share your personal philosophy, approaches for purchases, offers etc.. 2 2

[Rick2you2]

10 hours ago, gumbydarnit said:

I think one thing you have to consider in today market is today's high prices make collectors sell pieces that they bought without the intention to flip to acquire a larger piece. Often it gives the appearance of a flip, but it wasn't the initial intent.

I think you have to let pieces go knowing that they may not stay with the new owner very long. Selling and trading are the only way for many to stay active in the hobby and so the movement of pieces is something that has to be accepted, and once a piece is gone from my collection I don't fret if it is quickly traded or sold.. it is, after all, our currency. When a new art opportunity presents itself, and you don't have funds in your bank... you can make a withdrawal from your comic art collection.


 

That is exactly one of the things which happened during "Tulipmania", the great tulip bulb crash. Prices went so high that new buyers were essentially priced out of the market.

[PhilipB2k17]

My philosophy is to buy what I like, for a price I can afford. 

Mid I buy directly from an artist, I don’t haggle. I feel better about paying them directly. 

I have asked about a few NFS pieces on CAF. They were genuinely not for sale. Didn’t even get the “make me a crazy offer and I might consider it.”

I’ve had a couple of inquiries about one of my CAF pieces, that I politely declined to sell. 

I am not an art flipper. 

[Mr. Machismo]

A third of my collection is from “NFS” pieces. I see no harm in contacting someone, politely asking if they’d be interested in selling. If the status is listed as “Over my dead body” or the like, I’ll move along.

I’ve messaged people who declined, months later, and have had them sell. And not at an increased offer, they just changed their mind.

I’ve also sold a number of NFS pieces. While I appreciate all the pieces in my collection, there’s only a third I have zero interest in selling for large offers. The rest I am open to for the purpose of purchasing larger pieces in their place. I can only hang so much artwork, so I’m okay with moving those two panel pages to help purchase that one splash, sort of thing. A number of collectors have purchased their self-proclaimed grail from me because they decided to inquire about a NFS piece. I respect that. 

Now, what I don’t respect, as already mentioned by a number of you, is pestering someone who keeps firmly saying no, or inquiring about a NFS piece and refusing to submit an offer, of which I’ve had many people fade into the myst when asked to submit a number. 

[Mr. Machismo]

Regarding the sentiment that owners should list the status blank opposed to “NFS”, I’ve tried this and do not like it for a number of reasons. 

- It reduces comments. I post art to share because I enjoy reading what people think of the art, and I enjoy looking at others’ collections. When some people think you’re trying to make a dime, they won’t comment  

- It lowers the perceived value, both in my mind and in some others’. For me, I feel as though the piece in my possession is being rented until it finds a new home—psychologically I don’t like that. For others, they can see it listed blank for a year and think “that piece isn’t worth that much, look how it’s gone unwanted” and kill or hurt a potential deal.

Ultimately, I’m fine holding on to my stuff, I buy what >I< like, so if NFS means missing out on some sales that would allow me to purchase bigger pieces in their place, I’m OK with that.

I believe people are missing out on pieces they love, which they could have, if they politely inquired regardless of status, as a lot of people are willing to move that stuff despite what the listing says.

 

 

[BeholdersEye]

My philosophies as a buyer and seller via auction bidding, listed prices, "or best offer" solicitations vary.

First off, of course understanding the dynamics of the relationship between buyer and seller is adversarial in interests and goals by nature.  The seller wants to charge the most they can garner and the buyer wants to ideally pay the least amount possible.  However there's a middle ground where one side can waiver or appeasement is met.

What I find as a pet peeve as a seller is the question of "What's the lowest you'd sell this for?" which a retort to the buyer could reasonably be "What's the highest you're willing to pay?" 

Negotiations are tough and takes etiquette and tact, in my opinion.  Telling someone their prices are too high or making lowball offers with lots of wiggle room to go up isn't the best approach in my opinion.  When I make offers, I typically make my best offer which I'm willing to walk away from any counter-offers, unless it's so close and is within my stretch and I really want the item.  As a seller, if a person makes a fair offer near but below what I want, rather than counteroffer, I'd accept it. My usually communication to buyers who ask about offers is "make me an offer, I'll either say yes or no, guarantee I won't make a counteroffer nor accept an increased offer" as a just to be fair and not a hustler.  It's not the way a seller could, should or would traditionally approach a sale, but I'm not a professional by occupation seller, and once in a while people will inquire via CAF or other sources, and I'd like to be a straight shooter more so than appearing to nudge up pricing no matter what their offer is.  At the same time, I dislike dealing with bargain hunters on the cheap.  I'm always respectful in communication and polite declines.  Usually the line of "within my budget" or "what it's value to me" are nice personal touches to rationalize the offer as opposed to citing competing similar pieces sold or for sale.

In auction bidding, I have a friend who only bids at the last minute and, even though the opening bid would be an awesome deal or the current bid is a good price, he's of the mind set to not contribute to bidding wars and escalate prices.  He often forgets to follow up and bid, or auctions end at undesirable times he's busy or asleep.  Inherently, he loses out on a lot of deals as well as thing he would have been willing to pay more for than the auction end price.  I come from the mind set of an almost "set it and forget it" putting the most I'm willing to pay as my bid and letting destiny control my fate as winner or loser for many auctions.  Key or really expensive pieces, I'd come in at the end if I can, but if I know I might forget or could be busy, I'll just throw out my best offer and know if I lost, it went beyond what I was willing to pay.  I know what's no the best way to bid, but it's hard to be on edge for everything, so I'd rather pay a bit more for a piece within my price range than lose it trying to save a few bucks.

As buying, I also include all fees, whether auction premiums, sales tax, shipping, etc as the "all in" total I'm bidding and willing to pay, so never balk at seeing $35 for shipping comic art within the USA, if the total price is what I'm comfortable with.  I'm actually less comfortable seeing low or free shipping from independent sellers in fear of inferior packaging.  With places like Heritage as a good example, you have to figure if you're in a taxable state, with their buyer premiums you're paying 25-35% more than your bid amount, so when you bid $3k, you are going to possibly pay $4k.

For me when I see NFS, I take it as I would seeing a girl with a wedding ring on her finger, I assume it's not in good taste to approach and inquire.  It would have to be an extraordinary situation like a page from a book I'm trying to complete to get me to communicate interest, and even then I'd do it as a polite "If you're ever interested in selling or trading..." opening line.  Personally, I don't mind folks inquiring about NFS or making horrible offers or unprofessional comments, as I can easily just delete and not respond to them and they go away.  If an inquire is polite and professional, they always deserve a response, even if it's a rationalized decline but thank you.

[Madman1138]

This is actually a cool thread to hear everyone's different take on things, and all the different approaches and philosophies. So I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in the mix.

First, for my philosophies on how I buy and make contact when interested in art labeled as NFS. NFS is the default label on CAF uploads, so I have learned over the years to not take it as gospel. It might just be the default or legitimately might not be for sale, but I find it is always best to at least make contact, briefly introduce myself, and let them know that I am interested in that piece if they ever decide to let it go. So many times in my first 5-10 years of collecting there was a piece I really coveted that said NFS or something clever that implied it wasn't going to be available, so I wouldn't even try to contact. Then later I would see the piece in a different gallery on CAF with it's new owner and wish that I knew it was available or at least a possibility to make an offer. So rather than miss out because the potential seller doesn't know of my interest, I make sure they know. Sometimes I get a polite response saying that it is not likely to be sold anytime soon and other times they tell me they weren't looking to sell it but would for the right price. And surprisingly enough, in many of those cases they actually just gave me a price and I never had to make an offer. When I do make an offer it's based on CAF Market Data and auction data of my own that I keep (I screenshot a lot of auction results for my Art Comp files) and I give them my offer and back it up with my supporting facts that justify that. I do tend to start on the lower-end of the price range but try not to be insulting, especially when I know what they paid for it and when. But I know they will always counter at least once no matter what I offer, so I start lower. I do feel people out though and if I see them as only wanting my one best offer, I make it for the most I would pay and I walk away if I am told it is not enough. But if they seem like they will negotiate, I will always try to do that and just go back and forth for a while. But I will only pay what it is worth to me, so I never offer double FMV or anything. At best I will pay a bit over market or I just walk if the deal can't be made because there is always more art out there I'd love to have.

But if nothing else I met a new collector, made my interest known, and if not now maybe somewhere down the line if and when they decide to sell they will come back to me. I have had that happen so many times that it's crazy, so it definitely works. I hardly ever approach them with an offer outright as I hate making blind offers, just with my interest and we go from there.

If they have it for sale though, I prefer to have it priced rather than "inquire" or "make an offer." If it is really for sale, then price it. I don't even reach out to most of those, but I have had some success there too.

[Rick2you2]

On 4/13/2018 at 3:23 PM, BeholdersEye said:

For me when I see NFS, I take it as I would seeing a girl with a wedding ring on her finger, I assume it's not in good taste to approach and inquire.  It would have to be an extraordinary situation like a page from a book I'm trying to complete to get me to communicate interest,

I guess you don't mind getting in a little trouble...

Edited April 15, 2018 by Rick2you2