OVER £200? YOU'RE 'AVIN' A LARF!

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Take a look at this cover of the TV COMIC Annual for 1977.  There's one on sale on eBay at the moment for a 'buy it now' price of a fiver, and another one for £4.99.  Unless they're in absolute pristine condition, those prices are pretty fair for a book that pops up on a regular basis.  Hold on though.  There 's another couple also available which are ludicrously expensive - one for - wait for it - £201.08 from julies.bookshop, the other for £202.47 from worldofbooks.  The former is described as being "in very good overall condition, with some signs of previous ownership", which means it may well have an inscription or some scribbles, and have puzzle pages filled in.

The latter is described as "...a Reading Copy.  You can call it "well loved" if you want, but the reality is this book is likely to be heavily worn, possibly with external damage.  If you are after the text of the book then this will be absolutely fine, but it's unlikely to meet your needs for a present or as part of a collection."  Basically, what you're buying is potentially as far away from pristine as it's possible to get.

I have two theories here.  The first is that one seller has seen what the other seller is asking for and merely followed their example.  Y'know - "Wow!  If theirs' is worth that, then mine must be worth that too!"  Trouble is, the book is worth nowhere near that amount, and it'll be another couple of centuries before it even might be.  The second theory is that both sellers are merely chancers who hope that there's someone stupid enough to pay over £200 for a book that's only worth a mere fraction of that.  And harking back to an earlier post, it's ridiculously obscene amounts like this that clueless charity shop staff are basing their prices on.

All I can say is it's just as well I still have the copy I bought back in the '70s - not that there'd be much chance of me ever paying £200 for a fairly easy-to-come-by Annual that can be bought for a fiver.  What's your take on this situation, readers?  Ever been flabbergasted by the asking price for something on eBay?

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