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CGC Journals
Our community journals
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Comic Book Rehab
The market is killing me.
I am affraid I am going to have to enter a comic book rehab with a 12 step program and I am sure my wallet will be happy that I do. I went into my basement and there were comics all over the damn place and a ton of them I have never even read. I am so far behind on reading my comics its pathetic. I also saw all the muliple copies of "X issue" that I thought I could flip to buy keys and other stuff. I said I would do this before but there are so many good books that Image and others have coming out. I am a impulsive buyer. Heck my LCS just tosses things in my box that I might be interested in and I buy it. Just when I think I will go through with it I read the SDCC announcments of all the books coming out. How in the heck and I going to turn down Remender, Ellis, Vaughn, Lemire books?
Buying these modern books is slowing me down from finishing my wish list as well. Not looking good for the home team.To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
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It's about to get weird all up in here..
Losing my mind..
Okay, I just purchased a copy of issue #12 of Marvel's romance title "My Love". Why? Because it has a cover date of July, 1971. That is just one of the odd sets that I'm putting together: Marvel, July 1971.
The other weird sets I'm going for are "Marvel #8's", "Last Pre-Hero", and a subset of the July 1971 set, which consists of the original issue of any reprints published that month.
Does anyone else get really way more obsessive than they should, about putting together a set?
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Latest Entry
This Ain't Funny
Box of comics or Pandora's box?
I have just acquired a box of comics in plastic/celophane envelope. These were all bought with collecting in mind. Therefore none have been out of the package since purchase ergo not read and are pristine. Any patina or toning would be from sitting in the envelope. I am a coin guy, and all of these are well beyond uncirculated, and perhaps perfect '70' magazines. I have not delved into the comic world and know nothing about their grading process nor pricing.
I have approximately 30-35 of these comics 'in plastic' protectors as described above.
Here is a picture of one of them, They are all superhero genre.
Can anyone tell me what, beyond ebay, should I do, if anything with this collection?
Thanks in advance.
Capt. Brian
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How to create a comics filing cabinet
It sure beats short boxes
Previously, I had maintained my collection in short boxes on shelves. This became pretty cumbersome as my collection rose over 10,000 issues. Some LCS's in my area used drawers to store their comics like filing cabinets. I found a source that would custom-make such comics cabinets, but they were approximately $1000 each. I evolved from that to regular steel vertical file cabinets, which can cost more than $600 each. I transitioned from that to used office supplies, which were a winner at $50-60 per drawer.
Choosing a cabinet is a geometry problem. You have to make sure that the internal dimensions are good for comics. Most drawers are deep enough for comics to stand upright, and most drawers are long enough to hold about as many as a short box. The real considerations are in width. Assume that a comic is 8 inches wide, which will allow for a Golden Age book with a little space between rows. Measure the width of the inside of the drawer, which will be a few inches narrower than the overall width of the cabinet itself. For example, a 36" cabinet has 34" of room inside, which lets you make four rows, while a 42" cabinet has 40" of room inside, which lets you make five rows.
Once you have your cabinet, you need to consider its placement. A fully loaded 36" cabinet will weigh about 950 lbs, so don't put it in your attic. Also, don't plan on moving it to reach the leaky pipe in the wall behind it unless you add mobility.
Turn your empty cabinet over by tipping it backwards so the drawers don't fly out. Get it all the way upside-down and look at the bottom. Every cabinet has removable feet for leveling. Unscrew those all the way out. Take one with you to the hardware store to make sure you get the right bolts to go back in.
At the store, you will need to buy the following parts:
1. Wood furniture dolly
2. 3 inch swivel casters (need 4)
3. Hex head bolts ¼ inch, size 20 x 1½ (sold in packs of 4, need 4 packs)
4. Flat washers 5/16 inch (2 for each bolt, so 32. Sold in packs of 50)
5. Hex nuts ¼ inch, size 20 (1 for each bolt, so 16. Sold in pack of 100)
6. Solid wood panel as large as your cabinet and at least ¾ inch thick
7. Wood screws approximately 1½ inch long (need 8)
8. Wood screws approximately 2-2 ½ inches long (need 8)
9. Hex head bolts of the same size as the levelers you removed from the bottom, 3 inches long (need 4)
10. Flat washers to fit the hex bolts for the bottom of the cabinet (need 4)
I was able to buy all these things at Lowes. You will need the following tools, at least:
A. Flat head screwdriver
B. Pliers
C. Power drill with ¼ inch bit, Philips driver, and drill bit slightly larger than the bolts you got for Part #9
D. Pencil
E. Two adjustable crescent wrenches
F. Ruler or T-square
Build your cabinets!
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Just bought my first pedigree CGC book
Ladies and gents an evening with Mr. Don Rosa
It was cheap and I've always wanted a pedigree book. So now I get to add Marvel Spotlight #21 9.4 from the Don Rosa collection to my collection.
It's always astounded me that people can keep so many books in such good condition for so many years. Good thing for us, bad for our wallets!
Anyone here in journal land collect pedigree books? Any benefits from collecting said books?
I'll post a pic when it arrives.
Cheers!
Brian
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I think I ordered my first portfolio in the early 1980s from an ad in The Buyers Guide. Probably one from Sal Q. Sporadically over the years, I have added to my collection going after some of my favorite artists and within the last few years concentrating on the more rare, obscure 1970s portfolios from publishers like Middle Earth.
It is great showcase of an artist's talent.I had started taking pictures of of the prints but really wasn't pleased with the pictures and as I added more to my collection, I decided to buy a wide format scanner so I could properly scan these. It is a laborious process but I'd like to add them as I go. Hopefully it give a glimpse of what I consider some great artists and a great way to showcase their talents. In most cases, these are signed and numbered which is my preference to add some provenance and a way to a signature that I really couldn't get any other way (like Frazetta and Jones).
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Latest Entry
Sketch Cover Fan: 1st Post (Ever)
Color and Sketch versions of the same Comic. I am a huge fan...are you?
I have always been a fan of the sketch version of a cover. Seeing the foundation for an issue prior to adding color and then looking at the result has always been just plain cool. As a collector I love the idea of tracking down the different covers. Going after the hard to find variants, finding that elusive sketch the 1:200 or 1:300 in a good grade is just awesome, if I can get them signed even better. Sadly, while I enjoy the collecting hobby it can be a little on the expensive side. Even for the modern stuff that makes up most of my collection.
When I first started collecting comics back in the 70's some of my favorite stories involved the Avengers and the X-men. I was thrilled that there was going to be a major storyline where they would fight each other. Lots of different covers promised, just awesome! Well mostly awesome I found myself liking most of the rare / variant covers. The just changing the color on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th covers on the early issues (0, 1 and 2) was just disappointing / money grab. Although I did appreciate that the 6th was a sketch and did find myself liking the Gold version 7 (bad me, don't do that...we are supposed to be upset about what we consider to be a blatant / lazy money grab).
Each of the main issues 1 -- 12 came with a full color Team Variant 1:25 and two team variants ("I'm with the Avengers" and "I'm with the X-men") where the opposing character was in black and white. I found this a little confusing with issue number 2 featuring the Hulk vs White Queen (sue me I am still old school where Emma is concerned) and issue number 4 Spider-man vs Iceman. Seriously, both White Queen and Iceman are White...pretty near a sketch to begin with. At the end I found myself (wanting - slash that) expecting a little more effort from Marvel.
All in all I enjoyed the story I found it lagged a little in parts and lacked some of the comic humor that has made me a long time fan, but it was pretty good. Some of the battles were epic and I thoroughly enjoyed consequences - note second printings are all sketches -- too cool!
At some point I decided, I think when I picked up the hard cover trades, I decided that I would like to collect the set. I took a look and holy there are 204 comics in this set. This is a serious undertaking! Well I decided to start with the rare sketches...my logic being that these 1:200s will only go up in price and then I will go after their color counter parts as they are 1:100s with my logic being the same.
In my first post I wanted to share both my interest in the Sketch covers, how I got here and my luck in getting one of the rare covers is a coveted 9.9! Here is Avengers vs X-men #9 both the 1:00 color version and the 1:200 sketch version:
Thank you for Reading,
The Canadian Mutant, Eh.
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or "an awesome convo with the original artist of the worldwide phenomenon that is The Walking Dead."
Well...I went to the Derby City Comic Con today after being away from the con scene for a little over a year (only been to 3 in the past 2 years so I'm not much of a con-goer as it is) and while the show itself was extremely lackluster the experience of getting to have a casual chat with Tony Moore made for an amazing afternoon. To spin this tale, let me begin with my review of the con.
Blah. Very few comic booths with actual legit comics (very few CGC comics to browse through). More indy artists and random booths than anything else that actually looked legit. A handful of cos-players (a few, of which, looked pretty cool...but only a few). To be fair, I tend to judge a con by the amount of reputable comic dealers available. This one had a few but that's about it. While there was a lack in solid comics it seemed like pop figures and dollar-bins were everywhere. The con is growing from what I hear so hopefully it will improve over the years in regard to the number of quality comic dealers. But before I sound too negative, let me get to the reason for writing this journal.
Randomly, without checking to see who was actually present at the con, I run into Tony Moore's booth. Reminiscing to my first time meeting him I recalled waiting in line for 3 hours to get to see him for about 3 minutes and have an extremely short convo due to the crowd behind me. This time, there was no line. Needless to say, I was happily shocked to have the chance to speak with him for about 20 minutes and get a photo with really no interruptions. I found out that his favorite character to draw from the WD book was Jim (a very cool answer, IMO). I also found out some about the history of the art behind the first issue. Since I'm familiar with the area that the story begins in we spoke of how he got his inspiration for the settings (and I was told some cool stories about how he referenced images for his art for the 1st issue...particularly the gun-fight and hospital settings). We discussed some of the original art for the first six issues and I told him all about how much the WD fans on the boards covet his covers/pages. I also found out that we had some mutual connections since we graduated only 2 years apart (I knew some people he went to high school with, for example). All in all, it was an awesome conversation and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet him again (plus I got an awesome signed 11 X 17print of the cover to WD1). This experience redeemed my opinion of the con so I'm thankful for that. In case you couldn't infer this yet, I think TM rocks!
Now I'm sure you're wondering what swag I picked up at the con? Since you asked, here goes:
1 Spiderman Pop figure
1 Rainbow Dash beanie baby for my daughter
1 11 X 17 Signed print of the WD1 Cover Art
Yeah...kind of disappointing, I know. I wanted to get some more comic-related stuff but since I dropped quite a bit on the last CLink auction I was hesitant to purchase anything. I almost pulled the trigger on a mid-grade Showcase 34 and an underpriced ASM 4 but sadly I decided to behave. All in all it was a great day. Plus I got to have lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory which always makes me happy (all you Louisville peeps know how awesome that place is).
Thanks for reading!
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Latest Entry
Sunfire and Big Hero 6 #1 CGC 9.8 !!!
Pre-movie mayhem
Took a few books to Philly Wizardworld for grading including a Sunfire and Big Hero 6 #1, figure it would be a good time to slab it before the movie comes out. I would have been fine with a 9.6 and was floored when I got my books back and it was a 9.8
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Latest Entry
Iron Man 55# My Holy Grail!
I am currently awaiting my CGC'd copy of Iron Man 55 9.6 in the mail. I am so excited to get this comic as Thanos has always been my favorite character. I purchased the grader notes for this comic and they stated
I am currently awaiting my CGC'd copy of Iron Man 55 9.6 in the mail. I am so excited to get this comic as Thanos has always been my favorite character. I purchased the grader notes for this comic and they stated that the reason for the 9.6 and not the 9.8 is the following:
Staple Multiple Recessed
Right Center Back Cover Rippling/Warping
Also I notice a very slight blunting on the lower left hand corner. I talked with CCS and they stated that they might be able to press these issues out and possibly get this to a 9.8 status.
Nothing would make me happier If was able to get tis to a 9.8.We'll see.....Until then I will keep my fingers crossed!
***This journal will really come in handy when evaluating what CCS can do...
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X-O Manowar #9 Original Art (Page 22)
"THE GROUND IS A VISIGOTH'S DOMAIN"
I bought this original art and had it framed with museum archival material and UV Resistant Glass. X-O Manowar is my favorite title to collect and this page came from one of my favorite story arcs: "Prelude to Planet Death".
X-O Manowar is about a Visigoth warrior from Roman times who was abducted and enslaved by aliens. The warrior takes their most powerful weapon....the X-O Manowar Armor and bonds with it. The armor is sentient, practically invulnerable, can heal it's wearer and itself, can shoot plasma lasers, enable flight, enable super strength, ect.
The world's most primitive warrior in possession of the most advanced alien weapon on a a revenge mission to destroy his former captors. "Conan in a can".
What's not to love?
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Latest Entry
older brothers collection
older brother's fighting leads to marvel comic colletion dismantle for peanuts..
My older telling how a fight between him and my middle brother. led to selling off FF v.1 #01 thru #50 and ASM #01 thru#25. To the local comic book store for 5 for $1.00. yes 5 for $1.00. One of the few times my older almost cry . When he came to a Comic con with me and saw what there value was in 1998. But there is One shining star. My older brother did have a killer stamp collection. Most are 1960's thru 1980's.
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The Harlan Ellison Collection
Comics from the collection of Harlan Ellison
In 2011 I bought the heart of Harlan's Silver Age collection--nearly 800 books with complete runs of all the major Marvels (with a few moderns, Golden Age books, and underground comics thrown in for good measure).
These were Harlan's books, and well, Harlan was (and still is) a reader first, so many of these comics are "well loved" so not many 9.8s in the mix, BUT there are still some high-grade beauties.
I'll be posting books every week. Hope you like them as much as I do.
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Little Dot #48 CGC 9.4
Paid $52.80 at an auction for a 9.4 CGC
Overstreet values this CGC grade at $240.00
Sweet !
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Latest Entry
My Life with Comics
A trip down memory lane...growing up with comics.
Hello, comic collectors! Welcome to my first journal posting.
At 49 years young, I've had some time to reflect on how my love for comics--and the hobby of collecting them--has evolved over time. With that in mind, I hope this recap of my journey brings back some good memories, and it gives you pause to reflect as well on just how many ways there are to enjoy and appreciate comics.
I've loved comics since I was about five years old, starting out on Gold Key and Harvey comics circa 1970. I literally developed my love of reading on Turok Son of Stone, Magnus Robot Fighter, Star Trek, Space Family Robinson, Richie Rich, Hot Stuff, Little Dot, Casper, Uncle Scrooge, Boris Karloff, Twilight Zone, Dark Shadows, Gyro Gearloose, Walt Disney Comics and Stories, and so on. My dad, who was an Air Force G.I. in Germany, would come home with a small pile for me on paydays.
My dad read Marvel Superhero comics, and I liked the characters, but I didn't really understand them. So, my main memory of superheroes during that era is limited to wrestling with my dad. I was always the Hulk, and he was the Silver Surfer. For some reason, the Silver Surfer always won.
As I got older and more independent (all of 8-10 years old), I began to buy comics on my own. I'd pedal my bike two miles to Magic Mart or 7-11 through the Arkansas summer heat, and I'd plop down my allowance money for a handful of comics and candy. With booty in hand, I'd excitedly ride back home, or to the park, with those comics tucked under my sweaty arm , or even gripped tightly around my handlebars. I remember my last nickel was often good enough for a package of Now and Laters, or one of those long, flat Jolly Rancher Stix that only came in Fire, Green Apple, and Watermelon.
On family vacations, we'd stop at Stuckey's, and that was a gold mine, because they always had comics, and usually in three-packs! (the old Whitman reprints). I'd read happily for hours in the back seat, while my sister played with her etch-a-sketch, and my parents drove and smoked up front...those were the days, haha!
Despite enjoying those types of comics immensely, then a brief foray into The Flash (cary bates era) and Action Comics (curt swan), I'd say I became a *real* collector (i.e., wanting to collect a complete series) in 1977 when I discovered Marvel's 24-issue Moench/Trimpe Godzilla run, as well as the Shogun Warriors run from the same era.
I was 12 years old when I bought Godzilla #9 (he trashes the Hoover Dam, then moves on to Las Vegas) at my local Quik Shop, and I still have that well-loved copy (probably a 4.0, haha!) Ah, those days...Godzilla, Shogun Warriors, ROM, Micronauts, Battlestar Galactica.
By then, I had learned to appreciate more complex stories that didn't start and end in a single issue, and superhero stories were the next step. I started with Fantastic Four and Spider-man. I focused primarily on Marvel, with a smattering of DC interests. At the end of the 1970's, I, along with everyone else had absolutely fallen in love with the immortal Claremont/Byrne X-Men. I also loved Spider-man, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, as well as the classic Wolfman/Perez New Teen Titans. It was in the 1978-1980 timeframe when I became much more condition conscious with my books, although I still had a lot to learn. I collected avidly for about nine years (1977-1986), which was from age 12-21 or so.
In 1986, my junior year in college, I abruptly and completely quit buying new comics due to a feeling of burnout (a malaise that I've since learned is not unique).
I still remember what triggered it. It was early 1986, Secret Wars II crossover and the return of Jean Grey. I was collecting at least 2/3 of the Marvel titles. The continuing proliferation (by Marvel and DC) of 4-issue mini-series, crossovers, etc. was just overwhelming, and I found it too difficult to keep up. The cost in terms of time and expense of reading, bagging and inventorying began to outweigh my enjoyment of the content. Simply, the hobby had become a chore.
A few other straws broke the camel's back. I was a huge X-Men fan back then (and one of the few Cyclops fans in my circle of fans). When a powerless Storm defeated Cyclops in hand-to-hand combat in issue #201, I was disgusted. Then, when Jean Grey returned, I pulled out my bright yellow BS flag and said "enough!"
Fortunately, I missed the '90's glut and meltdown. Alas, I also missed NM #98 and ASM #300, though...
Nowadays, I'm 49 years old and a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. I returned to the hobby in 2012 after a 27-year hiatus (although I kept all my old books during that time).
I've got about 3,500 comics (I didn't shed a single book during the hiatus). Latter bronze age, as well as copper age Marvel dominates my collection, with a smattering of early bronze and silver age stuff I picked up back then as back issues. I've also picked up quite a few modern books starting in around 2000. I do have a handful of GA books, but nothing significant or noteworthy.
These days, I'm working to complete my run of new X-men #94-143, filling in some gaps in Amazing Spider-man 100-200, a few Conan books, and upgrading my Godzilla collection (check it out here!)
For modern titles, I've really enjoyed Walking Dead, Superior Spider-man, Thief of Thieves, Saga, Alex and Ada, The Massive, and Uber. One of the true joys I discovered upon my return to comics (i.e., reading new issues) is Ultimate Spiderman. In my humble opinion, the Bendis/Bagley run is a high-water mark of the past 15 years.
Enough about me...thanks for checking out my collection!
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Latest Entry
comics
batman
i have the dark knight returns book one its from the 80s, i never opened it and i do not know what its worth?I put it in a sleeve when i bought it and never took it out...
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Crass Merchandising and Wish Fulfillment
A big drive behind my comic collecting is nostalgia. Buying, reading and collecting comics being a regular part of childhood was coming to an end when I was growing up. The fond memories I have of comics as a kid is something that my sons and their generation can't relate to. I thought I would start this journal as a way to document the comic acquisitions I make as well as scrap-book the memories I have associated those comics.
As such, my collecting doesn't have a clear focus or theme, thus making it difficult to arrive at a title for this journal. Therefore, I thought I would use the first entry to explain the title I have chosen.
Crass Merchandising:
Growing up in the 70's and 80's, the comic racks were filled with movie and T.V. adaptations and spin-offs. While these have always been a staple of comic publishers, during my childhood there was a definite shift. Beginning with Star Wars, comics based on licensed media properties became part of the release hype for these films and shows, which added to the perceived excitement for their related comic titles. Also during this period, the "big two" publishers, particularly Marvel, became much more heavily invested in these types of titles as well as venturing into using comics as a way to promote toy lines.
What's more, these media-related titles would often influence my purchase of non-licensed comic titles. If a super-hero character didn't have a T.V. show, cartoon or toy, it's highly unlikely I would have picked up his title.
Today, the majority of these licensed titles are dismissed by many collectors as being devoid of any creative or monetary value. But as a child I was an absolute sucker for all of these types of comics. Though it doesn't make for an impressive collection, I actively seek out high-grade copies of these issues. And because of the lack of perceived value, finding dealers who'll invest the time to stock high-grade copies of these titles can be a real challenge.
Wish fulfillment:
I grew up on a farm about 2 ½ miles outside of a small farming town in the central valley of California. The majority of my access to comics was on the trips my mom would make into town to the grocery and drug stores in Kingsburg and Selma. However, not every store my mom went to carried comics. So getting to the comic rack on a regular basis wasn't an option. Plus, my mom would limit me to one comic per visit. Thus, reading and collecting a consecutive run of any particular title was nearly impossible.
Later, as a teenager when I began visiting a local comic shop in the "big" town of Fresno/Clovis (about a 40 minute drive from home) I was introduced to buying "expensive" comics - older comics displayed on the wall. However, I never attended conventions nor branched out into mail order. So my acquisition of older comics was limited to what the shop happened to have on the wall at the time of my monthly visit. Therefore, there were many older comics I desired for my collection that I would never have an opportunity to purchase.
I believe these two factors greatly influence my comic collecting today and I think it will borne out in my future journal entries.
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Been A Long Time Coming...
this is one of the first books I ever really wanted to buy...
but I never did. Until yesterday.
Back when I was in college, I had a pretty good job. Money was good for a kid my age and that was when I started to take collecting to the next level. Before then, my collecting consisted only of what my pops handed down or what comics I had managed to save since my childhood. My college years was when I began to hunt issues down and shape my collecting habits into more refined laws I still hold to this day. I remember being in college at a computer once, with ample money to burn, thinking, what book should I buy? I knew I wanted a high end book, but I couldn't decide. However, one book that caught my eye was Fantastic Four 48, the first silver surfer and galactus appearance. It was something about the cover that captivated me, maybe it's the impending doom that is off panel we can't see that sparks the imagination, but once I saw the book I knew I had to own it some day. That day was not then though. Back then, somehow, I convinced myself that a case of 03-04 UD Exquisite basketball cards was the better choice. Money wasted, and nothing to show for it in the long run. opportunity squandered.
Years and many comic books later, one book, one book, has all these years never passed back my way. Not even a beater copy. But all that changed yesterday. What do they say about luck? That luck is when opportunity meets preparation/skill? Well as "luck" would have it, a buddy I do business fairly regularly with sold me the best looking FF 48 I have ever seen (in person) for pennies on the dollar. It comes from an original owner collection (of which most now belongs to me as well) but man, I'm stoked to have this one in particular in my possession because now after all these years I can cross it off the comic book bucket list. this one will definitely get the cgc treatment real soon.
now it's on to the next one.
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Latest Entry
Taking a break from the boards
Time for a break
Think it's time I take a little break from the boards
Catch you on the flip side
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Amazing Spider-Man #1
Chances are...
So I have been doing some reading on the web about how bad the covers have turned out on The Amazing Spider-Man #1 with its 50 cover variants. As far as I have read that there has been no response from Marvel. I have also heard about people going to multiple stores and looking through thousands of books to not find one 9.8 candidate. I'm just wondering how this will affect prices for the books that do grade a 9.8. I am disappointed to say the least. Thoughts??
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What was the difference working for DC vs Marvel?
What was the difference between the 70's Marvel and DC?
So my latest collection idea was to put together the complete list of books from the month/year I was born which was May 1971. Yeah, yeah, I know those weren't actually the books on the shelves that month, but those are the books that the CGC label will have 5/71 listed on them.
When I started doing research on those books I started with listing all the Marvel books and tried to list all those that still are living that worked on the books. Amazingly, with the list I have there were only 4 books I was either unsure of because of a lack of information or would not be able to get at least 1 single person to sign the book that originally worked on it or has some credit to it (I'm not counting Editor-Stan Lee, only writer Stan Lee).
Now DC was a whole new ball-game. Almost every book I looked up everyone that worked on the book was already deceased. If it wasn't for Neal Adams, there would truly be very few left. Same could be said for Marvel, but not to the same extent. So those more familiar, was DC using an older wiser bunch back in the day and Marvel was a bunch of young hipsters or did the DC bunch chain smoke while the Marvel guys hit the gym? The revelation totally changed my collection focus since I now won't be able to obtain even 50% of the DC titles with at least one signature.
Charlton is next but information on them is scarce!
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Destroy Your Comic Book Competitors on eBay
If you have ever surfed the web on eBay or a mail order bride site, you will see on these sites as well as others, that it is difficult to determine weather the person on the image or the product being presented is in fact a stolen image or weather the person posting the image of themselves is actually the person who you would like to meet,get to know and or fall in love with and have a family.
Protecting yourself and your reputation, you need to inset a transparent watermark on all your images.
There is good reason for this - the first is for a buyer, an uninitiated buyer won`t necessarily care weather or not a product photo has a watermark or not and may even be irritated by such images with watermarks.
On the other hand, honest, intelligible and experienced eBay buyers already know that it may be risky to make a purchase from a seller, provided that a watermark is absent from a product photo.
The majority will pass up sellers who do not have a watermark, and will also pass sellers who have immature descriptions, potentially indicating scammers, such as the words L@@K! or other foolish selling tactics. DON`T FALL FOR THEM!
Watermarks on eBay images automatically identify YOU as the seller of the product you are presenting to the buyer looking at your item. It identifies your eBay user ID with the watermark on the product image, that you are the seller of the product and that the photo has not been stolen from Google images,eBay or Amazon. Image thieves don`t particularly like watermarks, because it makes it more difficult for these creeps to use them, edit them and essentially steal them without your consent for re-posting elsewhere on the internet, usu. for the purposes of selling fake items on seller sites like eBay and Amazon in what are known as zombie accounts/Incognito accounts or soc accounts.
For sellers who do not make watermarks for their images,they simply just don`t consider that they are less proficient in making a sale, because there are so many scam-artists out there, they they just don`t comprehend the ethics of proper sales and this is one reason for their lack of sales, which they then end up blaming others for as well as complaining about others at fault such as eBay and PayPal...just do a search for paypalsucks.com.
THEY NEVER BLAME THEMSELVES, possibly because they are narcissistic, a serious psychological condition where in Narcissist`s personality disorder in which a person is excessively preoccupied with personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity. This condition affects one percent of the population. First formulated in 1968, it was historically called megalomania, and is severe egocentrism.
If you`ve ever been around or had a relationship with a narcissistic person, you know that these people are never honest and are always self-centered egocentrics who scheme and lie about everything,from manipulation to internet sales -- it is truly sad.
The watermark, once added to your product photos, enhances the potentiality of making a sale by a very favorable advantage, giving you an edge over those who do not inset watermarks into their product photos. It shows your honest and that your the seller and that the product is legitimate.
Without a watermark from sellers, how do you expect buyers to identify that the product photo you are presenting is in fact the actual product?
Without a watermark how can buyers differentiate between a scammer and a seller presenting a real product and weather or not the seller`s image is from the eBay user ID?
Both buyers and sellers benefit from watermarks on images, it gives a better user experience and benefits everyone. Those without watermarks on their eBay products photos are usually frowned upon, but you would do better with one than without.
~Nuff Said !~
You can also watch my Unabridged video on how to do this using The Gimp @
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFStV4HpQyc
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Latest Entry
New to CGC
Happy to be here as a member of CGC!
I've been collecting comics for a few years now, and when it comes to CGC I'm still relatively new to the whole slabbed - graded comics scene.
I currently have six comics which are graded by CGC and some people have told me that I should have held out to grade higher quality comic books.
But CGC Grading not only should be for increasing the overall value of your comics, it should be a way to preserve your favorite comics from the predator known as time.
Fellow members of CGC can check out my small collection thus far and feel free to leave comments on what you think of it.
Until next time!
Richard
Twitter: @ComicBookManiac
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Latest Entry
Selling modern books in eBay
Selling boooks in eBay
Hi,
I am seling few of my batman modern comics in ebay. The prices are pretty reasonable. Selling off books to get money to payoff bills and also purchase other books.
http://www.ebay.com/usr/techiefellow
Message me in case there any questions
--techiefellow
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Latest Entry
Finally Sent My First Submission
The first journal from a newbie
So I finally decided to join and sent the first comics to be graded. I sent a total of five which included The Superior Spider-Man 29 J. Scott Campbell variant and Wolverine 1.
I am excited to see the results, but really have no idea what to expect
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Buying these modern books is slowing me down from finishing my wish list as well. Not looking good for the home team.
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