And furthermore you cannot enjoy the actual comic any longer, you get to look at the front and back cover. I got in to comics to read the things, if I wanted a nice picture to look at I'd get a Picasso print!

Professional grading is a big scam for the most part, and we all just play along with it because we want more money for our books.

I don't agree with this. Having a third party validate or confirm the quality of an item of value should always increase the price of that item, especially since the owner absorbed the cost (sometimes heavy) of getting the item valued. This is a common practice across other areas and is justifiable since we are not certified graders and can be biased. Also, the slab offers a degree of protection not offered by just a bag and board.

In my experience, it is is an extremely rare occurrence where a graded version of a book will go for the exact same price as its raw counterpart (unless the seller is intentionally going below guide to sell fast). If this site is going to take a position otherwise, then the price quoted on CPG just isn't based in reality or what's actually happening in the market.

Its possible that we might not be debating the same thing, but I'm not contending the existence of outliers. I'm challenging the accuracy of the reported values that I assume are supposed to be a reflection of the bell curve. It is possible that if some unlucky soul were to compile ALL market data and perform a comprehensive analysis then we may discover that the standard deviation is much larger than anyone would've anticipated. In the event of this "wild, wild west" scenario, we may be forced to challenge the whole enterprise of formal price guides in general. Regardless, I believe that a workable deviation exists and would have to conclude that most people do as well, otherwise we wouldn't be using/relying on these guides.

I find the Price Guide focuses on the wrong things, for example, a mainstream company that has a print run of over 300,000 copies and then sells because of a demand went from $2 to $800, but a comic that came out at the same time that only has less then 3,000 print goes from $2 to $3. Sorry in my book "demand" or "NOT', that lower print run is worth $100.

To be honest, I do not rely on grading prices, and I collect books, not for investment but because I enjoy them. Yes, I did and still do buy multiple copies if I feel the art or the story is fantastic. Sometimes if it is an independent company that I know only has a small print run and very rare with a good story or art, I would support them by buying multiple copies.





Now for grading, I do not rely on other as in GCC since I have noticed on some of their gradings I do not always agree with. And at shows, the problem is too many people open a sealed copy and put their fingers on it, and the grad can change automatically if they don't purchase it and put it back.


I find the Price Guide focuses on the wrong things, for example, a mainstream company that has a print run of over 300,000 copies and then sells because of a demand went from $2 to $800, but a comic that came out at the same time that only has less then 3,000 print goes from $2 to $3. Sorry in my book "demand" or "NOT', that lower print run is worth $100.

So just to be clear

I´m looking at a copy of Star Wars #1 1977 for sale for 1189 US. This guide lists this specific example at raw 600 and graded 1200 US. Given this I assume this is a safe buy since it´s up against the market value? Market value being the graded value?

Thanks

I think the true value and premiums for graded books come in to play when dealing with much older books. There are so many defects that are hard to detect online or at a crowded comic shows including things like color touch ups, missing pages and trimming. A lot of people including myself will pay more for a graded copy to protect them self even if its not a high grade book.
edited by knparzival on 1/4/2016

"Rule of thumb: Your comic is worth at least "raw" prices...graded or not. If it's graded and a 9.6 or greater, you can probably get over guide for it..."


I am new at this site, and trying to sell comics for the first time.
I have over 10,000 comics, mostly from 80s.


If a comic is worth the raw price, I am noticing a lot of comics for sale on this site are priced much less than the raw price.
ACTION comics #595 as an example. Raw price for 9.4 is $12, but there are 5 comics listed at 9.4 grade for $3.75 or less.


Just trying to learn how to properly price the comics I list for sale on this site.

... I'm very much less concerned with the difference between a 9.8 and 9.6 than I am with a NM and VF. If you're in this hobby solely for investment and concerned about Returns On Investments (ROI) then slabbed is the way to go. For me, investment is a factor, but it's certainly not the biggest or main reason I collect.