Was This A Deal?

[cya33085-migration]

Is it my imagination or is there a soft spot on eBay when buying CGC graded silver & bronze 9.0 and 9.2 books? Seems they often go for under book. I've bought several for way under book. For example, last week I got a Giant-Size X-Men #2, graded at 9.2 for $46, this issue books for $110 at 9.2 - I was looking for a NM ungraded copy but got this cheap, broke it out of the case. I would have gladly paid $46 for it at a show. CGC 9.2 is SOOOOOOOOO much nicer than what pro dealers sell as 9.2 (ever seen a Mile High NM?)

[joe_collector]

Definitely, and I've gotter some even better deals on PGX 9.2 books, at prices much lower than raw NM- dealer comics.

 

That's another sign this CGC boom is entirely speculative, otherwise these sub-CGC 9.4 books would not fall through the cracks.

[comicparadox]

Also a simple supply/demand situation. That book is not particularly desirable to most collectors, despite the squarebound format, Gil Kane cover, and unusual background color. Nice deal, nonetheless!

[joe_collector]

I thought he was referring to the general trend of CGC 9.0-9.2 Bronze comics selling at a discount, compared to CGC 9.4 and above at a premium.

 

Is it my imagination or is there a soft spot on eBay when buying CGC graded silver & bronze 9.0 and 9.2 books? Seems they often go for under book.

 

I've noticed it, and made use of the speculative nature of the market, to get some nice "personal collection" values at that range.

[cya33085-migration]

That's what I was referring to, is the general trend. I'm even able to get CGC 9.2 from Mile High for under 9.2 book when I use their codeword, picked up a Giant-Size Spiderman #2 for $38 versus $45 for book, with free shipping I think that's a great deal. I can't tell you how bad the grading on eBay can be. I bought two "9.6" Giant-Size issues last week that probably would not have graded out at 9.0 - the guy that sold them was angry when I sent them back. These books had creased corners and spine roll!!!!!

[Sal]

welll...yes and no.

 

yes, in the sense that these slabbed 9.0 and 9.2 late SA and BA books can definitely be had for below book...

 

no in the sense that book is probably overvalued wrt late SA and early BA below 9.2 for non keys and books like GSXM 2, which has never really had a wide level of desirability.

 

and book is WAY overvalued on all non-key SA and BA books at VF and below. i think the 9.0/9.2 area is where you start to see the redshift between inaccurate and more accurate book values.

 

 

either way, considering there are probably just as many 9.4s sitting in 9.2 slabs as there are 9.8s sitting in 9.6 slabs, buying slabs for half guide is always a good thing.

[cya33085-migration]

Buying slabbed 9.0 or 9.2 is a way to get around poor grading. At least you know what your getting. I think many dealers just have a problem grading fairly. Mile High is such a good example. He sells CGC 9.0 as VF, his raw VF on average isn't even close to a CGC 9.0......

 

Mark

[the blob]

GS X-Men 2 is a $110 book in NM- Yikes!!! 10 years ago I pulled a bunch of those out of a $1 or $2 box, probably in the VF range though.

 

Some of these 9.2 prices on late non-key SA and BA have me scratching my head. Even some of the early 70s DCs. $30-40 for some of those mainstream 52 pagers in NM-? I'd love it if they sold for that much, but it seems like a lot for non-key books to fill in a run.

[FlyingDonut]

Overstreet is too high. You're not getting a "great deal", you're paying market price.

[the blob]

too many alleged 9.2 prices are being overly influenced by market prices attained on 9.4 - 9.8 slabs (with an emphasis on 9.6 - 9.8, depending on the book). black covers and 100 page super spectaculars are maybe another story, i dunno.

[joe_collector]

Overstreet is too high. You're not getting a "great deal", you're paying market price.

 

Actually, that isn't really true when you factor in the rampant over-grading on EBay, not to mention the sheer number of "raw" books that are trashed by the post office.

 

For example, I have bought a few CGC and PGX 9.0-9.2 "picture frame" Marvels - which on the CGC side, are expensive to grade - for between $10 and $20, which is usually what a "NM EBay Copy" sells for, and these are likely higher condition.

 

Plus, having that plastic shell really gives me peace of mind when they're being shipped.

[Sal]

too many alleged 9.2 prices are being overly influenced by market prices attained on 9.4 - 9.8 slabs (with an emphasis on 9.6 - 9.8, depending on the book). black covers and 100 page super spectaculars are maybe another story, i dunno.

 

that makes sense. there seems to be a desire to value non-key books in the guide on a line, with 9.0 prices being 1/2 of 9.2, 8.5 being roughly half of 9.0 and on down to 2.0, with the 9.6 & 9.8 prices setting the baseline for extrapolation downward.

 

what really happens is once you get out of the 9.4 range, the books fall off a shelf, and once it hits 6.0, you might as well sell the book for next to nothing

[drbanner]

There are probably hundreds (thousands?) of SA and BA books that have never sold slabbed for what they are listed in OS as. This is especially true as of two years ago when all OS's "NM" prices for books like this suddenly became the "NM-" price.

 

For example, there are no sales in GPA for this book in 9.2 for over $95, but OS has it at $110?

 

Regardless, it does look like you got a good deal on this one compared to Market prices (as determined by GPA), but for future reference, for slabbed books I would suggest using GPA as the benchmark as opposed to OS.

[the blob]

"9.0 prices being 1/2 of 9.2, 8.5 being roughly half of 9.0"

 

This is where it gets silly, because even with CGC, these grades are somewhat interchangeable depending on the day of the week, though more likely with the grade right next to it.

 

As for below 6.0 being worthless, due to the massive spread between 6.0 and 9.2, actually, once you start getting enough below a 6.0 you start being able to get not that far from guide for many of these BA books, particularly when a VG is only $3-4 each in Guide. There are a lot of people willing to pay $3-$4 or so for a nicely graded VG to VG/Fine 15/20/25 cent cover price Marvel or DC, depending on the title. It's not a lot of money. I was grading up some books last night and was noticing that a lot of the picture frame marvels are pretty cheap in the lower grades. Time will tell, but I think they're going to move well at 50-60% of OPG when the right buyer(s) come along as will a bunch of 15 cent marvels I priced up. It only works out to like $3 each, which is "worthless" in the big picture, but not versus guide.

[ninanina]

Collectors who are readers don't want these books because they are slabbed and will probably go for guide or better.So... as soon as the see it....they lose interest.

 

On the other hand, 9.0 or 9.2 just isn't good enough for the high grade collectors who wouldn't dream of settling for anything less than 9.4.

 

There are a few of us who know/realize this and are able to get these for a song.

 

The books fall between the fine line of a reader/collector and a non reader/hi grade/investment collector. What's left are the collectors that are able to get these at a fraction of guide.