Percent of collectors who would pay more for... 2 2

[thunsicker]

A conversation in another thread about Newsstand vs. Direct comics got me wondering about all you collectors.  What are you willing to pay more for when it comes to comics.  Do you prefer newsstand comics?  Ones with good presentation?  Pedigrees? Price Variants?  For this exercise imagine everything else is the same for two comics except for the thing noted.  So, for instance imagine that you are comparing a Mile High with another comic with the same grade, freshness, smell, etc.  Or for the Quality of Production question it's a question of a 9.8 with wonky staples and a 9.8 with perfect staples but minor spine tick that keeps it out of higher grade.  Also I'm mostly interest in what you want for your personal collection.  Don't tell me you would pay more for a Canadian Priced comic because you feel you could sell it for more. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by thunsicker

[THE_BEYONDER]

It’s ‘Quality of Production’

[thunsicker]

3 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

It’s ‘Quality of Production’

Damn it.  I knew it was quality of something...

[ADAMANTIUM]

Just now, thunsicker said:

Damn it.  I knew it was quality of something...

you also missed the option for "I would pay more for price variants, regardless of: UK, Canadian, or traditional"

[thunsicker]

12 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

you also missed the option for "I would pay more for price variants, regardless of: UK, Canadian, or traditional"

I made it multi select.  You could choose all if you so wanted.

[Namtak]

Hey thats fun will wait to see results in next days when more will vote great topic

[Namtak]

1 hour ago, thunsicker said:

A conversation in another thread about Newsstand vs. Direct comics got me wondering about all you collectors.  What are you willing to pay more for when it comes to comics.  Do you prefer newsstand comics?  Ones with good presentation?  Pedigrees? Price Variants?  For this exercise imagine everything else is the same for two comics except for the thing noted.  So, for instance imagine that you are comparing a Mile High with another comic with the same grade, freshness, smell, etc.  Or for the Quality of Presentation question it's a question of a 9.8 with wonky staples and a 9.8 with perfect staples but minor spine tick that keeps it out of higher grade.  Also I'm mostly interest in what you want for your personal collection.  Don't tell me you would pay more for a Canadian Priced comic because you feel you could sell it for more. 

Would have been fun to iclude question about signed copys ,some dont like autograph on cover but inside first page,some wont buy without certificate ,or even with certificate but not slabbed.would have been fun to include some of those questions

[Happy_Thorsday]

4 hours ago, thunsicker said:

A conversation in another thread about Newsstand vs. Direct comics got me wondering about all you collectors.  What are you willing to pay more for when it comes to comics.  Do you prefer newsstand comics?  Ones with good presentation?  Pedigrees? Price Variants?  For this exercise imagine everything else is the same for two comics except for the thing noted.  So, for instance imagine that you are comparing a Mile High with another comic with the same grade, freshness, smell, etc.  Or for the Quality of Presentation question it's a question of a 9.8 with wonky staples and a 9.8 with perfect staples but minor spine tick that keeps it out of higher grade.  Also I'm mostly interest in what you want for your personal collection.  Don't tell me you would pay more for a Canadian Priced comic because you feel you could sell it for more. 

Great Topic. With all of the focus on high grade stuff lately I am interested to see peoples opinions on properly centered books (9.6-9.8 with a giant white stripe!?). Thanks for the poll!

[Shrevvy]

2 hours ago, Happy_Thorsday said:

Great Topic. With all of the focus on high grade stuff lately I am interested to see peoples opinions on properly centered books (9.6-9.8 with a giant white stripe!?). Thanks for the poll!

I am actively looking for several 9.8 copper books for my collection. I won't buy those with big white stripes even at a discount (unless it is so absurd I could immediately flip it). I have passed on several copies recently of books I am looking for because of that.

[comicginger1789]

If I am buying a comic, or even looking in my collection to see if the copy I found is better than the one I have, I try to keep the price variant or newsstand copy BUT ONLY if it is in better condition.

For example, I upgraded my VG copy of a Batman issue that was a CPV with a VF/NM regular direct copy because that meant more to me. As for paying more, I won’t.

Presentation matters little to me. If the staples are slightly off or the book is slightly miscut, I am fine with it. I won’t pay more for perfection unless it’s a couple bucks max.

Page quality...I just avoid certain types like severe tanning if possible and brittle pages. 

The only thing I could justify paying more for is a Pedigree book over a regular one. 

[thunsicker]

How I voted and my first thoughts on the first 50 or so respondents:

Newsstand Vs Direct - It makes no difference to me. 

Back when I had my store (late 80's) the preference was for Direct editions, at least where I was.  The thought being that comics sold through a comic store were more likely to be higher condition.  These days with third party grading it makes sense that the rarer comics (whether newsstand or direct dependant on age) would be more valuable.

Page Quality - I would pay more for better Page Quality

I'm a bit surprised that fewer than half would actually pay more for w than cr/ow.  Though part of that may be how comics frequently change page color on resubmission.  Even more than grade changes.

Price Variants - I wouldn't pay more for Price Variants/I would pay less for one or more types of Price Variants

The number that surprises me the most is how many people would pay more for traditional price variants.  That's an area that I think has moved out of the fringe and in firmly planted in the collecting community now.

Quality of Production - I would pay more for a comic with proper registration

I'm a bit surprised at how many people dislike off center comics, but more surprised by how many will give comics with bad registration a pass.  

Pedigreed Comics - I would only pay more for certain Pedigrees (e.g. Church/Okajima)

Whereas in the late 80's a pedigree could stand in for certain qualities and thus bring a premium against one that may or may not have those qualities I now will take any non-pedigree for the same price as a pedigree if the qualities are the same.  With the exception of the Okajima pedigree which I believe has such a strong story around it that I would be willing to pay more for one of those.

 

What results surprised you the most?

[Get Marwood & I]

Nice poll.

I answered all the questions, but in some cases my answer would have been caveated with ' only in certain circumstances'. Taking newsstand vs direct as an example, I would only pay a premium for later newsstands where availability is much lower than in previous decades. Similarly, I may pay a premium for a scarce UKPV, but not for a freely available copy.

And where are the Australian Price Variants @thunsicker? There's only four types so you may as well include all of them 

[OtherEric]

12 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Nice poll.

I answered all the questions, but in some cases my answer would have been caveated with ' only in certain circumstances'.

@thunsicker

It will not let me delete the @ for some reason.

There are always exceptions to every case, my answers are all fairly general.  I'll pay slightly extra for Whitman DC's, for example, even if I generally won't pay extra for price variants. 

Edited April 5, 2021 by OtherEric

[Get Marwood & I]

30 minutes ago, OtherEric said:

It will not let me delete the @ for some reason.

They can be stroppy Eric, yes. Place the cursor to the right of the name and then backspace a few times - that usually works for me.

Quote

There are always exceptions to every case, my answers are all fairly general.  I'll pay slightly extra for Whitman DC's, for example, even if I generally won't pay extra for price variants. 

I think whether a collector has the variants in their sights is a salient factor. I wonder how many of those who answered that they would not pay more did so because they had no interest in collecting them? In my experience, collectors who seek out variations of any kind are usually prepared to step up a bit to fill a hole in their collection - especially when the number of opportunities to fill that hole are perceived to be comparatively limited. I paid some ridiculous premiums for MJI Spideys back in the day, and I did so because I had to bid that high to beat the small, but enthusiastic, competition. I was completely on board with the notion that I was, in a way, over paying. 

The tailored collecting instinct is a powerful motivator I find, and will often lead to an individual paying what the wider majority believe to be wildly over the odds. Collecting habits often make no sense though, don't they. For some, it's not about the money. 

So maybe the question should be posed in two parts - do you collect variants and, if so, would you pay a premium for them? Who cares about the opinion of someone who doesn't collect them? Their answer will likely always be 'no, I wouldn't pay a premium'. 

[Get Marwood & I]

One last point, before @thunsicker bans me from the thread, this question:

"I would pay more for traditional Price Variants"

Unless I'm missing the point, and assuming that this refers to US Price Variants (e.g. Marvel 30/35 cvs, $2.29/2.49 pvs), then is it not the case that these books always claim a premium, even for the less collected publishers? If you're not prepared to pay more for a Marvel 35 Cent Variant then you're unlikely to ever buy one (unless you get lucky with an uninformed seller)?

[OtherEric]

3 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

One last point, before @thunsicker bans me from the thread, this question:

"I would pay more for traditional Price Variants"

Unless I'm missing the point, and assuming that this refers to US Price Variants (e.g. Marvel 30/35 cvs, $2.29/2.49 pvs), then is it not the case that these books always claim a premium, even for the less collected publishers? If you're not prepared to pay more for a Marvel 35 Cent Variant then you're unlikely to ever buy one (unless you get lucky with an uninformed seller)?

One of the two 30c Marvel variants I own was a quarter bin find about 5 years ago.  Uninformed sellers still aren’t that rare on price variants, even if they’re not as common as a few years ago.

[Get Marwood & I]

1 hour ago, OtherEric said:

One of the two 30c Marvel variants I own was a quarter bin find about 5 years ago.  Uninformed sellers still aren’t that rare on price variants, even if they’re not as common as a few years ago.

Yes, I had two ASM #169 35cvs at one point Eric - one I paid £200 for, the other, a fiver off of eBay UK. There it was, just sitting there. 

I always felt bad about that one, that I took it for a fiver. That's why I've never made any money from comics and why I would have been a rubbish dealer. I always assume it's an old lady on her uppers who needs the money for food or something. The times I've pointed these things out to sellers, rather than take the money. I've always hated the idea of profiting from someone else's ignorance. Trouble is, many of them turned out to be deserving of it. Losing out, I mean. Ungrateful bar stewards. Still, that's life isn't it - you can't change who you are. 

[ttfitz]

On 4/3/2021 at 11:08 AM, thunsicker said:

I made it multi select.  You could choose all if you so wanted.

Ah, I did not realize that. I started out skipping the Quality of Production question since the "best" answer for me would be all of the above, at least partially. But by your definition I guess "none of the above" would have been appropriate - given the choice between two comics with different centering, my two likely positions are "wouldn't pay more for one over the other" or "wouldn't buy THAT one at any price."

But I'm not sure this was an appropriate poll for me to vote in, as I tend to buy in lower grades anyway, so most of my answers were straight "no difference" ones.

[thunsicker]

3 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

If you're not prepared to pay more for a Marvel 35 Cent Variant then you're unlikely to ever buy one (unless you get lucky with an uninformed seller)?

But since they aren’t a focus of my collection getting one from an uninformed seller would neither make me lucky nor unlucky.

[InfantTerrible]

off-center covers are the worst, they drive me nuts!!