CKinTO

I used GoCollect before their site re-design, and GPA since. To me, I find GPA to be "the standard" when negotiating prices for books (ie. "90-day GPA" for liquid books, or "GPA Last Sale"), but that's probably because it was the only game in town for so long. Having used both, what I really liked about GoCollect is that for every sale, you can click through and see pictures of the book (that I believe they download and store). This to me is HUGE in terms of vetting GPA data, to try and understand high or low outliers. It's also nice that it's a bit cheaper ($5.99 vs $10.99/month) Now, the downside of GoCollect was that it only used EBay as a source - so didn't collect as much data as GPA. I think that's starting to change though.

I agree - from Copper -> Modern keys, I feel like it goes: TMNT1 (I always thought this was bronze age, not copper, but I guess it's right on the cusp), ASM300, BA12, NYX3, NM98, NM87, maybe ASM361. This is excluding non-big 2 books like Walking Dead 1, Saga 1 or any of the variant covers. BA12 and NYX3 I think are up there (similar to TMNT1) because of lower print runs than the others. BA12 having been a comic marketed towards kids with what I assume is a lower print run / less hoarded over by speculators, and NYX3 also being a book that few people were really reading or pulling, and also would have a lower print run than ASM or NM.

My LCS put one of these in my box for free given I pull Oblivion Song. I liked it, and will give #2 a shot at least. And maybe I'm in the minority, but I actually enjoy Oblivion Song - for those who dropped it, I agree 2-4 were a bit on the slower side, but 5 really moved things along and I'm hoping the pay off with the development works out.

It's a bummer there's no SS, and unfortunately it's a growing issue out there that some creators lump anyone doing SS into non-fan / "only in it for the money" / "ebay flippers" stereotypes... has been discussed in many threads that there's an image problem with the SS program (even just the fact that many creators who do allow it, charge more for it). But that's a conversation for another thread. Bottom line, I'm just happy that Byrne is willing to sign other non-Star Trek items, as Kevin made it clear from the beginning that Byrne was anti-slabbing and any package would not allow SS. FWIW, for my 2 sigs, I'm planning on getting him to sign on top of my existing slabs (trying to finalize which ones!) I'll let him know I'm a huge fan, and I'm going to get his signature personalized to me on the slab. Maybe it'll be a subtle indication that there are "real fans" who like to slab too

1 raw NM+ (to go with my Catwoman 1 Gold Foil). Thanks Dre

Agreed - to me this definitely highlights the limitations of GPA and how it shouldn’t be thought of necessarily as always an accurate indicator of FMV. I use GoCollect more when it isn’t con season (half the price), and though it used to use only Ebay as a source (though I think they’ve added more sources), every past sale you could click through to see photos of the book. Really easy convenient way of “scrubbing” the data to better understand either higher or lower prices. Would often see what you’re talking about - book was a “weak 9.8”, or book was a Newsstand which for some books do trade at a bit of a premium.

Oof, I empathize... I've got a 3yr old 8lb Maltipoo that does enjoy chewing things up. She used to go after our shoes mostly (so we have to keep them more or less in the closet now), but she loves paper things (paper towels, tissues, even loose paper) so we try our best to keep from being accessible. I'm lucky she doesn't open boxes, although I keep my comic boxes in a drawer (more for the toddlers than the dog), but ugh that hurts...

Wow, that's a big time price!

I totally agree with this - I was very surprised to learn how Voldy is running their yellow label program. Although for individuals who are on the up-and-up, it can be easier to submit your own books and "be your own witness", there's WAY more risk to the program of bad apples taking advantage and fake signatures getting the yellow label. The value of the sig series program is all about trust around the authenticity of the signature - all it takes is one bad story to go public of fakes for the whole thing to come crumbling down. I think CGC understands this, and I'm pleased they're keeping the rigor around its SS program. I can somewhat understand why Voldy, as the newcomer trying to build market share, feels it HAS to offer something more "submitter-friendly" to differentiate or get people to go with them vs CGC, I think this is the wrong way to do it, as it's opened up too much risk in the program IMO. I'm also totally supportive of CGC never offering a "red label" verification program. Yes that may mean previously signed books will never get a non-qualified label (unless taking a big grade hit), but I think there's something to be said of not associating the CGC brand with anything that could be fraudulent.

I agree it's an interesting discussion - with these coupons coming up more frequently, who is entitled to the "benefit" of the coupon? Should it sell for what it would have before the coupon (whether that's at GPA, a bit above GPA if it's a hot book, or a bit below GPA if it's cool) and thus buyer gets all the benefit of the coupon? As a buyer, I will aim for this (ie. with Best Offer prices, I'll put my offer around GPA, knowing I'll get 10-15% off GPA with the coupon), but depending on how hot the book is, I'm ok with giving some of the "coupon value" to the seller. Agree with your point also that with more of these coupons coming out more frequently, there are some higher-than-GPA prices being reported because of that, which does skew the pricing higher than what it otherwise would be...

Kevin, great job here. Think the John Byrne package is very reasonable (and best I could hope for given his policy on no CGC SS), now just have to figure out which 2 books to get signed! Also love the Marjorie Liu / Sana Takeda add, am a big fan of Monstress.

Assume people saw this, but John Byrne packages went on sale at 10am this morning. I thought it was very reasonably priced and as good of a package as I expected given where this was heading: $150, includes a Star Trek special hardcover omnibus (that both Byrne and Shatner will sign), and includes 2 additional autographs from Byrne on whatever we want.

X-Men 101 (1st Phoenix) has risen quite a bit, especially in high-grade (9.6 and 9.8), over the past year. X-Men 134 I think is the key Dark Phoenix book (CGC denotes "Phoenix becomes Dark Phoenix") has risen less than 101, but you've seen a sharp spike in 2018 in high-grade (especially 9.8, but also in 9.6).

Modern Slow-Track (10 books) - Dropped off at Buffalo (Nickel City Comic-Con) on 5/19/2018 - Received 5/25/2018 - Verified 6/28/2018 - Scheduled for Grading 7/6/2018 - Graded 7/7/2018 - Grading / Quality Control 7/9/2018 Expect it'll be Shipped/Safe shortly! There was a thread awhile ago where someone mentioned how they don't look at the grades online, and instead savor it and practice delayed gratification by waiting until having the books in hand, and taking out 1 or 2 per day. It's taking some serious willpower to not click on that invoice number to look at the grades, but I'm going to give this happiness-maximizing game a try!

I actually really enjoyed Batman 50 - I avoided most spoilers (couldn't help hear the news that NYT spoiled it, though didn't read the headline or article) just knew that people were pissed off and so likely they weren't getting married. The story itself was pretty good, I thought the form of the book (took me awhile to realize that each page was an excerpt from a letter that Batman / Catwoman were writing each other) really worked and allowed the huge line-up of artists to work in the book fairly seamlessly. The rationale for calling the wedding off made sense in context of Tom King's run so far (eg. can / should Batman ever be happy, can he still remain "Batman" and fight crime if he is), and the last page reveal was a pretty big "WTF? WOW" moment for me, and I'm excited to see where Tom King takes this. Full disclosure, I'm a big fan of Tom King (loved his Vision, Omega Men and Sherriff of Babylon books, his Mister Miracle is probably my favorite title right now, and have loved his Batman run thus far), and so I'm trusting him to see where he takes this. I 100% agree however with the backlash of how DC marketed this book, telling everyone outright that this will be the wedding of the century, making retailers market / push and likely up their orders to sell to not just normal Batman readers, but the casual public who may stop in to get the book because of its importance (a la Superman 75). I'm also annoyed at DC spoiling the book intentionally (especially given the spoiler has the opposite effect of saying "this book isn't as important as it was hyped up to be). DC really screwed the pooch on this one.

1 Raw, and per PM will grab from you in person at Fan Expo Toronto. Thanks Dre

Wow, looking at 90-day GPAs, 9.8 = $944 ($1175 last sale), and 9.6 = $336 ($316 last sale)... 2.8x (3.7x using last sales) is one of the bigger multiples I've seen for the premium from 9.6 -> 9.8 for reasonably liquid books!

This. If you were going to go with CCS anyways, I would have sent the book still encapsulated. What was rationale for you and the LCS to take the book out of the case before sending? I'd think even for shipping purposes, would be more safe to keep in the slab than sending raw. I guess the only thing could be if you think CGC might use the past grade when re-grading (though they say they'd never do that and re-grading is always done blind).

I know what you mean re: polybag. I still have the entire X-Cutioner's song in the polybags from my childhood, haha. As you said, none of these are worth cover price today, so from my perspective, it's worth more from a "nostalgia" perspective for me to keep in the polybag to remember my childhood collecting years than to open it up now to archive better. If you still can't shake that "polybag-goodness" feeling, just buy 2. If you can get for cover or online for $12 shipped, why not, just do it. Open one to enjoy the art, keep the other in the polybag. We spend a lot more than $12 on a lot dumber things than our own OCD proclivities.

Realized I never posted up my GSX1 9.2 that I got earlier this year, looking for a X94 9.2 WP sibling soon!

I'll typically bring ~$1500 in cash to a con, and am not worried about carrying it around (I'll put it in an envelope buried inside my backpack, or in a pocket with a zipper). I find cash is much easier to negotiate with - not only because seller avoids the CC fee, but presumably because all-cash transactions can avoid getting charged sales tax. I assume for a dealer, it's harder to not charge sales tax if there's an electronic papertrail when customer uses credit card... I've never done it before, but I've heard other dealers tell other buyers that if they pay CC, they'll have to charge sales tax. This may be a tactic to try and push cash when possible, or maybe it's true (probably a bit of both). I'm in my mid-30s and am 100% cashless outside of the comic world (credit card for everything, except for certain small businesses when I'm buying very little, I'll try to pay cash), but to me anytime when negotiating occurs, cash is king

Thanks for the update Kevin - any update on whether he'll sign any non-Star Trek books?

I'm really curious how you make this work. If you don't mind me asking, how do you both plan for joint savings / retirement / long-term goals? This setup seems great for monthly expenses, and you get the freedom to buy what you want, but what if for example 1 partner doesn't save anything (and just spends everything on whatever they want), and the other is more responsible saving for retirement while also indulging (within budget) on the "wants". If that goes on through marriage without the proper planning, the unsaver will have to depend on the saver in retirement, and that may lead to some friction when the saver feels like they did all the sacrificing for both parties? The way my wife and I do it is we each have our own individual accounts, but we both know how much we're each making, and we each put the majority of those earnings into a joint account. Then everything is paid out of the joint account (mortgage, expenses, retirement savings, etc.) We pre-plan in advance how much of each of our own paychecks we get to keep in our individual accounts, and so of that planned amount, we get to spend it on whatever we want. Different strokes for different folks of course, but found this works best for us.

Agreed - if you're selling, it's up to you to put an opening "price" to start negotiations. It's Negotiating 101 that whoever offers the first price is at a slight "disadvantage" - if you're the seller, the buyer may have been willing to pay more for it. If you're the buyer, the seller may have been willing to sell it for less. So whoever puts up the first number is either setting a ceiling (if seller) or a floor (if buyer). 100% agree that if someone wants to sell, it's their responsibility to put a number out there and start with that disadvantage. And similarly, if book is not for sale and buyer wants it, 100% agree that it's up to the buyer to start with an offer and thus start at a disadvantage. Any seller that only says "accepting offers" on a book they're offering for sale is trying to pull a fast one and turn the tables of negotiating power.

If you think he made an honest mistake trying to calculate combined shipping, I'd probably wait until the books arrived (and assuming they're in good shape and as you ordered), refund it to him outside Ebay. In terms of the whole "lying" thing to make it seem like Ebay's mistake, I agree that's not ideal, but I'd also say there could be some cultural nuances from wherever he's from in Europe (eg. where most "buyers" are also probably not as honest, and so he may just be doing what he can to recoup this, which may entail "stretching the truth" or what I'd call a somewhat innocent "fib" than a straight up "lie").