Collections drying up? 4 4

[Ken Aldred]

6 hours ago, Aweandlorder said:

 

I had a couple of cats that drove from Dayton Ohio to NY to sell their dads collection

 

I was thinking that the hobby may get even more expensive now that it has to absorb old-school jazz fans entering the speculator market.

Edited June 16, 2017 by Ken Aldred

[SteppinRazor]

14 hours ago, Glassman10 said:

 The real difficulty for me is the stuff that isn't super valuable but based in either GPA or Overstreet would pull 30- 60 dollars retail individually. When you have about 850 like that, it adds up and selling off is an issue and I'm not willing to do ebay simply because I don't trust it.  Selling individual books ( which I've done) bring a good price if I take off ten percent which I would have coughed up in auction or on the bay. Selling here would take forever and the books get cherry picked <snip>

A good sized collection held by a 67 year old forever and wanting to sell it off but to not do it cheap. Fair, not cheap.  

 

13 hours ago, FineCollector said:

 

The problem I see here is what price the seller considers "fair," and the problem buying collections in general.  This seller says he's sold books at 10% off FMV.  That'll work for a handful of books, but we all understand you can't sell a collection that way.  No collector wants exactly those books, and has the disposable income to pay for them in one fell swoop.

 

13 hours ago, Quicksilver Signs said:

Unless you want to put the time and effort into selling your books you won't get top dollar. So many people want FMV for their books without the work. If you want full Overstreet for commons, it takes years to sell if you don't go to eBay. Even on eBay commons will not sell at close to Overstreet. Sell your keys, get top dollar and sell runs and sets at a discount. 

 

10 hours ago, Glassman10 said:

Given the amount I would have to pay either ebay or an auction house, it would nick me for $100, leaving me 900.00. $950 was in my mind the best I was going to do and the buyer was a happy camper. If I went with the vulture like assessment of value expressed here by some, which I think they need to run a business , you would think I should pay someone to haul it off. So, no, it's not full GPA. The replies I see here suggest that Overstreet is not reliable and I can certainly see that based on their descriptions of grading alone . If the value  in the book is only useful to the wholesale dealer, the book has relatively zero value for someone collecting beyond simple reference material. .

The question that I really have is whether the CGC board is inhabited solely by people flipping books or whether there are people who actually want to buy books and keep them but would like to buy at an attractive  price. That is how the sale of the 129 went.  I can see taking 70% of the GPA  on, say, an ASM 14 but I'd be hard pressed  to take 70% value on an AF15 given the demand. If the auction house is going to take 8 percent from the seller and then take another 15 percent more from the buyer It seems to me that there's room for everyone to find the happy price. It would only work if there are collectors and not simply jobbers. My sense of the board is that there aren't a lot of collectors here when you compare to the middlemen.  

So, if the collection is worth, say 40K theoretically, then take away the AF15 and figure the remainder to be at about 5K based on where I suspect this book could sell and I think it will likely continue to rise. I have enough other keys that would get me to the 40K number and I would still have 850 books left which it sounds like to me I could just chuck in a dumpster given the effort it would take to sell them.  It's probably the case that if I offered , say the entire ASM collection, or FF4  or whatever, that I have as a bundle that it would go OK. The AF alone will put me close to where I want to be.

So, now I've become my own enemy in the instant that I calculate... 

13 hours ago, Glassman10 said:

Actually, I consider" fair" to be 60 to 70 percent of list. This is mostly silver age and some bronze up to '74.

This is a great micro look at both sides of the market and the source of conflict between a collection owner and the sale.  The whole thread in one example.

The seller wants as close to FMV as they can get for all of the books, but most buyers don't want all of the books.  But, the seller doesn't want to go through the hassle of selling all the books individually.  This is the first gap created between seller and buyer.  The seller hasn't placed a value of hassle-freedom.  if one is to pass on the hassle of selling books, then it should have a numerical value.  Time is money.  In this particular case, Glassman10 has other reasons for not wanting to use ebay that other sellers might not have, so that should also be monetized.  If Glassman thinks there is unacceptable risk in selling on ebay, he is asking something of the buyer - to take on some risk.  That also has value.

The second gap is the fairness of price issue.  If the seller were to decide to take on ebay selling, then even if they get a buyer to pay FMV, they are really getting FMV -10%.  So FMV in practical terms for actual sales is $900 on a $1,000 FMV book.  The buyer has not gotten any kind of deal, they have paid the full price.  The seller has received 10% less than FMV, so any sale that does not have a middle man theoretically should start at 90% FMV.  60-70% of list is really 70-80% of list.  Now the seller is expecting someone to do all the work of sorting and redistributing the unwanted books for 20-30%.  This is the same work the seller doesn't want to do.  If a buyer takes on this 20-30% to cover all their work, plus to actually make it worthwhile and not a wash, then they'd need to occasionally pick up higher profit collections or comics.  That's merely a shift of burden to some other collection seller.

The third gap is a question of value added.  Why should a buyer buy books - what is the value a seller is using to entice a buyer?  Even if one were to buy as a collector, one would generally wish to have some value added.  Buy a $1000 book for $800, there is $200 of value added to the buyer.  Sellers don't want to add value to the buyer.  The buyer wants to benefit from the purchase, even if it is long term perceived future value.

So buyers have this extra workload, which is not created by the seller.  It's created by the markets not caring about runs, only keys.  If buyers could monetize filler books enough to cover the time to dispense the low value books of a collection, there goes the first gap.  The second gap would be mitigated as well, since the volume of a collection would gross a larger number (the Walmart model).

 

The buyers on the other hand, are seeking to maximize value added, and their earnings on time/effort.  They set their rate, and it may not always be accurate.  They may be trying to become millionaires in a dollarnaire business.  I think there is a fair amount of this as, just like some sellers skew in their own favor, some buyers skew to overvaluing their own efforts/undervaluing the seller's goods.  And it happens for both because they are and they are not doing it as their sole profession (either because they are constantly trying to cover bills, or because they simply aren't aware that their side business isn't as lucrative as they think it should be).

[piper]

3 minutes ago, SteppinRazor said:

 

 

 

This is a great micro look at both sides of the market and the source of conflict between a collection owner and the sale.  The whole thread in one example.

The seller wants as close to FMV as they can get for all of the books, but most buyers don't want all of the books.  But, the seller doesn't want to go through the hassle of selling all the books individually.  This is the first gap created between seller and buyer.  The seller hasn't placed a value of hassle-freedom.  if one is to pass on the hassle of selling books, then it should have a numerical value.  Time is money.  In this particular case, Glassman10 has other reasons for not wanting to use ebay that other sellers might not have, so that should also be monetized.  If Glassman thinks there is unacceptable risk in selling on ebay, he is asking something of the buyer - to take on some risk.  That also has value.

The second gap is the fairness of price issue.  If the seller were to decide to take on ebay selling, then even if they get a buyer to pay FMV, they are really getting FMV -10%.  So FMV in practical terms for actual sales is $900 on a $1,000 FMV book.  The buyer has not gotten any kind of deal, they have paid the full price.  The seller has received 10% less than FMV, so any sale that does not have a middle man theoretically should start at 90% FMV.  60-70% of list is really 70-80% of list.  Now the seller is expecting someone to do all the work of sorting and redistributing the unwanted books for 20-30%.  This is the same work the seller doesn't want to do.  If a buyer takes on this 20-30% to cover all their work, plus to actually make it worthwhile and not a wash, then they'd need to occasionally pick up higher profit collections or comics.  That's merely a shift of burden to some other collection seller.

The third gap is a question of value added.  Why should a buyer buy books - what is the value a seller is using to entice a buyer?  Even if one were to buy as a collector, one would generally wish to have some value added.  Buy a $1000 book for $800, there is $200 of value added to the buyer.  Sellers don't want to add value to the buyer.  The buyer wants to benefit from the purchase, even if it is long term perceived future value.

So buyers have this extra workload, which is not created by the seller.  It's created by the markets not caring about runs, only keys.  If buyers could monetize filler books enough to cover the time to dispense the low value books of a collection, there goes the first gap.  The second gap would be mitigated as well, since the volume of a collection would gross a larger number (the Walmart model).

 

The buyers on the other hand, are seeking to maximize value added, and their earnings on time/effort.  They set their rate, and it may not always be accurate.  They may be trying to become millionaires in a dollarnaire business.  I think there is a fair amount of this as, just like some sellers skew in their own favor, some buyers skew to overvaluing their own efforts/undervaluing the seller's goods.  And it happens for both because they are and they are not doing it as their sole profession (either because they are constantly trying to cover bills, or because they simply aren't aware that their side business isn't as lucrative as they think it should be).

Well said. I hope glassman tries to sell some books on the boards.

[namisgr]

You guys looking to buy collections don't try hard enough.  

I have a collection of over 2000 books bought off the rack from 1972-'76 and 1981-'85 that I began selling off about 9 years ago - posted many times about it in numerous sales threads.  Since the collection was started when I was 17 years old, the books were read carefully and for the most part are in really good shape - for example, the Hulk #180 wound up in a 9.8 slab.  In all that time, I've had a grand total of one board member dealer/collector come and look at the material.  Yes, over the past 7 years I've had the handful of major keys slabbed and sold off, but before doing that not a single dealer contacted me looking to consider buying the collection.

And the lone dealer who's seen the collection, now without the major keys, decided to buy it, as I part with it one longbox at a time.

Edited June 17, 2017 by namisgr

[Glassman10]

7 hours ago, piper said:

Well said. I hope glassman tries to sell some books on the boards.

It is a very good summation  and I don't disagree a whole lot with the argument as presented but I would point out that as buyers, if you expect to flip the books immediately, then there must be decent connections to that  FMV market readily available or you wouldn't buy any of them. So, buyers have entered a business model that relies on sellers being kind of desperate, which I'm not. I would think that marvel collection from 67-74 were in general pretty good stuff to have in decent shape

I would not want to be in a business flipping comics or houses or antiques in general unless I was willing to hold onto them for a long time but there's a lot of glee here when someone really scores on someone else's efforts or perhaps necessity .  I own stocks and they have gone up extremely well in the last 8 years and currently I have no basis to think I want to sell them . Eight years ago, I would have been devastated to have been forced there.

 Comics are different and it's simply the case that they don't age well. But there's a reality here on how they get monetized. First is paying to press something probably not worth pressing and then the fees for grading. A common book sells you the graders notes for five bucks. the AF15? That's fifteen bucks.  Why is that? A better pencil?  The system is structured to allow the barnacles on the hull to do quite well. I am continually fascinated by people slabbing books that bring a 2.0 and they weren't valuable to begin with. Slabs from the 1990's really? In actuality, I find the whole thing distasteful since I was simply a kid who loved Marvel superheros with feet of clay.  I am willing to pass that along to someone who would love them the same way if possible. 

But do try to keep in mind that the origin of this thread was "Collections drying up" with great mention of estate sales and old geezers coughing up stuff to be monetized but never cherished.  It's appears to be a big churn . I'll watch the WTB and kick in when I think it's worth it. I did that with the 129. I hope I can do it with the AF15 and a number of others . I would be interested if the 129 owner  will pipe up since his slab arrived there yesterday.  

[KEY ISSUES Comics]

Speaking for myself in my region only, I have to say that collections--complete collections of quality material--have dried up, or at least are more difficult to obtain due to increased competition. Everyone and their grandmother thinks they're a dealer these days. Flippers are everywhere now due to the increased awareness. 

Also, there are fewer collections being 'made' these days. Younger people with money are buying select keys and hype books that they in turn attempt to flip. They're not building runs and true collections like the generations that preceded them. Therefore, they have to much lose short term by selling to dealers because they haven't held onto these keys/hot books long enough for them to appreciate enough to the point where they are willing to settle for 50-70% of current FMV. Instead they sell them directly to the end user. 

Having said that, I think many small-time dealers will likely close-up shop in the years to come as the movie hype era dies down. Every character will have appeared in a movie and/or TV series before long and prices will reach a sort of equilibrium and there will be fewer opportunities for breakout issues for flippers to capitalize upon.

That's just my gut instinct. I could be completely wrong about this. What do you folks think?

Edited June 17, 2017 by KEY ISSUES Comics

[Glassman10]

33 minutes ago, KEY ISSUES Comics said:

Speaking for myself in my region only, I have to say that collections--complete collections of quality material--have dried up, or at least are more difficult to obtain due to increased competition. Everyone and their grandmother thinks they're a dealer these days. Flippers are everywhere now due to the increased awareness. 

Also, there are fewer collections being 'made' these days. Younger people with money are buying select keys and hype books that they in turn attempt to flip. They're not building runs and true collections like the generations that preceded them. Therefore, they have to much lose short term by selling to dealers because they haven't held onto these keys/hot books long enough for them to appreciate enough to the point where they are willing to settle for 50-70% of current FMV. Instead they sell them directly to the end user. 

Having said that, I think many small-time dealers will likely close-up shop in the years to come as the movie hype era dies down. Every character will have appeared in a movie and/or TV series before long and prices will reach a sort of equilibrium and there will be fewer opportunities for breakout issues for flippers to capitalize upon.

That's just my gut instinct. I could be completely wrong about this. What do you folks think?

well, i think it all went down hill when the Mom's of America stopped throwing all this stuff out when decontaminating Junior's room. That's what happened to my comics from the golden age. I was 1000 miles from home before I kicked in again in a mom proof closet. At this point everything from the '80's on have to be 9.6 to sell at all. So, that needs a slab and many think it needs a press. The reality is that thee's a bazillion copies out there. My AF15? One of about 110 at a 5.0.

Full collections would be tough. I remember when the Silver Surfer #4 failed to show up at the bus depot. I couldn't find it in Albuquerque either. So, I never had Thor and SS fighting over parking places or whatever. Low distribution I was told.  At that time recall that if you had marvel subscriptions, they indeed showed up every month- folded. Nice touch.  The number of dealers will be determined by demand and mark up plus at least an ounce of passion. In the art world, galleries are closing left and right as the people who collected in the '60's and '70's are trying to downsize, not get more. And candidly the internet has changed everything in marketing as well as total lack of trust.  (Read :"I'm not a professional grader but...). Googling virtually anything these days turns up some product. I was at Amazon yesterday and went for bee keeping outfits. There were no less than 30 entries. I would not want to do brick and mortar based on that. Comic Cons are a direct way to sell indeed. Holding the book in your hands is real.  But flipping books from the '90's and newer? I think you'd be better off flipping forever stamps from the post office. 

[Bookery]

On 6/15/2017 at 1:22 PM, 01TheDude said:

it is weird to hear known dealers refer to other buyers as flippers. Isn't that pretty much what dealers are and have been since the get go?

No.  Now... I've nothing against flippers... in fact I couldn't exist without them in today's market, as the majority of my collector sales are to flippers and dealers.  But they are not technically the same thing.  As a dealer, I've invested over half-a-million dollars in downtown real estate, and much more in upgrades, repairs, and renovations.  I pay $10,000 per year in property taxes.  I collect and send to the state tens of thousands of more dollars per year in sales taxes.  I have employed dozens of people over the decades.  Flippers are generally solo-agents, and I don't know of a single one that pays a penny in taxes on their earnings.  A dealer is part of a community, which, I know, in the age of all-internet all-the-time is pretty much meaningless anymore.  Dealers are generally in it for the long haul, if they can survive.  It's a career.  Most flippers have other jobs.  Often they do this only for a few years and then move on.  Both transact comics, and both are useful to the hobby, but they are not the same animal.

[Bookery]

On 6/15/2017 at 10:10 PM, SteppinRazor said:

My response is to question how much their time is worth. 

So few people ever take this into account.  I have a flea market dealer who has bought from me for years.  He will often buy a book for $100, and gets excited when he flips it for $110.  He can't stand to hold onto anything.  If it doesn't move within 2 weeks, he'll turn it over for a loss.  I actually rather regret selling him good books, because he won't make the effort to make something more substantial from them.  He never has more than $200 - $300 to spend, because his profit margin never lets him build on his available funds.  The books I sell him could bring $150 for that $100 with just a bit of effort, or more in the case of bulk items he buys cheaply.  To top it off... he drives a round trip of 2 hours to get here, so he actually loses money on travel costs.  But it makes him happy, so I shouldn't care, I guess.  But unfortunately for me, he will never build over time into being able to acquire larger deals.

[Bookery]

On 6/16/2017 at 10:56 AM, Aweandlorder said:

I had a couple of cats that drove from Dayton Ohio to NY to sell their dads collection... if you're location is not promising for selling comics it's probably not a bad idea to travel to a location where a big con is being held. You'll probably be able to sell a decent collection there for good coin 

Odd... the collection was never offered to me, and we're one of the largest shops in the world.  There's also a large shop in Northern Kentucky you'd have thought they would have tried as well, before hauling them that many miles.  (However, to be honest... I'm not sure how excited I'd get over Star Wars.  Half a dozen issues sell instantly... the rest sit here with multiple copies in stock).  There seems to be an odd fact with comic collections... really good stuff... golden-age rarities, prime books, etc., will often just be sold for a fraction of their worth to the nearest small dealer available (esp. true with estate collections, where the owners don't bother to know what their relative collected, or what it's worth).  Then the folks with very little, or at least fairly routine collections, will spend big $$$ traveling all over trying to eek out top-dollar, or refusing to believe dealer after dealer who explains what they have isn't worth that much.

[bighairjer]

4 hours ago, Glassman10 said:

It is a very good summation  and I don't disagree a whole lot with the argument as presented but I would point out that as buyers, if you expect to flip the books immediately, then there must be decent connections to that  FMV market readily available or you wouldn't buy any of them. So, buyers have entered a business model that relies on sellers being kind of desperate, which I'm not. I would think that marvel collection from 67-74 were in general pretty good stuff to have in decent shape

I would not want to be in a business flipping comics or houses or antiques in general unless I was willing to hold onto them for a long time but there's a lot of glee here when someone really scores on someone else's efforts or perhaps necessity .  I own stocks and they have gone up extremely well in the last 8 years and currently I have no basis to think I want to sell them . Eight years ago, I would have been devastated to have been forced there.

 Comics are different and it's simply the case that they don't age well. But there's a reality here on how they get monetized. First is paying to press something probably not worth pressing and then the fees for grading. A common book sells you the graders notes for five bucks. the AF15? That's fifteen bucks.  Why is that? A better pencil?  The system is structured to allow the barnacles on the hull to do quite well. I am continually fascinated by people slabbing books that bring a 2.0 and they weren't valuable to begin with. Slabs from the 1990's really? In actuality, I find the whole thing distasteful since I was simply a kid who loved Marvel superheros with feet of clay.  I am willing to pass that along to someone who would love them the same way if possible. 

But do try to keep in mind that the origin of this thread was "Collections drying up" with great mention of estate sales and old geezers coughing up stuff to be monetized but never cherished.  It's appears to be a big churn . I'll watch the WTB and kick in when I think it's worth it. I did that with the 129. I hope I can do it with the AF15 and a number of others . I would be interested if the 129 owner  will pipe up since his slab arrived there yesterday.  

Piping up as I am the lucky purchaser of one his 129s.  I've seen a few of Pete's books including the AF, and they are sharp.  Hopefully he'll start a kudos thread because he is a great guy to  work with.  Waiting for the epic sales thread 

[Glassman10]

well thanks for that. I am somewhat computer challenged and have yet to figure out how to post from either a scan or a phone. At this point I'm pleased if I can send an email. 

[spreads]

4 hours ago, Bookery said:

So few people ever take this into account.  I have a flea market dealer who has bought from me for years.  He will often buy a book for $100, and gets excited when he flips it for $110.  He can't stand to hold onto anything.  If it doesn't move within 2 weeks, he'll turn it over for a loss.  I actually rather regret selling him good books, because he won't make the effort to make something more substantial from them.  He never has more than $200 - $300 to spend, because his profit margin never lets him build on his available funds.  The books I sell him could bring $150 for that $100 with just a bit of effort, or more in the case of bulk items he buys cheaply.  To top it off... he drives a round trip of 2 hours to get here, so he actually loses money on travel costs.  But it makes him happy, so I shouldn't care, I guess.  But unfortunately for me, he will never build over time into being able to acquire larger deals.

There's a big local dealer like that here (although big might be more based-on quantity then quality) that did that to me a few years ago.  I was the second guy to contact a seller that had a number of keys for my collection, one being a beater copy of ASM 129 I needed.  This dealer scooped this book away from me while I wanted to add it to a pile of my books I did manage to buy, I found out after he told me he flipped for a minimal profit.  I probably would have paid his premium even knowing he snuck it out from me, meanwhile thinking, why would you go to that effort and cost for such little gain?  And he barely got this book from me (last minute arrival at the buyer's home), from what I know of his inventory he doesn't have that large of a bankroll - probably a result of these types of transactions.

[Glassman10]

The main thing that separates the wealthy from the poor in this country is bankroll, inheritance, whatever you want to call it.  It is clear to me that it takes money to make money and apparently money is the thing to be pursued in life. That fails to offer much consolation at 67 for whatever reason while being assessed as just an estate target. . Money won't make the trip across the river Styx easier. Kindness might. I cannot believe how fast the trip from a kid to an old man was.  Be kind, really.  Now? I need to go mow 14 acres. 

Edited June 17, 2017 by Glassman10

[Glassman10]

4 hours ago, bighairjer said:

.  Hopefully he'll start a kudos thread because he is a great guy to  work with.  Waiting for the epic sales thread 

See, I hardly know what that thread is and it seems to be a 60 some page cattle call. I have no notion of where a little collector turned minor seller fits in there.  The same holds true on Ebay. Without tons of sales, your credibility is suspect no matter what. So, the CGC monetizer becomes the arbiter.  The bulk of what I have can't justify slabs but it doesn't mean it's junk at all. 

[piper]

12 minutes ago, Glassman10 said:

See, I hardly know what that thread is and it seems to be a 60 some page cattle call. I have no notion of where a little collector turned minor seller fits in there.  The same holds true on Ebay. Without tons of sales, your credibility is suspect no matter what. So, the CGC monetizer becomes the arbiter.  The bulk of what I have can't justify slabs but it doesn't mean it's junk at all. 

Stop your kvetching and start a sales thread. You might be surprised at how well you do. 

[SteppinRazor]

9 hours ago, KEY ISSUES Comics said:

 

Also, there are fewer collections being 'made' these days. Younger people with money are buying select keys and hype books that they in turn attempt to flip. They're not building runs and true collections like the generations that preceded them.

I agree that there aren't run collections being made these days, just collections of keys, but I don' think everyone doing that is a flipper.  It may seem like that because it seems a lot of boardies are , but just because someone is building a value based collection rather than a collection of contiguous story, they aren't by nature flippers.

[SteppinRazor]

1 hour ago, Glassman10 said:

The main thing that separates the wealthy from the poor in this country is bankroll, inheritance, whatever you want to call it.  It is clear to me that it takes money to make money and apparently money is the thing to be pursued in life. That fails to offer much consolation at 67 for whatever reason while being assessed as just an estate target. . Money won't make the trip across the river Styx easier. Kindness might. I cannot believe how fast the trip from a kid to an old man was.  Be kind, really.  Now? I need to go mow 14 acres. 

true words.  It's amazing how culture has been directed by those who benefit by people valuing money and things.

9 hours ago, Glassman10 said:

wIn the art world, galleries are closing left and right as the people who collected in the '60's and '70's are trying to downsize, not get more. And candidly the internet has changed everything in marketing as well as total lack of trust.  (Read :"I'm not a professional grader but...). Googling virtually anything these days turns up some product. I was at Amazon yesterday and went for bee keeping outfits. There were no less than 30 entries. I would not want to do brick and mortar based on that. Comic Cons are a direct way to sell indeed. Holding the book in your hands is real.  But flipping books from the '90's and newer? I think you'd be better off flipping forever stamps from the post office. 

 

Off topic for here, but I think I'm glad the galleries are dying.  They've always felt like leeches to me, an unnecessary, made up go-between separating artist and art lover.  And the self justification as arbiters of taste and determiners of vailidity is a big reason the general attitude Americans have toward art as frivolous and pompous.

 

1 hour ago, Glassman10 said:

See, I hardly know what that thread is and it seems to be a 60 some page cattle call. I have no notion of where a little collector turned minor seller fits in there.  The same holds true on Ebay. Without tons of sales, your credibility is suspect no matter what. So, the CGC monetizer becomes the arbiter.  The bulk of what I have can't justify slabs but it doesn't mean it's junk at all. 

You start a thread and people post their experiences buying from you (hopefully, I haven't had too much luck getting feedback).  Online sales carry inherent risk (really any time you spend money you take a risk someone is swindling you, even if it's face to face), and you gotta start somewhere.  You've got at least one happy customer

[Artboy99]

13 hours ago, namisgr said:

You guys looking to buy collections don't try hard enough.  

I have a collection of over 2000 books bought off the rack from 1972-'76 and 1981-'85 that I began selling off about 9 years ago - posted many times about it in numerous sales threads.  Since the collection was started when I was 17 years old, the books were read carefully and for the most part are in really good shape - for example, the Hulk #180 wound up in a 9.8 slab.  In all that time, I've had a grand total of one board member dealer/collector come and look at the material.  Yes, over the past 7 years I've had the handful of major keys slabbed and sold off, but before doing that not a single dealer contacted me looking to consider buying the collection.

And the lone dealer who's seen the collection, now without the major keys, decided to buy it, as I part with it one longbox at a time.

Now you have added more gaps that need to be included in the great analysis made by SteppinRazor.

The first is Knowledge gap. I can't make offers or even look at the collection namisgr is selling because I had no knowledge of it.

The second is research gap. I might have learned of the namisgr collection had I devoted more time to searching and reading the forums and other sources to collect the information.

This leads directly to the next gap which is the Time gap. Devoting more time to research would increase the knowledge but time is a finite parameter as there is only a finite amount of time that can be associated to research. Time can also be said to have a significant cost as per the theorem Time = $. Therefore $ attributed to time is dependant on the next gap.

The 4th gap is the budget gap. How much of the $ a potential buyer has to put towards time and we can at this point add in the cost of the comics both individually and per longbox  or per collection depends entirely on how much the potential buyer has budgeted for the purchase and the time it takes to do research which enhances the knowledge. How much a buyer can budget for purchasing is influenced by a further gap.

The Quality gap. the namisgr collection would seem to be a collection of quality as an example single book has procured the highly desired 9.8 grade. Therefore the budget in this case would need to increase as opposed to a collection of what can be called drek would be valueless as per the discussion in a different part of this thread and would require no budget as it could be obtain for no $.

A 6th gap that needs to be addressed is the location gap. It can be argued had I been in the right place at the right time I could be that buyer that obtained some of the namisgr collection but location is vast and namisgr and I are separated by multiple thousands of miles.

This analysis can lead to additional gaps.

[porcupine48]

you said 'gap' so many times I started to giggle...teehee!