https://www.comicspriceguide.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=11814 ComicsPriceGuide.com Forums - CPG - Questions and Answers - Dollar-box books - Messages en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Jitbit AspNetForum Sat, 23 Dec 2017 22:38:50 GMT Sat, 23 Dec 2017 22:38:50 GMT https://www.comicspriceguide.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=11814
The problem with the industry is that consumers are confusing wholesale and retail prices. Even worse, they are confusing close-out wholesale prices with retail prices. I used to buy long boxes full of comics at about 7¢-10¢ a piece. That doesn't mean the books are only worth 10¢. They are worth what a retailer can reasonably get for them. I could've flipped any of them for cover price if I was willing to wait for the customer who wanted it.

Just because a comic sits, that doesn't mean it's overvalued. High dollar silver age can sit in a store for years until that one customer wanting it comes in and buys it.

Retailers offer price breaks because they offer discounts for volume. They have pre-orders in place and it minimizes their investment of labor in handling each item separately and having it go through a normal sales cycle on the shelf. Again, that does not mean the comic is worth less than cover price. It means they've found a way to cover their expenses by selling larger quantities. Wholesale prices almost always go down when you deal in more volume. The key word there is wholesale. Once you get into retail value of something, it's going to be based upon the cost of acquiring and the cost to make it available.]]> Sat, 23 Dec 2017 22:38:50 GMT https://www.comicspriceguide.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=11814
The notion of putting them all in at $1 might be going a little far in the other direction, but it was just a simple plan. Slightly more accurately would be to drop them all to $1 after 2-3 years (unless they have clearly been established as selling for more in the secondary market), but just not sure if that is mechanically more feasible.

I'm not even really concerned about the initial sale price. Although if I was, I'd suggest you have to take into account retailer pull-box discounts of 10% all the way up to like 40-50% for places like Discount Comic Book Service. I'd say the *average* sales price of a $3.99 book is less than $3.99, if you take into consideration those discounts.]]> Sat, 23 Dec 2017 13:42:22 GMT https://www.comicspriceguide.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=11814 I bought a $300 copy of Fantastic Four #48 for $75 because a retailer was struggling to pay their bills in the 90's. They went out of business subsequently. Just because you can find something cheaper, I don't think that's evidence that the guide prices listed are wrong for having them listed at cover price. Sometimes a retailer will intentionally salt their dollar boxes with stuff that they know is worth more than a dollar so that they can get collectors to look at books that are slower movers and might not attract a collector's attention on their own.
I've seen new comics priced a dollar at shows when they were only a couple of months old. There was evidence all around that the comic would and could sell at cover price if ytou walked into shops across the city, yet one dealer at the show bought comics in bulk from struggling retailers so he was willing to sell his inventory for less. He took advantage of someone desperate for money and he was willing to compromise his mark-up just to keep a steady cash flow. Once he sold out, there was little or no chance of getting the comic for a dollar again.

I'll agree that the algorithm has flaws. I think the problem is that they try to use the same algorithm for all books when they should have dozens of algorithms available depending upon availability, collector demand, and the significance of the content within.]]> Sat, 23 Dec 2017 11:48:47 GMT https://www.comicspriceguide.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=11814
I wonder if it wouldn't be more honest if everything that has a cover price of equal-to or more than $1, and is still valued at cover price at NM in the DB, wasn't just lowered to $1. Something like that.

Another question - in another thread, someone commented that the CPG algorithm is outdated. I hate to ask this in a CPG thread, but is there someone else online with a better algorithm?]]> Fri, 22 Dec 2017 16:18:04 GMT