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GA horror pricing!
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31 posts in this topic

Hey all,

I’m new to collecting this PCH goodness.  In fact, I only have a handful right now.  I just wanted to ask about what the hell is up with pricing?  I’ve been searching a lot lately. I like graded books.  But wow!  There is some crazy pricing out there.  5 times over GPA, or if there isn’t a GPA the price is still ridiculous.  Really frustrating.   Don’t know if this is worth its own thread, but really makes it hard to collect these beauties!

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2 hours ago, Jonnywadd said:

Hey all,

I’m new to collecting this PCH goodness.  In fact, I only have a handful right now.  I just wanted to ask about what the hell is up with pricing?  I’ve been searching a lot lately. I like graded books.  But wow!  There is some crazy pricing out there.  5 times over GPA, or if there isn’t a GPA the price is still ridiculous.  Really frustrating.   Don’t know if this is worth its own thread, but really makes it hard to collect these beauties!

PCH seems to have exploded over the last decade, with collectors and speculators pumping the prices to some surprising heights :(  

 

I go for lower grade raw books, so I can get a good deal once in a while at least.  

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For a long time, many horror books went unslabbed because of the low guide values. I don't think we have a clear picture of how scarce or common some of these books are in high grade. I like horror, but I wouldn't buy much at current prices. EC horror is probably the highest-quality material out there, and those books are very affordable in mid grade and even high grade just because there are so many copies out there. Most of the Atlas material has come down in price quite a bit unless you're chasing single-highest-graded copies.

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56 minutes ago, comicjack said:

You are about to be able to pickup any book on the cheap that you want :cry:

I'll give you $100 for your copy of Dynamic Comics #8. You'd better accept my offer before the book spirals to zero.:baiting:

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3 hours ago, jimbo_7071 said:

For a long time, many horror books went unslabbed because of the low guide values. I don't think we have a clear picture of how scarce or common some of these books are in high grade. I like horror, but I wouldn't buy much at current prices. EC horror is probably the highest-quality material out there, and those books are very affordable in mid grade and even high grade just because there are so many copies out there. Most of the Atlas material has come down in price quite a bit unless you're chasing single-highest-graded copies.

I completely understand about how scarce a lot of these books are. I’m only trying to pick up some 2.0-3-0 graded issues.  There aren’t many, if any, sales on a lot of them.  But wow!

Sellers can get nuts with their explanations.

Example:

I was looking at a 2.0. Gpa shows a 1.8 at 111 and a 2.5 at 113.  They were from 2016.  Most recent sale was a 4.5 for 1200 in 2018, so that’s what they base their price from.  This doesn’t totally make sense to me. Oh well!  I think I just need to be patient!

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@Jonnywadd
 

I’m not sure what issues specifically you’re looking to obtain, but in my experience, there’s plenty of good PCH to be had at decent prices, unless you’re looking for a classic cover (Chamber 19, CSS 22).  In general, the PCH market definitely seems to have exploded over the past couple years though.  As far as pricing via GPA, a lot of issues, no matter what genre, don’t have a lot of completed sales to base a price from, so a lot of sellers price at what they think is a high price and see what happens.  Obviously, there are plenty of occasions where the price is definitely way too high, but I’m sure there are instances where the copy sells because of said scarcity.  

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9 hours ago, jimbo_7071 said:

Most of the Atlas material has come down in price quite a bit unless you're chasing single-highest-graded copies.

The competition and pricing for high-grade Atlas is too much for me, so I’m just focusing on solid mid-grades with Everett covers (which still remain comparatively pricey).

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6 hours ago, Jonnywadd said:

 I’m only trying to pick up some 2.0-3-0 graded issues.  

If you are looking for books in that grade range, buy raw. Half the fun is reading the stories anyway. There is plenty of PCH still available in that grade range for $150 or less raw. Classic covers will generally cost more, but some cool stuff has already softened a bit pricewise. A year ago most raw Ajax-Farrell PCH books in 2.0+ were selling for $150 and up, and many of them still command a premium (sometimes multiples of that), but you can find a lot more of them for less than that in low grade than you could a year ago. 

The cost of slabbing these, even in bulk when amortizing shipping, is going to run around $30 a book, and generally people are hoping for a premium for going to the trouble, so unless it goes up for auction, or a seller just wants to get rid of the book, that 3.0 PCH book that you might have paid less than $150 for raw, is going to be over $200 slabbed. 

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I've noticed a definite spike in PCH books over the last few years, to the current and generally ridiculous price levels (IMHO).  I guess it depends on why you want to collect them AFA grade and the pricing that goes with it.  As RM posted above, " I have always realized a lower grade copy is better than no copy."  And ain't that the truth, esp when dealing with such a limited supply.

If one is buying in order to read them, going as low as Fair condition -as long as there's no brittleness- would be reasonable both in intent and cost.  However, if you want slabbed books with decent looking covers, prepare to pay through the schnoz.  

I got back into collecting almost 50 years ago, and TG completed a number of runs when G and VG books were in the single or low double digits in cost.  No way I could do that today, if I could even FIND them all.  

Just look on eBay, Instagram, HA, and some of the online dealers.  You can always make an offer to any of them, and the worst they can do is say no.

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On 4/1/2020 at 9:06 PM, Jonnywadd said:

Hey all,

I’m new to collecting this PCH goodness.  In fact, I only have a handful right now.  I just wanted to ask about what the hell is up with pricing?  I’ve been searching a lot lately. I like graded books.  But wow!  There is some crazy pricing out there.  5 times over GPA, or if there isn’t a GPA the price is still ridiculous.  Really frustrating.   Don’t know if this is worth its own thread, but really makes it hard to collect these beauties!

Sent PM...

 

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After I got over the sticker shock of the increases since I sold my pch collection in 2011-2013, I have been able to get many great issues at affordable prices in lower grade. I am shocked at some of the deals. 
 

the last couple weeks of course they have been even lower.

 

as for the amount of high grade, I know several long time collectors ( as in since the 70s) who have high grade runs and hate cgc. If I know a few, there are many many more high grades out there then the census shows.

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2 hours ago, shiverbones said:

 

 

as for the amount of high grade, I know several long time collectors ( as in since the 70s) who have high grade runs and hate cgc. If I know a few, there are many many more high grades out there then the census shows.

And it'll always be that way.  The CGC Census can only report the books sent into them for grading.  Once that's done, the value of the book has been reduced to it's cover illustration, and a professional grade as an assist in valuation.  Raw books in the field will continue to vastly outnumber them.  I am far from the only collector who likes to read his books, and that can't be done if they are enclosed in slabs.

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1 minute ago, fifties said:

And it'll always be that way.  The CGC Census can only report the books sent into them for grading.  Once that's done, the value of the book has been reduced to it's cover illustration, and a professional grade as an assist in valuation.  Raw books in the field will continue to vastly outnumber them.  I am far from the only collector who likes to read his books, and that can't be done if they are enclosed in slabs.

I busted loose a slab today! :headbang::hi:

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One example, a guy who has everything stored in 3 ring binder mylars, every issue of every run, 8.0-9.4, classic covers don’t matter, all of it, untouched for decades. It’s out there. Jaw dropping to see for me, for him, no big deal, he had them stored like that since you could buy 3 ring binder mylars

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2 minutes ago, fifties said:

I am going to have to report you to the CGC Police...:wink:

It wasn't a PCH,but what's the point of having a vg Avengers #4 if I'm not going to read it,adverts, smell,texture and all?I kept the label,maybe that'll get me a reduced sentence...

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