Do We Have a "Whats Hot, Whats Not" Thread? 3 3

[marvelmaniac]

We had a dealer out to look at my Son's collection and his offer was low, however he did happen to mention a couple of books we had that are "hot" right now (What If 10, X-Men 129) that I was not aware of so I want to be sure there are not others I may be missing.

The majority of his collection is 80's - 90's.

[F For Fake]

Most of the individual era forums (Bronze, Copper, Modern) have a "....heating up" thread, like "Moderns Heating up on ebay", "Coppers Heating up on eBay", etc that can give you an idea of the flavor of the minute.

Edited October 15, 2019 by F For Fake

[theCapraAegagrus]

21 hours ago, F For Fake said:

Most of the individual era forums (Bronze, Copper, Modern) have a "....heating up" thread, like "Moderns Heating up on ebay", "Coppers Heating up on eBay", etc that can give you an idea of the flavor of the minute.

Exactly what I was gonna post.

[THE_BEYONDER]

21 hours ago, marvelmaniac said:

We had a dealer out to look at my Son's collection and his offer was low, however he did happen to mention a couple of books we had that are "hot" right now (What If 10, X-Men 129) that I was not aware of so I want to be sure there are not others I may be missing.

The majority of his collection is 80's - 90's.

What’s hot?  Any/all 1st appearances basically....

[Hollywood1892]

21 hours ago, marvelmaniac said:

We had a dealer out to look at my Son's collection and his offer was low, however he did happen to mention a couple of books we had that are "hot" right now (What If 10, X-Men 129) that I was not aware of so I want to be sure there are not others I may be missing.

The majority of his collection is 80's - 90's.

Sounds to me like some backhanded compliments if you ask me

I hate buyers/dealers like this

"Oh I'll offer you half of fair market value because I'm going to make a better return than a drug dealer but you got some hot stuff!"

[marvelmaniac]

1 hour ago, Hollywood1892 said:

Sounds to me like some backhanded compliments if you ask me

I hate buyers/dealers like this

"Oh I'll offer you half of fair market value because I'm going to make a better return than a drug dealer but you got some hot stuff!"

Half...???      

[Artboy99]

1 hour ago, Hollywood1892 said:

Sounds to me like some backhanded compliments if you ask me

I hate buyers/dealers like this

"Oh I'll offer you half of fair market value because I'm going to make a better return than a drug dealer but you got some hot stuff!"

Look at it from the perspective of the comic seller/ dealer.

Generally I think it is very fair to make an offer entirely based on the key/sellable books where after selling them you have made your money back and a little more. After that the rest sit in your boxes for years unless you sell them as dollar books or less and even then likely do not sell.

The definition of a key book or hot book can rapidly change. The mentioned What If 10: let's see what happens to that book 6 months after the movie is out. Likely no one will care. I personally don't care to buy it because I feel the window on it is so short I may not get my money back so the risk isn't worth it. I have acquired hot books, sent them to CGC for encapsulation and by the time I got the books back the value / desire of the book has fallen.

Books from the 80's-90's are from the most heavily printed era so they are very commonly found. After buying a few collections you will have most of them already do you want to buy more?

I think everyone needs to try being a comic seller at some local shows to gain some valuable perspective. You quickly learn how little value many comics actually have.

[F For Fake]

38 minutes ago, Artboy99 said:

Look at it from the perspective of the comic seller/ dealer.

Generally I think it is very fair to make an offer entirely based on the key/sellable books where after selling them you have made your money back and a little more. After that the rest sit in your boxes for years unless you sell them as dollar books or less and even then likely do not sell.

The definition of a key book or hot book can rapidly change. The mentioned What If 10: let's see what happens to that book 6 months after the movie is out. Likely no one will care. I personally don't care to buy it because I feel the window on it is so short I may not get my money back so the risk isn't worth it. I have acquired hot books, sent them to CGC for encapsulation and by the time I got the books back the value / desire of the book has fallen.

Books from the 80's-90's are from the most heavily printed era so they are very commonly found. After buying a few collections you will have most of them already do you want to buy more?

I think everyone needs to try being a comic seller at some local shows to gain some valuable perspective. You quickly learn how little value many comics actually have.

Absolutely.

The vast majority of comics printed throughout history aren't worth the paper they were printed on.

[Hollywood1892]

39 minutes ago, Artboy99 said:

Look at it from the perspective of the comic seller/ dealer.

Generally I think it is very fair to make an offer entirely based on the key/sellable books where after selling them you have made your money back and a little more. After that the rest sit in your boxes for years unless you sell them as dollar books or less and even then likely do not sell.

The definition of a key book or hot book can rapidly change. The mentioned What If 10: let's see what happens to that book 6 months after the movie is out. Likely no one will care. I personally don't care to buy it because I feel the window on it is so short I may not get my money back so the risk isn't worth it. I have acquired hot books, sent them to CGC for encapsulation and by the time I got the books back the value / desire of the book has fallen.

Books from the 80's-90's are from the most heavily printed era so they are very commonly found. After buying a few collections you will have most of them already do you want to buy more?

I think everyone needs to try being a comic seller at some local shows to gain some valuable perspective. You quickly learn how little value many comics actually have.

I totally understand you when it comes to selling books based on movie speculation.

I feel books like batman/spiderman have resale value regardless of movie speculation. I just find it unfair that I have a slabbed comic with a fair market price tag of $500 and an LCS will give me $250 and try to sell it at $600. And I understand the price tags of booths at shows and making money back, the same problem occurs with Ebay rates, maybe not as steep as a booth at a show and definitely not as steep as rent is for LCS.

 

[F For Fake]

2 minutes ago, Hollywood1892 said:

I totally understand you when it comes to selling books based on movie speculation.

I feel books like batman/spiderman have resale value regardless of movie speculation. I just find it unfair that I have a slabbed comic with a fair market price tag of $500 and an LCS will give me $250 and try to sell it at $600. And I understand the price tags of booths at shows and making money back, the same problem occurs with Ebay rates, maybe not as steep as a booth at a show and definitely not as steep as rent is for LCS.

 

Batman and Spidey are blue chip characters, for sure, and there will probably always be someone out there putting a run together. But for the most part, run books (i.e. non-keys) are dead in the water these days, unless they're priced pretty low. Mid-grade commons are tough sales unless priced well below guide. Keys will sell in any condition at any time when priced correctly.

The thing about LCS vs ebay or cons is that an actual brick and mortar shop has a lot more overhead to deal with. Rent, utilities, employees, etc. I've always considered an offer of 50% FMV from a LCS to be standard and even fair. They have a lot to contend with, and selling books on a razor thin margin isn't going to keep a shop open. They have to constantly turn stock over. So, if someone needs cash fast, selling to a LCS at 50% will get money in your pocket right away, and seems fair to me, as long as you know the score. You know what you're getting into when you offer a book to a shop.

If you want to maximize your profit, you have to sell the book directly, via eBay or what have you. You'll get the largest percentage of the money, but it may take longer to sell for the price you want. You just have to weigh the fast cash and relative ease of selling to a shop vs maximizing your profit but investing much more time and effort if you sell it yourself. I sell my "good" books myself, via eBay, FB, here, and sometimes Comiclink. Common run books that I just don't want to deal with, I drop at my LCS. I sell a lot of books that are "valued" at $5-$10 for next to nothing, but it gets the stuff out of my house and gets me store credit or cash, and that's worth it to me in those instances. Get five boxes of dead stock out of my basement, put a few bucks in my wallet, now selling the books is THEIR problem.

[Hollywood1892]

9 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

Batman and Spidey are blue chip characters, for sure, and there will probably always be someone out there putting a run together. But for the most part, run books (i.e. non-keys) are dead in the water these days, unless they're priced pretty low. Mid-grade commons are tough sales unless priced well below guide. Keys will sell in any condition at any time when priced correctly.

The thing about LCS vs ebay or cons is that an actual brick and mortar shop has a lot more overhead to deal with. Rent, utilities, employees, etc. I've always considered an offer of 50% FMV from a LCS to be standard and even fair. They have a lot to contend with, and selling books on a razor thin margin isn't going to keep a shop open. They have to constantly turn stock over. So, if someone needs cash fast, selling to a LCS at 50% will get money in your pocket right away, and seems fair to me, as long as you know the score. You know what you're getting into when you offer a book to a shop.

If you want to maximize your profit, you have to sell the book directly, via eBay or what have you. You'll get the largest percentage of the money, but it may take longer to sell for the price you want. You just have to weigh the fast cash and relative ease of selling to a shop vs maximizing your profit but investing much more time and effort if you sell it yourself. I sell my "good" books myself, via eBay, FB, here, and sometimes Comiclink. Common run books that I just don't want to deal with, I drop at my LCS. I sell a lot of books that are "valued" at $5-$10 for next to nothing, but it gets the stuff out of my house and gets me store credit or cash, and that's worth it to me in those instances. Get five boxes of dead stock out of my basement, put a few bucks in my wallet, now selling the books is THEIR problem.

I agree about the runs, they are dead weight, unless someone is buying to complete or to read. Slabbed mini series are dead weight too ie Deadpool circle chase, Wolverine limited series, Punisher limited series, Dark knight III ect, people are more apt to buy the #1s in those series and not the whole run.

Regarding the other things too, you are exactly right.

I think we are witnessing the slow death of LCS especially when a majority of them don't want to deal in slabs.

I live in Toronto and the biggest or most renown store isnt very big at all. I remember years ago a store called 'Legends of the game' was right in the heart of the city and stretched half a block. This store I speak of now is up in the boonies and is the length of a distance between a pitchers mound and home plate and the width of half of that and I could be generous.

There is and was alot more to an LCS than just the comic book and bartering, it was the entire ambience of the place, now since we live in the age of rapid technology and instant gratification that nostalgia seems to be wafting away 

Edited October 16, 2019 by Hollywood1892

[F For Fake]

16 minutes ago, Hollywood1892 said:

I agree about the runs, they are dead weight, unless someone is buying to complete or to read. Slabbed mini series are dead weight too ie Deadpool circle chase, Wolverine limited series, Punisher limited series, Dark knight III ect, people are more apt to buy the #1s in those series and not the whole run.

Regarding the other things too, you are exactly right.

I think we are witnessing the slow death of LCS especially when a majority of them don't want to deal in slabs.

I live in Toronto and the biggest or most renown store isnt very big at all. I remember years ago a store called 'Legends of the game' was right in the heart of the city and stretched half a block. This store I speak of now is up in the boonies and is the length of a distance between a pitchers mound and home plate and the width of half of that and I could be generous.

There is and was alot more to an LCS than just the comic book and bartering, it was the entire ambience of the place, now since we live in the age of rapid technology and instant gratification that nostalgia seems to be wafting away 

FWIW, none of my local shops deal in slabs. If one comes in with a buy, they'll pick it up, but they don't charge a premium for slabs, and they don't slab their own books. Graded books are still a niche within a niche hobby, and the vast majority of comic readers don't care a thing about them. So my experience is biased.

[Hollywood1892]

7 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

FWIW, none of my local shops deal in slabs. If one comes in with a buy, they'll pick it up, but they don't charge a premium for slabs, and they don't slab their own books. Graded books are still a niche within a niche hobby, and the vast majority of comic readers don't care a thing about them. So my experience is biased.

When it comes to keys I lean towards slabs, when it comes to runs ie Knightfall than I'm going to read it.

[theCapraAegagrus]

LCSs aren't designed to "deal" in encapsulated comics.

As he ^ said, it's a niche market inside a niche market.

[theCapraAegagrus]

I wouldn't sell encapsulated comics if I was an LCS. People need to read these things for the hobby to stay healthy - and to grow.

Encapsulated comics don't do anything for them.

[Hollywood1892]

1 minute ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

I wouldn't sell encapsulated comics if I was an LCS. People need to read these things for the hobby to stay healthy - and to grow.

Encapsulated comics don't do anything for them.

In your opinion, what is the purpose of an encapsulated comic? And what is its benefit to the hobby?

[theCapraAegagrus]

Just now, Hollywood1892 said:

In your opinion, what is the purpose of an encapsulated comic? And what is its benefit to the hobby?

I've told you at least 7 times. At this point I'm not going to paint myself as a broken record.

[Hollywood1892]

1 minute ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

I've told you at least 7 times. At this point I'm not going to paint myself as a broken 

In my opinion I find the purchase of slabbed comics to be value oriented. Your initial response sounded like a vested interest in engaging in the topic.

[theCapraAegagrus]

9 minutes ago, Hollywood1892 said:

In my opinion I find the purchase of slabbed comics to be value oriented. Your initial response sounded like a vested interest in engaging in the topic.

We get it. You thinks it's "an investment". That's what 401ks are for, though. Or, in your case, an RRSP.

"Financial value" is a tiny fractal reason for buying/collecting encapsulated comics.

[Hollywood1892]

Just now, theCapraAegagrus said:

 

"Financial value" is a tiny fractal reason for buying/collecting encapsulated comics.

Reading them isnt even a fraction.

Having a nice piece of plastic that covers a book saying 9.8 is different than having one that says 9.4.

How come supposed 'Keys' are more slabbed than commons?