by tiger » Fri Nov 01, 2013 5:38 pm
I already knew that. Same goes with hockey cards.
At least with my old comics I bought them for 25 cents. plus packs of hockey cards too.
Even when I jumped back into it, I noticed that you could buy back issues for $1 at comic stores (POW). And if you were looking for large lots of 3-10 year old comics, you could get them even cheaper, and that's including shipping.
So I never paid full cover price for the comics ($4) b/c they're worth 25% and less after a few years. There could be a few "key issues" that might pop up, but those drop in price too as the years go by.
With comics and cards, if you have anything that's of real value, you have to get it graded. If you get a high grade, you can be guaranteed to get full market value.
The misconception is that just because it's old, it's worth something. Pavel Bure's rookie card is 20 years old. How much would you pay for it? Go even older. Stan Smyl's RC is 30 years old. Even older, Dennis Kearns. Who? Exactly.
First there's condition, then there has to be a demand.
Jai bought an ungraded Gretzky rookie card for $120 (Can't remember exactly) Wasn't the greatest condition, but it was still a Gretzky. So what's a no name scrub worth in the same condition? Not much. Even if it was in perfect mint condition. $5?
Ebay has also caused a huge drop in re-sale value for collectibles because it's so readily available.
Suppose you have something rare that sells on ebay for crazy money. All of a sudden, everyone else who has one too decides to sell it too to "rake it in". Little do they know by doing that, they flood the market, even if only a handful pop up. You go from 1 showing up on ebay in the last 10 years, to 5 showing up in 10 days. Doesn't seem that rare any more. But people don't understand marketing.
If you got something for $1, then you see it being sold for $200, but then it drops to $20 b/c the market gets flooded. When would you sell it? Some people will sell it at $20. But they don't realize that if they wait a year, they'll be able to sell it back up at $100. Obviously it depends on what it is, so you have to know the market. But since you bought it for $1, you're not out much at all, and if you don't need $20 right away, why not wait?
...my meager skills were no match for his devastating...