Pre Code small collection with very cool keys 0

[marmat]

I am in negotiation to buy a small collection of Pre Code comics (124 comics, mostly horror-sci fi)

90% of it is EC comics, average grade is around 4.0, and there are three very cool keys in it.

I asked the owner to give me a price for 26 books from the collection, but he said that he wants to sell them all in a single lot.

From a buyer perspective, it is fair to offer him 50% of the FMV? I made a search from ebay, GPA, MCS and Heritage and I came up with the FMV of the whole collection (more or less)

Should I offer him 50%? more? Less?

Also, he want me to make an offer, but I usually don't like to price books that are not mine. I usually prefere that is the owner to make the first pricing.

Any advice would be appreciated, since I have 0 experience buying a collection.

 

[GermanFan]

I negotiate with the guy too. So he is in a good position.

[marmat]

Does he ask fmv for it? 

[The Lions Den]

On ‎8‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 7:06 AM, marmat said:

I am in negotiation to buy a small collection of Pre Code comics (124 comics, mostly horror-sci fi)

90% of it is EC comics, average grade is around 4.0, and there are three very cool keys in it.

I asked the owner to give me a price for 26 books from the collection, but he said that he wants to sell them all in a single lot.

From a buyer perspective, it is fair to offer him 50% of the FMV? I made a search from ebay, GPA, MCS and Heritage and I came up with the FMV of the whole collection (more or less)

Should I offer him 50%? more? Less?

Also, he want me to make an offer, but I usually don't like to price books that are not mine. I usually prefere that is the owner to make the first pricing.

Any advice would be appreciated, since I have 0 experience buying a collection.

 

It's always reasonable to ask 50% of FMV. You have to start somewhere...you can always offer a bit more if you really want the books. Are they CGC certified? 

[Robot Man]

Sounds like a fun load. You say 90% EC. Other than a few "keys" "rarities" or very high grade, most of them usually sell fairly close to Overstreet. Other stuff is a different story depending. Is he a collector? Original owner? Dealer? I would say 50-60% Overstreet would be a fair price considering you have all the work and responsibility. You also have to get a little bit of a deal since you are taking all of them. Good luck and please post what you got if the deal goes through. 

[marmat]

Thanks for the comments. 

I offered him around 50% of fmv but he declined. 

His asking price is €15000 (euros), this is $18000.

$6000 over fmv so I passed

[marmat]

43 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

Sounds like a fun load. You say 90% EC. Other than a few "keys" "rarities" or very high grade, most of them usually sell fairly close to Overstreet. Other stuff is a different story depending. Is he a collector? Original owner? Dealer? I would say 50-60% Overstreet would be a fair price considering you have all the work and responsibility. You also have to get a little bit of a deal since you are taking all of them. Good luck and please post what you got if the deal goes through. 

I don't know the origin of the collection, I suspect that it is not an original owner. 

All comics are raw, most of them are cool but easy to find EC's, all gendrer, with three keys in the mix. 

But the owner is wat too optimistic about the price he think he can realize. 

[marmat]

54 minutes ago, The Lions Den said:

It's always reasonable to ask 50% of FMV. You have to start somewhere...you can always offer a bit more if you really want the books. Are they CGC certified? 

I was hoping to rise my offer, but when he told me the asking price I knew it was an impossible deal

[The Lions Den]

1 minute ago, marmat said:

I was hoping to rise my offer, but when he told me the asking price I knew it was an impossible deal

To me, no certification means no certainty of the grade (or anything else, for that matter). You made the correct decision, IMO...

[Artboy99]

2 hours ago, marmat said:

I was hoping to rise my offer, but when he told me the asking price I knew it was an impossible deal

yes sometimes it is best to walk away when you are both so far apart.

One comment:

It is possible he has books that have dramatically gone up in price and he may know about that increase. It can be very difficult to determine what FMV is.

An example is a copy of Beware 10. Look at current over street, then there is the price I know I would be able to get and it is significantly more. The prices for classic cover comics from the golden age have gone berserk. You mentioned it is mostly EC's, so if one of the books was a Crime Suspenstories 22 in VG, well that is a $2500 possibly $3000 or more book.

OR ( more likely )

He is just a guy who cant grade and valued his VG books at VF prices.

Edited August 3, 2018 by Artboy99

[thehumantorch]

13 minutes ago, marmat said:

Thanks for the comments. 

I offered him around 50% of fmv but he declined. 

His asking price is €15000 (euros), this is $18000.

$6000 over fmv so I passed

50% of fmv is a reasonable start.  I think you could safely go to 70% but you can't pay 30% above fmv.

Walk away, down the road he may reassess value and come down to earth.

[fifties]

2 hours ago, thehumantorch said:

50% of fmv is a reasonable start.  I think you could safely go to 70% but you can't pay 30% above fmv.

Walk away, down the road he may reassess value and come down to earth.

Exactly.  Let it season for a month, 6 weeks, then approach him again.  He may be softer by then.

[Robot Man]

You don’t say what the few “keys” are just that they are ECs. All but a few are very available in all grades. 50% of guide is fair for those. The “keys” have to be valued at a different level. Obviously worth more. Depending what these are and how bad you want them, I would probably pass. Chances are, he will shop them around with no sucess and call you back. If not, move on..

[marmat]

18 hours ago, Artboy99 said:

yes sometimes it is best to walk away when you are both so far apart.

One comment:

It is possible he has books that have dramatically gone up in price and he may know about that increase. It can be very difficult to determine what FMV is.

An example is a copy of Beware 10. Look at current over street, then there is the price I know I would be able to get and it is significantly more. The prices for classic cover comics from the golden age have gone berserk. You mentioned it is mostly EC's, so if one of the books was a Crime Suspenstories 22 in VG, well that is a $2500 possibly $3000 or more book.

OR ( more likely )

He is just a guy who cant grade and valued his VG books at VF prices.

There is one book that is really valuable, in the $3000-$4000 range.

And a very few others (maybe 5 or 6) that are nice and pretty valuable ($300-$500), but also a good number in Poor condition that are worth $5

 

 

[Artboy99]

1 hour ago, marmat said:

There is one book that is really valuable, in the $3000-$4000 range.

And a very few others (maybe 5 or 6) that are nice and pretty valuable ($300-$500), but also a good number in Poor condition that are worth $5

 

 

so definitely just an out to lunch seller.