GPA Issues 8 8

[blazingbob]

Just now, LordRahl said:

I do, yes.

So if you know that you can buy a book for $100 (And you can buy more at $100) and are selling it in your store or at shows for $250 while the rest of the world thinks it is a $175 book would you give that information to your competitors for free?

[LordRahl]

5 minutes ago, blazingbob said:

So if you know that you can buy a book for $100 (And you can buy more at $100) and are selling it in your store or at shows for $250 while the rest of the world thinks it is a $175 book would you give that information to your competitors for free?

I doubt it’s that simple. I’ve seen you post several times with frustration about why people aren’t consigning with you but rather going to CL or CC with auctions. Maybe that’s because they don’t realize that they’d get more by consigning with you. Imagine if those numbers were available and people knew you got more for certain books. As someone who is heavily invested in a consignment business, I would think the trade off might be worth it.

[blazingbob]

3 minutes ago, LordRahl said:

I doubt it’s that simple. I’ve seen you post several times with frustration about why people aren’t consigning with you but rather going to CL or CC with auctions. Maybe that’s because they don’t realize that they’d get more by consigning with you. Imagine if those numbers were available and people knew you got more for certain books. As someone who is heavily invested in a consignment business, I would think the trade off might be worth it.

It is that simple and no I'm not heavily invested in the consignment business.  It is part of my business I provide.  Consignor's get access to those numbers when they consign with me since I'm making money (Consignment commissions) off that information.  I am not making money giving free information to GPA.  

Edited December 9, 2019 by blazingbob

[LordRahl]

2 minutes ago, blazingbob said:

It is that simple and no I'm not heavily invested in the consignment business.  It is part of my business I provide.  Consignor's get access to those numbers when they consign with me since I'm making money (Consignment commissions) off that information.  I am not making money giving free information to GPA.  

Wait. They do? I consign with you a lot and I’ve never seen this. I’ve kind of figured out over the years through trial and error what to consign with you but numbers would be great.

[blazingbob]

2 minutes ago, LordRahl said:

Wait. They do? I consign with you a lot and I’ve never seen this. I’ve kind of figured out over the years through trial and error what to consign with you but numbers would be great.

How do you think I make up the prices to list the books at?  Most consignor's trust the numbers that I put on the books but others sometimes have "Numbers" that they want to get.  Based on GPA data,  my numbers and years of being in the business I either tell them that it is possible or it isn't.  That all comes with having knowledge and not just relying on GPA or whatever else you use for pricing info.

If you are listing your own books at your own prices then basically I assume you know what you are doing.  Unless you reach out to me I'm not double checking what every consignor lists their books at.

  

 

[James J Johnson]

9 hours ago, BronzeBruce13 said:

I could be missing something, but as far as I'm aware, out of all the major auction venues only ComicLink is not interested in reporting their sales to GPA. I'm confident that GPA is gathering a much higher perentage of CGC sales than 40%. 

As for the competition, GPA and CGC have been working together closely for many years... and that relationship will remain exclusive, so that's not an option. There are also some interesting new features being discussed for the future involving both companies... but, first things first of course. Some things need to be, and will be tweaked. 

Can't George's systems gather ComicLink's sales data and compile it, with or without permission needed to be asked? It's public information, right? Can't the same be said for Hake's, Connect's, Heritage's, eBay's or any other sales venue where results are made public?

Did George need to ask ebay for permission to compile their seller's listing's results? Why should he need permission if it's readily accessible to all in the public domain?

Edited December 9, 2019 by James J Johnson

[BronzeBruce13]

7 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

Can't George's systems gather ComicLink's sales data and compile it, with or without permission needed to be asked? It's public information, right? Can't the same be said for Hake's, Connect's, Heritage's, eBay's or any other sales venue where results are made public?

Did George need to ask ebay for permission to compile their seller's listing's results? Why should he need permission if it's readily accessible to all in the public domain?

Technically "yes". And, I believe (I don't know for sure anymore, haven't asked recently) that George had been collecting all CL auction data in the event someday Josh decided he wanted to participate in GPA. But, obviously none of that data, should he still have it/collect it, is offered in GPA and won't be unless Josh agrees to join.

George and I both tried to recruit Josh/ComicLink many years back to report his exchange and auction data to GPA. He felt similarly to Bob, that his data was worth something. He also wasn't interested (at that time anyway) of reporting ALL his sales. I don't want to speak in too much detail as to some of Josh's other thoughts and positions on the matter as it was a private conversation firstly and secondly it has been many years and I don't want to misquote or misrepresent anything that was discussed. That said, Josh didn't want ComicLink mined for data for GPA and as a courtesy George respected his wishes... regardless if it was legal to do so anyway. It would be nice to have ComicLink and HighGradeComics on board too, but they have their reasons.

Bottom line, as I mentioned in a comment to Bob, if GPA had to pay anyone for their data, he'd likely then have to pay most everyone (except Ebay). In that scenario, how much would the GPA service then have to be priced at to cover those expenses?... $25, $30, $35 per month. It isn't a viable business model I think we'd all agree. I'd still pay for it as would many dealers and those that rely on that info for a living, but many, many more subscribers simply couldn't afford to and the service would fail.

[Aman619]

another reason GPA isnt and can never be the ideal, universal hub/clearing house of all sales (like Wall St) was already proven to be illusory.  There were dealers who realized they could cherrypick which sales to send and which to hold back. And as Bob attests to, its not just that their low sales that would make them look bad, but also their record setting and high priced sales that while kept private, gives the dealer an edge when buying.  But that kinda smacks of the old school Overstreet way of thinking that flies in the face of current Age of Data of so many things -- a system n place in which dealers ("those in the know") have an advantage!  Maybe Comics can move beyond that.

there must be sales that even Bob and others would now be privy to that would boost their list prices too. It could be a wash, same as slabbing turned out to be for dealers:  their overgraded raw books took a hit, but truly HG copies skyrocketed and (more than) made up the difference.

 

[blazingbob]

40 minutes ago, Aman619 said:

another reason GPA isnt and can never be the ideal, universal hub/clearing house of all sales (like Wall St) was already proven to be illusory.  There were dealers who realized they could cherrypick which sales to send and which to hold back. And as Bob attests to, its not just that their low sales that would make them look bad, but also their record setting and high priced sales that while kept private, gives the dealer an edge when buying.  But that kinda smacks of the old school Overstreet way of thinking that flies in the face of current Age of Data of so many things -- a system n place in which dealers ("those in the know") have an advantage!  Maybe Comics can move beyond that.

there must be sales that even Bob and others would now be privy to that would boost their list prices too. It could be a wash, same as slabbing turned out to be for dealers:  their overgraded raw books took a hit, but truly HG copies skyrocketed and (more than) made up the difference.

 

I'm not sure what current age of data you are referring to since most of us all pay to access it one way or another.  Sales data is content and whether through your phone, your desktop, your TV or whatever device you are using you are paying to access the content.  GPA is a presentation of "publicly presented content" much like basic cable TV that you pay a monthly fee for.  If you want additional content you pay for it and so does the company providing that content.  This isn't a new subscription based business model.

Edited December 9, 2019 by blazingbob

[Aman619]

I used Age of Data in the same sense and we can all search for the best deals on hotels, fights, cars, fridges, shoes, etc etc.  Prices are out there and searchable.  It has changed retail, and how we do nearly everything today. Some benefited.  Others lost business. but theres no going backwards. Comics however are really small and clinging to the past is still a viable option. My other point was that like when slabbing took hold, on the whole dealers benefited from a loss of their "strategic advantages of the Knowledge" in that case "grading".  But once it was taken over by a third party (Oh No!)  it all worked out for them on balance.

So would it be great for the hobby is somehow GPA could show us nearly every reputable sale of a comic in a certain grade? Yes.  Can that ever happen?  not yet.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Aman619
typo

[blazingbob]

Prices are not sales results.  I am not against a website that is gathering my books into a presentation layer for price comparison and paying them if my item sells (Assuming that the fees are manageable)  

I don't think I can go to a Airline flight sales result website,  lookup a cost for a flight and then negotiate with Jetblue for a flight stating you sold that seat for $125 last month,  why is it $250 now.  If this app exists I'd love to hear about it since I travel a lot.

The strategic advantage in my posts are what the item sold for and that is just as valuable as content since I did the work to sell the item.

GPA can show more data if they want to pay for the content.  Doesn't mean the content provider has to give it to them.  

There are plenty of stock market Analyst reports that are FREE and there are those that require a subscription to gain access.    

 

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by blazingbob

[Aman619]

so, how much do you think your sales data is worth?  If you could charge $5/ month for it, and had 200 subscribers, would you make your data for sale?

Maybe this is the way forward, like how streaming is going.  Consumers now pay a la carte for "channels" of videos, how about "sources of Comics sales"?.. Dealers could offer their data on a fee basi for online access to their sales prices  Or is monthly fee enough to compensate you for the lost income derived from buying books with the advantage of private retail values in your database?

Maybe do it like CGC grading fees?  "Say Bob, heres $8, please send me your sales data for AF15?"  How many grades worth would we get for $8?  9.0 and above?  5.0 to 8.5?

[Aman619]

the idea just came to me, but in reality, it could work.    So many people -- here on the boards and elsewhere -- are already scraping sales data.  GPA saves them the trouble.  Heritage leaves everything up AND shares with GPA. CConnect hides it but send most to GPA.  Im sure they'd all rather not do the grunt work or pay for special software if someone would make the data available for a reasonable price as GPA has done..  no?  SO if you and Comiclink wont "give it away for free" , how much will it take?

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by Aman619

[blazingbob]

2 minutes ago, Aman619 said:

so, how much do you think your sales data is worth?  If you could charge $5/ month for it, and had 200 subscribers, would you make your data for sale?

Maybe this is the way forward, like how streaming is going.  Consumers now pay a la carte for "channels" of videos, how about "sources of Comics sales"?.. Dealers could offer their data on a fee basi for online access to their sales prices  Or is monthly fee enough to compensate you for the lost income derived from buying books with the advantage of private retail values in your database?

Maybe do it like CGC grading fees?  "Say Bob, heres $8, please send me your sales data for AF15?"  How many grades worth would we get for $8?  9.0 and above?  5.0 to 8.5?

I've already considered/priced out doing this.

[Aman619]

cool.  like i say it just occurred to me writing the reply to you. but we might be getting there. Personally I think it must feel like it makes sense not to give it away, the secret sales data I mean.  However, (I think) you'd be surprised at how little it would affect your business negatively, and that seeing documented sales data (as GPA affords us) would make it easier for you to sell at higher prices. Im sure that your experience shows that most buyers "believe" in the latest high sales on GPA --- they just want to pay less and have amazing arguments to back up their assertions!  Know you love that!    But at least there'd be a public benchmark as to WHY your ask price is what it is.  And all the loser low sales are what they are. The money is in the bigger sales and adds up faster...

 

[jimjum12]

I tried the new site yesterday and had zero complaints. It's a little different, but I can still get the info I come for with no trouble. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[bpc3qh]

Not a fan of the new site; still finding it to be very slow.

[Beige]

Seems to be some tweaks:

 

Neg: Still too 'clunky' - too many keystrokes to get to the grades

Pos: Instant sign-in via Chrome bookmark

Much quicker now around site (not me, the site)

I guess I will adapt as it goes on, but I still have to stop and think about where I am going.

 

A suggestion - when I check the boxes to remove resto/SS/Qual books, a default setting option would be great instead of having to do it every time I access the site.

 

[BlowUpTheMoon]

 

 

[VintageComics]

I've been using it and I still find it to be more time consuming to use than the previous version.

The one thing I notice most is jumping between issues.

Sometimes when I am pricing multiple issues within a title, I will jump back and forth between issues to gauge value. It's impossible to do with this new site without going back and forth, and really it's unnecessarily time consuming. The older version was indispensable for doing this. and I miss it greatly.

It's a chore now when pricing multiple issues within a run and quite frustrating. And this isn't just a design to 'get used to', it's less efficient.

2nd (and this is kind of a piggy back to my previous point) when you choose from your Saved Titles, why do the issue numbers pop up on the right but the site switches to a new page after you click on an issue number? To me, it would seem to be more logical to open to a fresh page after choosing a title and then just having the list of issues to scroll through.

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The site is quicker (although still slow at times) but the other main complaint I have is still visual clunkiness and lots of scrolling.

With the previous site, you could sometimes open up multiple issue numbers without hardly any scrolling on a desktop. On the new redesign, you have to scroll within the only issue available to you to do anything - go back to Saved Titles, choose another issue number, etc. Everything requires more scrolling.

Not a big deal if you're looking up one issue, but if you're pricing a lot of inventory (or looking at auctions as they are quickly ended trying to stay on top of them) it's very time consuming and frustrating.

 

If you guys all remember, clunkiness and use of space / scrolling was one of the main complaints that CGC got from users on the chat forum when this newest iteration was launched, and arch ended up launching multiple theme choices on the bottom left in an effort to try to amend this.

I've used the smallest theme since it was introduces and I STILL think that there is too much scrolling on the CGC chat forum site.

The new GPA design has the same issue - lots wasted spaced creating more work to get less information per page.

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Finally, after looking up prices for several books, I do find the graph annoying. If anything, it should open at the bottom of the Total books sold and not at the top of them so I don't have to scroll past it every time I want to look at previous sales.

But making a toggle for it would be even better.

Anything to reduce scrolling would help at this point.

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Another thing that makes reading data complex is the way everything is now in exactly the same font and color.

One feature of the old GPA look was that slightly different color coding and fonts made culling data quicker and easier. You could do it at a glance. It was almost instantaneous.

With the new look, you really have to squint and read everything thoroughly to get what you need out of it.

Because everything looks the same the interface is just not as intuitive or user friendly as it used to be.

Just look at the example below for trying to analyze a trend for an issue in a particular grade.

Does anybody else have trouble culling information quickly compared to the old site or is it just me?

 

 

Edited December 11, 2019 by VintageComics