As do I. I love this site and the people here. It’s great.
But we need to be smart about it. This forum has basically turned into a free focus group for the comic shops. We should be careful about what we do in the open forum until after FOC.
We are destroying our own pre-FOC specs.
It works both ways 
Speculation doesn’t mean anything if buyers don’t want the book. This could be kept quiet, but that doesn’t mean the value will increase because less people purchased the book. It has a lot going for it, but we are still guessing if it will strike gold.
And homework is great, unfortunately there are no answers to the test that doesn’t exist, so you are just providing an educated guess, but a guess nonetheless.
We will never restrict people from talking. The forums are for open discussions by the members here if it’s within the guidelines.
No we’re not and that’s statement is completely false. This has been proven over and over that pre-FOC talk does not ruin spec on books. It might ruin the quick flip for some speculators who try to hoard them all for their own gain in the quick flip game but as speculation in general, it does not ruin spec in the sense that you speak of.
Legends was a book that didn’t get talked about until after FOC. It’s worthless now for the most part and is more of the long term hold. It was FOMO that caused pre-sales to skyrocket over cover price but then fall flat when all the “in tuned” people who secured their copies swamped the secondary market.
Not talking about books does not kill spec, lack of demand kills spec. Creating false demand with FOMO and hype on books after FOC that might not have had any insterest is what kills spec. There are a lot of things that kill spec but everyone tries to say pre-FOC talk kills spec and that’s far from the truth.
I never said you should restrict people from talking. I’m just trying to get everyone to think hard about what they share pre-FOC.
The rest is pure opinion. You or I can’t prove it either way. But one thing is clear, the more of something that exists, the less value it possesses in the end.
I agree with you, but I’m not a reseller so I don’t care. I’ll keep talking and sharing because it’s fun.
That’s false in a sense. Demand drives value. Supply and then availability play their role in the overall value. But the driving factor is demand.
I can have a one of a kind item. I think it’s priceless cause it’s the only one of it’s kind, only one of them in the whole entire universe exists. It has to be priceless right? What if nobody wanted it but me? Is it valuable? Nope, not if nobody wants it.
If there’s a million of them and 10 million people want it, then you’ll probably see the price go up. So when comic book speculators start talking print numbers and think by not talking about books pre-foc that cuts the likely order by a few hundred or couple thousand is going to hurt the potential value, that’s just pure nonsense a majority of the time. What happens is all too often, the ones who aren’t talking about the book pre-foc start talking about it after FOC to pump it, hype it up, it creates a false demand and it’s only valuable during the quick flip pre-sales.
Legends was a great example. No pre-FOC talk, speculators gobbled up all the copies before others could buy their copies, they hyped it up more and more, sold at 4-5 times cover price and now that the market was swamped with undercutters coming in, the book is now dirt cheap again…
But ultimately, more or less, if the demand is there, value goes up. Imagine if a book had a million copies and now 5 million people want it outside of the million that own a copy, if nobody is selling, it’s now down to availability that’s a driving factor behind the “demand” at play, not the supply…
Keep on talking and sharing.
Legends is not a good example. Robin King hasn’t appeared in a comic for a while and won’t for another month. He’s out of sight and out of mind. But I get your point.
“But ultimately, more or less, if the demand is there, value goes up. Imagine if a book had a million copies and now 5 million people want it outside of the million that own a copy, if nobody is selling, it’s now down to availability that’s a driving factor behind the “demand” at play, not the supply…”
100% agree.
“If there’s a million of them and 10 million people want it, then you’ll probably see the price go up. So when comic book speculators start talking print numbers and think by not talking about books pre-foc that cuts the likely order by a few hundred or couple thousand is going to hurt the potential value, that’s just pure nonsense a majority of the time.”
I disagree on your estimation of the numbers. I alone commonly order 300-500 copies for books that I’m after. I’m sure there are plenty of other people who order the way I do. I would imagine pre-FOC conversation could double or even triple a print run.
Again this is pure opinion on both of our parts, but something to think about.
So true, great comment on one of a kind (1/1) items. Pulled a sweet Jusko three panel sketch years back. Only one of them, and it was an awesome pull by a great artist. The downfall was at the time, the somewhat “pin-up” style of the sketch wasn’t my thing. Add in a divorce in the mix and had to sell it. Just wish I could find a pic to share.
Not a comic, but just hitting on the 1/1 comment.
Regarding FOC, a lot of shops close orders earlier than what Diamond requires, and some shops in my experience, note my experience not everyone’s, don’t even bother with FOC. Once their orders are in they’re done for the month.
For me, I love reading the forums, and slowly am posting more. I often times use FOC comments to run through my PullBox and see if I ordered something or if I want to cancel anything. Have I ordered a book based on the forums, sure. Do I already have it added before I read, yes to that as well. DC has been harder for me since I have been doing my best to support my local shop here, and back home, esp with when Covid hit. Local here I have to use the DC paper form until PullBox has, if ever, access to DC in the US again. The other shop isn’t bothering with it until all the issues are worked out.
Orders of 300 - 500, with several people ordering, also add to the print run quite fast. With the FOC comparison, that also could take a print run higher than you’d want and move it to a “mid” to potential a “high” print run. Which is fine, as long as the demand is there as mentioned above.
With that, I haven’t sold anything as I am more of a PC guy and like to also have nice books in my collection, if possible of course.
Thats the beauty of this hobby and what this site advocates : buy what you like, collect what you love!
There is no one way or right way in this industry.
Which is ultimately driving up the numbers on available copies in of itself when the original demand should be much less. I think the speculators who load up on hundreds of copies are rare. You’re just buying up copies that others would have, so now the pre-FOC talk is just ruining your flip or spec cause you’re holding all the copies that likely would have gone to those who would have pre-ordered as well. Most aren’t going to order 300-500… I know I don’t. If I think there’s a hot book (and it’s a title I pick up anyways), I grab maybe a handful. If I have 4-5 copies, keep one, sell 1 or 2 that pays for all of them and then sell the others at profit, I win and move on to the next book.
If the speculators who load up hundreds of a book in hopes they can offload them later, either quick flip or short term, all you did was buy up the copies when the pre-order demand was lower prior to those who wanted their copy after it’s been released and then dumping them when demand goes up, ultimately killing the potential value then if others are doing the same thing.
All you’re doing when you buy 300-500 copies is replacing the “others who would have ordered their handful” all for yourself… I see no difference now. If you want smaller print runs to make the supply and availability smaller if a book does heat up with demand, don’t buy 300-500 copies cause all you did was buy those books for all the others who missed out on pre-FOC.
I have zero resources to check and it is purely my own speculation, but I firmly believe that folks buying 300-500 copies of a given book like yourself are a very, very low percentage.
Think about your logic @Venomismypassion
You claim pre-FOC is bad, it’s going to push the print run while at the same time you are ordering 300-500 extra copies yourself, pre-FOC, ultimately pushing up the print run to a number it originally shouldn’t have seen. Then you wait for demand to supersede supply and availability, then to release your own copies. So it’s all for your own gain in that sense…
If you only bought 3-5 extra copies for yourself and if it was discussed pre-FOC with a few others doing the same (I know a lot of speculators will just buy 1 extra copy to flip that pays for the 2 they bought and some likely profit to spend on more comics) cause they’re now convinced it could heat up a bit, I don’t see the numbers pushing beyond 300-500 extra; it could perhaps depending on the book and how many threw in extra copies but it’s a number we’d never know. But don’t you think by buying less yourself would make the overall supply smaller, ultimately giving a bigger push on the overall value in the long run? Buying 300-500 is not for the greater good that you speak of, it’s just for the greater Venom’s wallet is gonna be fatter…
Lots of people visit spec sites but not everyone goes and buys what’s being discussed.
Discussing books pre-FOC does not harm overall potential spec. Speculators buying 300-500 extra copies in the same sense hurts overall potential value as well.
I know more PC and collectors than speculators (not counting people I interact here on CHU where we are discussing books to buy to only sell in the spec sense).
When I use to hit up the shop religiously on Wednesdays, most of the other guys who were standing in line were collectors or readers. They were there to buy books they read and collected so they didn’t have to pay potential secondary market prices later on for the books they love.
This is a reason I talk pre-FOC and will continue to do so. Everyone should have a chance at grabbing a copy of a book they want at retail cover price, not paying secondary market price to a guy who gobbled up 500 copies on eBay…
Real news (technically there is no such thing as ‘fake news’. That term is an oxymoron that doesn’t really say or mean anything of substance. It’s a hot take phrase)…Technically, you saying that shops ordering heavy on 2nds is simply a guess of yours, unless you’ve done a national survey of comic book shop owners. Do your homework, son, don’t just ‘guess’.
Wow, 300-500 copies.
Am I doing it right? I only bought 100 copies of Venom 27 third print. Lol