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    jmartin39 | Male | 49 years old | Lakeland, FL

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Message For Our Group

1169 views • May 5, '15 • (7) Comments

I have recently encountered an unpleasant experience with dealing with a sellers unrealistic expectations regarding their asking price for a comic book. While I am enjoying my piece of humble pie....I want to be constructive and encourage everyone within our comic group to never pay thousands on any and all modern age comic books from no one. Please...I beg everyone to do your homework and attain all market knowledge of books or any collectables that you desire to pursue. Do not ever allow yourselves to be bullied or pressured by nothing to spend more than the market value. I plainly have a serious disdain for any and all attempts that sellers use to pursuede buyers to spend more than we should. There are absolutely no stories, excuses, or justifications for wanting to rob someone within a purchase agreement. I hope that everyone accepts my message with humility. Thank you for listening.

  • May 7, '15 by mekdinosaur's avatar mekdinosaur
  • I have had many unpleasant encounters with buyers and sellers over the years. Unfortunately, there are many a huckster and shyster that cling onto the comic market due to the nature of the market. Speculators are ripe in certain circles since Overstreet started to print price guides and such. It's the ugly side of our hobby. The myriad of alternate "rare" and "collectable" versions of published comics just feed the greedy buggers. Just look at the number of variant covers for Star Wars #1 for godsake! The practice of collectable and imo often inferior alternate covers will continue to draw unscrupulous characters into comic collecting as much as true fans. I agree that one must be cautious when dealing with anyone dealing comics: respectable comic shop owners to the craigslisters and ebayers alike. Comics are traditionally a children's medium still and there are many who feel the need to steal "candy from babes" are plenty in our culture. Buyer beware and all that. But still, there is nothing better than finding an LCS that cares about cultivating a good customer base and respects its cliental. support the good guys; even if that means you have to spend an extra buck or two more than you would otherwise prefer. Good topic.
  • Jun 3, '15 by Timsan06's avatar Timsan06
  • I am 51 years old and have not bought a comic in almost 20 years. The first comics I ever bought were Incredible Hulk 200 and X-men 99 (off a magazine rack when I was around 12 years old). I agree that you should never pay above book/market value for modern comics. I stopped buying comics, because I got to busy with my job and my family, but would occaision ally check the market. I love comics, but sometimes hate the industry and greedy money grubbing by the industry and some shops/people. The only modern comics that will rise in value (and continue to do so for years) are popular comics with small print runs (these are very few). Additionally, the comic must remain in print, and or popular for the value to be maintained long term. If a book is no longer published, the publisher goes out of business, or the book's popularity declines, the value will go down (sometimes significantly). Signed books and variants are nothing but gimmicks. While they might be rare, it is a rarity that is created by the industry, vs a natural event (ie a new book with a low print run due to uncertain interest in the title is a truly rare comic, vs 1 million reg copies and 500 gold editions). The gimmick books are rare but you have to find someone willing to pay extra for the gimmick, vs the same person just buying and enjoying 1 of the regular copies. Usually in the long term the value of the gimmick books start to get closer to the value of the regular copies. In terms of paying above market for a regular modern age issue...don't do it. Wait a while, and buy later after the hype dies down (it's like buying a new release video game for $60, or waiting 6 (or more months) and getting the same game for $30, or less. My comments are true for 95%, or more, of all modern comics. I have around 3,000 books from 1975-1996, and have followed the industry/market since I was 12. I have been burned by bad shops and predatory collectors when I was younger, and I have seen a lot of ups and downs in the market. I never collected to get rich (the stopped printing Action Comics 1 in the 1930s...and I don't have a time machine). While comics can be used as an investment, I think most of the true investment grade comic were published years ago.
  • Jun 3, '15 by Timsan06's avatar Timsan06
  • While I stand by my comments above, there are a lot of good stores and people in the comics business industry. I love a well drawn book with a great story. I am not sure what book(s) you collect/read. Let me know, if I have anything you are looking for, my collection is for sale. My children are not interested, and the boxes have sat in the closet(s) for the last 20 years). I will sell for well below market (the prices listed by comic realm). In any case, the "bad guys" can usually tell when you really want something (this goes for comics, cars, real estate...etc), and will use your desire to get you to pay more than you should. If someone is trying to get you to pay more, walk away, research prices on the internet, look at sites where price history is available (Heritage auctions...etc), also at sites that buy books (these prices will be under market value, but will give you a sense of what the real value is). After some research, and sometime to think about the "deal", make a decision (never buy with your emotions...you will almost always overpay).
    • Jun 3, '15 by jmartin39's avatar jmartin39
    • I absolutely agree with you. I love your wisdom. Thank you very much for your insight on the subject. I started reading comics back in 1992 when the gimmick trash started. I lost my comics in a basement flood at my moms house. I saw an oppurtunity to jump on a Spawn collection from Michigan and bought them because I really missed having my Spawn comics. I have since been working on completing the collection. I want to thank you very much for sharing your experiences.
  • Jun 10, '15 by Nightwing/Grayson's avatar Nightwing/Grayson
  • I had someone ask over a thousand dollars for a chewbacca toy it wasn't the original variant who would but that right.
    • Jun 11, '15 by jmartin39's avatar jmartin39
    • Being educated about both the value of items and the knowledge of what items are is our only defense from making poor judgment purchases. You apparently made a good defensive decision. KUDOS!!!!!
  • Jun 22, '15 by octoberland's avatar octoberland
  • I would like to add that it is even tougher with the rampant speculation out there. Even buying a book for the current market price can be a scam. True even for keys. With the market blowing up with any whiff of rumor, you can hardly buy any book remotely near the value, and that character / movie / what ever has not even proven itself. Ultron for example. The movie is tremendous and going like gangbusters, but the books are stagnating and declining. If you bought right before the peak, you might need to wait years to see that price again. Yes, you still have a solid key that you bought at market, but those prices are x5 what they were even 2 years ago. Buying a 5.5CGC for what used to get you a high 9 CGC sucks.

    I guess what I am saying is even something which seems fair in today's market, you need to look at history to see the reality. Even recent history (less than 2 years). This does not mean by nothing, but make sure the reasonable price you are paying is historically reasonable. They do still exist. You just need to look beyond Ebay, which admittedly can be hard given where you live.

    Be safe and happy purchasing. Most of all, love what you buy regardless of price!

    - Craig Coffman
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