What tends to happen is retailers list for cover price. Secondary market people who paid cover or cover minus a discount list for more because their costs are more. It costs sellers nothing to list the books so if they don’t sell they can remove them. Retailers, meanwhile, either sell out because there is enough demand and now you have only secondary market sellers to purchase from. If there is enough demand, the cheaper secondary market sellers sell out and now you have higher priced secondary market sellers. This is called “establishing a floor”. Now if there is enough demand prices keep rising. They rise until the books stop selling at that price or people list cheaper copies. This is called “establishing a ceiling”. This is not shady or ill intentioned it’s the way the market works. There is another concept called “a rising tide raises all ships”. Sometimes a book or cover becomes popular and all other covers go up in value because while people may not be able to afford the super hot one, they can afford one of the cheaper ones to check out. When this happens we go into a cycle of floor establishing and ceiling establishing.
That would be true if there weren’t already people attempting to manipulate the price while cheaper copies are readily available.
I have zero copies to sell so I have no dog in the fight. My question is who is spiking the comic to $15? Have you checked their sales to see if they have sold any other comics at inflated prices? If so, did you compare their buyers abbreviated codes to see if it was the same buyer?
It’s easy to claim a pump and dump, but much harder to prove it. Could be a p & d or could be fluke sales. Who knows. I know that I don’t worry about what others who are not connected to here are doing.
No I didn’t compare any codes. I just think about it logically and ask, would a reasonable person with a small amount of intelligence pay $16 for a book when they could have bought for much cheaper on the same platform? I mean I suppose that there is possibility that someone is stupid enough, but it’s not very probable.
Some evidence supporting the possibility that Absolute GL could warm up. League of Comic Geeks lists upcoming books in order of number of books added to their pull lists, which connect directly to their shop. So, while still very unscientific, it gives a ballpark gauge of popularity.
In the week of Jan 7 when the next issue comes out, it ranks third behind Abs Supes and Batman. Ahead of all Marvel books.
Next issue, too.
Well if you find them cheap grab a copy of each. Worth a gamble for a couple of bucks.
So some old fashioned sleuthing (eBay search) says Absolute Martian Manhunter isn’t doing bad.
#1 is going for $10-$25
#3 is also doing well as are sets of 1-6
Have you taken a step back and seen the world we live in today? Entirely possible stupid people are buying these. Very probable they are not taking the time to do their research. They could even be thinking this is the Eom book.
I would not immediately jump on the seller for market manipulation. Some just have one copy to sell, and they may just be listing it hoping the book gets hot and eventually reaches the price they are willing to let it go. If some can’t take the time to look elsewhere that’s on the buyer.
I know this because some of us have listings of the same books at various prices…and occasionally one of us sell a book (same condition) for $15 to $20 while others have it listed for $10. And there really is no explanation as to why.
I find it hard to believe the handful of people participating in these transactions actually change anything. So hard for me to get worked up about it.
3A first print, specifically.
Guess I may make a trip to the ‘ol comic shop tomorrow, perhaps.
If my shop has one copy (or zero) on the wall then I tend to generalize and assume that will be pretty consistent across the board
Sure… we’ve talked about EOM, sure we know Wonder Woman was going to feature Absolute Batman…but as has been proven over & over…the vast majority just doesn’t pay nearly as much attention to this stuff. I was confident in the book on FOC.
Matter of fact, my local shop sent an apology out as some customers who have Abs Batman on their pull were upset they didn’t get a copy of WW in their pull (which doesn’t make sense to me but whatever). My area shops order heavy on AbS Batman now…but not so much on the other titles and certainly not loads of 4 different covers like this WW issue.
I sure am not manipulating a thing… it’s rare that I even sell books to be honest. I just report on what I see and you can’t deny that 1. The Eom is doing well…and copies of the other covers are moving.
In the end… it’s a personal decision to hit that buy button. Honestly, there are times I’ve paid more than I should on a book. I really don’t care as it’s easier to buy it off eBay, pay a bit more & save the gas, time, and hassle when it may not even be available. That’s on me.
The A cover is still on Midtown too…but again, how much of the general comic populace even checks or buys from them?
Sorry, but do you have anything else to complain about besides market manipulation!? I for one am getting sick of reading it. You’re a broken, skipping record at this point.
Let’s not engage in personal attacks, @ToddW, but I will agree @AllKnowingone has tended to jump on the, “Market manuplation,” claim a lot. Do you have any proof to back up these multiple claims?
It’s quite clear there is a concerted effort to diminish my argument by almost everyone on here, which is quite telling in and of itself. People are mad because I ruining their grift I guess. As far as proof, I don’t believe anyone will be able to prove or disprove the argument. I simply listed purchases, that to any unbiased person would seem suspicious.
How is asking a question and stating facts a personal attack? I have no issues with people stating their opinions. I do find it annoying that every post is about market manipulation.
Is there manipulation? Yes. Is every sale of a more expensive copy of a book manipulation? No. Is every post of yours about market manipulation? Yes. And that what I’m sick of.
I don’t think this topic is worth getting emotional about.
I think some sellers may be trying to manipulate the market…but only idiots truly fall for it. Can’t save everyone from themselves…
And as @agentpoyo has pointed out to many times here in the past, members have the option to hide (ignore) posts of other members if they would prefer not to read them.
I do think the initial build was organic enjoyment of the story. Anecdotally, in my metro area I could tell there was a groundswell uptick in demand starting around issue #7. Things start getting really over the top in the book, and then along comes Catwoman in #13 with a million variants, curiosity about Harley, and then the tidal wave of hype for Joker in #15.
A week before #15 hit shops, CGC announced a signing event with a semi-short 6-week deadline of January 14. I believe people looking for books to send in has fueled the highs, with maybe a sprinkling of holiday shopping mixed in. There will be a massive wave of AB slabs hitting in the spring.
Early issues may stay in demand, but I expect long-term prices will temper – not unlike Snyder’s New 52 Batman run.
Bonus blather: I think Absolute WW #15 (cover A) will be a lukewarm, double or triple cover kind of book long-term. There’s pretty much one retailer on eBay holding the price down at the moment. The Eom cover, I dunno. My LCS had none at opening on Wednesday. I wouldn’t spend on that unless you love it.
I do not think anyone on here is trying to manipulate the market. I am sorry that you feel that way but this group has always been about info sharing and not trying to be a secret cabal that runs comic sales. If this was secret then the messages wouldn’t be open to the public. If you have watched the topics you will see someone will post something that is hot, then people will search for them, then people will post, “well I was looking for this and”either post pictures of copies they have found or struck out.
But you cannot be mad that a forum dedicated to buying and selling comics people are finding comics that are selling for money and sharing the information.