MattHawes

Well, it is a thread dedicated to blocking bad eBayers.

I think I may have a situation with a possible non-paying bidder. Sigh. Last week, I listed a raw, low-grade copy of "Tales of Suspense" #39 on eBay as an auction. It went for a respectable amount. This one bidder swooped in at the last minute and sniped the high bidder, and won the auction. Now, I'm not sure how everyone else feels, but when someone is obviously there at the final seconds of a bid and doesn't immediately pay for the item, it makes me nervous. I only accept Paypal payments through eBay (not sure if they allow other forms of payment, but that is the only way I accept them). That being the case, ideally a bidder should have the money in Paypal (or on a credit/debit card to pay through PP) at the time they place their bid, I believe. Anyway... I realize that for whatever reason, that doesn't always happen, even when the buyer does eventually come through. So, after some time it became clear that the bidder wasn't going to pay me the same night that the auction closed. Fine, I figured that my auction ended Friday night, so maybe the guy would have to go to the bank Monday and transfer funds, whatever. Still, over the weekend, I perused his feedback, both what he had given to sellers and what he had received as a buyer. The worst feedback he has given to anyone to this date is "OK" as a positive. His standard response is "great!" He has never given anyone a negative, though, at this point. And furthermore, he has given more feedback than he has received, making me think that he is great about remembering to leave feedback (always a plus). This made me feel a bit better, as it seemed to me that he was not the picky type, or somebody quick to give negatives to sellers for whatever reasons. I admit that I am concerned with buyers giving negatives to sellers who open non-paying bidder cases out of retaliation. Since the bidder seemed pretty cool in how he left feedback, I began to think a bit more positive about the deal being completed satisfactorily. Then I actually read through some of the "positive" feedback he has received. Ugh... " ...item paid for thru paypal within the week..." Okay, not horrible, but it still told me this bidder might drag things out. "... Negative , small time ,should be banned from eBay going to block this buyer ..." Oh no. Now, I was a bit more concerned. Let me state at this point: As all regular sellers on eBay know, sellers cannot leave proper negative feedback. Since this is the case, you will hardly find any evidence in the bidder's feedback to indicate that the bidder is a bad bidder. Some sellers will leave a positive feedback with a negative message as the one I quote above. I am mixed on the practice. In the case above, as with the other comments I am posting below, sellers that do this do give me some information on that bidder. The problem is that giving a positive to a bad bidder is still, you know, giving a POSITIVE to a BAD bidder. Sure, I am checking this guy's feedback after the auction ended, frankly for some piece of mind that maybe he will follow through on his commitment, however most sellers don't get a chance to read through all the feedback before an auction ends in time to block a possibly deadbeat or troublesome bidder. So, even though regarding the matter at hand I am glad that there is something I can reference to determine how to handle the likelihood of opening a non-paying bidder case, I would still advise my fellow sellers to NOT leave these negative-as-positive feedback ratings. The message gets buried and all anyone else will see is a positive score, which ultimately helps the bad bidder. That noted, back to the feedback: "... Won auction, never pd, no communication, had to relist item. " "... NEVER MADE PAYMENT, NO RESPONSE TO MULITIPLE CONTACTS, AVOID!!..." and "... All sellers beware he does not pay for the items he bids on stay away from him..." These comments made me realize I was in for a mess with the bidder. Then, this morning I noticed the bidder received a more recent negative "positive": " Won an auction. Went days w/o paying for it. Didn't answer numerous messages. " Does eBay even act on non-paying bidder strikes? Sigh. I mean, in all likelihood, in the roughly year-and-a-half this account has existed, this bidder has had at least five non-paying situations, and presumably more as not every seller would have left feedback since they couldn't leave a proper negative one. While going through the bidder's feedback, I did notice that he spent a good number of times using the comments he left for sellers to promote a Facebook page supposedly for his own music. At least, the comments were written as if it was his own music. I am guessing eBay caught wind of this practice and had him stop, as after a good run of them he finally stopped the promotion. I wanted to check out who I was dealing with so I followed the FB link he left in the comment. The page was for a musician with the same last name, but his first name does not match the one on the eBay account. I was able to determine that the musician is likely the brother of the eBay bidder, despite how the bidder wrote his comments. The musician writes music about comic book characters, coincidentally. Anyway, I sent a payment reminder and was going to give the guy a couple more days to pay, despite that I was eligible to open a non-paying bidder case yesterday. However, tonight I saw that he gave feedback for a couple of other sellers, and still hadn't paid me, so he is seemingly ignoring my reminder. I went ahead and opened a non-paying bidder case, as I want to get the book sold to someone serious about buying it as soon as possible. The bidder still has until Friday (as of the writing of this post) to come through on the payment. I don't see it happening, though. Even if he does come through, I intend to block him from further transactions with me, and I feel it's worth warning everyone here about him. Here is his username: sk8inkid863 I hope the second-highest bidder will still be interested in buying the comic. If not, I think I will skip relisting it as an auction and make it a "Buy It Now" for about the price it reached in the bidding. I have also had some people I know in my area who expressed interest in it once they saw my copy on eBay, so maybe I will see if they will want to buy it direct from me, if this deal falls through. Ugh. I hate this kind of . I REALLY wish there was another viable alternative to eBay, but it is still the "name brand" everyone checks out and recognizes.

Tonight (Friday) is when this auction ends.

There are just two more days until this auction ends, so don't forget to bid, if interested.

The auctions mentioned in this post end in less than two days from this update.

TALES OF SUSPENSE #39, raw (ungraded), on auction. Ends Friday, December 8, 2017. Check it out and my other eBay auctions and Buy-It-Now listings: Comics Unlimited's eBay shop!

I put up some new eBay auctions today, including two different WONDER WOMAN comic book lots, each containing 50 issues of her series. The comics come out of her first series from the 1970s and 1980s eras. Many other cool items listed, too! Check 'em out! Thanks!! Comics Unlimited's eBay shop!

Today is the final day for these auctions.

There are only a couple of days left for these auctions. All end on Saturday night.

COMICS UNLIMITED's eBay Shop! I listed 60 auctions on eBay tonight. It's an interesting mix of comics titles, and a few other items, too! You get it all, ACTION, SEX, SCARES, and VIDEO GAME comics! Just in time for the Halloween Season there's the comic based on the movie: HALLOWEEN #1 (Chaos Comics); There's ARMY OF DARKNESS #1 (Dark Horse); and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD comics (one written by CLIVE BARKER)! Things get sexy, with some naughty Tijuana Bibles from the 1930s' featuring mobsters like AL CAPONE, BONNIE PARKER, and MACHINE GUN KELLY -- These mini-comic books are definitely NOT for kids! But another mini-sized comic that was about sex aimed at a youth audience is the oddity THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN vs. THE PRODIGY. This was published by Marvel Comics and Planned Parenthood in 1976 to raise awareness of sexual education and makes for a quirky collectible for Spider-Man fans! There are super 1970s' comics, like MARVEL PREVIEW #2 (the origin of THE PUNISHER; BLACK LIGHTNING, BLACK PANTHER, FIRESTORM, and IRON FIST are among the titles from the disco era you'll find listed now. Video games fans might be interested in the first comic book appearances of both DONKEY KONG and MARIO in "BLIP" #1 (Marvel Comics, 1983)! And that's just a few of the GREAT comics listed currently! Other comics from the 1950's, 60's, 70's 80's and on up are also up for bids. All the auctions end this Saturday, September 30.

LIVING WITH ZOMBIES: The Complete Collection on Amazon! Hi everyone! I normally post eBay auctions here in this forum, so I hope I am right in understanding I can also post about other sites where I am selling comic books, or graphic novels/trade paperbacks. If I am wrong about this, please forgive me for the misunderstanding. I have a couple of long-time customers who became friends who put out a seven issues of a comic book series title "Living With Zombies" back during the years 2004 - 2006. It was distributed through Diamond, had a few write-ups in the now defunct "Wizard" magazine, and garnered a cult following, if not mass market sales. Well, these creators, Matthew Billman and Christopher Herndon, actually finished fourteen issues by the time they were finished, wrapping up the storyline. Sadly, due to lack of finances for publishing, the guys never got to publish the final seven issues. Now that has been remedied. I spent the last few months scanning, editing, doing art corrections, and art restoration, and more to help them get a collection put together so that the entire story would be published for comics fans to read. The collection is a 400-page omnibus which not only collects all 14 issues, but includes ununsed covers, fan art, and other pages related to the series. I discussed with them going through a print-on-demand model, at least until we see if any comics publishers are interested in picking up the book. So, we have chosen to use Createspace and the book is now available through that site, and its parent company, Amazon.com. The retail is set at $26.99, which is less than $2 an issue. If you love irreverent horror-comedy, and edgy humor with political satire, this is the book for you. If you buy it through Amazon and enjoy it, please leave a nice review. Thanks!

These auctions are ending in just a couple more days, on Sunday! If interested, time to bid is now. Thanks!

Comics Unlimited's eBay shop! Check out my latest eBay auctions at the above link. This time around I put up a number of war comics from the 1950's, as well as a couple 1950's SUPERMAN titles, a TUROK SON OF STONE #16, THE SEARCHERS, and WESTERN COMICS, and an issue of TIP TOP COMICS #222 with The Peanuts. Many cool items! All the auction listings end on Sunday, August 20. Thanks!

One day to go! Bid if interested. Thanks! Happy 4th of July!

Comics Unlimited's eBay shop! I have listed a few auctions which all end Wednesday, July 5 . They include the 1st cameo appearances of VENOM in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (with the first Todd McFarlane art on the title); 1st appearance of MOCKINGBIRD; 1st appearance of STEPPENWOLF (New Gods villain to be featured in the Justice League film); 1st appearance of Cecilia Reyes (who will appear in the New Mutants film), 1st appearance of SCOTT LANG (aka, ANT-MAN); 1st appearance of HELLCAT; and a CGC 9.6 copy of ALIENS #1 (1988)! There are also a slew of comics at "Buy It Now" prices that I relisted.

Jock JOKER cover, 1st Steppenwolf, X-23, Infinity Gauntlet & More! Comics Unlimited's eBay shop! ONE DAY to go on some COOL comic auctions I listed on eBay! NEW GODS #7 NEW MUTANTS #26 DETECTIVE COMICS, Scott Snyder run listed individually, including the great Joker cover by Jock on #880 X-FORCE #11 (1st "real" Domino) AVENGERS #114 & #123 (Mantis appearances, includes origin), and #181 (1st Scott Lang, "Ant-Man") FANTASTIC FOUR #11, vol. 3 (1st Ayesha) NEW TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #2 (1st Vigilante) MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS #8 (Origin of Spider-Man's black outfit) SPAWN #9 (1st Angela) SUPERMAN ARKHAM: EMPEROR JOKER #1 (Harley Quinn appearance) SPIDER-WOMAN #37 (1st SIRYN) Complete set of THE INFINITY GAUNTLET Complete set of X-23's first mini-series (Marvel Next, with both regular and limited edition #1 issues) and several more items listed as "Buy It Now" listings.

The auctions all end Sunday afternoon.

Just a couple more days left on these auctions, so now is the time to bid if interested! Thanks!

I just put up a few comic book auctions that all end in five days: 1. ATLAS-SEABOARD 1970s' Comic Book Lot! This lot includes EVERY comic book published by Atlas-Seaboard in the 1970s, in addition to nearly every magazine that publisher put out then (missing only the "Gothic Romances" magazine). There's some hard to find comics in this lot! Check it out: Atlas-Seaboard Lot on eBay! 2. HOUSE OF YANG #1 (Charlton, 1975) with DOUBLE-COVERS! A nice-looking, if mid-grade, copy with that rare occurrence of being printed with two covers. Check it out: HOUSE OF YANG #1 (double-covers)! 3. The final comic book auctions I put up this week are issues NEW MUTANTS #25 & #26, the 1st appearances of LEGION! NEW MUTANTS #25 (1st cameo LEGION)! NEW MUTANTS #26 (1st FULL LEGION)! Be sure to also check out my eBay shop for other comic books and comics collectibles: Comics Unlimited's eBay shop! Thanks!!

I want to get opinions from members of the board on a matter. I had a possible bidder by the user name of "butsavage" write to me to ask about the grade of a comic I listed. I had assigned a grade to the comic in the first line of the description. I have to confess, while it's human to overlook something, it would be nice if bidders would take the time to carefully read over a description, and to look at every picture provided. It's not like the grade I gave was hidden or in tiny print. Anyway, that is not what I want to get an opinion about, necessarily. My question concerns this guy's feedback... Or, rather, the feedback he has given to others. As is my wont to do, I often want to check out the feedback of prospective bidders. We sellers on eBay know that such feedback is barely of use anymore, as eBay took away the means for us sellers to leave negative feedback, thus alerting other sellers to bad or troublesome bidders. This fellow has only 27 feedback, though he has been registered on eBay since 1999, apparently. His feedback lists auctions going back to only 2007. Out of 25 feedback that he left for sellers, he has left two neutral, one negative, and five of what I would call "backhanded" positives (positives that expressed some sort of dissatisfaction, though they were supposedly "positive". Here is the negative comment he left: "pay sent 2-27-08, item rec. 3-10-08, seller lives 90 miles from me no email resp" Here are the neutral comments: "Back cover has a large piece missing. Was not mentioned in the item description" "Item was not VF/NM. Not packaged well. Item received day after expected date." Here are the "backhanded" positive comments: "Comic was damaged in shipping or described wrong." (Not sure why he left this as a positive, at all) "Comic condition description was debatable but speed of delivery was top notch." "miscommunication on both ends. prompt handling of situation. recommend seller." "Comic was lost in mail. Seller was fantastic, professional and quick to act. A++" "Seller was very understanding and a delight to work with A+++++++" Now, all his comments above may be justified, I don't know. But, out of 25 feedback that he left, it seems that he has had a good number of issues with sellers. That tells me that he is either really super picky, a pain in other words, or that he may be playing some games. After reading the feedback he has given, I decided he might be a headache waiting to happen. From what I posted above, what do you guys think? I am considering adding him to my blocked list just because my hunch is that if he were to win my auction he would be a pain in some way. His neutral/negative/backhanded feedback seems excessive for someone with such little feedback.