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Newbie question

Started by Dyan,

15 posts in this topic

Dyan

Dyan

Posted
Posted

Hi,

 

Please bear with a really "newbie" question, but I've been searching this forum and others to find some guidence ............... and I'm sure what I want is somewhere, but I can't find it.

 

How do you find out what a good price for a comic is? I realize that to a large degree it's subjective and a "good price is what I'm willing to pay for a certain book. I also realize that it's a question of experience. But for someone new to collecting, where would they start??

 

Here's the thing. I have an old collection of comics. It's not complete, and it's probably not worth much to anyone but me. But every five years or so, I pull it out and become interested again in completing the collection. Apparently, it's that time of the moon again and I feel the old pull to my old collection. Only the thing is that I haven't a clue where to start if I want to do this seriously. Over the last few days, I've learned about the joys (and apparent controversies when it comes to pricing) about "slabbing" and CGC. (Btw, the last time that I had this urge, I don't think there was such a thing as "slabbing".) I also bought a pricing guide in the hopes that it would give me some guidence, but I quickly discovered that the prices in the guide and what I can actually find people paying are two different things with the guide being MUCH higher.

 

All I want is to get a sense of what a fair price would be as I gain experience and shop for what I want. Is that possible to do?

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AussieRuss

AussieRuss

Posted
Posted

Welcome to the Boards Dylan.

 

It is well worth getting hold of a copy of the Overstreet guide. Remember it is a guide & people purchasing slabbed comics may pay vastly different amounts for a CGC slabbed comic.

 

To see what people have been paying for slabbed books try GPAnalysis.

 

You can become a trial member for free.

 

http://www.gpanalysis.com

 

Regards,

Russ

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mar-vell

mar-vell

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one thing you could do that works well for me is to study a certain books auction results on ebay for some time before you make a purchase-be patient and refrain from bidding until you feel certain you have ascertained actual market value of the book! If you are new to ebay as well then take your time and learn it's system it will save you big $$$ over a retail dealer! Remember the key word is patience!

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HouseofComics.Com

HouseofComics.Com

Posted
Posted

Welcome to the boards.

 

Maybe you can give us an idea what kind of comics you are interested in to "complete" your collection? Then people here could give you an idea of a fair price.

 

You also have to understand that a big part of comics prices reflect time. You can most comics from the last 40 years anytime for prices close to the Overstreet prices. Or you can spend some time hunting for good deals and get a lot of those for less.

 

Marc

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Pirate

Pirate

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Posted
No Truer Words Have Been Spoken!

 

thumbsup2.gif

 

amen, you don't want to start by dumping $1500 on a key issue you know nothing about and then ask questions. You are starting the right way thumbsup2.gif

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Aces

Aces

Posted
Posted
Welcome to the boards.

 

Maybe you can give us an idea what kind of comics you are interested in to "complete" your collection? Then people here could give you an idea of a fair price.

 

You also have to understand that a big part of comics prices reflect time. You can most comics from the last 40 years anytime for prices close to the Overstreet prices. Or you can spend some time hunting for good deals and get a lot of those for less.

 

Marc

 

Yeah.

We need to know what you are looking for.

 

Most moderns = cheap ~ anywhere from a dime to cover price.

 

Most Bronze = $1-$3 for readers. Most nice 9.0/9.2 raw bronze books can be had for $5-$20. Keys, X-men, ASMs, Adams Batmans etc.. are exceptions.

 

If you want 9.4-up in shiny slabs then get ready to pay though the nose.

 

Welcome to the Boards

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Dyan

Dyan

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I have Overstreet ................ and golly, are those prices impressive. lol The thing is that I haven't seen anyone paying anything close to what that book says, so I'm wondering how much of a "guide" it can be for someone like me. Do comics really go for what Overstreet says???? I can't figure that out because, like I said, I haven't seen many paying that. Or asking for it.

 

What am I collecting? I'm almost embarresed to say. hehe First off, I'm not aiming for some of the types of collections that I've seen here. Some of what I've seen is VERY impressive! What I have is an X-men collection. I started it when I was .......... um ........... eight, I think. My family knew this old hippie (literally) who would hitchhike for months at a time, then show up with a stack of comics for me. All Marvel superhero. Over the years I slowly weeded out the ones that I lost interest in and ended up with my favorites, which were X-men. So I have probably 100 of them ranging from well loved and well read to beautiful copies that I have bagged and boarded safely away. My oldest one is #17 and I ended shortly after #200.

 

What I want is to fill in the gaps with nice copies and to replace some of the well read ones with better copies. If I could maintain an overall quality of 'fine' (esp for the really old ones), I think that I'd be very happy with that. But that can also get very pricey, esp if I ever want #1. So like someone said, I don't want to layout $1500 for a book only to find out that I paid WAY too much or end up with a restored copy for hundreds of dollars when I thought I was buying the real thing..

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tth2

tth2

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Posted
I have Overstreet ................ and golly, are those prices impressive. lol The thing is that I haven't seen anyone paying anything close to what that book says, so I'm wondering how much of a "guide" it can be for someone like me. Do comics really go for what Overstreet says???? I can't figure that out because, like I said, I haven't seen many paying that. Or asking for it.

Where are you getting your observations from? eBay? Your local comic shop or local conventions? As someone on this thread said, start tracking the issues you're interested in on eBay, and see what kinds of prices they go for in what kind of grade. That will give you some immediate idea of what the prevailing market price is.

 

The Overstreet Guide is a tool, nothing more, nothing less. For modern books, it seriously overstates the value. For most SA and BA, it overstates the price for lower grade copies. In Fine and below, you can probably pick up books from 30-50% below the corresponding Guide price. On the other hand, for NM and higher SA and BA, prices could very well be above Guide, and if they're slabbed with 9.4 or higher grades, they almost definitely will cost more than Guide.

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Dyan

Dyan

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one thing you could do that works well for me is to study a certain books auction results on ebay for some time before you make a purchase-be patient and refrain from bidding until you feel certain you have ascertained actual market value of the book! If you are new to ebay as well then take your time and learn it's system it will save you big $$$ over a retail dealer! Remember the key word is patience!

 

Oh .......... I know. lol That's what brought me here. I dropped $$$ on seven books in two days and realized that I better stop to learn what I was doing before I got in deeper. I think that I have good buys, esp if they are as advertised. But my goodness, Ebay is addictive! On the other hand, it's nice to know that I can get good books there and maybe even save bucks over retail dealers (if I know what I'm doing, that is. hehe)

 

Btw, everyone, thanks for the help!

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HouseofComics.Com

HouseofComics.Com

Posted
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You're getting good advice already.

 

One thing to add to your calculations is that another reason why you don't see people getting full Overstreet on eBay is that the comics are probably a grade or more overgraded. So bidders adjust their offer. More comics sell for guide on ebay than you might think. It's real fun to think you got a great deal on that VF/NM book only to find it's FN-.

 

mad.gif

 

Cheers,

Marc

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