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share your personal philosophy, approaches for purchases, offers etc..
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67 posts in this topic

Recently I had an email back and forth with a new collector.  He had mentioned that he was interested in possibly purchasing items on my CAF that were marked NFS.  I explained that those items were really not for sale and that if he was really interested he needed to make a great offer.

he came back to me asking for guidance? what is a great offer? what is the starting point? what did I want for the art?

I couldn't help but smile -because I had experienced the same type of confusion when starting to collect art. I am sure many of us here have. I decided to share my thoughts on this situation as well as thoughts about buying and selling in general with the new collector. After doing this, I realized that my approach/philosophy on this topic may or may not be typical for other collectors. Hence this thread. Would love to hear your thoughts/philosophies on this topic.

Here is what I told him.

When I am actively selling art - I think it's fair that I put a price on it.  Usually when I am selling its to fund raise for other art - so I know what I need and I pick art to sell that can help me get there. 

On the other hand, art that is marked NFS - I do not have a selling price for. A buyer would have to make an offer and I would then have to contemplate it.  So what is the right price to offer he asked me?

My response was -check dealer sites and do tracking bids on auctions for a while to learn prices or price trends.   That would be a good start.

One of the things I noticed new collectors do when they make a blind offer is to do so without any comparison.   For example - if you make an offer for $X - you need to look around at art for sale at dealer sites,etc.. and see what that $X buys you. Then when making the offer ask - is that item at the same level, better or worse than other things at that price ($X). if the item that is NFS is way better (example -better artist, characters, series..etc..) than what is for sale on the market - your offer is likely too low. 

Sometimes there are no recent comps for an item you are looking to make an offer on.  One observation, that may or may not be true is that for some artists/series -the market value is low -so owners of the art don't make the art publicly available. In such cases - the only way to get this art is to make what might seem like above market prices.  I recall being interested in some art once and the CAF member expressed to me that -there was no point selling since the presumed value was too low to make them want to part with the art. If I really wanted the art - I would have had to make a crazy offer above what might be reasonable for a like item to fetch at auction.

From the sellers point of view - if you ever wondered if you should sell a piece of art ( speaking about significant amounts here) - here is a lesson I learned from Felix Lu via his recent podcast.  In that episode, Felix said something that I really loved. For those who didn't listen , this was where Felix got an offer for a piece of art he owned but didn't sell the art -saying that most likely - he was the crazy guy who would spend at least as much as the offer or more if that same item came to auction again.  So if you are the crazy guy that would pay the higher price for your art today - keep the art. ha ha.

Feel free to tear my thoughts apart - but more so, please consider sharing your personal views on decision making for buying, selling, making offers, and so forth.

 

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51 minutes ago, Panelfan1 said:

Recently I had an email back and forth with a new collector.  He had mentioned that he was interested in possibly purchasing items on my CAF that were marked NFS.  I explained that those items were really not for sale and that if he was really interested he needed to make a great offer.

he came back to me asking for guidance? what is a great offer? what is the starting point? what did I want for the art?

I couldn't help but smile -because I had experienced the same type of confusion when starting to collect art. I am sure many of us here have. I decided to share my thoughts on this situation as well as thoughts about buying and selling in general with the new collector. After doing this, I realized that my approach/philosophy on this topic may or may not be typical for other collectors. Hence this thread. Would love to hear your thoughts/philosophies on this topic.

Here is what I told him.

When I am actively selling art - I think it's fair that I put a price on it.  Usually when I am selling its to fund raise for other art - so I know what I need and I pick art to sell that can help me get there. 

On the other hand, art that is marked NFS - I do not have a selling price for. A buyer would have to make an offer and I would then have to contemplate it.  So what is the right price to offer he asked me?

My response was -check dealer sites and do tracking bids on auctions for a while to learn prices or price trends.   That would be a good start.

One of the things I noticed new collectors do when they make a blind offer is to do so without any comparison.   For example - if you make an offer for $X - you need to look around at art for sale at dealer sites,etc.. and see what that $X buys you. Then when making the offer ask - is that item at the same level, better or worse than other things at that price ($X). if the item that is NFS is way better (example -better artist, characters, series..etc..) than what is for sale on the market - your offer is likely too low. 

Sometimes there are no recent comps for an item you are looking to make an offer on.  One observation, that may or may not be true is that for some artists/series -the market value is low -so owners of the art don't make the art publicly available. In such cases - the only way to get this art is to make what might seem like above market prices.  I recall being interested in some art once and the CAF member expressed to me that -there was no point selling since the presumed value was too low to make them want to part with the art. If I really wanted the art - I would have had to make a crazy offer above what might be reasonable for a like item to fetch at auction.

From the sellers point of view - if you ever wondered if you should sell a piece of art ( speaking about significant amounts here) - here is a lesson I learned from Felix Lu via his recent podcast.  In that episode, Felix said something that I really loved. For those who didn't listen , this was where Felix got an offer for a piece of art he owned but didn't sell the art -saying that most likely - he was the crazy guy who would spend at least as much as the offer or more if that same item came to auction again.  So if you are the crazy guy that would pay the higher price for your art today - keep the art. ha ha.

Feel free to tear my thoughts apart - but more so, please consider sharing your personal views on decision making for buying, selling, making offers, and so forth.

 

I think I would have started off and told the collector that NFS sometimes means exactly that. So, I would probably start off and ask the owner if there were any chance at all if he would sell it. If he doesn't respond, which is likely, then I wouldn't have to bother about formulating a price. And yes, of course you have to check comparables.

I would probably figure on spending at least 50% over market price, adjusted by actual dollars. So, maybe more if it is worth less than $1K, and maybe less if in the range I don't buy stuff. Since you are trying to get something a person doesn't want to sell, I would probably shoot with a really high offer right from the beginning to impress the potential seller I was serious. Otherwise, he may not respond.

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I think sometimes people who enquire do not want to put out an offer not because they are uninformed but because they are fishing for bargains.  I had a couple of instances (item NFS, approached, replied please make me an offer, reply back please give me guidance) when my answer was:  well the item is NFS.  What I know is that I would not sell for sure for X [market value] but will sell for sure at Y [market value plus premium - premium size depending on how attached I am to the piece].  Anything in between I can't promise, will consider it.  In all these cases, the guy never even replied.

Carlo

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2 hours ago, Carlo M said:

I think sometimes people who enquire do not want to put out an offer not because they are uninformed but because they are fishing for bargains.  I had a couple of instances (item NFS, approached, replied please make me an offer, reply back please give me guidance) when my answer was:  well the item is NFS.  What I know is that I would not sell for sure for X [market value] but will sell for sure at Y [market value plus premium - premium size depending on how attached I am to the piece].  Anything in between I can't promise, will consider it.  In all these cases, the guy never even replied.

Carlo

I almost never approach anyone who posts NFS on their site because I take it for what it means: not for sale. The few times I have, it is generally with a predicate along these lines: "I know you posted NFS, but since you wrote that, is it possible you might have changed your mind?" Otherwise, I would feel like a jerk--the person is offering a free pleasure to the public by letting people see the OA, and I am trying to take advantage of his/her generosity.

Why not just leave it blank, which I have also seen? In those cases, I am much more willing to make an approach. 

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On the other hand, the handful of occasions where I've enquired about stuff marked-up as NFS and have been invited to make a worthwhile offer, I've done the leg-work researching FMV and have pitched offers over-and-above the norm.  The way I figure it, if you're seriously interested in a piece of art then you have to put your money where your mouth is and make a serious offer.  Talk is cheap.

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4 hours ago, Carlo M said:

I think sometimes people who enquire do not want to put out an offer not because they are uninformed but because they are fishing for bargains.  I had a couple of instances (item NFS, approached, replied please make me an offer, reply back please give me guidance) when my answer was:  well the item is NFS.  What I know is that I would not sell for sure for X [market value] but will sell for sure at Y [market value plus premium - premium size depending on how attached I am to the piece].  Anything in between I can't promise, will consider it.  In all these cases, the guy never even replied.

Carlo

I seem to get a lot of bargain hunters, asking ME to come up with a price on my art that's NFS.  which is when i look at my WWCLD braclet and give them a price 5x FMV.

Edited by Pete Marino
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Coincidentally this very subject was on my mind last night. Here's a message I got two days ago:

Dear vodou,

An anonymous Heritage client has made an offer of $1,631 ($1,467.90 after Heritage's commission of *10% ($40 minimum per lot)) on the following item (which our records indicate you currently own).

Our records indicate that on June 2nd, 2013 you bought the item for $1,254.75 from Heritage Auctions. If you accept, you will receive 17% more than what you originally paid.

You are responsible for the cost of safely transporting and insuring the item to Heritage’s Dallas office. If the item is fragile or requires special shipping, you are encouraged to employ the services of a specialty shipper in your area.

Important: The item being sold must be in the same condition as when it was purchased from Heritage. In the case of certified items, the item must reside in the original certification holder and/or be accompanied by all letters/certificates of authenticity.

You have 72 hours to anonymously Reject Instantly | Accept or Counter the offer.

You can also set asking prices and minimum offers, flag this item as Not Taking Offers or Not Mine so that you won’t receive any further offers, or Disable All Offers for your account, and turn them back on at any time from your My Collection home page.



 

Click to view item listing. Journey into Fear #2 Complete 9-Page Story "Night Screams" Original Art (Superior Publishers, 1951). Who would steal the corpse of a slain stranger from the crude g...



How do I opt-out of offers, or what if I don't own this?
You can disable offers globally or individually for any item in your My Collection that was sold by Heritage at auction.

*What is this?
Heritage clients now have the opportunity to make an anonymous offer to the owner of items purchased at auction from Heritage, through our Auction Results Archives. Heritage manages the transaction, maintaining privacy for both parties. Acceptance of an offer by owner/seller represents agreement with the terms and conditions of sale, including Heritage's 10% commission ($40 minimum per lot) (compared with a 12%-25% Buyer's Premium charged on auction transactions), which will be deducted from the payment. This service is free to the buyer (no buyer's premium), includes a 7 day return policy on non-graded items, protects the identity of both parties, and allows offers and counter-offers. The item being sold must be in the same condition as when it was purchased from Heritage. In the case of certified items, the item must reside in the original certification holder and/or be accompanied by all letters/certificates of authenticity. The owner will receive payment for items sold within 30 days of Heritage's receipt of the item. Because no Buyer's Premium is charged on Make Offer to Owner transactions, auction consignment discount coupons are invalid. Because of the minimum $40 commission per lot, all items previously sold for under $500 will show as 'Not Taking Offers' unless changed by the owner. To activate Make Offer buttons on all of your purchases under $500, click here.



Heritage Client Services
3500 Maple Ave. 17th Floor
Dallas, TX 75219-3941
MakeOfferArchive@HA.com
1-877-HERITAGE (437-4824)

Now, because I intentionally buy stuff I like and other people want*, I get these anonymous offers through HA regularly. Rarely are they worth the trouble, but more rarely are they this ridiculous. Here's the pertinent info, my bold/underline, from above:

An anonymous Heritage client has made an offer of $1,631 ($1,467.90 after Heritage's commission of *10% ($40 minimum per lot)) on the following item (which our records indicate you currently own).
Our records indicate that on June 2nd, 2013 you bought the item for $1,254.75 from Heritage Auctions. If you accept, you will receive 17% more than what you originally paid.

Some backstory: I bought this lot five years ago, at a time when a lot of this material was hitting the market. Somebody was liquidating a huge stash and, as is often the case, the "dump" was not being managed very well (in terms of maximizing return). It's all there in HA archives, for all to see, tons of it going up in every Sunday night HA sale. However, the lot I won, this story in particular had better content throughout (not just the splash), better than most and on that basis I paid up for it. I paid up at a time when the market was saturated, doing so with the expectation of enjoying a superior full story for myself and taking maximum gain back out of the market later on too.

Here we are today, five years later, and there is very little material of this sort on the market. The bulk hoard was completely absorbed and it's NFS on CAF or off-market and out of the public eye. Exactly as I (hoped for and) expected. So...I put my "risk" out there, $1300 is not peanuts in the real world world outside "collectibles", and bought five years ago, making a speculative bet that something I thought was pretty cool would appear the same way in the future but to more people with more money than were ready to go that day.

Would anybody reading this now be tempted, even a wee bit by the prospect of making 17% more than they paid...less shipping/insurance both ways? More importantly, for those of us doing this frequently and with fervor...would a "flip" even one day after you bought something for...(wait for it)...$213.15 ever move the needle in hobby where $200 gets you...nearly nothing unless you're prowling FelixArt.com for stuff that's not "hot" and might be overlooked (but not particularly undervalued!) Would anybody make this deal, as a blind offer and not under duress of proactively trying to sell to meet another financial need? Oh puh-LEAZE.

So, assuming there's a good chance the party making the offer may be active around here, sorry to all over you but my response could only have been "decline" or "counter-offer". I chose counter-offer and...$6800 (less to me due to HA and transportation friction). That's what it would take "today" to pry my pre-Code complete 9 page horror story with above average content throughout away. Tomorrow, unless I'm BUH-ROKE!, it will probably be an even higher number. Not because I'm greedy but because...it's NFS. And my goal was always to be amply rewarded for my superior eye and my confidence and willingness to invest in it.

This, all of the above, is what the newbie does not get, probably will never get without a lot of rejections first...17% ROI (pre-friction) over five years and/or $213 are a joke, essentially always, in a bull market that's there for all to see. They and maybe even experienced folks on this board too also may not understand the underlying friction too, what looks like a +33% offer is not that at all. It's not even +17%

 

*I'm not stupid; I know I need to sell all this stuff one day hopefully into a desperate and willing seller's market. My tastes are broad enough that I should be able to pull that off, even in size, and turn a inflation-beating gain too. There is a lot more supply than demand, in niches, yet to flipped the other way around. Or at least there was, not so sure about that for things being bought "now".

Edited by vodou
clarity
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3 hours ago, The Voord said:

"You initiated discussions and as I wasn't looking to sell anything in the first instance, I don't feel the onus is on me to price-up art I don't particularly want to part with.  As I said from the beginning, feel free to make a strong offer - and I can't be any fairer than that.  Worse case scenario is that I say no to you," I concluded.

This...too kind. His lack of "comfort" with the idea, that already identified clearly that he was done lol

My approach used to be similar to yours, basically "feel free to wow me", and then...cripes...my bluff was called several times as I was indeed wowed and found the pain of shipping the art out (and it's never coming back when you get 3-5x fmv) was not alleviated by a bigger number in my bank account. That's when I pulled everything down from CAF. I don't want offers. The end.

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I've never inquired about a piece marked NFS, but I have had people contact me.  I've sold a few items that way as well.

Typically, my response has been something like, "Not really looking to sell it, but I could let it go for (insert "no regrets" price here)".   

Basically, pick a number (however crazy/high it might be) that you wouldn't really be able to refuse.  Who cares if it's not in line with comps?  Maybe comps are $1000.  You wouldn't sell at 1K.  Would you turn down 2K?  3K?  5K?   Counter with the number that you can't pass up.  

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From another perspective:  Much of the 70/80s covers I own (and at least one key splash) were all CAF NFS or hidden away NFS in vault collections, often taking years to eventually acquire.  Sometimes by well above market cash offers and other times by locating, buying and trading to them key wants of theirs--including Romita Sr. ASM covers).  Routinely these efforts took 2-4 years, with many longer and the longest being almost 8 years (yes I really wanted that piece :) ).  Every once in a while it happened quickly because my timing was lucky and I asked the person at an opportune time for them to consider selling when they hadn't before.  

So to me as long as it's done politely/gentlemanly I don't see anything wrong with contacting collectors about NFS pieces (and neither did all those NFS sellers).  And I agree that you cannot contact someone about their NFS piece and then ask them to put a price on it.

Lastly, of course there were some NFS collectors that didn't want to even entertain the possibility and so I just moved on.

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51 minutes ago, Ironmandrd said:

From another perspective:  Much of the 70/80s covers I own (and at least one key splash) were all CAF NFS or hidden away NFS in vault collections, often taking years to eventually acquire.  Sometimes by well above market cash offers and other times by locating, buying and trading to them key wants of theirs--including Romita Sr. ASM covers).  Routinely these efforts took 2-4 years, with many longer and the longest being almost 8 years (yes I really wanted that piece :) ).  Every once in a while it happened quickly because my timing was lucky and I asked the person at an opportune time for them to consider selling when they hadn't before.  

So to me as long as it's done politely/gentlemanly I don't see anything wrong with contacting collectors about NFS pieces (and neither did all those NFS sellers).  And I agree that you cannot contact someone about their NFS piece and then ask them to put a price on it.

Lastly, of course there were some NFS collectors that didn't want to even entertain the possibility and so I just moved on.

Happened to me recently with a NFS piece of mine. I received the polite "Would you consider selling this?" I came back with the customary "What are you offering to pry it out of my collection?" And WOW, I got "Best if you provide me with a number. Every time I make an offer, I get no answer back from the prospective seller, and I would rather not go through the brain damage of coming up with one." So I did 5x FMV and that was the end of that.

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Great thread. I am new to all this and find the task of having to price a piece (to make an offer) on the secondary market daunting.  

I'll share my limited (one) experience:

In January, found a piece I wanted on CAF that was NFS and reached out to the owner  - asked if he'd entertain an offer. Was told "maybe" - that it wasn't a must-keep, but he wasn't looking to sell it for "yard sale" prices either. We left it that I'd get back to him in three months, once some cash inflows were resolved. In the meantime, I said, if someone made an offer or he found himself in need of selling...let me know. He got back to me little over two months later saying he was raising cash for a purchase and if I was still interested, he wanted $X. I had done my due diligence. Had already looked at Ebay and Comic Link (nothing on HA) and concluded, when the time came, I'd offer him approx 45% more than what I was seeing (recent) historical prices. In fact the pages I was basing my pricing on were action pages and this page was not, so hypothetically my premium was higher! Unfortunately, the price he wanted was almost 3x recent sales prices. So I offered him 2x historical pricing - still 28% less than his asking. He opted to put it up for sale on CAF instead and sure enough it sold for "pretty close to asking."

My thought process, at the time, was this. While I really loved the piece...1) it wasn't superior to examples I already owned and 2) I could use that money and allocate it to something better. The other side of the coin though was this...if it sold for what he was asking, if it ever turned up for sale in the future I'd have to pay even MORE to own! Or, even worse....maybe the new owner would vault it, never to be seen or sold again! 

It goes to show that when you're dealing with NFS art - "normal" sales data, through HA, Ebay, Comic Link, etc only hint at the direction you need to price the art in order to make a compelling offer.

 

Look forward to more dialogue on this topic,

Cheers!

 

 

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1 minute ago, Sideshow Bob said:

Happened to me recently with a NFS piece of mine. I received the polite "Would you consider selling this?" I came back with the customary "What are you offering to pry it out of my collection?" And WOW, I got "Best if you provide me with a number. Every time I make an offer, I get no answer back from the prospective seller, and I would rather not go through the brain damage of coming up with one." So I did 5x FMV and that was the end of that.

5x FMV seems to validate the experience I just posted about. 

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I think what makes most owners of art keep their guard up is when they get messaged out of the blue by strangers showing interest in their art. There's a good chance its a straw buyer acting on someone else's behalf. Oh it happens just as much as shill bidding. 

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Fun thread (as Dan’s usually are).

 

I have never sold via inquiries about my art listed as NFS. My entire collection is NFS and I get an occasional inquiry but not that many. I chalk it up to one of two things: my art is not that appealing beyond my taste, or my descriptions make it evident that I am primarily a collector and not looking to sell. It may be something else entirely. Either way, I don’t have to fend off a lot of these fishing expeditions.

 

I have inquired on NFS art quite a bit and have had several successes. There are 2 keys to getting art this way from my experience: be a good communicator and be prepared to pay a fair price (which is defined by BOTH the buyer and seller). I was the guy in the OP when I found this hobby. CAF had so much art that had me salivating (still does) and I sent a lot of inquiries that were probably not very well formed. I knew what I liked but didn’t know what it was worth or even what I would pay (other than a price too low). Once I learned the ropes, I started having more success. Some key learnings helped to develop a new approach:

 

I try to approach another collector in more than just a straight up “I want to buy your art” approach. For art that I really like, I have to assume that the current owner has extremely good taste and likely wants to keep the art as much or more than I want to acquire it. Be polite. Be patient. Be willing to accept no (at any price). I will often strike up a conversation about the art, their collection, what they are looking for, etc. If I get a vibe that they really love the art, I probably won’t even make an offer. I might offer that I would be interested if they decide to sell in the future. My goal is to leave every interaction with a piece of art, a new friend in the hobby, a new contact, or something else (learning all the time).

 

I enjoy the hobby quite a bit and have made a ton of friends – many who have art that I would love to own but don’t.

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34 minutes ago, dirtymartini1 said:

I think what makes most owners of art keep their guard up is when they get messaged out of the blue by strangers showing interest in their art. There's a good chance its a straw buyer acting on someone else's behalf. Oh it happens just as much as shill bidding. 

When I first started I didn' have a CAR gallery - I think that made it harder when making inquiries.  The other party doesn't know anything about me.  The first thing I do when I get any offer - is to check the other persons gallery to see what stuff they collect.  If they signed up to CAF for a while without posting - I am usually more hesitant to deal with them. In the other hand - dealing with guys who have a gallery that is still being updated - makes me feel more comfortable both as a buyer and a seller

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I've only been collecting art for a few years, but I did happen to score one piece on CAF that was NFS.  I reached out to the owner of the piece (which was a single page splash) and offered him 2x of what I paid for a DPS by the same artist (which I bought directly from the artist).  At the time, the owner of the piece said that he received another indication of interest that was 50% higher than my offer (i.e. 3x of what I paid for the DPS), but went on to say that he was inclined to keep the piece.  About a week or so later, I sent the owner a strong offer of 5x of what I paid for the DPS (I really wanted the piece)...that was enough for the owner to part with piece. Did I overpay?  Maybe, but the piece is hanging on my office wall & I love how it complements the other pieces in my collection.  

On another piece (which was a cover that was NFS), I did my research and found that covers for this particular artist were averaging ~1,250 (with a very tight stdev) at very recent auctions.  I offered the owner a 40% premium to the auction average...it was a fair offer, but nothing too crazy b/c I was looking to gauge interest.  He cordially declined, but in my response, I indicated that I would follow-up in few months.  In my subsequent follow-up, I upped my offer to just over 2x of the auction average...once again, he cordially declined.  

Basically, what I've learned is that if the piece is truly NFS, you'd better go big or go home.

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The SINGLE piece of art that got me into comic art collecting after a 10 absence, sits there staring at me, every damn day.  Big fat NFS on it, but I wonder if he means it??  How soon is too soon?  Is this locked in an Itoya instead of on my damn wall? Maybe they just don't like it in hand?  It happens, right?  RIGHT?

I believe approaching a NFS is fine...as such.

My philosophy on NFS is... don't ask if you don't have the obnoxious, well researched, number in mind you plan on paying ready and the funds immediately available.  It's okay to ask for a price, but expect to have the onus placed on you.  Don't waste others time.  NEVER be rude.  ALWAYS explain why this belongs with you. If no reply, try again.  If no reply, move on and give the owner peace. If we all just golden rule the process, everything works fine from what I've seen. 

NOW...TRADES!  WTF and how and why...I need a class on this.  Hard to find comps sometimes, asking valuations can get VERY skewed results, to deal with a dealer? (lose/lose?), who sends first, the process is simply frightening to even attempt initially.

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2 hours ago, williamhlawson said:

The SINGLE piece of art that got me into comic art collecting after a 10 absence, sits there staring at me, every damn day.  Big fat NFS on it, but I wonder if he means it??  How soon is too soon?  Is this locked in an Itoya instead of on my damn wall? Maybe they just don't like it in hand?  It happens, right?  RIGHT?

I believe approaching a NFS is fine...as such.

My philosophy on NFS is... don't ask if you don't have the obnoxious, well researched, number in mind you plan on paying ready and the funds immediately available.  It's okay to ask for a price, but expect to have the onus placed on you.  Don't waste others time.  NEVER be rude.  ALWAYS explain why this belongs with you. If no reply, try again.  If no reply, move on and give the owner peace. If we all just golden rule the process, everything works fine from what I've seen. 

Came here pretty much to say exactly this.  Without getting into a discussion of  "what does a grail mean/you can have only one, etc,"  there is a grail sitting on CAF, that one single piece out there in the wild that I covet (to clarify, I would value a handful of pieces in my own collection on a "higher" level grail to me personally - but on CAF, this is pretty much my one want).  

And like you, I have similar anxieties.  "How soon is too soon??"

And my philosophy is basically the same.  When you come, you should come correct.  The onus - and I was going to use that exact word - is on the buyer.  Be polite.  I feel sorry for some of the responses some of you have received.  People badgering gallery owners into coming up with a price, or saying they don't feel comfortable doing that.  Then don't inquire!  I feel like you better be willing to offer a figure or a trade piece that isn't an insult.  If not, you'll always be remembered to that seller as the guy looking for the bargain and you'll pretty much lose access to the piece you want (if you wanted it to begin with).  Or, at least, you'll have to fight to make up all the ground you lost by looking like a jerk.  

I've been pretty lucky.  I've been approached a few times and the people have always been very nice, and, in fact, I've had terrific conversations and made friends with some great collectors.  The last time I was contacted, it was pretty much textbook how you do it: he was polite, and offered a respectable price right up front.  Kudos to him.  One the other hand, I've only ever inquired on one piece (which was blank, and not NFS - and not FS either - I had just assumed he had forgotten to fill in the sale status) and we couldn't make it work.  No harm done.

So any piece that I inquire on - I will be prepared to pull the trigger and have the cash or trade at ready.  Basically, I look at it as a very different animal than a FS piece.  

 

 

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