People letting their emotions into it. It's really simple: if you agree on price, then it's a sale, if you don't agree, move on. It's not like a debate where you're trying to change the other person's mind.
Last year, on eBay I had a buyer send this message "Hi! I'm a collector. Would you be willing to sell at $289? If so I'll buy it today." I immediately sent him the $289 offer, he rejected it. He is now blocked.
That makes absolutely no sense. What was the point of that? My wife goes through the same type of thing as a part-time travel agent. She will work hours to find several quotes for people on vacations they want, providing information on every option for vacations they want within their stated price point. Then at the end, they’ll say, “No thanks. That’s just too much money.”
@@chrisjohnson3456 As a seller you develop a gut feeling for when a buyer might be unscrupulous. Especially with ebay the power is really in the hands of the buyer, and they can try to pull all sorts of nonsense after the sale like demanding partial refunds or claiming returns. blocking people is not just a way to safe yourself time and hassle, but to ensure you don't do business with someone trying to manipulate the system
While low balling is bad, sometimes the higher prices listed on Ebay are ridiculous. Best advise is if you really badly want the comic, wait. There will be another seller that will come along sooner or later with a more reasonable offer.
I offer a few high value/high grade books on eBay from my pc. My listings do not have the “Best Offer” option yet I still get lowball offers. I politely respond, “I am not entertaining offers below the asking price”. However, I still get a ton of requests for additional pics of my CGC books. After I comply and upload closeups of the slabbed books, I get lowball offers. I never block anyone but it’s infuriating.
"or best offer" only appears during an auction... and is something ebay adds, not the seller. The only time I make an offer is if it says " make offer". I don't know why they include Or best offer. Sellers have to sell to the highest bidder. They can't accept offers unless the buy now is selected... and that goes away once the first bid is placed. I could be wrong....
@@kellygoodine9944you are very wrong. I was reading your comment and off rip you were wrong. Not to mention obo is self explanatory. The price you see or the best offer you can make. Sellers list their things and have options to set a price and or a obo.
I tried to buy a few copies from a seller A Place In Space on ebay. I didn't see that he limited the number of copies people could purchase on this listing. My bad. Since I thought something may be wrong with ebay because I couldn't purchase, I simply emailed the seller to let him know I was having difficulty purchasing 3 books from him ( the limit was 2). He gave me a rude response and blocked me from purchasing any of his books. That's all there was to it. I wasn't rude..limiting copies is fine by me.. I just overlooked the limit on the page because I had never seen anyone place a limit... this was 3 years ago. I forgot about it until today when I actually tried to buy a single issue of something on ebay and couldn't... then checked the seller. Sure enough, it was A Place in Space and I was still blocked. His books, his business. Oh well. Reminded me of the Soup Nazi.
When it comes to the last sales price, a similarly graded book may be priced differently than the last sold price simply because the paper quality is not the same, it presents better or worse than the sold book or the defects that led to the grade are valued differently.
As someone who has sold on EBay, it’s important to remember you are dealing with the general public. It requires a little patience. FWIW, you can adjust the quality of offer you receive. For example, I’ll be comfortable letting a comic book go for a certain off my listing price. By adjusting your offer settings, you can eliminate the headaches.
As always, great insight. Let's hope your read of this post and its comments is right that a shift may be underway, that things are firming up (sellers not selling for desperate prices, and buyers getting upset when their offers aren't accepted!). However, the "no drama' logic-- i.e., buyers and sellers are free to offer and accept whatever they want-- should apply to Best Offers, too. As long as the seller will sell for some amount below list, even if it is a small amount, then buyer can just move on, no drama, if they don't like it. One way to see Best Offers is as invitations to negotiate, not requirements for sellers to accept any "reasonable" offer.
What I submitted my first offer for my Tales of Suspense 39 the seller was asking $4500. I didn’t want to insult and waste the time of the seller so I offered $3500 which I thought was a fair beginning offer. He responded by offering $4100, I thought WOW, he came down $400 on a deep grail. I countered with $3700, he responded with $3850, WOW AGAIN! He came down $650 which is rare for such a caliber book. Instead of squeezing another $50 to $75 and potentially piss him off I accepted the offer. That was 4 years ago and I’m still the proud owner of a 2.0 CGC first appearance of Iron Man.
So I feel like right now, there's probably a lot of sellers who bought during the boom or missed the boom and are now trying to "catch up" on perceived value. The market went through a huge irrational spike and is cooling down (as markets do). Personally, I think nearly everything is way over priced still, but at the end of the day, if you've got money sunk in a book you're not going to want to take a loss. That said I feel like if you're willing to take offers and the offer isn't ridiculous (like I don't think OP's offer was ridiculous) blocking the guy is just poor form.
In my selling online experience, I've come across people no matter the price they want to haggle. I used to price everything within 5% of last sold and would get offers 20% below that even. I've never considered blocking any of them except the ones that would send messages like "Ill take it for $20" on a $100-$150 book.
There is just no need to get pissy when you can't get the deal you want..If you stay cool it may happen down the road..you don't get to tell others what they need to accept..Great vid.
What I see on eBay is that most sellers of bigger books are listing them for around 25 percent above what most valuation sites are giving it. I think they're trying to avoid paying for eBay fees and pass them on to the customer
My problem is "best offer" simply used as being a tease... If you are not willing to negotiate with a verified, paying buyer with tons of feedback you shouldn't offer Best Offer... I mean to at least think about 10% discount...minimum.... otherwise don't bother in my opinion.... I usually start at least 20% off with best offers.... Haggling is one thing, but only being willing to budge a buck on a $250 listed book is rather silly, and a waste of time. IMO
Sellers have every right to ask what they want to ask, and buyers have every right to pay what they want to pay. When those two coincide is when you get a sale. Heard a real estate magnate quoted as saying one time that "every piece of real estate that doesn't sell has the exact same problem: it isn't priced correctly." Fact is that that's true of just about everything, including comic books.
i dont even bother offering when someone has a book listed for ludicrous prices. also, didnt realize you could block on ebay but never had a reason to. i have always thought that the worst a seller can say is no and if they dont counter offer then seems pretty black and white. some people get there feelers hurt on a lowball, just part of the game.
I could use your expertise: I have Crime Suspenstories #16. It is PGX graded a 3.0 ( honestly it looks amazing, but at some point someone put tape along the spine as a protective measure...no spine split at all, no staple pulls. More importantly it has a verified Al Williamson signature. The only data I see on Go Collect is a single signed 1.5 copy but I can't see who signed it so I have zero clue to the value of my copy. Any help would be greatly appreciated. My thanks
With respect to resale, PGX is pretty tough. Most people will want to pay less than raw price for it just because of the general lack of trust in their grading and that most would want to cross grade it to something like CGC to match their collection (justified still or not). I’d probably say $250-300 roughly.
@AutomaticComics thanks! I wasn't sure how the Al Williamson signature would affect the price on a book from the 50's. I paid $150 for it pre comic spike, will probably send to CGC at some point. Thanks again.
I put books up on ebay all the time for prices I would be willing to take. Im never in a rush to sell. Some books I post are the only available copies online. Sometimes people get mad that I don't accept their offers or complain about my asking price. I let them know that I'm not doing this for a living and I hope they find another copy for the price they want. Books aren't always worth what people are willing to pay, but what the seller is willing to let them go for
I got blocked by a HUGE seller on eBay for giving some negative feedback that I think was warranted. They’re like the Walmart of comics. Walmart doesn’t block buyers…
This is the explanation :The Mark Jeweler inserts are variants of popular comics from the 1970s. These variants, unlike many other comic variants, are not subject to one comic company, but both DC and Marvel. In the mid 1970’s DC and Marvel comics included a four page color insert in a number of their comics. These inserts can be seen if one looks at the top edge of the comic, then one will see a blue heavy stock insert. There is a belief that these variants were distributed near U.S. military bases, both at home and abroad. These Mark Jeweler inserts allowed servicemen to purchase jewelry and engagement rings. The ratio of standard comics to the number of variants is currently unknown, but it appears that the variants were produced in a smaller quantity.
IMO, it's nothing that should have ever affected the monetary value of a book. It's gimmicky to say, 'my book is better, cause it has a mark jewelers insert'.
Mark Jewlers and newsstand variants mean nothing to me. I’m interest in art content and rarity. Give me golden age horror- silver age first appearance, bronze first appearance, crossovers, initial battles between characters and the best artist and writers . That is what I collect and sell. It’s been a lot of fun and has made some extra money. There are some real classy folks in the comic game. Unfortunately there is also the unwashed nerd who smells funny thumbing through your books at a convention. Wash your-self!don’t be the unwashed nerd.
The person low-balling the seller isn't ignorant. They are most likely a retailer themselves bullying a seller just to maximize their profits. Depending on the state of the market of that IP, if it's hot I'm good with 90%, if it's cold it can drop to 70%. I've had these people offer me 20-40% on hot books. For them, I give them a special offer of 120%. And whatever they offer afterwards, for them, the price is 120%. I call it my douchebag tax.
I think I side with the seller in this case. If an offer is rejected, I understand a seller blocking the buyer who wants to discuss the rejection, which could lead to a back-and-forth hassle for the seller. If I'm the buyer, I wouldn't message a seller after an offer rejection to ask why or to complain. The rejection is good enough for me. If a seller doesn't want to accept an offering that I feel is reasonable, that's fine. I'd rather just move on and avoid bothering the seller.
If you don’t like either side of the business then don’t do business with them. Simple yes or no. You don’t have to take offers if you don’t want them. No need to act but hurt.
Buyers who think they are entitled to your books for the last sold price are the worst. Depending upon the rarity of an item, the last sold price is often times irrelevant
Not entitled but last sold price is best reference. And if prices are going down (seems finally speculators are going elsewhere) at least your buyer is a guy who actually cares about enjoying the book, not making a profit, and that would be a healthier industry
That’s a 🤡 take. The last sold is a great place to start. It’s up to the buyer to decide to accept or wait for a better offer or someone to buy at full price. You sound like a baby
The value of a book has always been whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Sellers shouldn't think they can get a book for the last sale price. As you mention, rarity can have a big impact on price. Early Captain America Comics command big prices because they are both scarce and very popular.
Books are still selling but the market is definitely cooling. Prices went stupid during Covid. Way too many books that went for hundreds to thousands…are now under a hundred bucks or just a few thousand. Supply vs demand, money vs broke. I do hate when ppl have “better offer” on eBay, you offer 5-10% off and they reject it. Or they come back with a 1-2% off. Why have it?? I always deny their counter offer and won’t buy anything else from them.
This is the very definition of a free market! The sellers set the price. If the buyer doesn’t like it, move on, and find it elsewhere. As buyers, we feel cheated when monopolies are created and yet, this would-be buyer was more or less demanding the right to reverse role play 🤦♂️ Overall, I do notice people have become more sensitive to these types of issues. There’s no shortage of unprofessionalism (or childishness) circling the hobby these days (ie. becoming argumentative, non-payment, cancelled sales, etc). If it’s something you wouldn’t do in a store or business setting, why do it online.
I also block low ballers. There's no respect in a low ball offer and I don't have the energy to spend time or engage with someone that doesn't share the same values as I do. Nuff said.
People letting their emotions into it. It's really simple: if you agree on price, then it's a sale, if you don't agree, move on. It's not like a debate where you're trying to change the other person's mind.
Last year, on eBay I had a buyer send this message "Hi! I'm a collector. Would you be willing to sell at $289? If so I'll buy it today."
I immediately sent him the $289 offer, he rejected it.
He is now blocked.
That makes absolutely no sense. What was the point of that? My wife goes through the same type of thing as a part-time travel agent. She will work hours to find several quotes for people on vacations they want, providing information on every option for vacations they want within their stated price point. Then at the end, they’ll say, “No thanks. That’s just too much money.”
Why block them?
@@chrisjohnson3456I would block you for asking why.
@@chrisjohnson3456 As a seller you develop a gut feeling for when a buyer might be unscrupulous. Especially with ebay the power is really in the hands of the buyer, and they can try to pull all sorts of nonsense after the sale like demanding partial refunds or claiming returns. blocking people is not just a way to safe yourself time and hassle, but to ensure you don't do business with someone trying to manipulate the system
The value is what ever price you are willing to accept for that collectible
While low balling is bad, sometimes the higher prices listed on Ebay are ridiculous. Best advise is if you really badly want the comic, wait. There will be another seller that will come along sooner or later with a more reasonable offer.
I offer a few high value/high grade books on eBay from my pc.
My listings do not have the “Best Offer” option yet I still get lowball offers. I politely respond, “I am not entertaining offers below the asking price”. However, I still get a ton of requests for additional pics of my CGC books. After I comply and upload closeups of the slabbed books, I get lowball offers. I never block anyone but it’s infuriating.
I got blocked this week for offering $5 under a OBO listing of $175....
🙄🤷♂️
Maybe the seller didn't want to go below the $175. Also I have no idea what OBO means...so possible negotiation?
OBO means “or best offer”
@patwilliams7362 Or Best Offer. That's what OBO means.
"or best offer" only appears during an auction... and is something ebay adds, not the seller.
The only time I make an offer is if it says " make offer".
I don't know why they include Or best offer. Sellers have to sell to the highest bidder. They can't accept offers unless the buy now is selected... and that goes away once the first bid is placed.
I could be wrong....
@@kellygoodine9944you are very wrong. I was reading your comment and off rip you were wrong. Not to mention obo is self explanatory. The price you see or the best offer you can make. Sellers list their things and have options to set a price and or a obo.
Not sure why anyone needs to block tbh. You can scroll past, ignore, etc.
I tried to buy a few copies from a seller A Place In Space on ebay. I didn't see that he limited the number of copies people could purchase on this listing. My bad. Since I thought something may be wrong with ebay because I couldn't purchase, I simply emailed the seller to let him know I was having difficulty purchasing 3 books from him ( the limit was 2). He gave me a rude response and blocked me from purchasing any of his books. That's all there was to it.
I wasn't rude..limiting copies is fine by me.. I just overlooked the limit on the page because I had never seen anyone place a limit... this was 3 years ago. I forgot about it until today when I actually tried to buy a single issue of something on ebay and couldn't... then checked the seller. Sure enough, it was A Place in Space and I was still blocked. His books, his business. Oh well.
Reminded me of the Soup Nazi.
When it comes to the last sales price, a similarly graded book may be priced differently than the last sold price simply because the paper quality is not the same, it presents better or worse than the sold book or the defects that led to the grade are valued differently.
There are some greedy sellers out there. Stay away from the greedy sellers. But a book is only worth want someone wants to pay.
As someone who has sold on EBay, it’s important to remember you are dealing with the general public. It requires a little patience.
FWIW, you can adjust the quality of offer you receive. For example, I’ll be comfortable letting a comic book go for a certain off my listing price. By adjusting your offer settings, you can eliminate the headaches.
As always, great insight. Let's hope your read of this post and its comments is right that a shift may be underway, that things are firming up (sellers not selling for desperate prices, and buyers getting upset when their offers aren't accepted!). However, the "no drama' logic-- i.e., buyers and sellers are free to offer and accept whatever they want-- should apply to Best Offers, too. As long as the seller will sell for some amount below list, even if it is a small amount, then buyer can just move on, no drama, if they don't like it. One way to see Best Offers is as invitations to negotiate, not requirements for sellers to accept any "reasonable" offer.
What I submitted my first offer for my Tales of Suspense 39 the seller was asking $4500. I didn’t want to insult and waste the time of the seller so I offered $3500 which I thought was a fair beginning offer. He responded by offering $4100, I thought WOW, he came down $400 on a deep grail. I countered with $3700, he responded with $3850, WOW AGAIN! He came down $650 which is rare for such a caliber book. Instead of squeezing another $50 to $75 and potentially piss him off I accepted the offer. That was 4 years ago and I’m still the proud owner of a 2.0 CGC first appearance of Iron Man.
So I feel like right now, there's probably a lot of sellers who bought during the boom or missed the boom and are now trying to "catch up" on perceived value. The market went through a huge irrational spike and is cooling down (as markets do). Personally, I think nearly everything is way over priced still, but at the end of the day, if you've got money sunk in a book you're not going to want to take a loss. That said I feel like if you're willing to take offers and the offer isn't ridiculous (like I don't think OP's offer was ridiculous) blocking the guy is just poor form.
In my selling online experience, I've come across people no matter the price they want to haggle. I used to price everything within 5% of last sold and would get offers 20% below that even. I've never considered blocking any of them except the ones that would send messages like "Ill take it for $20" on a $100-$150 book.
Great points! I’d like your opinions on the FMVs given by pricecharting and Hipcomic.
There is just no need to get pissy when you can't get the deal you want..If you stay cool it may happen down the road..you don't get to tell others what they need to accept..Great vid.
What I see on eBay is that most sellers of bigger books are listing them for around 25 percent above what most valuation sites are giving it. I think they're trying to avoid paying for eBay fees and pass them on to the customer
Some of the best books I've ever gotten are by lowball offers. I always find it really odd that people block people because of that.
My problem is "best offer" simply used as being a tease... If you are not willing to negotiate with a verified, paying buyer with tons of feedback you shouldn't offer Best Offer... I mean to at least think about 10% discount...minimum.... otherwise don't bother in my opinion.... I usually start at least 20% off with best offers.... Haggling is one thing, but only being willing to budge a buck on a $250 listed book is rather silly, and a waste of time. IMO
Sellers have every right to ask what they want to ask, and buyers have every right to pay what they want to pay. When those two coincide is when you get a sale.
Heard a real estate magnate quoted as saying one time that "every piece of real estate that doesn't sell has the exact same problem: it isn't priced correctly." Fact is that that's true of just about everything, including comic books.
The longer I been in this hobby I’ve slowly morphed in the similar viewpoint of the seller.
i dont even bother offering when someone has a book listed for ludicrous prices. also, didnt realize you could block on ebay but never had a reason to. i have always thought that the worst a seller can say is no and if they dont counter offer then seems pretty black and white. some people get there feelers hurt on a lowball, just part of the game.
Just picked up a JIM 83 off heritage super happy!
Nothing wrong with low ball offers
I could use your expertise: I have Crime Suspenstories #16. It is PGX graded a 3.0 ( honestly it looks amazing, but at some point someone put tape along the spine as a protective measure...no spine split at all, no staple pulls. More importantly it has a verified Al Williamson signature. The only data I see on Go Collect is a single signed 1.5 copy but I can't see who signed it so I have zero clue to the value of my copy. Any help would be greatly appreciated. My thanks
With respect to resale, PGX is pretty tough. Most people will want to pay less than raw price for it just because of the general lack of trust in their grading and that most would want to cross grade it to something like CGC to match their collection (justified still or not).
I’d probably say $250-300 roughly.
@AutomaticComics thanks! I wasn't sure how the Al Williamson signature would affect the price on a book from the 50's. I paid $150 for it pre comic spike, will probably send to CGC at some point. Thanks again.
The buyer made a decent offer IMO. Kinda missing some context as to why he was blocked though.
I put books up on ebay all the time for prices I would be willing to take. Im never in a rush to sell. Some books I post are the only available copies online. Sometimes people get mad that I don't accept their offers or complain about my asking price. I let them know that I'm not doing this for a living and I hope they find another copy for the price they want. Books aren't always worth what people are willing to pay, but what the seller is willing to let them go for
I got blocked by a HUGE seller on eBay for giving some negative feedback that I think was warranted. They’re like the Walmart of comics. Walmart doesn’t block buyers…
Was it Mycomicshop?
@@str8swish538 I’m sure they blocked me for asking about media mail 🎉
@ no, I like them a lot! Cyberspace….
What in the world is mark jewelers?
This is the explanation :The Mark Jeweler inserts are variants of popular comics from the 1970s. These variants, unlike many other comic variants, are not subject to one comic company, but both DC and Marvel. In the mid 1970’s DC and Marvel comics included a four page color insert in a number of their comics. These inserts can be seen if one looks at the top edge of the comic, then one will see a blue heavy stock insert. There is a belief that these variants were distributed near U.S. military bases, both at home and abroad. These Mark Jeweler inserts allowed servicemen to purchase jewelry and engagement rings. The ratio of standard comics to the number of variants is currently unknown, but it appears that the variants were produced in a smaller quantity.
IMO, it's nothing that should have ever affected the monetary value of a book. It's gimmicky to say, 'my book is better, cause it has a mark jewelers insert'.
Mark Jewlers and newsstand variants mean nothing to me. I’m interest in art content and rarity. Give me golden age horror- silver age first appearance, bronze first appearance, crossovers, initial battles between characters and the best artist and writers . That is what I collect and sell. It’s been a lot of fun and has made some extra money. There are some real classy folks in the comic game. Unfortunately there is also the unwashed nerd who smells funny thumbing through your books at a convention. Wash your-self!don’t be the unwashed nerd.
love the new trend the comic market is going..
If the book is $400 I set 350 so they can't play that game with me. All through it's a good video good information❤
If someone accepts offers and doesn't accept 10 percent off, I block the seller.
I don’t know man it’s a 2.5 your reading only paying for the auto and I think the 150$ is more then enough for that comic .
The seller didnt and ultimately his is the only opinion that matters
Totally agree. Look at how many people send in low grade books, on mediocre books, just to have them signed.
The person low-balling the seller isn't ignorant. They are most likely a retailer themselves bullying a seller just to maximize their profits. Depending on the state of the market of that IP, if it's hot I'm good with 90%, if it's cold it can drop to 70%. I've had these people offer me 20-40% on hot books. For them, I give them a special offer of 120%. And whatever they offer afterwards, for them, the price is 120%. I call it my douchebag tax.
I think I side with the seller in this case. If an offer is rejected, I understand a seller blocking the buyer who wants to discuss the rejection, which could lead to a back-and-forth hassle for the seller. If I'm the buyer, I wouldn't message a seller after an offer rejection to ask why or to complain. The rejection is good enough for me. If a seller doesn't want to accept an offering that I feel is reasonable, that's fine. I'd rather just move on and avoid bothering the seller.
Boom! ⚡💥🎉
If you don’t like either side of the business then don’t do business with them. Simple yes or no. You don’t have to take offers if you don’t want them. No need to act but hurt.
Can't stand extreme low ballers but also can't stand way out of whack high prices. Just be reasonable.
Buyers who think they are entitled to your books for the last sold price are the worst. Depending upon the rarity of an item, the last sold price is often times irrelevant
Pretty sure thats called a free market bro. Buyers make offers and sellers are free to accept or refuse.
Not entitled but last sold price is best reference. And if prices are going down (seems finally speculators are going elsewhere) at least your buyer is a guy who actually cares about enjoying the book, not making a profit, and that would be a healthier industry
That’s a 🤡 take. The last sold is a great place to start. It’s up to the buyer to decide to accept or wait for a better offer or someone to buy at full price. You sound like a baby
The value of a book has always been whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Sellers shouldn't think they can get a book for the last sale price. As you mention, rarity can have a big impact on price. Early Captain America Comics command big prices because they are both scarce and very popular.
The buyer making a post about this seems to confirm that the book may be undervalued and unique. Probably regrets not taking the deal.
Books are still selling but the market is definitely cooling. Prices went stupid during Covid. Way too many books that went for hundreds to thousands…are now under a hundred bucks or just a few thousand. Supply vs demand, money vs broke.
I do hate when ppl have “better offer” on eBay, you offer 5-10% off and they reject it. Or they come back with a 1-2% off. Why have it?? I always deny their counter offer and won’t buy anything else from them.
This is the very definition of a free market! The sellers set the price. If the buyer doesn’t like it, move on, and find it elsewhere. As buyers, we feel cheated when monopolies are created and yet, this would-be buyer was more or less demanding the right to reverse role play 🤦♂️
Overall, I do notice people have become more sensitive to these types of issues. There’s no shortage of unprofessionalism (or childishness) circling the hobby these days (ie. becoming argumentative, non-payment, cancelled sales, etc).
If it’s something you wouldn’t do in a store or business setting, why do it online.
I also block low ballers. There's no respect in a low ball offer and I don't have the energy to spend time or engage with someone that doesn't share the same values as I do. Nuff said.
Signing a cover, to me, is stupid. Great artitist never deface their art. And 3rd party graders are no different than us. I find over/udergraded often
Agree. All my sigs are on bottom of first page
I really don't like getting offers from buyers, as I do NOT have 'offers considered' in my listings.
Sent you a message on IG