The Great Dollar Bin Trading Challenge!
Apr 14, 2021 20:34:30 GMT -5
Icctrombone, antoine, and 4 more like this
Post by Crimebuster on Apr 14, 2021 20:34:30 GMT -5
Hey everyone. I've decided to go crazy and try to do something that might be impossible, but hopefully will be a lot of fun to at least attempt.
I call it...
The Great Dollar Bin Trading Challenge!
In short: I am going to attempt to take dollar bin books and trade them up for a Golden Age Mega-Key. My goal: acquire either All-Star Comics #8 or Pep Comics #22 entirely through trading, beginning with dollar bin books only.
I was inspired to try this by Tom Brevoort. I'm not sure if any of you remember this, but a decade or so ago, Tom issued a similar challenge through his various social media platforms. He had a couple of minor keys - they were like $50 books if I remember correctly - and he was trying to see if he could trade up for a Fantastic Four #1. It was a ton of fun watching all the trades - seeing cool and unexpected books come in, watching them leave and be replaced by new acquisitions, and mostly just seeing all the fun the community had doing it. I myself participated, trading at one point a Star Wars #1 and a Patsy Walker #97 for a Journey Into Mystery #90.
Ultimately, Tom reached his goal and got the Fantastic Four #1. Of course, he had a couple things going for him that I don't expect to have with my effort. First, he had a much, much larger pool of trade partners than I do thanks to his position. And secondly, people really wanted him to do it, so everyone was offering him great deals that allowed him to consistently trade up.
I don't expect quite the same amount of largesse, nor am I asking for it. But I always believe that the best trade is one where both parties feel they got a good deal. I know that I have often traded things away at below "market value" because I really wanted the other book, and because I had bought low, allowing both parties to turn a profit in the end.
That's my hope here - that I can find some cool books to trade to people who really want them, and in return, get some extra value that I can keep spinning upwards. Of course, it won't be possible without a lot of trade partners, and I think most of the fun with this won't be the destination but rather the journey - interacting with other collectors, helping each other with out collecting goals, diving through dollar bins, and having a good time swapping comics that we love.
Of course, since this is a sort of game, I think it needs some ground rules set down up front. Here are the rules I am going to abide by.
1. I'm going to start with 20 seed books* in the trade kitty. These are all books that I purchased for $1 or less. (* - a couple of the "books" in the initial trade kitty are actually sets of books; most of these were under $1 for the whole set, but at the least they were under $1 for each individual book in the set).
2. If I go above 20 books in my trading kitty through trading, that's fine. So for instance, if I am at 20 books and trade one for three more, that would put me at 22. This is fine. The kitty can get as big as it gets through trading, but I am going to try to keep it to 20 for the sake of management.
3. If I drop below 20 books through trading, I can add more books to the trade kitty to bring it back up to 20, but these books must be books that I paid $1 or less for. So, for example, if I trade three books for one, this would drop me from 20 to 18. I can then add two new books to the trade kitty, but they must be books I paid $1 or less for. I love dollar box diving at shows and stores, so this will be part of the fun - finding and sharing with everyone new books to add to the trade kitty.
4. I reserve the right to turn down any trade offers if I don't think the deal is at least break even, as for the sake of the game, the goal is to trade up. However...
5. Once a book is in the trade kitty, I will not be keeping it for myself no matter how much I want it. The only point at which I will cash out these trade books is when I get either All-Star #8 or Pep #22. If at some point, for instance, I end with a Hulk #181 or an X-Men #1 or something, they are going right back out the door in search of a bigger trade. So anything that comes in will be available to my trading partners, until the final prize.
6. If I reach my goal, any extra books that I still have in the kitty will be given out to trade partners through some kind of method I haven't figured out yet.
7. Important! I am not allowed to spend any money on this except on shipping, or to buy $1 books from the dollar bins. So if I get close at the end and someone asks me to pitch in an extra $500 to make it even, I will have to turn down the trade. This is trading only!
To start with, I am going to be doing my trading here, through YouTube, and on the CGC forums. I'll be chronicling everything through videos, but I will also keep a running list in each location of what is currently in the kitty and thus available to trade, and will update it as books go out and come in. To start with I will have a rough market value, but as the trades progress I may or may not drop that aspect; I thin it might be useful at the beginning though just to provide a rough estimate.
I will be posting a video either tonight or tomorrow where I go over the rules and show all the books up for trade, and I will post the list of my initial seed books in the trade kitty as well.
I have no idea how this will go, it might be a disaster, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Can someone trade all the way up from dollar bin books to a Golden Age Mega Key?
Let's find out!
I call it...
The Great Dollar Bin Trading Challenge!
In short: I am going to attempt to take dollar bin books and trade them up for a Golden Age Mega-Key. My goal: acquire either All-Star Comics #8 or Pep Comics #22 entirely through trading, beginning with dollar bin books only.
I was inspired to try this by Tom Brevoort. I'm not sure if any of you remember this, but a decade or so ago, Tom issued a similar challenge through his various social media platforms. He had a couple of minor keys - they were like $50 books if I remember correctly - and he was trying to see if he could trade up for a Fantastic Four #1. It was a ton of fun watching all the trades - seeing cool and unexpected books come in, watching them leave and be replaced by new acquisitions, and mostly just seeing all the fun the community had doing it. I myself participated, trading at one point a Star Wars #1 and a Patsy Walker #97 for a Journey Into Mystery #90.
Ultimately, Tom reached his goal and got the Fantastic Four #1. Of course, he had a couple things going for him that I don't expect to have with my effort. First, he had a much, much larger pool of trade partners than I do thanks to his position. And secondly, people really wanted him to do it, so everyone was offering him great deals that allowed him to consistently trade up.
I don't expect quite the same amount of largesse, nor am I asking for it. But I always believe that the best trade is one where both parties feel they got a good deal. I know that I have often traded things away at below "market value" because I really wanted the other book, and because I had bought low, allowing both parties to turn a profit in the end.
That's my hope here - that I can find some cool books to trade to people who really want them, and in return, get some extra value that I can keep spinning upwards. Of course, it won't be possible without a lot of trade partners, and I think most of the fun with this won't be the destination but rather the journey - interacting with other collectors, helping each other with out collecting goals, diving through dollar bins, and having a good time swapping comics that we love.
Of course, since this is a sort of game, I think it needs some ground rules set down up front. Here are the rules I am going to abide by.
1. I'm going to start with 20 seed books* in the trade kitty. These are all books that I purchased for $1 or less. (* - a couple of the "books" in the initial trade kitty are actually sets of books; most of these were under $1 for the whole set, but at the least they were under $1 for each individual book in the set).
2. If I go above 20 books in my trading kitty through trading, that's fine. So for instance, if I am at 20 books and trade one for three more, that would put me at 22. This is fine. The kitty can get as big as it gets through trading, but I am going to try to keep it to 20 for the sake of management.
3. If I drop below 20 books through trading, I can add more books to the trade kitty to bring it back up to 20, but these books must be books that I paid $1 or less for. So, for example, if I trade three books for one, this would drop me from 20 to 18. I can then add two new books to the trade kitty, but they must be books I paid $1 or less for. I love dollar box diving at shows and stores, so this will be part of the fun - finding and sharing with everyone new books to add to the trade kitty.
4. I reserve the right to turn down any trade offers if I don't think the deal is at least break even, as for the sake of the game, the goal is to trade up. However...
5. Once a book is in the trade kitty, I will not be keeping it for myself no matter how much I want it. The only point at which I will cash out these trade books is when I get either All-Star #8 or Pep #22. If at some point, for instance, I end with a Hulk #181 or an X-Men #1 or something, they are going right back out the door in search of a bigger trade. So anything that comes in will be available to my trading partners, until the final prize.
6. If I reach my goal, any extra books that I still have in the kitty will be given out to trade partners through some kind of method I haven't figured out yet.
7. Important! I am not allowed to spend any money on this except on shipping, or to buy $1 books from the dollar bins. So if I get close at the end and someone asks me to pitch in an extra $500 to make it even, I will have to turn down the trade. This is trading only!
To start with, I am going to be doing my trading here, through YouTube, and on the CGC forums. I'll be chronicling everything through videos, but I will also keep a running list in each location of what is currently in the kitty and thus available to trade, and will update it as books go out and come in. To start with I will have a rough market value, but as the trades progress I may or may not drop that aspect; I thin it might be useful at the beginning though just to provide a rough estimate.
I will be posting a video either tonight or tomorrow where I go over the rules and show all the books up for trade, and I will post the list of my initial seed books in the trade kitty as well.
I have no idea how this will go, it might be a disaster, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Can someone trade all the way up from dollar bin books to a Golden Age Mega Key?
Let's find out!