Brer247i

On 3/12/2024 at 2:34 PM, Ride the Tiger said:

I got it. The error is you forgetting to take the lense cover off the camera.

No, the picture wouldn’t upload from my phone library correctly. 

On 3/12/2024 at 6:30 PM, BlowUpTheMoon said:

@Brer247i What else did you get back? 

On 3/12/2024 at 6:25 PM, Ride the Tiger said:

So what do you think the grade should have been? 

8.5-9.0

Edited to add the correct picture

Just received this book back from CGC 5 minutes ago. Besides the grade, which I disagree with, can you spot the error?

Another upgrade win.

On 11/5/2023 at 7:56 AM, VintageComics said:

I can't stress enough how bad things are now post 'this thing'. It's like humans devolved a 100 years and nothing works in a straight forward manner anymore. 

Me and my buddy Dave talk most about driving because we're avid drivers. It's like everyone's IQ dropped 20 points and now everyone functions at partial capacity. 

I'm ready to move to a secluded Island and leave it all behind, it's been so bad. 

People haven't changed, you're just more aware now.

On 10/21/2023 at 9:32 PM, Lightning55 said:

I'm not going to provide specific info, for a number of reasons, especially since it's not an issue that applies to me (yet). I'm just providing data from my own experiences, and I'm sure mine are not so unique. 

A general example would be an item that you have a max bid of $120 sitting at $60. Then right in the last seconds, a single bidder leaves the herd and bids $117, triggering your max bid. You win the auction, and you're glad you were  brave enough to bid $120, or you would have lost.

That scenario can be legit, but it doesn't happen that way very often. Like I said, quite rarely, only 1 or 2 % of the time, by my experience. At least half the time I get outbid, sometimes 90% of the time. The rest that I win are not so tight.

To have the majority of my wins hit the max would be a huge red flag for me. Instead of thinking I was lucky to win a close auction, a bunch of them occurring would give me the opposite feeling. Something's up.

It can be easy to approximate someone else's max bid once you've figured out how each auction house's incremental bidding works, the rough value of the book(s), and account for human behavior. I have won plenty of auctions from Ebay, CC, CL and HA. As an example, during a recent auction, I won three books. I won the first two (non-keys) with my max bid. The third (major modern key) was $200 below my max bid. Lucky to be sure. I'm sure my experiences aren't unique either. Coincidences until proven otherwise.

On 10/21/2023 at 1:59 PM, Lightning55 said:

I bid on about 25 auctions every week on MCS and eBay. Almost never does it end on my maximum bid, maybe 1 or 2 per 100 bids. It ends a few increments below my max, or at least 1 increment above.

So regardless of the bidding pattern, if I had a group of bids all end at my max, like the OP did, I would know I had been shilled.

Not suspect, know.

If I had a bunch of auctions just edge out my max, that, unfortunately, is more common the case. At least, in legit auctions. 

Will you provide a sample of the books you won, and the amount you paid?

On 10/21/2023 at 1:38 PM, Phicks said:

By my count, there are now 3 of us in this thread that have reported we were bidding on CC, and the final price miraculously ended up being EXACTLY our maximum bid.

Connect the dots people.  
 

Commissioner Gordon : “ Detectives aren’t allowed to believe in coincidences.”

Plain, simple, Mr Garak: “Of course I believe in coincidences, coincidences happen every day.  I just don’t trust coincidences.”

Which comic and final price?

I completed my ASM run a year or so ago, excluding AF 15. I also have full runs of MTU, PPSS, WoS, Spider-Man, etc. I wasn't sure what to do next either. I finally decided to collect the 60's and 70's Spidey appearances in other titles. (I think there's somewhere online that has all his appearances in chronological order congruent with his title). I also am in the process of getting 1 - 100 graded by CGC. I'm about 75% done there. I'll also be looking to upgrade and then selling off the under copies as I go. So I'll theoretically always be collecting Spider-Man. Which brings me happiness and joy. As ASM is the only title I have any passion for anymore.

I'm in the process of selling other runs to help further these goals. 

For example : I used to love Batman and the X-Men as well. I finally gave up collecting both Batman and Detective titles because of how the modern books were written where I didn't recognize who Batman was any longer. So much so that I began to dislike Batman. I sold off all my GA Batman and Detectives through a well known auction site a year and a half ago. I am now beginning the process with my SA books. I had/have full runs of both Batman and Detective incl. annuals from the start of the SA. Batman 122 to whatever was present a year ago, and Detective 238 to whatever was present a year ago. I do have all the Omnibus' in case I ever want to read his GA adventures.

I had/have the full run of X-Men GS 1 to present and was missing 7 issues to finish 1 - 66. Same thing with X-Men, none of them resemble what I once adored and now are just characters that I pretty much despise. Letting these books go is made easier because of my antipathy for modern books.