Oxbladder

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3/15/2021 Topic: Where in this market does everyone find Oxbladder	No matter how well connected the world is there is always regional variation in pricing. In my area local shops get ridden pretty hard if they price at online or any guide other than Overstreet. price guides never reflect the market 100 %. right now it's a sellers market and I wouldn't plan on that ending until there is return to post pandemic life. Until that time, and beyond, you are going too have to adjust your expectations because it seems that you are unable to understand that the market is telling you what values are. Since you are talking high grade and older you are in the realm of prices that are multiples of guide and popular series even in slow market times. And no eBay is no price guide but if you are looking outside your local market it is a good indicator of what people are willing to pay. prices are high because almost all online ventures carry many extra costs and have a very wide reach to a larger market than a brick and mortar. brick and mortars also fighting in the battle so if they can get more for their product and not take many hits review-wise for it then why should they leave money on the table? Anyway, the best you can do is show around. If the prices are "high" everywhere you look then it's, sadly, going to take you longer to reach your goals. Unless one is rolling in dough most of us folks have to deal with what the market dictates and very often it can price you out of many of your goals.
3/15/2021 Topic: Where in this market does everyone find Oxbladder	rustyauger wrote: I just bought an ASM 361 Newsstand CGC 9.6 for $470. I thought that was a pretty good deal. Prices are high. People are saying that they will come down after the pandemic but I am not so sure. Check out this video about new money coming into the comic book market and why. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DduNhkHf4s0 I doubt prices on many older books will drop but prices should stabilize a bit. Only the more recent books will actually drop in value, though don't expect the book that are fetching in the hundreds to drop. The market has changed over the last 10 years where prices on some books go up quickly and will not drop significantly because people have sunk too much money in. It used to be that $500 was the point at which you would not see a book crash down in value but that is no longer the case. Books like Nyx #3, Edge of Spider-verse #2, Avenging Spider-man #9, etc are all at points now where they will plateau in value and maybe drop but the general trend will still be up though at a far slower pace than they initially spiked. Once people have more to do with their money they will do it and the market will calm down.
3/15/2021 Topic: Where in this market does everyone find Oxbladder	Ronbatman wrote: There are hundreds of Amazing Spiderman issues listed on this site for at or around the value listed here. You know that you can buy from sellers on this site, right? ASM 150 has 11 sellers ASM 151 has 8 sellers etc, etc. But I do agree that there are weird things happening in the market. Here are some of the reasons that I believe cause this. 1. Online vs Real World pricing can sometimes vary dramatically. Spawn 1 can sell for $1 in nm online and $20 at a comic shop. I've spoken to several comic shops and this is almost always the case. 2. Because of the stimulus checks the prices for comics has risen dramatically, especially key issues. When the initial rush is over, the prices drop back down again. It's definitely a seller's market as Oxbladder mentioned. 3. The speculation market is driving the overall market more so than in the past. There are a few individuals who can say any book is hot and it will immediately rise in value. R If you look there are lots of places to get books for less money but you still have to be aware of shipping costs. Sometimes people aren't and they may not get a better price. With respect to #1. Because of regional variation in the market and supply and demand you can easily get the inverse as well. Online is NOT always cheaper. Here most brick and mortar prices are pretty reasonable and very often cheaper than online. However, that can go out the door on older books from the silver and gold age because of the scarcity of that material here. I know that in earlier days of this forum there were people from Detroit and St Louis who could get some old titles really cheap compared to online and stores here because those books were easy to come by. A long time ago there was a dealer here that often did a convention circuit through the US and he was able to trade hot modern books for gold and silver age books in San Francisco and other California locations because they had a wealth of that material and no buyers but a severe shortage of hot new books. Yeah online can get you just about whatever you want but the fact still remains that you can and do get regional variation in the market and that will affect your in store buying experience. You also have less and less dealers willing to leave money on the table when they know they can get more. Collectors always rail against stores trying to make money, especially here, because it can be so easy for the average collector to try and cash in on the trends if they get the information in a timely matter. Applications like Key Collector have become the Wizard Price Guide Hot Ten of this era and it is fueling speculation than when CGC and eBay fueled it back in the early 2000's because people are getting the information in advance of release of books and you don't have to spend a lot of money to partake in most of the books that they profile. You need money to play the CGC and eBay game back in the early 2000's With respect to #3, speculation is having a faster effect and trends change weekly but I wouldn't say it is driving it any more than in the past there are just more people partaking in the speculation. Speculation has ALWAYS been there and will always be there. There is good and bad about it but it is a necessary evil if your in any way concerned about the value of your collection. I certainly wouldn't be upset if it was dialed back a bit but, then again it really doesn't affect my day to day collecting. edited by oxbladder on 3/15/2021
3/16/2021 Topic: Value When Submitting to CGC Oxbladder	good points.
3/22/2021 Topic: Where in this market does everyone find Oxbladder	Sorry that was me the inter web gods booted me while typing
3/24/2021 Topic: Low Print Runs: Resources Oxbladder	Comichron goes back into the 90's for direct market numbers. That's the closest you are going to get. With the early numbers you have to consider that only the biggest two distributors at that time were tracked. After '95, I think, the two distributors change for a short time and then it is just Diamond numbers until last year when DC started going at distribution on their own. I assume that that means Comichron would have two distributors to track. All through this time period there is no public data from the publishers of the actual numbers. Since there is still a tiny newsstand presence and other uncounted numbers for other sources you cannot consider Comichron numbers to be the final word on any print run size .... at least out of the big two and Archie Comics. Keep in mind that variants are accounted for in those numbers but not later printings. Later printings are all account for separately and will appear much later than the same month as the first printing.
3/24/2021 Topic: Where in this market does everyone find Oxbladder	Poop. That was me. I guess I have to think and type faster. lol
3/24/2021 Topic: Graded 9.8 vs 9.6 Do you think the market? Oxbladder	If you have confidence in your grading skills and have had experience with graded 9.8 and lower you can usually find them or 9.6 down to 8.5 that could be candidates for a pressing into a 9.8. If you have any sort of grading experience it's not so much of a crap shoot. BTW the price between 9.0-9.4 and 9.6+ is pretty silly but that's one of many practices that make no sense. That's collecting for you. edited by oxbladder on 3/24/2021
3/25/2021 Topic: Graded 9.8 vs 9.6 Do you think the market? Oxbladder	Theoldcollector wrote: Xvipah73 wrote: I think people see a huge difference from a NM/M and a NM+. Just the description of what they are, alone, makes a 9.8 far more desirable: 9.8 - A nearly perfect collectible with negligible handling or manufacturing defects. 9.6 - A very well-preserved collectible with several minor manufacturing or handling defects. Basically no defects v small defects. I also think it's ridiculous, btw, but I don't think it's going anywhere. I think CGC needs to remove the word "Several" from the 9.6 scale lol. I have some 9.6 books that look perfect without a defect to be seen. I wasn't the one who sent them in so there is no telling on why they are a 9.6 but when held up to a 9.8 there is no obvious difference in them, defiantly not a double the price difference lol. What is a 9.6 to CGC one day can be a 9.8 another day. Because the grading can be subjective I think the jump in price between a 9.6 to a 9.8 is just crazy. But don't get me wrong I love to see that 9.8 in the top left corner lol. edited by TheOldCollector on 3/24/2021 They should just change several to a few. Generally a 9.8 is only going to have one or two defects and a 9.6 maybe four. The thing is that having seven grading levels once you hit 9.0 is way over the top. There is virtually no difference between a 9.6-9.9. Don't even get me started on value added exceptions like signatures or pay copies. What makes it even worse is that one would be very hard pressed to get any collector on the buying side of things to believe that the very same book out of a slab is over a 9.2 even though they can see it is and they know it but they don't usually want to pay that sort of price for it. At least one can get those grades from CGC and CBCS even if it can be a bit of a crap shoot that you will get a 9.6 to 9.9. IMHO though when your grading scale is both anal but you allow exceptions and qualified grades your grading scale is pretty much compromised. edited by oxbladder on 3/25/2021
3/25/2021 Topic: fanzine and magazines Oxbladder	All I can suggest is entering the title of the fanzine or magazine into a google search and see what comes up. You may find a set of sales from various sources that can give you an estimate of the price. Like any collectible it is a huge challenge to get a set value for items that are scarce or rarely go up for sale. Using eBay isn't necessarily a bad thing sometimes you won't find sales any place else and if there are sales on eBay you can at least find out if there is even a market for what you have. If you can find little or no data at all I would assume that, until you have evidence of a market or sales, that the item is as priced on the cover. No demand = no appreciation in value.
3/25/2021 Topic: Where in this market does everyone find Oxbladder	I agree with the fact that comics aren't going to completely drop but I do think that after the pandemic and everyone goes back to normal entertainment spending these prices are going to come down. The price has jumped way too quickly for these not to come down. Yes, Deadpool has gotten more and more popular and has had two movies now but it's average price 3/31/20 was $750 for a 9.8 exactly a year later it's 90 day average is at $1767 other then the pandemic there is no reason for this kind of increase. It's like a domino of people who have had their eye on it and they see the prices keep going up so they jump on and buy one afraid that it's going to keep climbing and get out of reach causing the prices to keep going up. Right now it is crazy with all books especially CGC Key books. The average for any key book right now is in exactly the same situation they have all doubled if not more in the last year. They all didn't magically become scarce all of a sudden and as cool as it would be to double the amount of comic collectors out there I don't think that realistically has happened so I think it's a market that won't last. Will everything that doubled drop in half? Probably not but I think it will probably drop quite a bit. Only time will tell. You would probably see a fluctuation of a few hundred dollars on New Mutants #98. NYX #3, a book that I own and has gone through many quick jumps in value, hasn't really dropped more than plateaued but when you pull back you see that the general trend is up. Once people are spending that kind of dough they will not want to see a loss on their investment so they will sit on their copy if the market is slow. TMNT #1 has had several plateaus as well but it has continued to trend up. So your NM #98 will probably bounce around even drop a few hundred dollars but you are still going to have to pay quite a bit for it. It's a hot book and nothing is going to change that now. Just like Incredible Hulk #181 it's been decided by the market to be a key book and demand will always be there as long as the character remains popular.
3/25/2021 Topic: Overstreet Price Guide - Values? Oxbladder	They have a price guide for older copies of the price guide in the price guide.
3/25/2021 Topic: Overstreet Price Guide - Values? Oxbladder	Ronbatman wrote: When I first read this post I thought it was something totally different. So glad you aren't using the always outdated Overstreet Price Guide for comic values. whew! Lots of people still use the Overstreet as it uses a wide sourcing for their data. ANY price guide is just that, a guide. Not a bible and definitely not the final say on prices. Most of the pricing here would be a no go in my market region. At least with common issues. Yeah Overstreet has it's short comings but every guide does. It's built into the the word guide.
3/25/2021 Topic: Holy Variants! Oxbladder	One of the IDW Godzilla books had a few hundred variants. The majority were store copy variants where the cover was the same but the name of the comic store in the background carried the name of the store that bought into the variant run. Most of the main character DC's have one variant cover per issue so that adds up after a while. Variant is largely a marketing scheme now since people like to tie it to scarcity even though it but a small fraction of a larger print run. Now later printings are deemed variants. Pretty much anything is a variant now since it is such powerful marketing tool.
3/25/2021 Topic: 10/ 9.9 as compared to 9.8 population Oxbladder	Al Cohol wrote: Al Cohol wrote: It seems an awful lot like 9.8 is the new 10 and even 9.9. my recent experience just doesnt include the 9.9 or 10 variety. Not by choice as I would love more opportunities to get these rare in grade comics. Just what does a ten have over a 9.8? How come even books hot off the presses seemingly un touched can't grade above 9.8? Not just specific grading company's all seem to use just opening the comic removes it from that possible 10 immediately. Maybe it's me, seems if we are going to grade this way maybe the huge gap between a 10 and a 9.8 on the value scale should shrink in favor of the 9.8 gaining value or something that adds up better to an opinion. What do you see? No matter what the have to flip through all the pages in order to achieve a 10 thusly making it a 9.9? IDK?! It is a common fallacy that handling a book drops the grade. A 10.0 is free from all defects, mechanical and human since the printing process is not perfect and many hands and machine will handle a book from printing to sale it is pretty much impossible to get 9.9 and 10.0's. Printing is a much better now than it used to be and so it s not all that uncommon to achieve 9.8's. If you look at books printed now compared to previous decades you can see that production flaws are far less common than in the past especially alignment of the graphics on the cover. In the 60's and 70's misaligned graphics and staples were the norm so even if you have a book surviving in high grade and it fits a 9.8 or better even a very minor misalignment of the graphics can send a book down into a 9.8. The paper now also helps in that it is a heavier gauge and does not age in the same ways the old newsprint does so you also don't have the loss of grade points linked to pages becoming off-white or yellowing. IMHO since they switched from the more expensive newsprint and printing has gotten better 9.8's should't be as pricey as they are since it is really really easy to achieve such a grade. However it is very hard still to get the 9.9 and 10.0's so those should command the real premium not the ever so common 9.6 and 9.8's. edited by oxbladder on 3/25/2021
3/25/2021 Topic: Alien variants Oxbladder	Yeah none of the many regular and exclusive variants of Aliens has appealed to me. I mostly get variants that are done by artists I like and collect or if I like the cover. So I do buy them but I don't go out and get them all. I will just get the regular cover for Aliens #1 thanks.
3/25/2021 Topic: Eniac Oxbladder	I read about it. The book itself doesn't sound interesting and the limit nature isn't much more of a draw. Their distribution plan is going to limit their life span as I don't know how many stores will buy in (not many so far as I understand) and they are an independent publisher which already severely limits their uptake. I wish them luck but limiting access is just not a plan that has success built in. Even attached to a large distributor like Diamond won't assure your success. People are, at heart, largely Marvel and DC collectors and they do not venture that much into small press books which is why it is incredibly rare to find print runs exceeding 10000 outside DC and Marvel. I think that some copies will retain their value for a bit but unless they can manage to keep attention on themselves past these early issues the long term viability of these books is very low.
3/25/2021 Topic: Nocterra Oxbladder	I haven't read my copy yet but the write-up in Previews sounded interesting enough that I purchased it. I will probably purchase the first 4-5 issues than just pick it up in TPB format after that. I get too many floppies now and I have to start just getting trades since I am reaching the period in my collecting where I need to be looking at liquidating my floppies and continuing just with trades.
3/25/2021 Topic: Comics Going For More What do they know? Oxbladder	5Fiddy wrote: It seems that "Hot" book or books to "Watch" never show up until these have gone up already? And reason why? It seems like some people know ahead of time and do not let anyone else know In the "old" days people gave a "heads up" not anymore I take it.... In the old days people would also do their own research on the books and bought what they liked, and not what everyone else is chasing. This is nothing new. More people are joining in because it's so much easier to jump on the speculation train early. Lots of these speculation trends don't assure that the books will continue to accrue value. Lots of key appearances came in run of the mill books because few books ever become keys. In fact "key" has largely become a marketing term more than a descriptor. I don't fret over speculation though so none of this bothers me it's always been a part of the market.
3/25/2021 Topic: Overstreet Price Guide - Values? Oxbladder	lokyel wrote: ya Ron I was looking at Values of Transformers Generation 2 Halloween Special Edition \| ComicsPriceGuide.com \| Free Comic Book Price Guide you guys have this listed at $6 and overstreet does not even list it in the new one but in the last 10 years I have been out bid at $150 on ebay and other sites several times. got one now but that is crazy The book was a giveaway it will be in Overstreet's Promotional Giveaway section if they list it at all. However, Overstreet has not included every book ever printed. They used to list more but they made the decision years ago to give up that practice. For a printed guide it was the right decision.