Re: Steve Jobs Signed MacWorld for $2274.00

["Bryan Villados" <news002@macgeek.org>]

I'm not looking at it from the point of view of me selling it. I'm looking
at it from exactly what the scenario is now... from a potential eBay buyer's
point of view saying, "I didn't bid on it because, as much as the seller's
story seems logical and probably true, it's not enough to authenticate the
item." My synopsis on the situation is more from a collector's perspective,
analyzing the importance of authentication from a buyer's point of view. If
you're never going to sell the item once you buy it, then maybe the value
you paid is worth it to you. However, when you need to insure the item, I
doubt the insurance company will let the buyer value it at $2274 without
some proof of its value. The invoice given by the seller alone is not
enough. This is common in the comic book industry. I just had several of my
more valuable books authenticated by a reputable company as required by my
insurance company.

Because of this auction, Steve Jobs' autograph value has now been set at a
maximum $2274, even though according to normal trends in the market of
autographs:

1) Someone selling a similar item later on won't get as much (the idea is
that the more an item of this type is sold, the more that the actual value
is based on the mean of the total sales. Also, it's common that the very
first signatured item sells the most, and all others will fall behind.)

2) Steve Wozniak's signature would likely increase in value as a result of
this past auction, assuming that part of Steve Jobs' autograph value is a
result of him taking a part in the start of Apple Computer and that Woz has
that same relationship. However, if the value is because Jobs took a part in
the start of the Macintosh computer and that Woz had little to no
involvement in that project, then maybe Woz's autograph value wouldn't have
an effect. I'd be interested in finding out what the bidders' criterion for
bidding were.

To analyze your comment... That would involve the "Buy Now" option on eBay.
Looking at it from a seller's point of view, yes, it would be crazy to put a
"Buy Now" option on the item when you have no idea what the value of the
item is. If I actually owned the Steve Jobs' signed MacWorld #1, I woudn't
place a $1000 "Buy Now" on it.... I'd do exactly what the seller did, and
that's letting the buyers determine the selling price. "Buy Now" is only
good if you have an idea on a price you're fine with, OR you're despirate
enough where you'll "settle" on a certain price, usually lower than the
actual projected value. I doubt the seller had even dreamed that his
magazine would sell for $2274. For example, using my friend's Fantastic Four
#1 comic book, he could in theory put it up on eBay with a "Buy Now" of
$8800, even though in the more educated collecting community it wouldn't
sell for more than $2000. However, as we all know in the case of eBay
buyers, someone out there won't care about the front cover being tainted,
and what the rest of the world thinks abou the value.

Personally, I think the high price is a result of bidding rage between two
bidders. All analysts know about bidding rage, which is why when they sit
down and crank out their price guides, they eliminate all cases where they
detect bidding rage. As an example, Richie Rich #1 sold for $3065 back in
late October (CGC 8.5) due to two bidders dueling it out. I actually own the
same exact same book with the same CGC 8.5 rating
http://www.macgeek.org/album/richierich1/ which is why I followed this sale.
In the price guide, the same book is valued only at $1600. Will it increase
as a result of this past eBay sale? It'll be interesting to see what Mr.
Overstreet will do with that $3065 sale in the 2003 price guide. And, I
wonder if Steve Jobs will finally appear in the autograph collectors
magazines after this past sale?

--- Bryan

"Paul Schlyter" <pausch@saaf.se> wrote in message
news:avbkqk$1hs6$1@merope.saaf.se...
> In article <o74S9.79383$B31.18307246@twister.socal.rr.com>,
> Bryan Villados <news002@macgeek.org> wrote:
>
> >
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14433&item=2151450105
> > &rd=1
>
> ...................
>
> > And even if Jobs' autograph is considered mega-rare, it's still not
worth
> > $2274.00. Maybe $1000.00 with some sort of proof would be acceptible.
>
> So if you owned that autograph, and someone wanted to buy it from you
> for $2274.00, what would you say?  Would you say "No, it's not worth
> that much -- I'll sell it to you for $1000" ????    <g>
>          http://home.tiscali.se/~pausch/