Thrill of the Hunt or Click Here Collector? How have your buying habits and methods changed over the years. 3 3

[DR.X]

On 8/16/2023 at 12:19 AM, lizards2 said:

I haven't lived in an area with a LCS or Convention within 200 miles since 1990.

I thought there was a shop in Butte Montana?

[lizards2]

On 8/17/2023 at 11:38 AM, DR.X said:

On 8/15/2023 at 10:19 PM, lizards2 said:

I haven't lived in an area with a LCS or Convention within 200 miles since 1990.

I thought there was a shop in Butte Montana?

The only time I've been to Butte was for Western Regionals for kids freestyle and greco wrestling in maybe 1996? Yet another town we got to visit the emergency room. 

Ahhh.., the Berkeley Pit..., 

I live in a little town out in the big nothing, where California, Nevada and Oregon all come together.

[Dr. Balls]

I was your classic box-diver when I was a kid in the late 80's looking for back issues. My allowance wouldn't let me buy things like silver age books, so I seldom paid attention to anything on the wall. But, I had fun finding cheap back issues - I lived in Denver at that time, so I had plenty of comic shops to visit.

When I had my shop in 95/96, I was in the middle of Montana - and really cool back issues where hard to come by. Modern back issues were easy to buy through mail order, but if you wanted a Hulk 181 - you'd have to just wait for one to stroll through the door.

Then, I discovered bulletin boards. Every comic myself or a customer had on their want list was available. The other comic shops didn't even know what the "internet" was, so I really cleaned up in the back issue department. I spent months filling want lists and completing my run of Uncanny X-Men - it was great. I'm pretty sure the profits I made from marking up books that could never be found where I live paid for the majority of my X-men back issues.

As the years went by, I could definitely tell that the internet ruined the whole 'find it in the wild' mentality. For starters, I am back in Montana, and because of places like Ebay - the LCS here is lucky to get anything older than 30 years that isn't an Archie comic. So there's practically no reason to box dive anymore - which is sad, that was a great experience. I've not found a single book in my collection locally, which is bittersweet. I love my collection that i've built from auctions and the boards, but I am also sad that I've never stumbled across a must-have GA book in-person.

[universal soldier]

I think I've scoured all the local places to death over the past 25+ years. New stuff still seems to come in, just not with the same frequency. With the internet, my reach has certainly broadened and at the same time, my collecting focus has narrowed. The thrill of the hunt is the same, just different venues and ways to get books. I still enjoy diving through boxes, looking for diamonds though.

[Gonzimodo]

My LCS recently started doing "special events" about once a month where they'll open up a back room full of stuff they've recently bought from collections or pulled out of storage.  Comics are $2 each and are mostly from the 90s and 00s, but there is a fair amount of 70s and 80s sprinkled in there, too.  I spent a couple hours digging and came out with a short box full of random run fillers and things that caught my eye.  I didn't find any real gems, but it was nice to take some stuff off my want list without paying through the nose for it.

It was a fun little throwback to the good old days for me, but it also confirmed that it's not something I have the time or patience to do on a regular basis anymore.

[marvelmaniac]

1965 - 1969 - Local pharmacy, supermarket, 7-11

1979-1981 - Local magazine dealer, mail order (which took 5 weeks from a place I could have driven to in < 2 hours)

1981 - A landmark year, I found my 1st LCS (how?)

1981 - 2002 - LCS's, shows, cons (The thrill, I mean anxiety, of the hunt)

2003 - I was introduced to eBay.

2003 - 2010 - eBay, shows/cons, LCS

2010 was the last year for purchasing anything new for the collection, the LCS's did not have any of the books I was looking for, con's (Wizard World Philly) became more about "Pop Culture" than comic books and the prices for the books I was looking for (early JIM/ST issues in the 1-40 range) became too expensive for me.

2019 - 2023 - Bought a few issues to frame and display, nothing of high $ value, just liked the covers.

[Cocomonkey]

I was first introduced to comics shortly after I turned 5, with a copy of Marvel Masterworks #1 (AF15 and ASM 1-10). From then (1989) through probably around early HS (call it '99), I was buying from my LCS. Then I stopped buying for a few years, just picking up some random "speculation" books while in college ("Say, that Ultimate Spider-Man #1 is doing well...let me get 4 copies of Ultimate Fantastic Four #1, I'm sure it'll be valuable too!" ). Then I stopped for a bit again, largely due to lack of money while in law school, but also lack of space in my apartment in NY. Some regretted missed chances during that time (while working an internship down in the financial district area around 2007, I was out for lunch one day and saw someone with a table selling comics, including a nice looking NM98 for like $25...ah well). Finally started to attend NYCC starting in 2010, and decided first to finish my What If? v1 run, and then to take on the much larger and more personal goal of completing a full run of Uncanny X-Men v1 (down to my last 46 issues needed!).

I still go to my LCS here in NY every so often, but I don't really buy off-the-shelf books these days (which, yeah, has caused me to miss out on flippable keys like Ultimate Fallout and Edge of Spiderverse, but whatever). I'll occasionally also take a day and do a circuit of some stores in a wider area around me, checking out what they have in their inventory...but for the most part, I've been buying from cons, some LCSes, some antique/flea/etc. stores, and very, very occasionally an auction. Just easier to find what I need there, and since I'm not getting giant keys at those events (because they're usually overpriced on the wall), I could easily pick up filler or rarities from the $1-5 boxes, and some older missing books for <$50 a pop.

I try to avoid eBay (and for the same reason, the market on these forums) because I love the thrill of the hunt. I hit auctions to get my copies of X-Men 1 (4.0) and GSXM 1 (8.0) because I can get closer to the going GPA rate from the auction than a con, even though I see them often enough at conventions. But like...UXM 73? I'm not terribly worried about finding that, and it isn't likely something I'll face sticker shock on when I do find it on my own...so I'd much rather find it on my own than click a button and buy it off eBay. I know I'll be much happier buying it and crossing it off my list if I found it physically flipping through a longbox than if I found it flipping through listing pages.

[Happy Noodle Boy]

I'm definitely a "click here" collector. I'm in Boston without a car and the back issue selection at local LCS's is mostly pitiful. Also I find hunting through back issue boxes exhausting anyway; I'm 55, and going through long boxes of comics generally involves standing slightly bent over for a long period of time, and it's just uncomfortable for me. I also don't like crowds, so I tend to avoid conventions. Finally, looking through every page of every raw book I want to buy is a chore. I prefer buying from ebay, various auction houses, and certain online dealers I trust, like Dale Roberts and MyComcShop. 

[MattTheDuck]

As I've noted several times here, I collected as a kid at the grocery store just down the road from where I grew up for a while until I discovered there was such a thing as a store that sold "back issues."  Then things really took off.  I never had access to the books I really wanted - essentially the first 30 issues of the big Marvel Silver Age titles, but managed decent runs with a few holes.  I stopped buying books for college, came back to the hobby briefly in the early 90s, then out again until a couple of years ago.

About a different matter, a friend of mine says, "Even Mickey Mouse can write a check," and I kind of look at internet collecting the same way.  I can buy books I want (well, not all of them - $$) but that's not that "cool" and I will never match the people with really deep pockets.  In addition, as with others here, I really enjoy the thrill of the hunt.  I'm having quite a bit less success than many here but picking up a few nice ASM's or Mark Jewelers insert books at an Estate Sale is a pretty cool feeling.  It's also a challenge I like - right now I'm trying to figure out how to shake loose some cool stuff in unusual venues or in non-traditional ways.  For me, it's a hobby, not a business, so the "fun" is what counts.

[valiantman]

I like to hunt through ebay listings to find something where the seller doesn't know what they have.

It's the thrill of the hunt that ends with a click.

[Artboy99]

I started buying comics when I was 5, and began buying comics with my own money earned from a paper route at age 8. Back then it was the book you found and held in your hand.

I quit collecting in 1990, but returned in 2004 and at that time you could find books on the internet. I prefer to buy the book in hand, but as I gravitated to the books that are not as easily found sometimes you have to buy online.

I am definitely a "thrill of the hunt" type.

[jjonahjameson11]

Thrill of the hunt was fun for a while...until it wasn't.  Switched over to collecting OA nearly twenty years ago perhaps because it was the one-of-a-kind thrill that you could get moreso with OA than comics?

However, as the price of OA has become prohibitive, I find myself switching back to collecting comics, and this time I just text or call some well known dealers and ask them if they have anything from my want list.

[Robot Man]

On 8/22/2023 at 11:05 AM, valiantman said:

I like to hunt through ebay listings to find something where the seller doesn't know what they have.

It's the thrill of the hunt that ends with a click.

The problem is the seller might not know but many savy buyers do. You just hope there aren’t many of those looking…

[valiantman]

On 8/23/2023 at 9:21 AM, Robot Man said:

On 8/22/2023 at 1:05 PM, valiantman said:

I like to hunt through ebay listings to find something where the seller doesn't know what they have.

It's the thrill of the hunt that ends with a click.

The problem is the seller might not know but many savy buyers do. You just hope there aren’t many of those looking…

True, but that adds to the thrill.  All without traveling anywhere, getting a hotel, paying admission, or standing in line outside the doors. 

Edited August 23, 2023 by valiantman