Modern raw books are so unstable... 1 1

[BA773]

On 09/12/2023 at 23:29, bc said:

J'aime la façon dont vous avez inclus le message de LowGradeBronze dans votre langue 

Cela montre vraiment l’attrait international de ce hobby.

-avant JC

Look i can do same for you

The fact is that the page is automatically traducted by the browser so the mention stay in my message as i see hem if i miss to put again the page in english

[speedcake]

Don't auction low value, extremely common comics if you don't want to risk selling them for a fraction of what other similar examples sell for.  Just list as BIN and wait, and explore other forums for selling than just ebay.

[Brock]

On 12/10/2023 at 1:38 AM, BA773 said:

Look i can do same for you

The fact is that the page is automatically traducted by the browser so the mention stay in my message as i see hem if i miss to put again the page in english

Qu’est-ce que ca fait si je write in two languages en meme temps?

[BA773]

On 12/10/2023 at 7:46 PM, Brock said:

Qu’est-ce que ca fait si je write in two languages en meme temps?

"Write" and "two languages" was the only two terms traducted because its the only that you wrote in french. Make sense?

Edited December 10, 2023 by BA773

[stormflora]

On 12/10/2023 at 1:03 PM, speedcake said:

Don't auction low value, extremely common comics if you don't want to risk selling them for a fraction of what other similar examples sell for.  Just list as BIN and wait, and explore other forums for selling than just ebay.

IMO, with low value/unknown value comics that you don't care for, either slap on a $0 or $5 auction price and let it freely auto-renew each month. (The latter if you want to recoup some losses off of something you deliberately purchased.) Store it in some cold, dry room in your basement and pop in if any of them actually sell. There's bound to be someone who wants to collect a run and stumbles upon your listing. Or sell it as part of a larger lot.

The $5-10 that you lost on a comic will be earned back by you in less than an hour during your ordinary day job.

[shadroch]

I'm starting to read some modern stuff. MCS has weekly one-dollar sales which provide a nice entry point for trying new series.  I've thirty years of new stuff to catch up on, so the supply of cheap books is nearly endless.

Edited December 10, 2023 by shadroch

[godzilla43]

I would say comics as a investment are unstable. Yeah modern raw book can go from 100$ -> 10$ in bad auction/bad spec but a Silver age key can go from 10 000$ -> 5 000$. 
Best advice about comics is collect what you like. That what I have done buy stuff I want and being in mindset that yes I will loose money and for stuff I don't care I have bought from dollar bins.. 

Edited December 12, 2023 by godzilla43

[stormflora]

On 12/12/2023 at 2:31 AM, godzilla43 said:

I would say comics as a investment are unstable. Yeah modern raw book can go from 100$ -> 10$ in bad auction but a Silver age key can go from 10 000$ -> 5 000$. 
Best advice about comics is collect what you like. That what I have done buy stuff I want and being in mindset that yes I will loose money and for stuff I don't care I have bought from dollar bins.. 

Very true. From what I've seen, unless you're getting high-valued comics at a total steal (from someone who doesn't know how to price it/estate auction/yard sale/etc.), any sort of profit margin is likely to be offset by the time, effort, and fees/costs of acquiring the comic itself. You're better off just working overtime.

[ygogolak]

On 12/9/2023 at 6:22 PM, Dr. Balls said:

Dealer incentives? Check. Convention exclusives? Check. Pre-graded 9.9s? Check. Special acetate overlays? Check. Adding 'Newsstand' to CGC labels? Check. Influencers "Buying" multiple copies and hyping on social media? Check.

Hard to deny LGB's point.

Good thing only Modern's have jumped in price due to social media hype.

Love buying pre-code at these low prices.

[stormflora]

On 12/12/2023 at 12:35 PM, ygogolak said:

Good thing only Modern's have jumped in price due to social media hype.

Love buying pre-code at these low prices.

I like to compare these modern comic CGC 9.8 pump-and-dump schemes to how TCG corporations do business in this day and age. Artificial scarcity. Essentially, legally printing money.

Insiders of publishers or their direct retailers/wholesalers get first claim to their freshly minted books, which are guaranteed to be NM/M. Some factors then easily pump up their value, such as artwork or rarity. To avoid depreciation over time due to busted speculation, these first owners quickly flip them at high prices to whales willing to pay money for them.

The same issue has plagued TCGs forever (Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!). Rarity, strength or usefulness of card, etc. We've moved on from the days of collecting holo first edition Charizards to collecting cute anime girl holofoils that only appear in 1 of every 1,00 packs at $500+ a pop.

[ygogolak]

On 12/12/2023 at 12:56 PM, stormflora said:

I like to compare these modern comic CGC 9.8 pump-and-dump schemes to how TCG corporations do business in this day and age. Artificial scarcity. Essentially, legally printing money.

Insiders of publishers or their direct retailers/wholesalers get first claim to their freshly minted books, which are guaranteed to be NM/M. Some factors then easily pump up their value, such as artwork or rarity. To avoid depreciation over time due to busted speculation, these first owners quickly flip them at high prices to whales willing to pay money for them.

The same issue has plagued TCGs forever (Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!). Rarity, strength or usefulness of card, etc. We've moved on from the days of collecting holo first edition Charizards to collecting cute anime girl holofoils that only appear in 1 of every 1,00 packs at $500+ a pop.

It really depends what someone means by "Moderns". The way that I am reading these comments is ALL Moderns. There are these sub-levels, I will say, that pre-sell 9.8 base covers and base variants that usually are cheaper than buy-in 6 months later. Also, the endless ratio, store, and convention variants that never amount to any value but people scoop them up. But, there are plenty of Moderns that do have value.

Edited December 12, 2023 by ygogolak

[Chip Cataldo]

On 12/12/2023 at 12:56 PM, stormflora said:

I like to compare these modern comic CGC 9.8 pump-and-dump schemes to how TCG corporations do business in this day and age. Artificial scarcity. Essentially, legally printing money.

The same issue has plagued TCGs forever (Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!). Rarity, strength or usefulness of card, etc. We've moved on from the days of collecting holo first edition Charizards to collecting cute anime girl holofoils that only appear in 1 of every 1,00 packs at $500+ a pop.

How about sports cards with the patch/auto/blah 1-of-1 artificial numbered scarcity garbage? It's all about greed, pure and simple.

[kimik]

On 12/9/2023 at 9:18 AM, Robot Man said:

Bad logic for many reasons. First it is a gamble. Second is what do you do with the other 96? Most won’t even be worth what you paid for them. Third who wants to store them?

If you want to read and enjoy them then no money lost. You would be better off buying a nice already valuble $400. book and waiting it out for a return on your investment.

I long ago quit buying moderns period.

Speculating successfully on modern books can be done properly and very profitably. The key is to be selective and to sell enough to recover your investment and turn a small profit, or unload them all for a large profit. You will miss some odd hits being selective, but the ones you do will be wins. 

Storage is definitely an issue if you sit on too many copies, as my wife can attest.  

[stormflora]

On 12/12/2023 at 1:42 PM, Chip Cataldo said:

How about sports cards with the patch/auto/blah 1-of-1 artificial numbered scarcity garbage? It's all about greed, pure and simple.

Well, modern sports cards are not nearly as valuable as modern TCGs, due to oversaturation. There's like, a hundred or a thousand sport card for every one TCG card right now. It makes sense, since they came first and have existed for over a century now. I see hundreds of listings of bulk lots of sports cards going for mere dollars because of how numerous they are. I think even amongst seasoned sports card collectors, they'd have a bit of trouble trying to figure out what is or isn't worth $$$ with each new set of cards. Even if a card is worth a lot, it probably doesn't flip as quickly as a modern high-value TCG card, due to the lower traffic and exposure.

[stormflora]

On 12/12/2023 at 1:56 PM, kimik said:

Speculating successfully on modern books can be done properly and very profitably. The key is to be selective and to sell enough to recover your investment and turn a small profit, or unload them all for a large profit. You will miss some odd hits being selective, but the ones you do will be wins. 

Storage is definitely an issue if you sit on too many copies, as my wife can attest.  

With artificial scarcity of comics/TCGs, it's really only feasible for business/warehouse owners to buy lots of first prints/boxsets to sift through and sell the high valued contents, and liquidate the rest. Ordinary folk wouldn't have the space to do that, or even the cash to indefinitely sit on.

[kimik]

On 12/12/2023 at 11:59 AM, stormflora said:

With artificial scarcity of comics/TCGs, it's really only feasible for business/warehouse owners to buy lots of first prints/boxsets to sift through and sell the high valued contents, and liquidate the rest. Ordinary folk wouldn't have the space to do that, or even the cash to indefinitely sit on.

You would be surprised at how many of us do this without a warehouse. Between online sales and shows you can move a lot of stuff.

Even if you hold onto too much stock after getting your initial investment back, you can easily blow them out as long as they have something of note in the book. Common issues take time, which is why I have stopped buying collections for the past year and a bit. However, there are always other sellers that will take them if the price is right.

Edited December 12, 2023 by kimik

[stormflora]

On 12/12/2023 at 2:04 PM, kimik said:

You would be surprised at how many of us do this without a warehouse. Between online sales and shows you can move a lot of stuff.

Even if you hold onto too much stock after getting your initial investment back, you can easily blow them out as long as they have something of note in the book. Common issues take time, which is why I have stopped buying collections for the past year and a bit. However, there are always other sellers that will take them if the price is right.

Of course, there are many out there with their basements filled with boxes of comics, mostly common low-value ones. I've done my feed of online retail sales in other markets, so I know all about that sort of business. I've since moved on though, as I have a better paying job now that involves far less effort than dealing with the small profit margins of resale. The space is probably more important to me now.

[BA773]

On 12/12/2023 at 7:24 PM, ygogolak said:

It really depends what someone means by "Moderns". The way that I am reading these comments is ALL Moderns. There are these sub-levels, I will say, that pre-sell 9.8 base covers and base variants that usually are cheaper than buy-in 6 months later. Also, the endless ratio, store, and convention variants that never amount to any value but people scoop them up. But, there are plenty of Moderns that do have value.

The guy said everything. 

When i originally made this topic it was not to speak about these freaking variant just published few months ago... i was speaking about real keys who are known by everyone have a little interest about comic books...

Edited December 12, 2023 by BA773