Question for the completionist who have said stop 1 1

[Get Marwood & I]

On 12/12/2023 at 11:31 PM, stormflora said:

I am totally in the same boat. I've collected Chip 'n' Dale and now finishing off with Tom and Jerry. Prices aren't ridiculously high, and runs are realistic to collect.

I actually enjoy the hunt and the comics as well, without being too pressured about having to fork out hundreds for a handful of issues

Much better 

 

[stormflora]

On 12/12/2023 at 6:33 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Much better 

 

I see those are the British versions. Are you in the U.K.? Or are you collecting them because of their uniqueness? Do you know whether those variants differ from their American counterparts?

[Get Marwood & I]

On 12/12/2023 at 11:42 PM, stormflora said:

I see those are the British versions. Are you in the U.K.? Or are you collecting them because of their uniqueness? Do you know whether those variants differ from their American counterparts?

Oh, I hadn't noticed. So they are. Good spot, Stormflora 

[ganni]

[OtherEric]

On 12/12/2023 at 3:30 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

To be clear, I've never actively speculated on comics. I only ever bought what I loved. And sold, alas, sometimes, hence the earlier advice. Comparatively, I've always been an odd collector. Monetary value in comics is nice of course, but it has never been a primary focus for me. This is why collecting Charltons, Kings and Gold Keys is such fun. They aren't worth a shitake mushroom to 99.9% of people in the hobby so the competition is rarely fierce when the rare ones deem to pop up. After several decades of Spidey completism my focus now, happily, is firmly where other people's is not.

Obviously a bit more with shipping and  such, but here’s a Gold Key 1st issue I paid 1/12 the cover price for a few days ago:

[Get Marwood & I]

On 12/12/2023 at 11:57 PM, OtherEric said:

Obviously a bit more with shipping and  such, but here’s a Gold Key 1st issue I paid 1/12 the cover price for a few days ago:

 "Hey, where's the orange and green ink gone at the bottom there?" 

 "I don't know. Does it matter?"

 "Just saying"

 "Look at the top guys. We're on a miscut"

[stormflora]

On 12/12/2023 at 6:57 PM, OtherEric said:

Obviously a bit more with shipping and  such, but here’s a Gold Key 1st issue I paid 1/12 the cover price for a few days ago:

You paid a cent for it?

[shadroch]

He can triple his investment all day long.  It's a Little League Home Run!

[OtherEric]

On 12/12/2023 at 5:47 PM, stormflora said:

You paid a cent for it?

Plus shipping, handling, and sales tax… but I was the lone bidder on an auction that started at one cent.  The S&H was a little higher than usual but my total was still under $10.

[stormflora]

On 12/12/2023 at 9:01 PM, OtherEric said:

Plus shipping, handling, and sales tax… but I was the lone bidder on an auction that started at one cent.  The S&H was a little higher than usual but my total was still under $10.

What auction site allows you to only bid one cent? Or is it some local thing?

[OtherEric]

On 12/12/2023 at 6:05 PM, stormflora said:

What auction site allows you to only bid one cent? Or is it some local thing?

eBay.  I actually bid quite a bit more… but nobody bid against me, so it went for the minimum.

[stormflora]

On 12/12/2023 at 9:08 PM, OtherEric said:

eBay.  I actually bid quite a bit more… but nobody bid against me, so it went for the minimum.

Huh. Strange. I could've sworn I never encountered one cent minimums as I was looking around comic auctions. Or maybe everyone just sets at least $1 or something. (Or maybe I'm blind and never really looked?)

[shadroch]

You have to look for deals, they rarely slap you in the face.

Here is a recent invoice. I'm close enough to pick up every few weeks so no shipping

[stormflora]

On 12/12/2023 at 9:31 PM, shadroch said:

You have to look for deals, they rarely slap you in the face.

Here is a recent invoice. I'm close enough to pick up every few weeks so no shipping

That photo's super blurry, so I can't make out most of it.

I guess the particular comic issues I look for simply don't have low auction starts. I can understand superhero comics being a dime a dozen, so one cent bids are probably not so uncommon.

[justafan]

For me with ASM the initial turning point and wakeup call was the extreme manufactured scarcity and hype of the store variants.  I already knew the ASM store variant game was a cash grab but at least it was fun to hunt for them in NM/MT condition in the wild once they were out for several months and you could find them at a deep discounts to their pre-order or release month prices.  But with time came the nail in the coffin that I had been dreading and anticipating.  I refuse to continue to pay for manufactured scarcity and forced second/third party markup pricing on books that have absolutely no value other than its exclusivity. 

Then there's the issue that others on here have also encountered is the space commitment that comes with completist collecting. I began feeling overwhelmed with just the sheer volume of the books to catalog and maintain.  15-20 variants of the same issue every 5 issues is just insane.  that's what one variant dealer exclaimed when he realized what kind of a collector I was.  Not just the graded and raw parts to my core ASM collection but all the duplicates and undercopies.  I've begun selling them off but it's a lot of work.

Lastly is the overall time and money cost.  I make pretty decent money and had a pretty good handle of my budget and what I was willing to spend. Or so I thought.  I started to realize the bulk of my spare time was dedicated to this hobby and the near round the clock weekly auction and convention grind.  Selling to buy more. Working on books to get them in the grade I wanted.  It became a second job and began outpacing the hours required of my current job.  When I couldn't be certain whether I was working for the hobby or for enjoyment of my life and couldn't tell if I was actually enjoying the hobby as it became difficult to distinguish hobby from a job, I just stopped. 

Actually, it also took a family tragedy to help get me to a stopping point where I just couldn't focus on my hobby for a good month.

However, my pause in collecting continued beyond that month as I focused on grieving with my family.  Little by little I let myself fall behind on new issues, variant covers, or even some of the hot auction items.  After a good 3 months, my bank account had swollen to an amount I hadn't seen since I got back into collecting.  I hadn't realized how lean I had been living to support my hobby/habit. However, I suddenly had so much money and time to put into better vacation travel with my family, upgrades for my home and cars, additional comforts and experiences that I would have shot down as out of budget as it would cut into my hobby funds.

For a few years I had allowed the hobby to consume my life which is not how I want to live nor continue to subject my family.  I love comics and art but there's little point to being a completist if it ruins the enjoyment of those things and quality of life. 

So I'm taking a bit of a break casually window shopping on potential upgrades, keys, and value books while I re-evaluate my goals.  In the meantime, I'm taking my family on some fantastic vacations coming up and spending more quality of time with them.  Whatever little time I do spend on the hobby it is spent reading the forums, selling, organizing, pressing/cleaning books, and whittling down my collection.  My new rule is if it requires more time or money than what I can give to my family that day, it's not worth it.

Meanwhile, my money is making so much more money for me in high interest accounts, bonds, and the stock market.  Perhaps once I reach my savings goal, I can resume hobby purchases with a leaner and narrower focus but I'm out of the completist game.

 

[stormflora]

On 12/12/2023 at 11:45 PM, justafan said:

For me with ASM the initial turning point and wakeup call was the extreme manufactured scarcity and hype of the store variants.  I already knew the ASM store variant game was a cash grab but at least it was fun to hunt for them in NM/MT condition in the wild once they were out for several months and you could find them at a deep discounts to their pre-order or release month prices.  But with time came the nail in the coffin that I had been dreading and anticipating.  I refuse to continue to pay for manufactured scarcity and forced second/third party markup pricing on books that have absolutely no value other than its exclusivity. 

Then there's the issue that others on here have also encountered is the space commitment that comes with completist collecting. I began feeling overwhelmed with just the sheer volume of the books to catalog and maintain.  15-20 variants of the same issue every 5 issues is just insane.  that's what one variant dealer exclaimed when he realized what kind of a collector I was.  Not just the graded and raw parts to my core ASM collection but all the duplicates and undercopies.  I've begun selling them off but it's a lot of work.

Lastly is the overall time and money cost.  I make pretty decent money and had a pretty good handle of my budget and what I was willing to spend. Or so I thought.  I started to realize the bulk of my spare time was dedicated to this hobby and the near round the clock weekly auction and convention grind.  Selling to buy more. Working on books to get them in the grade I wanted.  It became a second job and began outpacing the hours required of my current job.  When I couldn't be certain whether I was working for the hobby or for enjoyment of my life and couldn't tell if I was actually enjoying the hobby as it became difficult to distinguish hobby from a job, I just stopped. 

Actually, it also took a family tragedy to help get me to a stopping point where I just couldn't focus on my hobby for a good month.

However, my pause in collecting continued beyond that month as I focused on grieving with my family.  Little by little I let myself fall behind on new issues, variant covers, or even some of the hot auction items.  After a good 3 months, my bank account had swollen to an amount I hadn't seen since I got back into collecting.  I hadn't realized how lean I had been living to support my hobby/habit. However, I suddenly had so much money and time to put into better vacation travel with my family, upgrades for my home and cars, additional comforts and experiences that I would have shot down as out of budget as it would cut into my hobby funds.

For a few years I had allowed the hobby to consume my life which is not how I want to live nor continue to subject my family.  I love comics and art but there's little point to being a completist if it ruins the enjoyment of those things and quality of life. 

So I'm taking a bit of a break casually window shopping on potential upgrades, keys, and value books while I re-evaluate my goals.  In the meantime, I'm taking my family on some fantastic vacations coming up and spending more quality of time with them.  Whatever little time I do spend on the hobby it is spent reading the forums, selling, organizing, pressing/cleaning books, and whittling down my collection.  My new rule is if it requires more time or money than what I can give to my family that day, it's not worth it.

Meanwhile, my money is making so much more money for me in high interest accounts, bonds, and the stock market.  Perhaps once I reach my savings goal, I can resume hobby purchases with a leaner and narrower focus but I'm out of the completist game.

 

Impulsive purchases get the best of us. Hoarding is an actual psychological problem that people do fall victim to and can't entirely blame themselves for being in that position. It feels satisfying and empowering to be materialistic and own stuff that others do not.

The fact that you have realized that it should be strictly a casual hobby and nothing more is already a turn for the better in your life. Sure, you could have set more realistic goals to prevent yourself from falling into a death loop that kept a a tight lid on your finances, but everyone is human and makes mistakes.

Selling off your collection is essentially giving the hobby closure while also helping you recoup the money you put in. Just treat the entire adventure as a game that you've paid for and finally finished playing.

[BA773]

On 12/13/2023 at 3:05 AM, stormflora said:

What auction site allows you to only bid one cent? Or is it some local thing?

I already see some one cent bid on Ebay

[Get Marwood & I]

On 12/13/2023 at 4:45 AM, justafan said:

Then there's the issue that others on here have also encountered is the space commitment that comes with completist collecting. I began feeling overwhelmed with just the sheer volume of the books to catalog and maintain.  15-20 variants of the same issue every 5 issues is just insane.  that's what one variant dealer exclaimed when he realized what kind of a collector I was.  Not just the graded and raw parts to my core ASM collection but all the duplicates and undercopies.  I've begun selling them off but it's a lot of work.

Well said, Justafan. I think the volume of variants was overwhelming and drove a lot of us to give up ASM completism. I gave up at issue 700, and the disillusionment with the variant situation probably affected my overall mood and played a part in my eventual decision to sell. Space was a big issue for me - when you nearly fill a box with the variants of one relaunch issue, and you don't own a mansion, your hand is forced. I wouldn't mind, but 95% of the ASM v3 relaunch covers were awful anyway. And then there was the 143 issues for #666....

 

A collection based on endless growth is UNSUSTAINABLE!

 

[BA773]

On 12/13/2023 at 12:10 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Well said, Justafan. I think the volume of variants was overwhelming and drove a lot of us to give up ASM completism. I gave up at issue 700, and the disillusionment with the variant situation probably affected my overall mood and played a part in my eventual decision to sell. Space was a big issue for me - when you nearly fill a box with the variants of one relaunch issue, and you don't own a mansion, your hand is forced. I wouldn't mind, but 95% of the ASM v3 relaunch covers were awful anyway. And then there was the 143 issues for #666....

 

A collection based on endless growth is UNSUSTAINABLE!

 

Wow... im not of this kind

since i started to have interest for comic books collecting i developed instantly a deep hate for the variant, i always wanted to get the cover A and a lot of time i I missed out on a lot because it was too many variant into. I have an other problem which is that i only collect the direct market books i cannot imagine to have a newstaand in my house 

[stormflora]

On 12/13/2023 at 6:10 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Well said, Justafan. I think the volume of variants was overwhelming and drove a lot of us to give up ASM completism. I gave up at issue 700, and the disillusionment with the variant situation probably affected my overall mood and played a part in my eventual decision to sell. Space was a big issue for me - when you nearly fill a box with the variants of one relaunch issue, and you don't own a mansion, your hand is forced. I wouldn't mind, but 95% of the ASM v3 relaunch covers were awful anyway. And then there was the 143 issues for #666....

 

A collection based on endless growth is UNSUSTAINABLE!

 

May i just compliment how beautiful those boxes and its contents look? Like hot damn, is it super clean!