By slowing down, I mean if you don’t sell in the first 24 - 48 hours, you’re pretty much stuck. The last 2 months of ebay sales have really slowed down, and FB sales starting at 50 cents have generated little to no interest. So what’s really happening? Are speculators getting smarter? Because let’s be honest, most spec ends up failing… has bad experience caused people to wait for real solid news before biting? Is some spec just no longer worth investing in at more than $15? What have your experiences been the past 2 - 3 months?
I’ve been thinking this as well. We may be over-hyping everything but the kitchen sink so that no one can actually tell good spec from quick spec.
I also think there’s a bit of speculators buying from other speculators. It’s kind of like we’re just passing the books around between one another.
That’s why I say, golden rule is, buy low, sell high. If you missed out, don’t fall into the category of buying on the secondary just because you missed it at the shops… there’s good chances the price will drop if you actually want the book to read or throw in the personal collection.
So many books are being optioned and nothing is being done with them. When a show actually does come out it usually sucks. Most of the time if you want something that is hyped, then you can generally wait and get it cheaper. Spec sites and youtube channels pick 20 books to buy each week. It generally feels like we get 50 first appearances every month. Many store exclusives that cost $20+ and several printings for books that aren’t even popular. Terrible writing killing a book and the only way to save it is a first appearance, but still nobody reads it after a couple of issues. The big example of peak and decline of a optioned book, The Walking Dead. Books going for $60 today and $10 next month. Speculation sure seems to be in the driver-seat when it comes to short-term value. Seems to me like the speculation community buys into what they are selling and they are paying a lot. Maybe people are catching on to something?
With that said: Business has never been better at the LCS
I’ve learned this the hard way soo many times. It took a while, but it finally sunk in. I don’t have fomo anymore. I just get what I get, and I don’t get what I don’t get.
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I’m the same way. I claim victory even if I miss out. It’s kind of like the approach of bidding on stuff.
Instead of bidding in increments, just come up with the top amount you’re willing to spend and just put that number in as your max bid. If you win, great, if you don’t, you still win by not going over your max spending budget.
For me it has slowed down as I hardly speculate. I don’t consider most purchases speculation as I only buy what I am interested in. A lot of times the books I take a chance on, won’t have the second issue purchased because the comic is just not a good read. Most of what I buy though I know that I will enjoy.
With that said I end up with 20-25 first issues of random comics in a year.
I used to have the fear of missing out and tried to scout every website to find certain new releases. Eventually, I thought that was getting to be too much of a hassle and almost like a part time job, so I decided to focus on older keys and put my money towards them instead of new releases. May not get as many books now, but the quality of what I do get is much better.
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I’m almost the same boat. Every month I use to scour the Previews and pre-order stacks of books. My modern collection grew crazy large. Most of the books ended up being worthless (I still valued them as entertainment since I read them all) but once I started getting behind on reading books, I stopped buying just about every book I thought would be good read, spec worthy and or just cool cover.
Now I pick up things I want to read. Been focusing on some older key books from characters I love and if I miss out, I miss out but will still pick up a hot book if it’s available to flip. I just really limit myself now, it’s been a whole lot better overall.
It seems to me that new books are great for PC or one’s you really want to read. True spec on new stuff is few and far between. Concentrate on Silver Age Marvel. That’s were its at. I’m high on early Sub-Mariner right now as well as Micronauts and ASM.
I haven’t bought new books at the LCS in a while… maybe 4 or 5 books at cover price over the past few months. I learned very fast not to give in to FOMO. I think there were 3 or 4 books that I missed out on that I paid $20 or so for when I first got back into collecting, and then I realized that I either get in at cover, or I move on and wait for the next spec event. I’ve only been flipping books for a little over a year, but when I first started doing it, it happened by accident… books I bought started getting hot and I figured, why not sell and use the profits to buy older books I don’t feel great about spending $20 on. I did that a few times, and then started looking more into it, finding resources like comics heating up. I started seeing success, flipping books left and right, some for over $100. Still, I have a long box of books I bought early on when I got back into this, where I repeated mistakes from the 90s. Lots of #1’s, stuff like that. I wish I knew what I was doing early on because that long box could have been filled with cash from profit had I known then what I know now. So I’m worried the run might be over, just when I started getting good at it. If I’m not flipping books, I’m probably not buying too many either 
Things are cyclical. I have seen it year after year. Following NYCC things slow down and pick up more in the spring. People are thinking about holiday season now.
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2-3 months ago is also when certain idiot youtubers stared putting out foc videos days before foc, pushing would be spec books print runs up 100%-300%
It’s always good to take breaks, I only collected for 4 months so far this year
I just think people are burned out because literally everything gets optioned now and it’s exhausting to keep up with.
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Just like with the Batman #77 I saw them as high as 80 bucks but now you can get them for 10. I sold 2 for 40 so pretty decent flip.
With all the new internet taxes I can see some spec slowing down a little, but lets face it, if Hollywood producers option a property that property will heat up for a little while at least! There will always be something.
I want to go off on a rant and just be a idiot but lets face it, everyone has a different perspective on whats happening in todays market. The speculation game changed years ago and now its finally catching up to the here and now and people are freaking out claiming the sky is falling. I will be completely and brutally honest with you. If you didnt change and adapt to the market years ago then you are screwed in the here and now. Todays market is about the casual reader and the collector. Cater to what they want and you will make money. Keep thinking like a speculator and you are going to loose your lunch money. I believe Poyo says it best : Buy low sell high and read what you enjoy.
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I concur with @Anthony! Things really seem to come-and-go. Lately we do see a lot of stuff get hot fast, then cool quick, but then some stuff seems to be a consistent burn. There are for sure cycles, however.
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Ebay sales have been so vexing as of late; I don’t know what’s going on.
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