Squeezy McSphincter

I did limit where I would send packages, but you're right--I'll tighten it further and probably just limit it to the US and Canada. Thanks for the advice.

I've just started selling again for the first time in a little over 20 years. Sold one item without issue, but the second situation is similar to Matt's. Buyer with an ebay account in Europe and a Paypal account in the US wants me to ship the item to the Middle East. Was quick to respond to emails several times, but now that he has an opportunity to cancel the transaction as agreed there's a delay. I'll give it a another try or two, but ebay doesn't look worth the effort to me. I sold hundreds of comics (at least) on Usenet without a problem, and that was pre-Paypal to expedite things. Catering to the lowest common denominator generally isn't a positive.

I mistimed the Warfront 11 cover by a few minutes and missed out on bidding. It was weirdly patched together, but I would have bid it up a bit. I guess I get to play another day. Congrats to the winner!

I'm in the group that can't remember what my first comic was--probably an Archie or something from a Whitman three pack that was bought for me. The first comic that I bought was the first issue of the Wolverine limited series. Nice to have something from that, but one page would buy too many great pages that are of more interest (primarily a few pages from Doom Patrol 51)!

I was considering going--primarily to get comics submitted for grading--but decided not to. I'm sure my kids would have loved it. Maybe next year. One of the kids' daycare teachers told me that she went for the first time and enjoyed herself. Her friend wanted to go meet the Flash, and that was a big success. I can't imagine paying $90 for a photo and a chance to say "big fan", but if people buy that I can't blame someone for selling it.

There was only one page that I cared enough about to put a tracking bid on, and that was just barely. It may have just been an auction that didn't inspire many to hang out and get caught up in the action. All I do is low end, so that wasn't the issue for me. The selection, and, as RyanfromOttawa said, auction fatigue may have been factors. It's incredible, to me, that demand still seems to be there when there's so much supply on all levels. It helps nullify regret that I could have missing out on almost anything. Friday may have been a factor, but aren't most of the people buying OA closer to getting senior's discounts than being out partying? Maybe CL should have scheduled the auction between nap times.

As others have said--nicely done! CAF's for sale section is 90%+ "please enquire" with some searches, which made it only useful if I felt like punishing myself. A vast improvement. I'll also join the choir and say that Spencer has a lot of stuff that I hadn't noticed before.

Not a big deal since the pics are linked, but your link in the first post goes to a restricted page.

Sounds weird to me! Obviously he could have intent other than nefarious (cold feet, for example), but it isn't worth the risk.

Probably 88/89 for me, so I chose books dated to this time. X-Men 101 should probably make the list as it was my first wall book ($6!). I discovered X-Men fairly early in my comics buying career, thanks to the shop owner. It took me two or three years to decide the writing was excruciating. 251 was just a great cover. Hopefully I can get a nice Silvestri one day, though the cost may already be too high. Any of the Inferno covers could have made the cut, as I think this is when I started buying it. She Hulk 1 came in (for me) with little fanfare. I didn't know it was coming out, and wouldn't have cared if I did. The rest of the customers seemed to feel the same way, but everyone walked out with a copy. It was pretty magnetic.

Has anyone else noticed Scott Williams’ work drop off now that he spends all his time trying to impress young ladies by flexing with his new watch?

Ya, it's definitely a commission to be proud of. Congrats!

My old boss got me a signed copy of that at a Capital City con, from what I remember. It's good to see that the signature on those is just as crappy as it is on regular copies.

Adding the cameltoe was an interesting choice.

I may be wrong, but I believe Action 1 probably started the GA. Before that was the Platinum Age. The 50s are sometimes called the Atomic Age. Showcase 4 has been called the beginning of the SA, to make things a little more unfocussed.

Ya, apparently. If I hadn't have received a bill for it I wouldn't have believed it. I won't have a FedEx account, in large part, due to that policy.

A questionable decision by a young Ted Cruz to promote cigarette smoking with John Wayne Gacy in clown attire. It'll be a tough one to overcome during the next election cycle.

I've also never had a problem with Canada Post, plus it was way cheaper when last I looked (which admittedly was quite a long time ago). A while ago I had a bill for $400+ come in at work from FedEx. Someone had shipped a bike from BC to Chicago COD, accepted the bike, then declined to pay the bill. FedEx's policy (as decribed to me by a phone agent) is to bill the closest account by proximity to the place where the package was shipped from in cases like that. We didn't ship the bike, but FedEx expected me to pay the bill. I cancelled the account and told them to send the bill to collections. If they'd have billed the destination, they may have had a chance to collect as it sounds like it was the shipper's place of employment.

Under For Sale Status it says 800.

Lone Wolf and Cub is the only manga that I've read more than a little of. It was great.

This is essentially where I am as well, as I buy stuff that I intend to hold for a long time. I can see myself gradually turning lesser pieces into greater ones, but my assumption is that by the time I liquidate my collection the market will already be very different. It isn't hard to imagine that a trickle of older collections at auction will turn into a waterfall at some point, though I could be ignorant here. I will likely invest in higher end pieces at some point, but it will probably have to be with real play money. I grew up working in a comic shop in the late 80s/early 90s so my timeline is similar to the other new guys. I also couldn't see what the guys in their early 40s (at the time) saw in Kirby, but I turned around a bit on that a few years ago when I bought a Thor Masterworks and read comics for the first time in about 17 years. I've also turned around on some of the guys I loved at the time, and don't appreciate them as much. Unlike Kirby, I always loved Ditko, and Romita as well to a lesser extent. I also don't know anyone into comics anymore, having relocated a couple of times since the good ol' days. It doesn't bother me, but I do miss going into my old LCBS. It was cool hearing The Ron and the Ronettes speak on Felix's podcast and hearing the camaraderie.

I basically did the same thing--I spent over a year on the boards and looking at dealer and auction sites before picking up my first page (thanks Malvin). I'm up to three now. It's worked out for me with really no regrets. I don't need to hoard pages like I did comics--on one hand I don't really believe in the current valuations (particularly on mid-range pages) and on the other I don't look forward to eventually liquidating them (though it'll be easier than moving my comics without selling at a fraction of the value). I actually looked into the hobby about five years ago and found the Coollines site, but the lack of visible prices and my collector's spider sense warned me off. Some other factors (school, kids) kept me away longer.

I'm another one that doesn't even look. I'm sure I'm leaving money or some art I'd love on the table, but I don't have it in me to burn my time like that any more. 20 years ago, I'd have appreciated that it chased off buy side competition. I would imagine that they're investing in some better software, but that's just a guess. Does anyone know why Jon Berk put his stuff there? I'm guessing they must have guaranteed a minimum dollar figure, as I can't see them matching CL or HA head on.

My first submission! Overall there were more nice surprises than disappointments.

Anyone can post a good pic up and sell some books. Gabe puts crappy pics up to keep people wanting more, thus driving a quick sale. And thus begins an empire.