ExNihilo

Maybe it's a month long April Fools joke.

Either the email was too vague or it's too early in the morning for me, but I found the specifics lacking. Lot of questions, but overall feels like a bad thing. Not that I buy on eBay that often. And in truth, it could be a blessing in disguise because the eBay bucks just incentivized me to buy something or risk losing it which just created a vicious cycle.

Would it be though? I can never remember the rules, but if Top City refunds Polonsky and compensates BuscemasAvengers with either cash or an equivalent book, isn't that enough to keep him off the HoS? Isn't making the offended party whole all it takes?

Sounds about normal. The thing I've learned with grading is that once you send your books, it's a big waiting game. All you can do is be patient.

SUPER excited to get an update on my lone submission. Book was submitted for the Ashley Eckstein signing, so the date received by CGC is largely irrelevant for counting the number of days. Tier (also list FastTrack where applicable): Modern S/S FastTrackTAT as of Receipt Date: 3 - 6 weeks per CGC/SWAU marketing emailNumber of books: 1Received CGC: 12/5Verified: TBD Signing Date: 2/20 Scheduled for Grading: 2/27Graded: TBDShipped/Safe: TBDReceived (by owner): TBD

If not for refunds, certainly to buy up any inventory that becomes available to him. Time to start warming up those fingers @Buzzetta.

The problem I see with this is the fact that he appears to be in a lot of debt from other transactions and any liquid cash is tied up in essentials (food, utilities, roof), already out the door to appease other debtors, or spent flipping new books in a perpetual ponzi scheme.

I'm increasingly opening up to it. It's become clearer and clearer that Polonsky was the victim here and the level headedness s/he has maintained in response on the boards is a good sign to me. TCC's argumentative style and flippant disregard for taking it seriously (what with a few jokes and laughs in his/her posts) is a real turn off.

How did I only see this thread now? Wow, that was a lot to unpackage. Not that my opinion matters, but it doesn't sound like i'd want to deal with either party. Polonsky's request to ship the books on the day the check was sent seems preposterous to me. That it was agreed to was just as shocking. Top City Comics continued insistence that they didn't get a shipping address is practically irrelevant. If you don't have it, ask for it. The fact that TCC didn't ask for it, shows they had no intention of sending the book on the agreed upon date. Equally, Polonsky probably should have messaged and said "in case you need my address, it's _____". I think Polonsky's patience unfortunately snapped at an unfortunate time. Perhaps another day or two and this wouldn't have blown up (for better or for worst). I do think it was a bit unreasonable for Polonsky to cancel so close to the finish line. Check was confirmed received on the 27th. It seems perfectly understandable to me that a check isn't immediately deposited. Given the circumstances of not having a car, more so. Once the probation nomination was opened up, things quickly degraded. This could have easily been resolved with TCC sending the books, but that point Polonsky was unwilling to complete the deal. I think had they just accepted the books, both parties could have walked away weeks ago, yet here we are. Polonsky has remained more level headed while TCC appears to have just completely thrown away any reputation they had. At first I was thinking a probation nomination was uncalled for, but the added accusations from others and a flippant disregard of professionalism makes me think it's warranted. Personally, I wouldn't want to deal with either party. I might give Polonsky a chance, but I'm hesitant based on the unreasonableness of the shipment request. Brozetta, lighten up my man.

uhh...that's an oddly specific example...

I purchased one of my first slabs from Dale Roberts Comics. He's got some great books at great prices and I liked that you could submit an offer on books. And then there's of course ComicLink.

Grading is expensive. I'll submit books for grading if I want Signature Series books, or expensive keys that will one day be sold. It's an expensive hobby and grading every single worthy book is just cost prohibitive. Especially with moderns, there's just no real point in having most books submitted for grading because people demand 9.8s and the drop in value below that is sharp. I mostly just collect because I want something in my collection so if I don't care much about grade, then I just leave them raw. Doesn't necessarily mean the book is in bad condition. Just means I'm cheap, poor, or both.

Seems pretty clear to me. The word "if" by definition introduces a condition.

Damn, now I'm feeling FOMO for seeing this thread so late.

I think you're confusing Tyler Kirkham (artist) with Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead creator).

In that price range and for long term, I'd probably roll the dice on a NM raw copy of Ultimate Fallout #4 (1st print).

I'm having the hardest time of late focusing on what to purchase and what not to purchase. I'll see OA and be like "oooh, I want that". Then I'll see a book I need to round out my collection and suddenly I'll want that instead. This morning I had to talk myself out of buying the Jim Lee X-Men's Artist Edition (signed/numbered). Yesterday I saw an artists Instagram announcing opening of commission list. It wasn't even an artist that I followed or would have thought about getting commissioned work from and yet there I was pondering whether to reach out for additional details or not. I need to create a priority list or something and just work my way down. But I guess if I do that it'll be years before I buy anything new since the top of my list would be like Jim Lee OA which costs an arm and a leg.

Too rich to qualify for stimulus checks. Too poor to afford grail OAs.

I think I inquired once. If I remember correctly, it's as ludicrously priced as you would expect.

Somewhere through the years, eBay has buried their customer service number and made it harder to get a hold of them. It used to be as easy as clicking on "Contact Us". Anyways, here's a link I've saved: How to use search | eBay At the bottom click "Have us call you".

To be fair, the search function for these forums aren't great. That said, I don't know why the natural inclination isn't to go straight to the source instead of asking unaffiliated customers. Whenever I've had a question, I usually click to the Contacts page and call customer service directly.

That's less inflation and more just simple market economics. If one person is willing to pay $30k for a book and no one else is, then it stands to reason that prices for that book should eventually drop. Inflation has to do with the purchasing power of something. The dollar isn't becoming less valuable when a comic explodes in price. It's not like a Big Mac is increasing 3-fold as well. At the end of the day, no one's holding a gun to your head and forcing you to buy a $30k book. (And if they are, blink twice and we'll get you some help.)

I don't know when TTA27 entered the discussion, nor do I even know what it stands for. I will say that the other books (Hulk 1, X-Men 1, Tales of Suspense 39, Journey Into Mystery 83, Amazing Fantasy 15) are all first appearances that I've known since I was about 7. They also happen to be first appearances of Marvel's A and B tier characters. Every other character of that era is C tier or lower (prior to their introductions in the MCU). To me, that explains why those books are more desirable and more expensive.

Not particularly flashy, but the first two rares I ever opened in a starter pack.

I'm going with the X-Men 1 because I'm not necessarily looking for growth potential. I'm also looking at books that I would appreciate having in my collection. A first X-Men, first Magneto resonates with me more than the first Thor. Obviously, if I were a Thor fan, then I'd choose JIM83.