Bronze Bruce. Scroll down 1/2 page...

 I could be wrong, however not that many dealers are doing the CGC thing. ( readers can clue me in) . It would be interesting to know how many dealers are very active with CGC businesses. Many, of course are simply collectors who CGC the few good books they own and then are pretty much done with it.

It's not likely that  the entire market will go belly-up. The CGC comic is very worthwhile and those of us who own these,  understand the inherent value. Some underlying principles can be employed in order to insure no one takes a beating.

1. The current price of any comic is not the price at which you will sell. You made the purchase because you planned to enjoy the comic for some time. It's not likely that you bought it to earn an instant huge profit. A dip in the prices is simply a good buying point.  For now, enjoy your purchases regardless of the price you paid.

2. The demise of comic collecting has been predicted from the time of  the" Big Bang". It isn't going to happen. Comics are worthwhile, and will always be around in one form or another. CGC collecting is an extension of this line of thought.

3. You will never really lose anything if you truly enjoy the item you bought. Whenever I think I want to sell something, I weigh the price it will fetch against the market value.

Hot Tip: Not comic related:

6. Smart money people are  refinancing their homes. Auto sales are better than ever! Why? Those who own real-estate  are refinancing with  a once in a lifetime opportunity and using the extra monthly cash to purchase automobiles with no interest financing. The
refinancing of real-estate  easily makes the car payment. 

Hi there...if you have no bids at the end of the auction, a layperson such as myself would feel the starting price of the auctions are to high. .I would be willing to pay $25 for this book or $35 or the 9.8 one...let me know if you are interested if there are still no bidders after the auction ends.

RS 9-24-01

reply

This is the type of letter I like. No words minced here. The comic in question is a Secret Wars #1 published in 1984. Guide values this at $6.00.

Let's examine the economics of producing and selling a CGC book from 1984. The cost of certification, as every CGC collector knows is now $15. A 10% discount can be obtained ($13.50), however the cost of shipping the comic to and from New Jersey brings the cost to $15.50.

Basic economic rules of retail business dictate that the final sales price must be at least double the wholesale price. The wholesale price is $13.50 and the final retail price is set at $27.00.The $2.00 two way shipping fee has already  eaten its way into true net profit.  If the retailer runs a well managed business, the profit is expected to be 8-12% of the retail price leaving a profit of $2.16-$3.24. If the book is sold for $24.84, no profit is left to the retailer and he might as well apply for a job as French fries boy at Mc Donald's where he can earn a minimum wage.

Above figures assume the cost of the actual comic to be zero. If the Secret Wars comic has a cost of  $1.20 ( a bargain ) the retail price must be set at $29.40. If the cost of the comic was $3.00, a reasonable expectation, the final price  can be set at $33.00.

For anyone who might ask about selling over the internet rather than the bricks and mortar system, the figures are exactly the same. Would-be entrepreneurs who began the dot com movement all went bust losing billions of dollars when they calculated in error that their costs would be magically lower.

What does this tell anyone about the CGC comics that sell under these prices? The comics are distress items, damaged merchandise, un-saleable at a profit. If you are a collector that purchases these comics, you might ask why you are collecting unwanted collectibles. 

Note that many comics are sold for $32.50 by Back Issue Comics. This is the profit point for nearly every low priced comic. Remember that these were all purchased at the time of publication at wholesale prices so the initial cost of most comics is under a dollar. Warehouse space for 25 years was a large part of the investment program and ran well over 100,000 dollars. It started in a closet, but I soon ran our of space.   

Any comic that is graded 9.6 or more is not a damaged product and should be sold at profitable prices. Original feeling here was that a 9.4 Near Mint comic was the break point, however the marketplace has told us that 9.4 is considered to be unacceptable as most comics from our inventory would not be priced at 32.50 and sell easily. If we find that customers will not pay $32.50 for a particular comic graded 9.6 or better, it will not be offered. It would be sold one time as a distress item and then not replaced.

eBay is an auction-like activity. eBay recognizes that it is not a true auction in some respects and discusses this at its web site. For Back Issue Comix,  eBay is used partly as an auction and also as an advertisement for our products. Most every week we initiate auctions that begin at a penny and carry no reserve price. This is done for items that often will have extraordinary interest , like a comic graded 10.0. It often is one-of-a-kind and setting a price is not possible. 

Let's go  back to the original  feeling that opening prices , "Seem too high." These auctions are closer to advertisements that simply offer thinly traded comics at reasonable prices. A true auction cannot take place as serious buyers are not necessarily shopping at the moment. A hundred dollar item might find a buyer for a penny or no bid at all in these instances. Very often I look at concluded auctions and see items that had real value not receiving a one cent bid.

For every 10,000 collectors who would want a Wolverine #1 , there is only one ( or less) who would want a Secret Wars #1. A market for an auction exists daily at eBay for the Wolverine while none exists for the Secret Wars. Does this mean that Secret Wars is going to be fairly traded at unprofitable prices? Nope. It means that the seller will be patient until the proper buyer steps up to make the purchase.

I'd like any collector to look over a list at eBay any day of the week for the 9.8-10.0  listings and examine the publication dates of the comics that reach those  grades. For the most part they will be comics from the last ten years and are not particularly rare. Comics from the 70's are non-existent and few early 80's comics hit this mark.

Our company has drawn the line at 1985 for comics that hit high grades. Comics before that date in 9.6 and up are fairly rare and 9.8's are almost non-existent. At this point, many collectors are not aware of this and expect to pick up  thinly traded pre-85 comics for distress prices.

Secret Wars falls into the thinly traded pre-85 realm. Rare, rare, rare and likely to continue to be rare as few are likely to ever exist. Collectors who want 9.8 at low prices will need to shop for post 85 comics. They are not rare and virtually anyone can get Spawn #1( 1991) certified at a 9.9 or 10. Our company sent in 7 Venom #1's and received 5 each 9.9 and 2 each 10.0 grades. We have more, but what is the point? In fact we have 200,000 90's comics that all would receive 9.9 or 10.

See our article CGC and Back Issue Comics that describes CGC data indicating Back Issue Comix is the only consistent high grade source for bronze age comics. Other articles at this site will give insight as to why we have these high grade comics while others do not.

The purchase of a pre-85 high grade comic is backed by our company. The value will not go down  as we are now seeing with post 85 comics. We will not be offering these for less , nor dumping large quantities into the market place. Competitors do not exist  and we do not concern ourselves that they somehow could offer comics of this quality. The data base at CGC confirms this.

Prices at eBay could appear to be high to the customer who is accustomed  to bidding for 90's comics at low prices. In time, the rarity of upper grade 70 and 80's comics will be apparent and the current pricing will seem to be a bargain as more and more collectors begin collecting the older comics in high grade.

We feel that the entire Secret Wars series is of interest to collectors and any issue  of 9.6 or better should turn over a minimal profit. If we are wrong, we would have had trouble selling these, however interest has been high and we expect to continue selling these at stable prices. Those collectors who made purchases from us can rest easy knowing that prices on these rare comics will not go down. 

Bronzebruce13/eBay ID