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 Replies: 75 / Views: 6,536 |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Higher prices may have ruined it for you, but what I'm talking about was long before $4 comics, in fact, they were mostly under $2. Comics went from an almost-billion dollar business to under half of that, and distributor locations dropped from around 40 to one.
The beginning of the end was when Marvel went pubic with much fanfare, then lost over a billion dollars trying to prove they could run a distribution system, and eventually got thrown off the NYSE, IIRC.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5863 Posts |
I have to agree with biggfredd on this one, at least based on my own personal experience. I was a big comic book geek collector in the 80s and 90s and really enjoyed following the various story lines. But as every single title I enjoyed got split into many different spinoff series and more and more multi-series crossovers came out requiring me to buy other comics I had no interest in just to find out what happened with the characters I was interested in... Well, I finally burned out when I realized I was having to buy 20 comic books a week just to keep up. Sure, the money was a factor, but it was more the realization that I was being "forced" to buy stuff I didn't really want just so that I didn't miss out on anything. No, nobody was putting a gun to my head, but I cared enough about the characters and story lines that I still felt compelled. Eventually, I just decided to go cold turkey: I stopped buying any new comics and sold off the bulk of my collection at an extreme loss (except for my old X-Men comics which I actually sold at a profit right when the first X-Men movie came out). It's (kinda, sorta, almost) the same with these ASE sets. Nobody is forcing me to buy them, but I am interested in buying them because (a) I love the way they look and (b) the "special" sets have the potential to increase dramatically in value. I missed out on the 2006 set simply because I wasn't into coin collecting at the time, but was able to get 5 sets of the 25th Anniversary Set. I'm glad I got those sets and am looking forward to getting additional "special" sets when they become available. If they start issuing too many different sets, however, all of them supposedly "special" in some way or another, I will probably get burned out on them as well. As for the silly things that grading companies are doing that I mentioned earlier, it's more of the same. I do feel that eventually people will come to see how ridiculous it is to pay extra for a "first strike" or "anniversary set" label (not to mention some funky autograph) on a common bullion coin of which millions were minted, but for now there is pressure to have those special labels if you want to resell and maximize your profit. The market for that sort of nonsense will eventually crash (just like the market for all the "Special First Edition with 15 Different Chrome Covers" comic books did), and a lot of people who paid extra for those coins will likely get burned out and the market will become flooded as people desperately try to unload their overpriced stuff. Which will, in turn, drive the prices way down on all of it and hurt everybody. Hmmmm... I seem to have rambled on a bit there. Sorry about that... Edited by barryg
01/27/2012 08:48 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3755 Posts |
And it wasnt the cross overs that hurt them. You gave the reason in your statement Fredd. They went public and changed how they were doing things. They changed their business model. Thats what happened. barry, I learned very quickly that most of those crossovers you either didnt really need to buy them, or if the story line really was carried over that you only needed to grab a few extra. You did not need to buy tons of the other title. And like I said, buying the variants is not and never has been a necessity. The chrome covers included.
And when you go from paying a quarter a comic to paying 2 bucks a book, that still falls under what I was saying. The cost of just a single book drove people awaymore than anything else. Some of us just held on longer with paying more and more.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5863 Posts |
Quote:
And when you go from paying a quarter a comic to paying 2 bucks a book, that still falls under what I was saying. The cost of just a single book drove people away more than anything else. Some of us just held on longer with paying more and more. I disagree, but I can only speak for myself. When comics were $0.25 apiece, I was a kid working a paper route and making $10/week. By the time comics were $2.00, I was making a lot more money and could certainly afford to pay more per comic. It just really wasn't an issue (no pun intended). Either way, buying 20 different comics a week was too much and it was the number of comics that killed me instead of the price per individual comic. With the amount of money I make today, I can easily afford/justify buying 4 comics per week at $5/comic. But since I wouldn't be able to keep up with the story lines I enjoy (and yes, you really do need to buy all the mini-series and crossovers to keep up, sorry) without buying 20 issues instead of 5, it's just not going to happen for me. Again, just speaking for myself and my experience. If you didn't feel compelled to read all the cross-overs and mini-series, more power to you. Of course, then I'd have to say you weren't "really" a fan...  |
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Moderator
 United States
189767 Posts |
I have said it before... just because the Mint makes it, does not mean you have to buy it. However, reality is different, and I feel that offering more special sets will probably end up pushing ASE collectors away from the series. Those collectors who cannot afford all of these special offerings will have to make choices; often choosing to give up on the series and spend their money on something else. These special editions will add to the annual costs for "complete" series collectors, driving away those who cannot afford to keep up. Those who quit will feel the urge to liquidate. Not all will do it, but it is possible enough will and affect the market value. There is also a chance that even those who can afford them will be jaded and burned out by a series that has lost its simplicity. They may chose to liquidate and move their money into something more satisfying and less stressful. Granted, these are probably extreme cases, but everyone has a breaking point. I am afraid the Mint will keep pushing until they hit critical mass and the ASE becomes, as just carl would say, the next Beanie Baby. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2589 Posts |
Except that the beenie baby is made out of one ounce of silver.
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Moderator
United States
189767 Posts |
Which is even more incentive for a disgruntled collector to liquidate. They would not lose their money like the Beanie Baby collectors did.  I must be clear, this is pure speculation on my part and I do not have a dog in this fight (I do not collect the ASE). |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Quote:
I am interested in buying them because (a) I love the way they look and (b) the "special" sets have the potential to increase dramatically in value. And this is what I was talking about in another post. There's nothing wrong with collecting what you enjoy, even if it's not the popular/promoted item. As soon as you start buying for investment potential, you're setting yourself up for a loss. You wake up in ten years to cash in your kid's college investment, only to find that if you spend a lot of time selling stuff piecemeal, you still only get half or less of your original investment back. Why? You weren't the only one with that idea. I forget the coin item, but one recent series with mintages of 50,000 is continuing, with 100,000 mintages. If you didn't buy before, why do you want them when they're twice as common? If the earlier issues are genuinely hard to find because there is a collector demand for 80,000, who is going to want the extra 20,000? |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Quote:
And it wasnt the cross overs that hurt them. One day, Marvel called with a survey, and included a chance to add your own opinion. I told them that the biggest complaint we were hearing from customers was crossovers and titles where a story started in one book, then continued through several other titles before getting back to the main book. To my surprise, within the month, their newsletter mentioned the survey, and specifically mentioned that they had a lot of complaints about crossovers and titles where a story started in one book, then continued, etc. They continued [paraphrasing] "we hear you, true believers, and we're going to give you what you want! This summer's annuals and a special series are going to tie together the Marvel universe, and when the 57-issue storyline wraps up, characters will die, others will change forever, and the result will be a tighter, more cohesive Marvel universe!" IOW, they're gonna do exactly what I said was the problem. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Quote:
Either way, buying 20 different comics a week was too much and it was the number of comics that killed me instead of the price per individual comic. I used to read every comic we got in. We started with used ones, and I read every one before putting it out for sale. When we started handling new comics, one copy of each went into the reading stack. No big deal, there were fewer than 50 new issues a month. Near the end, it wasn't unusual for there to be over 100 new issues every week. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10047 Posts |
jbuck said: Quote:
These special editions will add to the annual costs for "complete" series collectors, driving away those who cannot afford to keep up. Those who quit will feel the urge to liquidate. Not all will do it, but it is possible enough will and affect the market value.
There is also a chance that even those who can afford them will be jaded and burned out by a series that has lost its simplicity. They may chose to liquidate and move their money into something more satisfying and less stressful. Wise - very wise When everything becomes special - nothing is. This is the primary reason I stopped collecting modern quarters. I liked the special 1976 quarters, they looked cool and stood out in a collection. Now with almost every quarter you see having a different reverse - I totally lost interest. The same thing happened to me with Canadian coins - making a commemorative coin for every time someone famous sneezed is just not my cup of tea. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Quote:
Now with almost every quarter you see having a different reverse - I totally lost interest. And at least the State Quarters a) didn't cost more than face and b) could be justified on the idea of teaching kids geography and history. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10047 Posts |
@biggfredd
A very good point.
And I know some people enjoy trying to hunt down each one. I think if they were PM, I would. I am not in coin collecting to make money (I wouldn't have much anyway!), but I do like to focus on something I think will appreciate at a faster rate over the years.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
974 Posts |
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Moderator
United States
189767 Posts |
Quote:And at least the State Quarters a) didn't cost more than face and b) could be justified on the idea of teaching kids geography and history. I agree. I do like the commemorative quarter series. At least with them you know what you are getting into. There is little chance it will change mid-way; well, unless you are one of the people that got messed up by the satin finish fiasco. |
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Posted 01/27/2012 08:47 am
