This series summarizes the information that was produced during our daily lively chat sessions in the CBSMT Mewe community. Most of the time, the info is lost once the chat sessions are over, which is a pity since there are a lot of great stuff within.

Some members might also find the chats confusing and annoying and so will avoid them together. Hopefully this summary will let every member be on the same page, regardless of whether they participate in chats.

Types of information

I categorize the information from the chats into 4 main categories:

• Heating up: what books have been seeing price increases. This is from members’ individual monitoring of Ebay sales results

• Comic book speculation picks: this is about books that members are recommending that can be good speculation picks.

• Tips and tricks: Outside of comic books, the chat is also filled with other relevant useful tips such as Ebay selling, grading, places to buy comics, etc.

• Others: This is for all the random stuff happening.

1. Comics heating up

First of all, this is not a comprehensive study of all possible sales, like what I did for newsstand and other top 10 charts. It is based on what members are reporting so it can be a bit random.

However, that randomness is actually part of the fun as you never know what books might be heating up without your awareness.

These are some of the books mentioned. They are not arranged in way of value, but by the order of when they are mentioned in the chats.

2. Comic book speculation

Below is a list of books that were mentioned as books to speculate.

         

3. Tips and tricks

Here are some interesting information being shared

3.1 Print runs of second print

Figuring out the sales number for second or later printing has always been fussy. This is because most publishers did not clearly spell out this information in their sales numbers.

Initially, we thought that any second printing will need to be over 5,000 to be reported. Any numbers less than that will likely be reorders for the first print.

However, in the chats, the print run for Champions #19 2nd print was brought out and discussed. Specifically, the following are the sales numbers for this issue:

• April (2018) – 17,922
• June (2018) – 1,516
• July (2018) – 1,078

From the above, there were 3 separate entries for the same book, without any information saying which is for which.

Initially, we thought that these might be reorder numbers for the first print. However some members like Ross and Andy questioned that assumption due to the long gaps in between the months.

In the end, I asked James from comichron.com for clarification and this is what he said:

James from Comichron

Diamond’s chart entries do not distinguish between printings, so first printings could be included if any were left at Diamond. However, that seems less likely here, as there is so much time between the first and second printing, which came out on June 27. It’s a safe bet those later orders represent the second printing.

That’s a very clear-cut example with an answer that is likely correct, and I will probably use it when I do my Frequently Asked Questions page about reorders and reprints. There are many, many cases where it is not so obvious what is what.

Due to this, we now know that some of the numbers lower than 5,000 can indeed be 2nd printing, although we still need to exercise caution in our interpretation. If the gap between the first and second sales entries is longer than 1 month, this conclusion is more likely to hold.

3.2 Always check the inside of your books

Ross has an unfortunate thing happen to his Marvel Spotlight #12 book. Specifically, somebody had filled up one of the survey forms inside the book as shown below.

So, please check the interiors of your books, especially if they are older books. I have no idea how CGC will grade this but Ross said he is expecting a 6.0 or below grade.

3.3 Youtube views of character makeup tutorials as a proxy for demand?

One interesting idea being bought out by Ross was using Youtube viewership on character makeup to estimate character popularity.

This kind of thinking is similar to using Cosplay in cons to see which characters are picking up fans. Since makeup is an important part of Cosplaying, using viewership actually makes sense if you want to compare one character’s popularity vs another.

I asked Ross to come up with a list of characters with high Youtube makeup viewership. Lets hope he will do it 🙂

3.4 Ebay’s new payment platform

There was some discussion in the chats on Ebay’s new payment platform. Currently, it is rolling out in phases but a full rollout might be happening by end of July.

Currently, if your sales crossed 20k and 200 items, you will be forced to use this new platform, if I read the discussion correctly.

If Ebay is your primary selling platform, time to familiarize yourself on how this new payment system might affect you.

4. Others

4.1 Moderns rising faster than older books?

There was an interesting comment made by Derek about modern books rising in value faster than older books. Some examples of older books include Iron Man #55, Amazing Spider-Man #194 and Fantastic Four #48.

These books seem to be stagnant or even declining this year, relative to the meteoric rise of moderns like Ultimate Fallout #4 and others

One possible reason I proposed was that these books might have reached their respective ceilings. This is something I feel a lot of comic collectors do not think about.

No matter how great is the book, there has got to be a ceiling somewhere. It cannot just rise and rise forever.

4.2 Pics of Amazing Fantasy #15

To end off the chat summary, we have a few members flexing their collecting muscles with their copies of Amazing Fantasy #15.

These amazing books were from Sean Weingarten, Smick and Robert Reilly. For some reasons, Smick deleted his pics before I could download them

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Conclusion

As you can see, a lot is happening in our Comic book chats. I wish I have done this earlier to capture all the useful information and speculation tips that have been discussed throughout the months.