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eBay Sold value driving me nuts!
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30 posts in this topic

This has happened to me very often and I am experiencing it more than ever recently.

In this case I have a stack of Copper Age X-Men in the 200's with a lot of duplicates. I am cataloging the values for selling purposes based on last 30-60 day sold history on eBay. The duplicates are in different conditions, so I search for an issue in VG condition and for example it'll come up selling in the $7.00-10.00 range. Then I search for the same issue in VF and the prices are $3.00-5.00.! :ohnoez:

Its happened several times , which is what promoted me to post this because I cannot get an accurate market value for these books. Any idea whats going on?

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14 minutes ago, cigars&comix said:

This has happened to me very often and I am experiencing it more than ever recently.

In this case I have a stack of Copper Age X-Men in the 200's with a lot of duplicates. I am cataloging the values for selling purposes based on last 30-60 day sold history on eBay. The duplicates are in different conditions, so I search for an issue in VG condition and for example it'll come up selling in the $7.00-10.00 range. Then I search for the same issue in VF and the prices are $3.00-5.00.! :ohnoez:

Its happened several times , which is what promoted me to post this because I cannot get an accurate market value for these books. Any idea whats going on?

Overstreet comic value

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16 minutes ago, cigars&comix said:

This has happened to me very often and I am experiencing it more than ever recently.

In this case I have a stack of Copper Age X-Men in the 200's with a lot of duplicates. I am cataloging the values for selling purposes based on last 30-60 day sold history on eBay. The duplicates are in different conditions, so I search for an issue in VG condition and for example it'll come up selling in the $7.00-10.00 range. Then I search for the same issue in VF and the prices are $3.00-5.00.! :ohnoez:

Its happened several times , which is what promoted me to post this because I cannot get an accurate market value for these books. Any idea whats going on?

When  you're talking about small dollar books (under $10) lots of things can influence the final bid from Auction description/key word, to how good/bad the photos are. Sometimes you just get a dumb buyer who clicks BIN on the first copy they find, instead of finding a better copy for less. 

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For cheap books, I use 50% of the list price on MyComicShop.com to get a rough value. It's way faster than combing through eBay listings. Obviously there are many variables to consider, but it's a good place to start.

Case in point, I picked a random Copper Age X-Men: #207. 
MCS has a VF at $22 and F/VF at $9.30.
2083566606_ScreenShot2021-01-27at1_13_31PM.thumb.png.42fab1591a4cfc3b2f3546a8033db8ad.png

It looks like eBay prices for Sold listings in this grade range are $5-10.

Edited by adampasz
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1 hour ago, cigars&comix said:

The duplicates are in different conditions, so I search for an issue in VG condition and for example it'll come up selling in the $7.00-10.00 range. Then I search for the same issue in VF and the prices are $3.00-5.00.! :ohnoez:

You're making an assumption that the sold result for that VG book is truly a VG. The same for the VF book. It can be risky assuming your average ebay seller actually knows how to grade. Just food for thought. 

As far as Overstreet is concerned, plenty of dealers still use it in some capacity. I see it at shows all the time and if it's still being used that means it's still relevant to some degree.

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19 minutes ago, cigars&comix said:

Thanks @adampasz the MYcomicshop 50% may help me Im gonna play with it, thanks.

 

MCS gets EBAY NM prices for their VF books... indeed, i just bought a 3.5 slab of an old book for the same price (just about) as a raw 2.5 they just sold ... so it isn't so much that they are overpriced .. just like everyone else, sometimes yes, sometimes no, but the prices seem to reflect strong confidence in the grades

 

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4 minutes ago, Jeffro. said:

You're making an assumption that the sold result for that VG book is truly a VG. The same for the VF book. It can be risky assuming your average ebay seller actually knows how to grade. Just food for thought. 

As far as Overstreet is concerned, plenty of dealers still use it in some capacity. I see it at shows all the time and if it's still being used that means it's still relevant to some degree.

yeah, outside of CGC books I never rely on grades when running searches to establish a value. frankly, the VGs are probably most likely to actually be VGs (if you get a seller who goes through the analysis to determine something is a VG it often is, more or less) but ebay NM ranges from actual 2.0 - 9.6, so many sellers list everything as NM or VF/NM regardless of the actual grade.

(one of the best deals I ever got was a guy who had hundreds of 70s books listed at Fine for $1. This was in the early 2000s. He just called everything Fine. I loaded up on a bunch of books, including Avengers 125 for $1 a pop. When I got the books they were nearly all 9.2-9.6)

 

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3 minutes ago, the blob said:

MCS gets EBAY NM prices for their VF books... indeed, i just bought a 3.5 slab of an old book for the same price (just about) as a raw 2.5 they just sold ... so it isn't so much that they are overpriced .. just like everyone else, sometimes yes, sometimes no, but the prices seem to reflect strong confidence in the grades

 

Agreed. You have to account for a grading bump for MCS vs. the average eBay seller, and/or look across a range of grades, as I did in my X-Men 207 example above.

It's not an exact science, but I find it's a good starting point when I'm trying to price books under $20.

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You're wondering if the right price is $3, $5, $7, or $10.  It won't matter.  If you're selling in bulk, like runs or lots, you're lucky to get a buck apiece.  Or X amount per long box. 

I'm amazed that common issues from these periods sell at all.  If an issue has SOME significance, and I don't mean some stretch of significance like 32nd appearance of some character, maybe it's worth noting and selling separately.

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1 hour ago, cigars&comix said:

This has happened to me very often and I am experiencing it more than ever recently.

In this case I have a stack of Copper Age X-Men in the 200's with a lot of duplicates. I am cataloging the values for selling purposes based on last 30-60 day sold history on eBay. The duplicates are in different conditions, so I search for an issue in VG condition and for example it'll come up selling in the $7.00-10.00 range. Then I search for the same issue in VF and the prices are $3.00-5.00.! :ohnoez:

Its happened several times , which is what promoted me to post this because I cannot get an accurate market value for these books. Any idea whats going on?

Don't bother searching raw books by grade for comps, especially with silver age and later books (GA is marginally better when it comes to seller grades, but there generally aren't enough sales of a given book to comp by grade). Seller grades are all over the place and realized prices reflect this. Sort by price, and then check on a few books that look like they might be in the same shape as yours to get a FMV range. Even there be prepared for some books in what look to be like similar grades selling for at least twice what others sell for, for no apparent reason. 

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16 minutes ago, Lightning55 said:

You're wondering if the right price is $3, $5, $7, or $10.  It won't matter.  If you're selling in bulk, like runs or lots, you're lucky to get a buck apiece.  Or X amount per long box. 

I'm amazed that common issues from these periods sell at all.  If an issue has SOME significance, and I don't mean some stretch of significance like 32nd appearance of some character, maybe it's worth noting and selling separately.

I sell commons from the 80s in lots anywhere from $2.5 - 5.00 a book on ebay. Sold thousands this way so Im not sure what you are talking about. I do this exercise because I want to decide if a lot of 50 books should sell for $100 or $200-250.

Edited by cigars&comix
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34 minutes ago, Lightning55 said:

You're wondering if the right price is $3, $5, $7, or $10.  It won't matter.  If you're selling in bulk, like runs or lots, you're lucky to get a buck apiece.  Or X amount per long box. 

I'm amazed that common issues from these periods sell at all.  If an issue has SOME significance, and I don't mean some stretch of significance like 32nd appearance of some character, maybe it's worth noting and selling separately.

This is no longer true. I see plenty of these lots getting $2-$3+ a piece and  not necessarily just in the early 200s or with some semi key in there:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Uncanny-X-men-Lot-s-250-251-252-253-254-Marvel-Comics-/363261605720?hash=item5494143758%3Ag%3A8oEAAOSwcsJgA5Np&nma=true&si=BZbpsjZvXBDBh7scMVfgI%2BAabNw%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

($17.99 plus shipping for 5 comics)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Marvel-Comics-Uncanny-X-men-247-248-249-250-251-5-Comic-Book-Lot-/124522369924?hash=item1cfe1c9384%3Ag%3A4GYAAOSwDphfzZC3&nma=true&si=BZbpsjZvXBDBh7scMVfgI%2BAabNw%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

($13+s/h for 5 (yes, there's a 248 in there, but nobody cares about that anymore)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/UNCANNY-X-MEN-250-251-252-253-254-255-1989-SIX-ISSUE-RUN-LOT-MARVEL-COMICS/164559005493?hash=item26507b2735:g:T6AAAOSw5Dlfyu9L

$21.93 + SH for 6 comics

Yes, you can find lower results, but I don't think the buck-a-book is true anymore. Some folks here are a bit jaded as to what they think this stuff is worth/what they will pay vs. what actual other humans seem to be paying for them. $2-5 a book isn't so exciting either, but it is more than i paid for any of them.

 

 

Edited by the blob
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8 minutes ago, the blob said:

 

5 minutes ago, cigars&comix said:

@the blobThank you

 

 

And nowadays you have to look everything up or you leave money on the table, potentially (although I guess an auction will take care of that), but you still want to know if you are putting a book that has been nearly worthless for the last 30 years in the lot that is suddenly a $15 book for some dumb reason like Rogue gets a new sweater or something. So many formerly nothing books have popped a bit.

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8 minutes ago, the blob said:

 

And nowadays you have to look everything up or you leave money on the table, potentially (although I guess an auction will take care of that), but you still want to know if you are putting a book that has been nearly worthless for the last 30 years in the lot that is suddenly a $15 book for some dumb reason like Rogue gets a new sweater or something. So many formerly nothing books have popped a bit.

Thats exactly why I do the exercise, in case a $15 book pops up then I sell that one solo. I dont have knowledge of every X-men that came out. I have 3 piles of X-men on my table now that I am pricing through, a 150-200 pile, a 200-250 pile, a 250-300 pile , plus duplicates. No major keys but to use your words I dont want to "leave money on the table". Cant put it better than that.

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26 minutes ago, the blob said:

 

And nowadays you have to look everything up or you leave money on the table, potentially (although I guess an auction will take care of that), but you still want to know if you are putting a book that has been nearly worthless for the last 30 years in the lot that is suddenly a $15 book for some dumb reason like Rogue gets a new sweater or something. So many formerly nothing books have popped a bit.

This seems like the inevitable end point of the obsession with "keys" over the last decade. It's a variation of the Stan Lee Principle: Every comic book is a potential key.

Maybe this means run collecting will become cool again. (shrug)

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My bad on this.  I stand corrected.  My only defense is that a lot of titles are as I described, but not X-Men, which was the topic.  And other more heavily collected titles alongside X-Men. 

I admittedly have had little involvement in comics of that era and type in recent times, so should have stayed out of it.  A lot in the past, but too far back.

The mcs suggestion is a good one, using that to at least find prices relative to neighbors in a run, those that popped.  It's that, or keep up to date on all the chatter about everything, which is just about impossible these days.  You can't be an expert in all areas.

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