Newsstand -vs- Direct Sales | CBCS Comics

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bronte
@Studley_Dudley

So. In regards to pence books, do you think they are now being valued equal to their USA counterparts? Or possibly more?

I admit I haven't looked in a while, but I would still say less as a general rule. The gap was narrowing, though. I would think certain books like Hulk 1, AF 15, FF 1, etc will command a premium but unless it is a ridiculously high grade example of a pence copy, then the US versions should be ahead. As for regular back issues, no change. Pretty interchangeable between pence and cents.

I do think that Brexit may be helping more collectors in North America get pence copies as the GBP took a dive as $1 = 0.83p. Far cry from back in the day when it was almost 2:1 so it costs a little less to get them now. I still think there is an upside to them, but it will take longer for them to appreciate when compared to cents versions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HulkSmash
If we’re strictly looking at rarity as a factor it does not hold for all eras. Now a collector who has a majority of a run in newsstands would probably pay the premium to keep the collection uniform and for that reason only. I could see the same for early directs, but we all know those are going to fall to the wayside simply because they have the reverse reasoning of being plentiful in high grade. It’s a numbers game. The same collectors were purchasing from early newsstands that were eventually purchasing from a specialty shop as the distribution shifted. I’m reality it’s a numbers game of quantity produced for a specific market and many were cared for or untouched to survive in higher grades. I’d put money on an early direct copy selling for far less than the newsstand counterpart that outnumbered it because the Newsstand is more rare in high grade due to the “because it’s a newsstand” mindset.

Uniformity was the big key element that some newsstand collectors told me about as to why they prefer to collect newsstand editions. It's also a sense of nostalgia for some of them. They remember going to the pharmacy, gas station, or grocery store to get their comics so it's what they like.

2 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd
There's no denying that when it comes to a desirable book, a newsstand edition will go for a higher price than a direct edition. It doesn't matter that there were more newsstand editions printed for this book than direct editions. The direct editions survived and the newsstand editions got trashed by spinner racks, the little kids who got the books, and any that didn't sell were destroyed.

Having had access to only newsstand copies from 1979 through most of 1987, I can vouch for most them being beaten to a pulp. The spinner racks in most of the places in my hometown, and especially one in particular, were stuffed with some many copies that the comics near the front were bent to a point of almost being folded in half in some cases. Also, imagine anyone, kids or adults, trying to pull out one copy out without damaging it and also pulling out other copies inadvertently that ended up falling to the floor and then stuffed back in the rack.

At the convenience store where I bought comics almost exclusively each week all through my teen years, the comics were thrown (literally) on the magazine shelves. If there wasn't room on the shelves, they would get dumped in piles on the base of the shelves. If by chance they were arranged neatly on the shelves, within a day or two, most would end up lying in messy piles due to customers either picking them up, looking them, and throwing them down, or moving them out of the way to get to the magazines.

I also seem to recall, though I could be misremembering, sometimes seeing comics in a stack held together by twine, like is/was done with newspapers.

Not trying to be an ass since February 12, 2020. 11.48K	11.48K HulkSmash private msg quote post Address this user	plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 1
	I like that Jmonty article. A lot good info in one place. The market has been eating up newsstands. If we ignore the “it’s worth what you will pay for” mantra they are not always worth a premium. Somehow the high grade Newsstand rarity stretched its way through the bronze age which is not true. Distributed newsstands copies were the majority through the early 80s, 50/50 by mid 80s, then the market shifts to a majority of Direct distribution by 1990 while Newsstands plummet from there to a mere 1% by 2013.
	2 years ago	Post 26 • IP flag post

Not trying to be an ass since February 12, 2020. 11.48K	11.48K HulkSmash private msg quote post Address this user	plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 3
	If we’re strictly looking at rarity as a factor it does not hold for all eras. Now a collector who has a majority of a run in newsstands would probably pay the premium to keep the collection uniform and for that reason only. I could see the same for early directs, but we all know those are going to fall to the wayside simply because they have the reverse reasoning of being plentiful in high grade. It’s a numbers game. The same collectors were purchasing from early newsstands that were eventually purchasing from a specialty shop as the distribution shifted. I’m reality it’s a numbers game of quantity produced for a specific market and many were cared for or untouched to survive in higher grades. I’d put money on an early direct copy selling for far less than the newsstand counterpart that outnumbered it because the Newsstand is more rare in high grade due to the “because it’s a newsstand” mindset.
	2 years ago	Post 27 • IP flag post

Where's his Bat-package? 24.74K	24.74K Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user	plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 3
	@Studley_Dudley Thanks! Lots of great info!
	2 years ago	Post 28 • IP flag post

I have a problem with fattening women up. 40.28K	40.28K Bronte private msg quote post Address this user	plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 6
	@Studley_Dudley So. In regards to pence books, do you think they are now being valued equal to their USA counterparts? Or possibly more?
	2 years ago	Post 29 • IP flag post

Not trying to be an ass since February 12, 2020. 11.48K	11.48K HulkSmash private msg quote post Address this user	plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 0
	@Studley_Dudley I’ve never taken the World market into consideration when looking at Direct vs Newsstand. Only the US market. Very interesting how you described UKPV and Newsstand.
	2 years ago	Post 30 • IP flag post

I AM... THE Bat-Manuel 2.89K	2.89K MurrayC private msg quote post Address this user	plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 7
	Just to throw in an extra variable... There are also Canadian Price Variants (CPV) as well which were published at the same time as regular US editions with a slightly higher cover price (more on that later). Throughout the 1980s, when US collectors were paying $0.60 for a new comic, Canadian collectors were paying $0.75. According to https://www.cpvpriceguide.com/, 80% of the comics that survived from the 1980s, 18% of them are US Newsstand, and only 2% are CPV. The CPV editions have become very hot in the last few years with US collectors, and many of my fellow Canadian collectors are going through their collections from when they started buying comics as a kid to sell off their CPVs to US collectors, and then using the funds to replace their CPV version with a US edition and have money left over to buy other things. For the longest time, we Canadians were told the CPVs were REPRINTS, so we stopped buying them off newsstands and started patronizing comic shops.
	2 years ago	Post 31 • IP flag post

SpongeBob Comics #1 sells for $991! 4.18K	4.18K Joosh private msg quote post Address this user	plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 3
	My particular interest is the last of the newsstand editions. Here’s a final issue of SpongeBob Comics, newsstand edition from 2018. It’s still not my latest newsstand edition though. If anyone finds this sub-niche interesting I’ll happily overexplain all I’ve learned.
	2 years ago	Post 34 • IP flag post

Collector 1.56K	1.56K Danno private msg quote post Address this user	plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 3
	Quote: Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd There's no denying that when it comes to a desirable book, a newsstand edition will go for a higher price than a direct edition. It doesn't matter that there were more newsstand editions printed for this book than direct editions. The direct editions survived and the newsstand editions got trashed by spinner racks, the little kids who got the books, and any that didn't sell were destroyed. Having had access to only newsstand copies from 1979 through most of 1987, I can vouch for most them being beaten to a pulp. The spinner racks in most of the places in my hometown, and especially one in particular, were stuffed with some many copies that the comics near the front were bent to a point of almost being folded in half in some cases. Also, imagine anyone, kids or adults, trying to pull out one copy out without damaging it and also pulling out other copies inadvertently that ended up falling to the floor and then stuffed back in the rack. At the convenience store where I bought comics almost exclusively each week all through my teen years, the comics were thrown (literally) on the magazine shelves. If there wasn't room on the shelves, they would get dumped in piles on the base of the shelves. If by chance they were arranged neatly on the shelves, within a day or two, most would end up lying in messy piles due to customers either picking them up, looking them, and throwing them down, or moving them out of the way to get to the magazines. I also seem to recall, though I could be misremembering, sometimes seeing comics in a stack held together by twine, like is/was done with newspapers.
	2 years ago	Post 36 • IP flag post

Feel free to use my post as a checklist. 4.3K	4.3K multi007 private msg quote post Address this user	plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 2
	@Byrdibyrd yup. my binding ridge copies were sold at 50% off. Those were my readers and then brought them to school to be passed around.
	2 years ago	Post 38 • IP flag post

I live in RI and Rhode Islanders eat chili with beans. 103.84K	103.84K esaravo private msg quote post Address this user	plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 3
	Quote: Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd Quote: Originally Posted by Danno I also seem to recall, though I could be misremembering, sometimes seeing comics in a stack held together by twine, like is/was done with newspapers. In the early 80's they were even delivered to comics shops that way. The defect the books on the top and bottom of the stack would have where the twine mangled the covers was called a 'binding ridge' at the time, and it was very distinctive. Many of the newsstands that I frequented as a kid received their magazines, newspapers, and comics in stacks that were wrapped with a wire that passed along all four sides, with a twist on the bottom, and cinched tight on top. The top 4 or 5 books and the bottom 4 or 5 books would have grooves along the middle tops and bottoms of the covers, and sometimes along the sides too. I always tried to go to the stores on delivery day, so I could get the best copies. On a few occasions the store owner/manager actually gave me a pair of pliers to open the stack of comics, and I would help put them out on the rack. If I remember correctly, they would get around two to six copies of each title. So although I would try to pick out the best copy for myself, sometimes you still ended up with a copy that was damaged. Look closely at the top edge of this Conan comic. You can still clearly see the impression made by the wire.
	2 years ago	Post 39 • IP flag post

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