You might want to check those values for Creepy and Eeire again, Eerie #2 in VF is being bought at twice that by Lonestar and they usually sell for about 3-4 times what they buy for, so like $150 for a VFish #1 would be in the neighborhood of their asking price for it. Creepy 1 about the same though a little higher (they have a 9.4 CGC copy of #1 on consignment with an asking price of $395 currently)-so your $20 assessment of their value is a tad low and if you see higher grade copies selling for that price you might want to snap them up

As for the main point, what's your standard for Collector's Item having collectibility? A certain price point? (Superman #75 in bag can sell for dollar bin fodder in some places but shops around here can get $10 a pop still, so does that make it collectible or not?)

This whole series used Collector's Item as a selling point in it's title...



some of the issues can fetch a good price still but are they collectible collector's items?

This was a called a special collector's issue...



and midgrade copies command $15-20 bucks a pop-but is it still a collectible collector's item?

As a matter of fact a lot of the Marvel Treasury Editions had that Special Collector's Issue banner on them and they are still steady sellers on the back issue market.

Famous First Editions were marketed as Collector's Items as well...



and they maintain some value and demand as well...

but what level of value and demand do they need ot have for them to be "collectible" or still "collector's items?"

-M

I still see this book go for a pretty penny.

I have seen both "collectible" and "collectable" items advertised for years at flea markets, antique stores, book stores, vintage markets, etc.

I've always preferred "collectible" as it seemed more correct, and that's the term I've seen on covers like these.

Funny enough, just last week, as the thought reoccurred to me, I quick looked it up on the interwebs.

Collectible is an item designed to be collected from the start, like an X-Force # 1.

A collectable is an item that was produced without an collectible factor when it was produced, but later became sought after and collected. The first item that came to my mind is Depression era glass. It's now collected by some, like a neighbor of mine, but it wasn't produced as a collector's item.

Far more often it can be had for under guide.

It's the truly rare stuff that no one thought would be collected, like The Walking Dead # 1, that uptick.

I remember a dealer telling a parent how a comic had never had a "jewel" on it like Eclipso : The Darkness Within # 1 did. He was pitching it as an investment and actually used the idea of passing it on to her heirs.

As you can imagine, it was cringe-worthy, not unlike fingers across a chalkboard. Despite wanting to, I didn't say anything.

I guess I question why someone would sell it on ebay for that price (minus all the fees to ebay and paypal for using their services of course) when a site is offering to pay twice that for the book. If they are actually looking to make money with little work, selling it to Lonestar for more than they get on ebay without having to go through all the rigmarole of jumping through ebay's hoops to list it would seem to be the better course. Unless you like doing more work for less money that is. Now if you ar etalking lower mid to low grade copies, the Lonestar prices drop off dramatically, so I guess the question is what actual grade (not alleged ebay grade of most comics listed there) are the copies moving at $20 a pop. The divide in value/prices between high grade and midgrade is getting wider all the time in the current market. All the auctions you listed were either taken down or featured low grade copies. The Lonetar buying prices I mentioned were for VF up. Anything above VF they will match best offer for to get copies and don't have a set price for, which means if you get a legitimate offer form a dealer at any price-they will essentially match it. However, lowgrade copies they are buying only for a couple of dollars each, which means they would likely sell those lowgrade copies for at or less than the ebay stuff you listed.

I am not big on condition most times (especially not in my buying habits), but if you are determining whether something is "collectible" in the current marketplace, condition is going to be a prime factor in consideration as it is going to hav ea huge impact on prices realized on items and the demand for those items.



-M

Bought it in a quarter bin many years ago.

So comics with the tag "collector's item" seldom achieve that status. 

And did a comic or story tagged as "pulse-pounding" ever affect you that way? Odds are it would be a collector's item first