rac
2008-12-23 17:20:26 UTC
The Oregonian http://atu.ca/b4ba
Over the last 10 days, I've been watching a book on
ComicLink that reminds me why I like the auction site so
much more than eBay.
When this copy of All-Select #9 http://atu.ca/9282 was
first listed, the seller was asking $1,700. That's a
serious case of wishful thinking. According to Overstreet,
this is an $800 comic ... and no one's paying a heavy
premium on 7.0 Timelys, not in the opening months of a
serious recession.
If the same book was listed on eBay at $1,700, it would
have sat for a week or 10 days or a month or whatever. That
over-priced, it wouldn't have received a bid, and the
seller would have eventually listed it again, still over-
priced, forcing anyone who was even vaguely interested in
the comic to wait another week or 10 days or a month for
economic reality to sit on the seller's chest and begin
slapping the crap out of him.
Not on ComicLink. On ComicLink, you can move your comic to
the top of the "All Newest Comic Listings" by lowering its
price. And that's what the owner of the All-Select has
done. Repeatedly. He dropped it to $1,620, then $1,520 ...
then $1,400 ... then $1,300. As of Sunday night, the sale
price was $1,250, which is still $225 more than the highest
bid ($1,025) the comic has received.
A motivated seller and a fairly ambivalent buyer are
negotiating, in other words, slowly working their way
toward the point of exchange. It's part of the ComicLink
experience. And it recognizes where the market is in art,
comics and collectibles at the end of 2008. This from Carol
Vogel's piece Sunday in The New York Times:
"The manner in which people buy art is changing, too.
Unlike years past, in which collectors at art fairs or
auctions had a split second to decide if they wanted
something because scores of other people were ready to snap
it up, buyers can now take their time. They also have the
luxury of ignoring auction house estimates or dealers'
prices and offering whatever they want." http://atu.ca/ddd43
It's a buyer's market, Manhattan art dealer Philippe
Segalot said. ComicLink has figured that out; eBay hasn't.
I've had the occasional decent catch on eBay -- the
Military #3 Mile High, the Pictorial Romance #12 Mile High -
- in recent years, but that is the exception, not the rule.
Where Golden Age comics are concerned, eBay is a joke
http://atu.ca/0514e The selection is terrible. The usual
cast of yahoos are throwing books up with ludicrous
reserves, as if there's still a line at the door of high-
grade completists willing to pay $3,000-plus for a near-
mint copy of Startling Comics. Well aware that fewer and
fewer of the listings are going to lead to actual sales,
eBay is charging more and more for listing fees.
Increasingly, PayPal -- which eBay owns -- is a required
part of the transaction. (Amazingly, an old-fashioned
credit card still works at ComicLink.)
Because I'm in the market for high-grade comics at a semi-
reasonable price, I'm on ComicLink twice a day. eBay? Once
a week, maybe, and only because old habits die hard. eBay
has grown ridiculously stale. It's a dumping ground, an
echo chamber, a snipe fest, a garage sale, and a concept
that has failed to evolve over time. And I'm just one of
the collectors who is grateful that ComicLink has come
along to fill the gap.
Over the last 10 days, I've been watching a book on
ComicLink that reminds me why I like the auction site so
much more than eBay.
When this copy of All-Select #9 http://atu.ca/9282 was
first listed, the seller was asking $1,700. That's a
serious case of wishful thinking. According to Overstreet,
this is an $800 comic ... and no one's paying a heavy
premium on 7.0 Timelys, not in the opening months of a
serious recession.
If the same book was listed on eBay at $1,700, it would
have sat for a week or 10 days or a month or whatever. That
over-priced, it wouldn't have received a bid, and the
seller would have eventually listed it again, still over-
priced, forcing anyone who was even vaguely interested in
the comic to wait another week or 10 days or a month for
economic reality to sit on the seller's chest and begin
slapping the crap out of him.
Not on ComicLink. On ComicLink, you can move your comic to
the top of the "All Newest Comic Listings" by lowering its
price. And that's what the owner of the All-Select has
done. Repeatedly. He dropped it to $1,620, then $1,520 ...
then $1,400 ... then $1,300. As of Sunday night, the sale
price was $1,250, which is still $225 more than the highest
bid ($1,025) the comic has received.
A motivated seller and a fairly ambivalent buyer are
negotiating, in other words, slowly working their way
toward the point of exchange. It's part of the ComicLink
experience. And it recognizes where the market is in art,
comics and collectibles at the end of 2008. This from Carol
Vogel's piece Sunday in The New York Times:
"The manner in which people buy art is changing, too.
Unlike years past, in which collectors at art fairs or
auctions had a split second to decide if they wanted
something because scores of other people were ready to snap
it up, buyers can now take their time. They also have the
luxury of ignoring auction house estimates or dealers'
prices and offering whatever they want." http://atu.ca/ddd43
It's a buyer's market, Manhattan art dealer Philippe
Segalot said. ComicLink has figured that out; eBay hasn't.
I've had the occasional decent catch on eBay -- the
Military #3 Mile High, the Pictorial Romance #12 Mile High -
- in recent years, but that is the exception, not the rule.
Where Golden Age comics are concerned, eBay is a joke
http://atu.ca/0514e The selection is terrible. The usual
cast of yahoos are throwing books up with ludicrous
reserves, as if there's still a line at the door of high-
grade completists willing to pay $3,000-plus for a near-
mint copy of Startling Comics. Well aware that fewer and
fewer of the listings are going to lead to actual sales,
eBay is charging more and more for listing fees.
Increasingly, PayPal -- which eBay owns -- is a required
part of the transaction. (Amazingly, an old-fashioned
credit card still works at ComicLink.)
Because I'm in the market for high-grade comics at a semi-
reasonable price, I'm on ComicLink twice a day. eBay? Once
a week, maybe, and only because old habits die hard. eBay
has grown ridiculously stale. It's a dumping ground, an
echo chamber, a snipe fest, a garage sale, and a concept
that has failed to evolve over time. And I'm just one of
the collectors who is grateful that ComicLink has come
along to fill the gap.