Moderns that are heating up on ebay! 70 70

[divad]

9 minutes ago, Mapleleafvann said:

-Given that my cost is $2.10 for these books,

That $.10 will kill YOUR profit margin every time . . .

 

[darkstar]

38 minutes ago, Davidone said:

I understand the skepticism on cover artist runs. However, we need to keep in mind there is a whole generation of collectors who entered this game where variants are king and cover artists and scarcity are more important than content.

It's not the same rules the rest of us were raised with. I don't know if old precedents apply. It's easy to say these won't last but the truth is; anything is possible in this insane bull market.

 

With the founding of the professional grading services, scarcity isn't what it once was. You might have books published today with print runs of 10k that 20 years from now have the same high grade population numbers as books with 100k print runs that were published 30 years ago. The percentage of print runs these days that become preserved copies has to be spectacularly high.

[ygogolak]

2 hours ago, Aweandlorder said:

Now I know where all those high grade DS covers are hiding 

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords="dave+stevens"&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3A"dave+stevens"

Actually alot of people do. He's just more known among art collectors than comic fan-boys. 

 

Wait, so a rare variant by one of the hottest artists right now sells for more?

[ygogolak]

2 hours ago, Mapleleafvann said:

True, but I'm not a completionist/completist.  I certainly don't love all of her work...or any artists' collective body of work.  I pick and choose the covers that I think are outstanding and I do buy multiples of them---in some cases, many multiples.  Almost all of those covers I mentioned were immediate sell outs and "surprised" the market.....with zero reprints since they are cover price variants.

Personally I think the Vampirellas will do better long term.

Shes saturated the WW covers now and they look the same. That's why they aren't selling as well anymore. The Vamps were before she started "blue washing" all of her work which I'm not a fan of.

[Mapleleafvann]

12 minutes ago, ygogolak said:

Personally I think the Vampirellas will do better long term.

Shes saturated the WW covers now and they look the same. That's why they aren't selling as well anymore. The Vamps were before she started "blue washing" all of her work which I'm not a fan of.

Very good points....her WW covers are looking the same now! 

[darkstar]

26 minutes ago, ygogolak said:

Wait, so a rare variant by one of the hottest artists right now sells for more?

You couldn't even ballpark the remaining copies of the Dirty Pair alternate cover compared to the remaining copies of Planet Comics #1 so attempting to save face by pointing out that the Dirty Pair Hughes cover is a "rare variant" and the explanation for the price discrepancy between the two books is dumb. Aweandlorder's original point stands - Steven's best comic covers still sell for pennies compared to the popular regular, non-variant covers of Hughes. 

[Aweandlorder]

45 minutes ago, ygogolak said:

Wait, so a rare variant by one of the hottest artists right now sells for more?

Come on man, you're better than that..

 

[drotto]

But at what point does the speculation on books really pay off if you are the average person buying a book at cover price and then trying to sell on the secondary market.  The vast majority of these either do nothing or sell in the $10 to $15 range.  Unless you are able to buy books below cover, selling a $3 book for $10 then taking the time to package and ship it for a $4 pay day (minus shipping and packing costs).  That makes zero sense to me, if you figure in the flips that often do not pay off you are losing money (provided they were only books you bought to flip).

 

Very very few moderns pay off.

[1Cool]

38 minutes ago, drotto said:

But at what point does the speculation on books really pay off if you are the average person buying a book at cover price and then trying to sell on the secondary market.  The vast majority of these either do nothing or sell in the $10 to $15 range.  Unless you are able to buy books below cover, selling a $3 book for $10 then taking the time to package and ship it for a $4 pay day (minus shipping and packing costs).  That makes zero sense to me, if you figure in the flips that often do not pay off you are losing money (provided they were only books you bought to flip).

 

Very very few moderns pay off.

If I could buy books regularly for $3 and sell them for $10 - $15 a piece in quantity I'd do it all day as long if the buyer is also paying for the shipping.  After fees I'm looking at an average sales of $10 after fees which gives me a net profit of $7 per book.  Lets say it takes me 10 minutes to scan/post/ship each books that is $40 a hour for a part time (mostly fun) job.  Now it's not that easy since picking consistent "winners" is very tough but if you can do it regularly I can see why people dedicate a lot of their time to modern books.  Unlike older books where you have to seek out a supply of quality books they keep printing new stuff that has the same potential to pop compared to older books.  I hate new books pretty much across the board so my heart is not in with newer books but bless people who can make money going that route.

 

[ygogolak]

4 hours ago, drotto said:

But at what point does the speculation on books really pay off if you are the average person buying a book at cover price and then trying to sell on the secondary market.  The vast majority of these either do nothing or sell in the $10 to $15 range.  Unless you are able to buy books below cover, selling a $3 book for $10 then taking the time to package and ship it for a $4 pay day (minus shipping and packing costs).  That makes zero sense to me, if you figure in the flips that often do not pay off you are losing money (provided they were only books you bought to flip).

 

Very very few moderns pay off.

I think this is what gets people into selling for a profit. Low cost buy-in, minimal reward. But, the more you do it the more you can build up and go after bigger items.

Edited January 22, 2018 by ygogolak

[ygogolak]

She-Hulk #1 1:100 Oum Variant CGC 9.8 $1,200

[OrangeCrush]

On 1/21/2018 at 9:44 PM, Mapleleafvann said:

Very good points....her WW covers are looking the same now! 

Thats fine with me as I absolutely LOVE her art design/signature style and even her mediocre WW covers are 1000 times better than Cliff Chiang's run. Don't get me wrong, the story element was fantastic with Chiang's run but IMO that was one of the weakest cover runs I have ever seen before. David Finch definitely helped spice things up a bit, but Frison has really come into her own the last couple years and I for one absolutely love her covers. I just spent like $250 a couple weeks back buying many of her previous covers as I am trying to get a complete run of Frison's covers now and she has really put out a lot of covers the last couple years. She has definitely been very busy as of late. 

As for covers that are heating up, I am absolutely blown away at the increase in pricing we have seen with many of Lucio Parrillo's covers, particularly his cover runs for Vampirella, Queen Sonja, and Warlord of Mars. For the first couple years those covers were on the market, one could easily buy them for cover price. Then last year they just started skyrocketing in price and now many of those covers are selling for $10-$30 a pop. I actually saw a mint copy of Vampirella #19 sell for $95 a few weeks back. 

Short of a few specific artists, like Parrillo, Frison, Lau, etc., I am really trying to stay away fro the modern market. I think the modern market and especially te variant market is headed for a major crash in the coming years. Most of the key signs for a crash are now present. So I really am trying to limit my modern purchases to as few as possible. I am really focusing on silver age more than anything right now. 

Edited January 23, 2018 by OrangeCrush

[Mapleleafvann]

Some of Parrillo's recent work is incredible.  It's so good imo that it actually reminds me (and resembles) the Italian Master, Caravaggio's work...but on a comic book!

[OrangeCrush]

20 hours ago, Mapleleafvann said:

Some of Parrillo's recent work is incredible.  It's so good imo that it actually reminds me (and resembles) the Italian Master, Caravaggio's work...but on a comic book!

Yeah, he's my single favorite artist currently working in the comic market and as I have stated before, I consider his Queen Sonja, Vampirella, and Warlord of Mars cover runs to be some of the best cover runs in the entire history of comics. Every last cover he produced for those runs is absolutely amazing. And I love that he actually paints his covers (usually with oil paints) as it gives his covers a really great visual qualiy that is really absent from digital work. With many of his covers, you can actually see the brush strokes and texture of the paint. He actually opened his own art gallery, but unfortunately its in Italy as that's where he lives. Such a shame as I would be dropping by that gallery on a weekly basis to see many of his originals in person. I have emailed him on multiple occasions trying to get him to start up a limited edition print line that is similar in design to Aspen's prints (13x19 size, Epson's enhanced matte paper, and a rouhly 1" white border). If he produced a line of limited edition prints like that, I would buy every last print he brought to market. Until then, I will just have to continue buying his comics. 

[Lonzilla]

On 1/22/2018 at 8:14 AM, drotto said:

But at what point does the speculation on books really pay off if you are the average person buying a book at cover price and then trying to sell on the secondary market.  The vast majority of these either do nothing or sell in the $10 to $15 range.  Unless you are able to buy books below cover, selling a $3 book for $10 then taking the time to package and ship it for a $4 pay day (minus shipping and packing costs).  That makes zero sense to me, if you figure in the flips that often do not pay off you are losing money (provided they were only books you bought to flip).

 

Very very few moderns pay off.

Moderns pay off if you flip immediately before the weekend when everyone else gets around to listing theirs (Ice Cream Man A+B set $20-$25).

I do very well with day of release variants because one of the shops I frequent doesn't rape you on their prices. They're straight across the board, $10 for a 1:25, $15-$20 for a 1:50, $30 for a 1:100, though they rarely get in a 1:100 book.

I got the last 2 ASM 1:25's for $10 each and made a nice profit

[OrangeCrush]

40 minutes ago, Lonzilla said:

Moderns pay off if you flip immediately before the weekend when everyone else gets around to listing theirs (Ice Cream Man A+B set $20-$25).

I do very well with day of release variants because one of the shops I frequent doesn't rape you on their prices. They're straight across the board, $10 for a 1:25, $15-$20 for a 1:50, $30 for a 1:100, though they rarely get in a 1:100 book.

I got the last 2 ASM 1:25's for $10 each and made a nice profit

Yep, the key to really making money in the modern market is selling ASAP while the comics are hot. People that hold on to modern comics will likely wind up losing money. You really have to be quick on your feet and be willing to sell right away if you want to make money on modern comics. Again, you basically want to sell a comic while its still hot and given how many quality variant covers that are being released now on a regular basis, the time frame in which a comic remains hot is getting shorter and shorter as there are always new covers hitting the market that wind up shifting people's interest. 

As for buying comics in the modern market, buying while a particular comic is hot is one of the worst things one can do as your going to wind up paying top dollar. Its best to be patient and buy a comic a year or two after its been released. Chances are you will be able to buy them at a MUCH better price. You just have to have patience and not get caught up in the hype. The only modern comics I buy right away are comics from a few of my favorite artists. Beyond that, most of the modern comics I have purchased over the last 2-3 years were purchased during sales where I got 60-75% off. My focus in regards to the comic market has changed pretty dramatically over the last 3 years. I went from collecting art prints and modern comics to collecting high end statues and silver age comics. IMO, the high end statue market is definitely one of the best places to make money right now. 

[the blob]

On 1/22/2018 at 8:58 AM, 1Cool said:

If I could buy books regularly for $3 and sell them for $10 - $15 a piece in quantity I'd do it all day as long if the buyer is also paying for the shipping.  After fees I'm looking at an average sales of $10 after fees which gives me a net profit of $7 per book.  Lets say it takes me 10 minutes to scan/post/ship each books that is $40 a hour for a part time (mostly fun) job.  Now it's not that easy since picking consistent "winners" is very tough but if you can do it regularly I can see why people dedicate a lot of their time to modern books.  Unlike older books where you have to seek out a supply of quality books they keep printing new stuff that has the same potential to pop compared to older books.  I hate new books pretty much across the board so my heart is not in with newer books but bless people who can make money going that route.

 

If you run an efficient operation it can work. List and pack your comics while doing other leisure activties like watching TV? In an ideal world you're shipping a stack to someone, true.

[the blob]

4 hours ago, OrangeCrush said:

Yep, the key to really making money in the modern market is selling ASAP while the comics are hot. People that hold on to modern comics will likely wind up losing money. You really have to be quick on your feet and be willing to sell right away if you want to make money on modern comics. Again, you basically want to sell a comic while its still hot and given how many quality variant covers that are being released now on a regular basis, the time frame in which a comic remains hot is getting shorter and shorter as there are always new covers hitting the market that wind up shifting people's interest. 

As for buying comics in the modern market, buying while a particular comic is hot is one of the worst things one can do as your going to wind up paying top dollar. Its best to be patient and buy a comic a year or two after its been released. Chances are you will be able to buy them at a MUCH better price. You just have to have patience and not get caught up in the hype. The only modern comics I buy right away are comics from a few of my favorite artists. Beyond that, most of the modern comics I have purchased over the last 2-3 years were purchased during sales where I got 60-75% off. My focus in regards to the comic market has changed pretty dramatically over the last 3 years. I went from collecting art prints and modern comics to collecting high end statues and silver age comics. IMO, the high end statue market is definitely one of the best places to make money right now. 

This is not a sustainable market. How many times does someone buy a book for $__ they know will be worth half as much later (with a 5-10% chance of it being worth more?) before they say "no more"?

[ygogolak]

3 hours ago, the blob said:

This is not a sustainable market. How many times does someone buy a book for $__ they know will be worth half as much later (with a 5-10% chance of it being worth more?) before they say "no more"?

About 10 years or so now....

[Mapleleafvann]

4 minutes ago, ygogolak said:

About 10 years or so now....

Too funny!  True.....but still funny.  There certainly will be a "comeuppance".....not sure when that will be though.....