stock investor than a comic book investor, but in fairness, the next decade will in all likelihood see less S&P returns than the last decade.  That having been said, I'd still take S&P over that UF4.

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On 4/1/2022 at 7:12 AM, Poekaymon said:

I'm more of a stock investor than a comic book investor, but in fairness, the next decade will in all likelihood see less S&P returns than the last decade.  That having been said, I'd still take S&P over that UF4.

Oh that is very true. Not certain, but reversion to the mean is a powerful force. 

 

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On 3/31/2022 at 7:22 PM, Bird said:

I was surprised, I was chill after the first few things he said were pretty aggressive, even his partner behind the counter made a face at him a few times. I said I was in a bad mood and wanted to buy some comics, and I had no interest in haggling like normal. He said he only give deals to customers, not people he hasn't seen in two years (I had even been in previous day, but he wasn't there, so I came back to see him directly). I should have replied that I expect any deals due to the money I was willing to pay, not who I was. What I did say was I never expect to quick flip a wall book, I buy them to hold a few years and then sell. But I was being asked to justify too much so won't go back. Two minutes in the car and I considered turning around to return the $400 in books but figured it wasn't worth the hassle, just move on. I was interested in many more books on his wall but he killed my enthusiasm quickly.

I don't get it. I always thought we had a symbiotic relationship and know for a long time he doesn't want to negotiate much, but he don't want my money and made that clear. I never made a killing on anything he sold me, and still have the GA stuff I got from him 5-8 years ago. (oh, he doesn't put a grade on the books or note defects on label, even cut outs, and doesn't refund if a book comes back CT, said it would not be his problem so not sure what I am missing there. cool books I guess.)

 

That's funny because, in NY, my best connection in a comic store sold to me because I wasn't a regular customer.  We would meet at night when the store was empty and he'd let me have a few things he had not had much luck moving, but that he didn't want to discount to his regulars. His thoughts were to sell to me at a a bit over cost, but then make it seem like the item had sold at retail. This way the customers didn't try waiting for an item to get discounted.

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On 4/1/2022 at 7:38 AM, shadroch said:

That's funny because, in NY, my best connection in a comic store sold to me because I wasn't a regular customer.  We would meet at night when the store was empty and he'd let me have a few things he had not had much luck moving, but that he didn't want to discount to his regulars. His thoughts were to sell to me at a a bit over cost, but then make it seem like the item had sold at retail. This way the customers didn't try waiting for an item to get discounted.

I had a great relationship with an awesome LCS owner as well, he would let me go through new collections he'd bought before they were ever put out on the floor. And gave me pretty good deals on books, especially older stuff (SA & BA) that he didn't seem interested in selling much. He had a feebay store but was always sure to let of few of us, his most regular customers, pick through boxes before making them available for the general customers. I'd spend maybe a couple hundred $/week (sometimes more) every week for a couple years there. He was great.

Then... I loaned him some money he needed quickly and he promised to pay me back in two weeks. A year and a half later the debt was finally settled. I was patient for many months, and he would give me payment back in comics, but I think that kinda soured our relationship, it seemed to me he wanted to pay me back slowly in comicbooks, which over half of the debt eventually was paid back in comicbooks which I was sort of okay with, except for they were priced way high now, nothing like the deals he used to give. But paying me back in comicbooks  wasn't the deal we had to pay back a 10-day loan, and I can't pay for my truck repairs with a weekly stack of back-issue BA comics. Then he got on social media and started selling like crazy there, and suddenly really seemed to jack prices on all back-issues. Sadly, I don't go to him much any more.  Still a nice guy, but I dunno, I guess the old adage goes, if you want to lose a friend, loan him money. 

 

 

Edited by jcjames
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On 3/31/2022 at 10:41 PM, KCOComics said:

I feel like my local comic shops are the one place I go where everyone is delighted to see me walk in the store.  

 

yes, this is the norm for me as well. But that other guy is out now.

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On 4/1/2022 at 10:38 AM, shadroch said:

That's funny because, in NY, my best connection in a comic store sold to me because I wasn't a regular customer.  We would meet at night when the store was empty and he'd let me have a few things he had not had much luck moving, but that he didn't want to discount to his regulars. His thoughts were to sell to me at a a bit over cost, but then make it seem like the item had sold at retail. This way the customers didn't try waiting for an item to get discounted.

it did occur to me that he had publicized this new box of SA about 2 weeks prior so the regulars had had a shot at them. I sent a boardie there even (he bought 3 books he said, told me prices were fair for grade so I went over a few days later) He had a ton of people asking about ASM14 and such so I figured after the feeding frenzy I would go by (I tend to want the less sought after at the time books anyway).

its all good though. Like it was said earlier, the type of dealer I can do without really. It was a lot of work to decipher how he got at his prices and I never found the cipher of consistency.

 

 

Edited by Bird
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On 3/31/2022 at 10:41 PM, KCOComics said:

I feel like my local comic shops are the one place I go where everyone is delighted to see me walk in the store.  

 

Same. I always try to maintain a good relationship because you never know....Most owners nearby are great except for one store which the owner is terrible and a cheat. Even then,  I have never really voiced my distaste because I've picked up a few gems in the past. I just don't visit  or give him my money as often.  

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On 4/2/2022 at 6:14 AM, Wolverinex said:

Same. I always try to maintain a good relationship because you never know....Most owners nearby are great except for one store which the owner is terrible and a cheat. Even then,  I have never really voiced my distaste because I've picked up a few gems in the past. I just don't visit  or give him my money as often.  

Yeah, I have two shops I go to frequently and a few others when I feel like taking a road trip. 

My local shop is closer to a flea market than comic shop, but the owner is a long time collector who is a wealth of knowledge on all things comics. I love going in and just chatting. He actually wrote and illustrated some comics in the 70s and tried to get Charlton to publish them, but they didn't go for it. 

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