The thing that would matter to me is knowing who the heck at PSA is going to be grading my comics (or comics that I’m thinking of buying) and what qualifies them as an expert in that field. On a quick search of the PSA website, I can see nothing to back up why anyone should trust them over another grading company. The cases aren’t hugely relevant to me, they can always be improved if necessary, but knowing what experience and knowledge the people actually doing the grading and resto checks have, that is what they should be trying to show me. 1st off...great to see you in here mate and 2nd...damn good point. Honestly it isn't talked about enough anymore. Especially in other collectible markets like Video Games, VHS etc etc. When AI grading fully comes in to effect I suppose this will become less important...although will take sometime for this to be fully trusted/accepted and implemented across the industry PSA have the reputation as market leaders on the card side but look at how CGC as market leaders on the comic side of things have done since they moved into the card grading market... They've made a dent, no doubt, but the numbers are nowhere near what PSA are doing. I can see it being a similar scenario with PSA on the comics front. Oh this is such a great topic. Didn't the head CBCS grader move over to PSA? Mark Wilson I think, but there is a bit of a lawsuit going on with trade secrets etc. As soon as PSA announced they will do comic grading, CBCS have already been dethroned I believe as the 2nd most reputable grading company for comics. Even before PSA was announced, when CGC did signature verification, CBCS took a great hit, because that was their main bag. Personally I've been waiting to see what PSA do, I've not submitted any books to CGC since the recent scandals, 'Swap gate' and 'Bend gate'. They have no accountability and think very little of their customers, because they know people will continue to grade, businesses rely on it. CGC have also never really had any main competition. So it will be interesting to see what happens in this space. As soon as I see positive reviews take off for PSA, I will be submitting to them. In my opinion, PSA have jumped into comic grading at the wrong time, it’s not a growing market any more. There are a finite amount of vintage comics and the number of them that are financially worth slabbing is far smaller. There will always be people who want to rack open cases to reslab but the number of vintage comics that are going to be slabbed is only going to keep falling. There is of course a huge amount of of modern comics that can be slabbed but the comic market dropped massively a couple of years ago and random modern slabs was one of the areas which got hit heavily. CGC are obviously heavily established and they’re not going anywhere, no matter how many times they [censored] up, CBCS had a good shot at being decent competition for CGC with Borrock giving them a lot of legitimacy but they screwed up a few times and killed their own momentum, they’re a perfectly viable option for slabbing but they’re never going to be a serious competitor now. I’m not sure why PSA want to join this market at this point, I guess they figure it fits with the rest of their business but it seems a bit of a waste of money and effort to me. If CBCS had trouble fighting their way into the market then PSA don’t stand much chance of making a success in an even more crowded marketplace. They won’t ever get the resale value that CGC get which was the biggest issue for CBCS. Trying to break into a shrinking market seems to be a bit pointless to me (just referring to the slabbing market, not the comics market). In my opinion, PSA have jumped into comic grading at the wrong time, it’s not a growing market any more. There are a finite amount of vintage comics and the number of them that are financially worth slabbing is far smaller. There will always be people who want to rack open cases to reslab but the number of vintage comics that are going to be slabbed is only going to keep falling. There is of course a huge amount of of modern comics that can be slabbed but the comic market dropped massively a couple of years ago and random modern slabs was one of the areas which got hit heavily. CGC are obviously heavily established and they’re not going anywhere, no matter how many times they [censored] up, CBCS had a good shot at being decent competition for CGC with Borrock giving them a lot of legitimacy but they screwed up a few times and killed their own momentum, they’re a perfectly viable option for slabbing but they’re never going to be a serious competitor now. I’m not sure why PSA want to join this market at this point, I guess they figure it fits with the rest of their business but it seems a bit of a waste of money and effort to me. If CBCS had trouble fighting their way into the market then PSA don’t stand much chance of making a success in an even more crowded marketplace. They won’t ever get the resale value that CGC get which was the biggest issue for CBCS. Trying to break into a shrinking market seems to be a bit pointless to me (just referring to the slabbing market, not the comics market). So something you may be able to answer for me and save me spending an evening on ticky tacky data comps. Outside of feelings people may have...... how is the comic market performing today outside of the Covid blip? If you took away covid have they massively taken a dive, gone up, roughly the same? As a perhaps imperfect comparison, but one that highlights market sentiment well—consider Bitcoin. It might hover around $60k, then jump to $95k within four weeks. A week later, it dips to $80k, and suddenly the narrative shifts: 'Bitcoin has slumped,' and negative commentary floods in. But the reality is, it's still up $20k in just five weeks. Despite the overall gain, the focus fixates on the short-term dip, creating a swirl of negativity until it rebounds That is a much more shortened and condensed example hence why I put fairly useless comp but it gets across what I'm trying to ask I suppose. Is the comic book market actually that unhealthy? Regardless of the actual figures market sentiment certainly is a powerful force If it's too convoluted to give an answer fair enough and I'll have to slowly go through it In my opinion, PSA have jumped into comic grading at the wrong time, it’s not a growing market any more. There are a finite amount of vintage comics and the number of them that are financially worth slabbing is far smaller. There will always be people who want to rack open cases to reslab but the number of vintage comics that are going to be slabbed is only going to keep falling. There is of course a huge amount of of modern comics that can be slabbed but the comic market dropped massively a couple of years ago and random modern slabs was one of the areas which got hit heavily. CGC are obviously heavily established and they’re not going anywhere, no matter how many times they [censored] up, CBCS had a good shot at being decent competition for CGC with Borrock giving them a lot of legitimacy but they screwed up a few times and killed their own momentum, they’re a perfectly viable option for slabbing but they’re never going to be a serious competitor now. I’m not sure why PSA want to join this market at this point, I guess they figure it fits with the rest of their business but it seems a bit of a waste of money and effort to me. If CBCS had trouble fighting their way into the market then PSA don’t stand much chance of making a success in an even more crowded marketplace. They won’t ever get the resale value that CGC get which was the biggest issue for CBCS. Trying to break into a shrinking market seems to be a bit pointless to me (just referring to the slabbing market, not the comics market). From our perspective it does seem like the wrong time, but I think they would have weighed up this choice. It seems like they’re banking on the fact that people are happy for their books to turn into unreadable slabs. I’m betting that they have finalised a deal to slab on demand via eBay and also offer vendors and retailers bulk discounts on releases. If they can ship the books back faster than CGC, they will take away the lions share of CGC’s revenue. Ebay would help market the [censored] out of it globally too. The thing that would matter to me is knowing who the heck at PSA is going to be grading my comics (or comics that I’m thinking of buying) and what qualifies them as an expert in that field. On a quick search of the PSA website, I can see nothing to back up why anyone should trust them over another grading company. The cases aren’t hugely relevant to me, they can always be improved if necessary, but knowing what experience and knowledge the people actually doing the grading and resto checks have, that is what they should be trying to show me. 1st off...great to see you in here mate and 2nd...damn good point. Honestly it isn't talked about enough anymore. Especially in other collectible markets like Video Games, VHS etc etc. When AI grading fully comes in to effect I suppose this will become less important...although will take sometime for this to be fully trusted/accepted and implemented across the industry There are a couple of ways of measuring the market, there are sales values of comics and frequency of sales. The best way to measure it is against 2019 so we’re pre-Covid. In my opinion, PSA have jumped into comic grading at the wrong time, it’s not a growing market any more. There are a finite amount of vintage comics and the number of them that are financially worth slabbing is far smaller. There will always be people who want to rack open cases to reslab but the number of vintage comics that are going to be slabbed is only going to keep falling. There is of course a huge amount of of modern comics that can be slabbed but the comic market dropped massively a couple of years ago and random modern slabs was one of the areas which got hit heavily. CGC are obviously heavily established and they’re not going anywhere, no matter how many times they [censored] up, CBCS had a good shot at being decent competition for CGC with Borrock giving them a lot of legitimacy but they screwed up a few times and killed their own momentum, they’re a perfectly viable option for slabbing but they’re never going to be a serious competitor now. I’m not sure why PSA want to join this market at this point, I guess they figure it fits with the rest of their business but it seems a bit of a waste of money and effort to me. If CBCS had trouble fighting their way into the market then PSA don’t stand much chance of making a success in an even more crowded marketplace. They won’t ever get the resale value that CGC get which was the biggest issue for CBCS. Trying to break into a shrinking market seems to be a bit pointless to me (just referring to the slabbing market, not the comics market). From our perspective it does seem like the wrong time, but I think they would have weighed up this choice. It seems like they’re banking on the fact that people are happy for their books to turn into unreadable slabs. I’m betting that they have finalised a deal to slab on demand via eBay and also offer vendors and retailers bulk discounts on releases. If they can ship the books back faster than CGC, they will take away the lions share of CGC’s revenue. Ebay would help market the [censored] out of it globally too. I agree that there are a lot of things that PSA could do to help take a market share from CGC and CBCS but my opinion of it being the wrong time to join the market is based on that I don’t think that slabbing is now or is likely to be again, a growth market as it has been for the previous couple of decades. I think they’ve missed the bus and I’m sceptical that’s it will be worth the effort and expense that they will have to put in to grab a slice of the market. Of course I could be wrong. PSA who are they this is the first time i have heard of them, and would i use them ( No ) the case looks cheap also if you got your comic graded by them you might just as well throw the money away , this is just my opinion , i use CGC if not them i would go to CBCS and who knows might even go to PGX. I think its really hard starting a grading company and for anyone to compete with CGC will find it impossible i think look at CBCS they are doing ok but not really taking over the market So no not for me maybe in years to come. PSA who are they this is the first time i have heard of them, and would i use them ( No ) the case looks cheap also if you got your comic graded by them you might just as well throw the money away , this is just my opinion , i use CGC if not them i would go to CBCS and who knows might even go to PGX. I think its really hard starting a grading company and for anyone to compete with CGC will find it impossible i think look at CBCS they are doing ok but not really taking over the market So no not for me maybe in years to come. Link to PSA mate https://www.psacard.com/services/tradingcardgrading They are massive in their own right but will they be able to take a decent bite out of the comic grading market...will be interesting for surePSA Comics - Who's Going To Give Them A Go?
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#11 · 25 January 2025, 10:05 PM
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#12 · 26 January 2025, 5:12 PM
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#13 · 27 January 2025, 6:29 AM
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#14 · 27 January 2025, 10:28 AM
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#15 · 27 January 2025, 7:55 PM
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#16 · 27 January 2025, 8:27 PM
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#17 · 28 January 2025, 11:12 AM
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When it comes to comic book values, it can be measured fairly easily by tracking sales then compared to now and generally comic values are still a little higher than then, that isn’t unreasonable as a few years have passed anyway. Measuring the frequency of sales isn’t quite so easy as it varies from venue to venue. My opinion on this is based on my own experience, from speaking to a lot of other sellers and from general info from across the market and from those I believe that the market is currently slower than it was in 2019. There are probably a bunch of factors that contribute to that…
-The cost of living crunch isn’t over yet so many people just don’t have the same money to spare on their hobbies currently.
-Some collectors will have been disillusioned after having spent a lot of money in the hobby and then seeing prices fall dramatically.
-The MCU is not the massive driving force that it was a few years ago.
-Some sellers are probably unwilling to adjust their pricing after having bought stock in at higher prices leaving buyers unwilling to pay those prices any more.
The trade has been at this level for long enough now for me to consider it a proper slump rather than a natural dip that can occur at any time. I’m not painting it as all doom and gloom though, it will pick up again. The values will probably start to go up again slowly but are unlikely to go crazy again in the foreseeable future. The American economy is doing better than ours so the comic market there should be improving, eventually the UK economy will improve but how long that will take is open to discussion. The MCU is looking like it could be picking up a bit again which is a massive factor in the popularity of comics these days. More importantly, people follow what other people are doing, once things start moving the right direction it will attract more buyers in. As I alluded to before, I’m doubtful that the slab market will gain quite as much traction as it has in the past, it will certainly be a major area of the comic market but I’m not so sure that it will be the growth area that it was for such a long time. Time will tell.
One point that I didn’t touch on is the the market has shifted venues, EBay used to be a huge factor in comic sales but that has declined and there is far more activity in venues such as Whatnot, etc. Whether these will stay as strong in the long term or just be a passing fad will be interesting to see.
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#18 · 28 January 2025, 11:19 AM
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#19 · 28 April 2025, 7:52 PM
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#20 · 28 April 2025, 9:38 PM
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