How do collectors on here work out the best average price comparison 1 1

[Nazirite]

On 1/1/2021 at 11:22 AM, MARVELous Fan said:

Hi,

N00B here - First post, so please be gentle!

Apologies if this question has been asked before (and has been answered) but I’m looking to purchase my 1st slab, and would like to know how collectors arrive at the best average price comparison, so they know they haven’t over paid?

The slab in question is on a dealer’s website. It is a CGC 7.0, priced at $975 

I went onto comics.gocollect.com and found there had been 17 sales in 2020 of this slab in this grade (nearly all of the sales were on eBay), so I added up every price and then divided by 17, and got an average of $828.41. 

Is this the only computation to find out if a title is over priced? If so, is it proper etiquette to inform the dealer that you have used comics.gocollect.com to learn that the average is $828.41 (and not his price at $975), or would it just be the case that the seller would say, “that’s the price, take it or leave it!”

The difference between the two amounts is $146.59. That’s quite a lot. With a price difference of that size, would dealers be willing to haggle, or perhaps pay for overseas shipping (I live in the UK) to offset the amount?

As I’m sure you can appreciate, I want to start on the right foot, and continue the correct way to buying slabs in the future, so any information and help on the above would be much appreciated.

Many thanks and a Happy 2021 to all of you.

Andy
 

 

If don’t already have an account, go sign up at gpanalysis.com. Cost like 10 bucks a month, although not perfect it is a very valuable resource. 

[William-James88]

Honestly, you are going about this the wrong way. Average price is not really a key indicator in the comic market, not these days. It's a lot more like stocks. If there is momentum on your comic (say Detective 359 first Batgirl for instance), then the next sale will be more than the previous sale and there is no way of knowing when that upward trend ends (like a tesla stock). So while you are paying higher than the average price, as per your calculation, you may be paying much less than the average price a year from now. Waiting to get it at the average price may have you wait for a longer time and you may end up purchasing it for more later. Again, very much like the momentum we see in stocks where people end up paying more later out of the fear of missing out as they did before.

Personally, I buy on auctions. Like that, whatever price I pay at least it is the market price. That way I don't feel I am overpaying. 

Also, if you really want that comic, and are ok paying the asking price (not taking any other calculation into consideration), then buy it. Because odds are you are not the only one looking at that comic. And one day, it will be gone.