Speculating for non-speculators 1 1

[slg343]

16 hours ago, TheFifthHorseman said:

I'm a bit of both of say. I love my GA and nobody will pry that stuff from my cold lifeless fingers.

But flipping books is quite...exhilirating. I've lost a little bit and have made a little bit flipping moderns and variants. Most of the time I break even.

I have pretty good taste so most of the covers I pick out do well. But that's just it - moderns are about the C O V E R S. Treat them like bartering chips...trading cards.

And dump 'em on someone else 

 

Edit: to add, I'd say you can expect that the QUALITY of your listing and the way you market yourself will affect the final value of a sale on eBay- probably by about 10-15% at least. I see people taking the most ridiculous pictures and writing the worst headlines.

They are your competition and if you can set yourself apart from them and stay ahead of the curve you can make some $$$

I am the guy with crappy Ebay headlines lol.  And I certainly lose about 10% to maybe 30% over more well written auctions with patients.  Although if I am hitting Ebay then it was my last resort to offload lots.  Everything else I sell under ebay prices outside of ebay.

Edited October 13, 2017 by slg343

[F For Fake]

23 hours ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

I think Batman and Spider-Man modern books that have come out in the last 20 years 1997-2017 might have some speculator value,not big value but a decent bet to return small profits for the commons ones,and maybe hit a few homeruns with any semi-keys/keys that Batman and Spider-Man have been involved in.

Also,their variant cover market also looks interesting.

The two characters are the flagship characters for Marvel and DC and I could see a decade from now their fans looking for the issues to complete runs or any keys they were in. Slow growth. 

 

I feel the same way, I always pick up high grade Batman main-title run books when I see them dirt cheap, because that is THE blue chip, flagship character. Someone out there is always going to be putting together runs of those characters.

[ComicConnoisseur]

I could see X-23's first appearance taking off like Harley Quinn. I am really surprised how many women like this character. That's what happened with Harley as her following grew.

[Artboy99]

I try to stick to things I like. It doesn't feel like speculating at all.

[lou_fine]

1 hour ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

I could see X-23's first appearance taking off like Harley Quinn. I am really surprised how many women like this character. That's what happened with Harley as her following grew.

What I find absolutely surprising is how much these 2 books are going for in today's marketplace, especially considering the thousands of copies that have been graded so far.  And with a good portion of them in uber high grade condition to boot. 

Not sure why, but I remember picking up a minty fresh copy of NYX 3 for something like $5 at a local con about 5 or 6 years ago.  Most definitely a borderline purchase at the time which I was going to pass on since the book was on the decline from its initial stage when it was once an ultra hot book.  Only decided to pick it up after the dealer agreed to taking a few dollars off his marked price. 

Also figured that I better go home with something or else my better half would complain that I wasted a few dollars going to a con and coming home with absolutely nothing to show for it. 

Edited October 14, 2017 by lou_fine

[Lazyboy]

On 10/12/2017 at 5:04 PM, lou_fine said:

On 10/12/2017 at 3:32 PM, TheFifthHorseman said:

On 10/12/2017 at 12:22 PM, 1Cool said:

why not use some knowledge and guessing to hopefully make more money then just buying key books and sitting on them for several years.

Agree 100%

Disagree 100% 

Unless you are able to day trade your books and miraculously time the shifting winds of the comic book market perfectly, it's just as easy to lose money on these highly speculative and hyped books as it is to make money on them. 

Maybe if you have no knowledge, perspective or insight into comics and the market or you're stupidly overpaying.

Every book I have truly speculated on has skyrocketed. I'm talking about a dozen or so issues that I was buying for <$5 (more like $1-3, usually) that I thought should be $30-ish, but the market was being stupid. Now those books are mostly $100+ because the current market is a different kind of stupid.

I do still have a single copy of each in my collection and those aren't going anywhere because I am a collector, but the only reason I bought extra copies was speculation.

[1Cool]

I find most speculators have switched over to doing modern books since it is getting hard to find an older book (especially 1st appearance) which have not shot up in prices already.

[CKinTO]

On 10/14/2017 at 2:04 PM, lou_fine said:

What I find absolutely surprising is how much these 2 books are going for in today's marketplace, especially considering the thousands of copies that have been graded so far.  And with a good portion of them in uber high grade condition to boot. 

Not sure why, but I remember picking up a minty fresh copy of NYX 3 for something like $5 at a local con about 5 or 6 years ago.  Most definitely a borderline purchase at the time which I was going to pass on since the book was on the decline from its initial stage when it was once an ultra hot book.  Only decided to pick it up after the dealer agreed to taking a few dollars off his marked price. 

Also figured that I better go home with something or else my better half would complain that I wasted a few dollars going to a con and coming home with absolutely nothing to show for it. 

Key differences I see between BA12 and NYX3

- BA12 was a comic adaptation of the animated series which was really targeted towards kids. Thus, it wasn't speculated on (or even picked up) by as many in the typical comic collector crowd (so less kept in high-grade)
- BA12 has 2100 books in the census in "high-grade" (636 / 907 / 601) in 9.4/9.6/9.8. NYX3 has 2800 (467/919/1382). NYX3 has a lot more in 9.8+ compared to BA12
- BA12 from 1993. NYX3 from 2004. Both still "modern", but BA12 now approaching 25 years old
- BA12 in 9.6 goes for mid-$700s, whereas NYX3 in 9.6 for for mid-$400s. BA12 in 9.8 goes for around $1500, NYX3 in 9.8 goes for around mid-$800s.
- While I'd say X-23 doesn't have the mainstream popularity of Harley yet (the Suicide Squad movie really helped push Harley to pop culture forefront), a solo X-23 movie could definitely help. Although now that the original Wolverine is coming back in continuity (he showed up in Marvel Legacy), not sure what it means medium-term for X-23 and the continuation of All-New Wolverine title

I personally think both books are in a bit of a lull right now price-wise and good times to buy, and are one of the few modern 1st appearance keys around that have real value (along with NM87 / NM98).
 

[Batman1fan]

My first and last speculation purchase was ten copies of Simpsons #1 when it first came out.  I sold them a couple years later for way less than I paid for them.  Lesson learned: I'm a way better collector than a speculator, and I never tried it again.  I haven't made any money on comics, but I haven't lost any more either.