RockMyAmadeus

See? I don't even have my Golden Age experts down...

Again, that depends on who we're talking about and what they're doing. The people who do it, it's not the exception, or they wouldn't do it. The people who do it once or twice and get burned stop doing it. There's very little "sorta successful but not really" middle ground here. No. I'm asking you to give the benefit of the doubt to those you think are disrespecting you. These things don't occur in a vacuum. Absolutely. And, whether some like it or not, part of respect is deferring to people with experience, and not insisting that all opinions are just as valid as any others. I could go into the Golden Age threads and start running my mouth about extant copies of rare Centaur runs, and tell @MrBedrock that I demand and deserve just as much respect on the subject as him...I'd be laughed out of the place, and rightly so! It would be disrespectful of me to do that. I have never owned a Centaur book, and, though I have cursory knowledge of them, Mr B's been dealing with them and books like them for the better part of 40 years now. My opinions on that subject are not as valid as his, no matter how much enthusiasm I claim to have, and it would take me several years of dedicated, focused study to even come close. Respecting a culture and an established society is just as much a part of treating people with respect as how we treat individuals. That doesn't mean that anyone is perfect, and immune to criticism. But it does mean that wisdom gives the benefit of the doubt. Respect is earned, not demanded, right? Of course. Everyone has something to offer everyone else, and only a fool thinks he has nothing to learn from another individual.

He didn't tell you you were clueless. What he said is true for everyone, and while I don't speak for him, I'm pretty sure that was the generic "you" that Chuck used. What you said is not true, as Chuck said, for the reasons already given. 9.6 is almost always the best grade to use if you know what you're doing. Good. Not everyone does that, as I'm sure you know firsthand in your life, yeah? I sure do. Why not give the benefit of the doubt?

As I said: and because not all "professional pressers" are equal.

Because I don't restore books...?

Have you considered that what you're seeing is not what's being put out? I have to do that on a regular basis. I frequently tell myself "ok, dial it back a bit. Maybe they didn't mean it the way you're taking it." I think that's good advice for everyone. Written text hides a lot. Lots of bad faith actors here. And this place has had bad faith actors since January of 2002. The important thing is not judging by the appearance, but the substance, and learning to separate the good from the bad.

Why? Because you're starting out with an advantage: a book that is already very high grade. Many, many books only need a little nudge to go from a 9.6 range to a 9.8 range. Buying raw books...unless you can examine them in person...is something no one can do and get good results. Despite the seeming flood of 9.8s, the reality is that 99.9999273% of all comic books ever published are in "less than 9.8" shape...and there's no fixing that. I bought an X-Men #130 and #133 from a board member on eBay 2 years ago...9.4 and 9.6 respectively. This board member gets his books professionally pressed. When I saw the books in hand, I realized that there was just a little bit of wiggle room left to work on, so I did. These are the results: It's certainly not "all skill." There's still a bit of luck involved. But again, with lots of experience and knowledge, you can mitigate your risk well.

For the average flipper? Not very good. For people who know what they're doing and therefore don't take unnecessary risks like cracking out books that will never see a bump? Probably 75% or better. You have to understand what you're doing, and that takes a lot of experience. There are factors in your control (your ability to spot flaws, your experience with how those flaws affect the CGC grade, whether flaws are pressable or not, etc.) and there are factors out of your control (CGC's grading.) I've subbed books on 9.8 pre-screens that failed twice...then, on a straight sub, got a 9.8. Were they wrong the first two times? Are they wrong now? No, of course not, because grading is subjective. Cracking ANY book is always a gamble...always. But if you educate yourself and gain experience, you can mitigate your risk to a substantial degree. When I have a chance...assuming this thread's still open...I'll post pictures of some of my results.

90% of the slabs I buy are 9.6s. If you know what you're doing, and have experience, you can do very well....yes, even with books that have already been "professionally pressed."

Sure, it's all relative, and no, X-Men #94 isn't a quarter book...but for the first 30-40 years of their existence, X-Men #94 was *THE* book to own, and was always the more valuable book. It's only in the last 5, maybe 10 years at most that GSXM has surpassed it. Relative to X-Men #94, it's now much, much more valuable. That's new.

Well, glad you ask, because I can tell you! It's not because it's the "first appearance of Thanos in a while!" It's because it's the beginning of Starlin's third (and by far most successful) cosmic Marvel saga. It is the genesis of all the events that happened in Infinity Gauntlet and everything that followed. It's where the entire last two...three? four? years of the MCU originates. Without SS #34, there is no Thanos Quest, no Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, Infinity Crusade, return of Warlock, etc. It all starts with SS #34.

I agree. When you break continuity, you break the ties that would naturally draw someone to history. Why would anyone care about someone with the same name as a previous character, but is different in every other way?

Newbs: listen to the lizard, for there is much wisdom behind his scaly countenance. This is absolutely critical to understanding the CPR game. This is where experience is necessary, and comes into play. I have maybe had 4-5 books that went down in grade after CPRing, and maybe 15-20 that stayed the same (this is out of a lot of submissions)...but that can be very, very costly gamble (and gamble it always is.) That said, I invite the people who have money to burn to play the game...the sooner they learn it's not the same thing as printing money, the better off they will be. For the record, CPR is not why I crack books out. I do it for uniformity in storage of my permanent collection. No, but it's important for those that do to understand your point: that there are a crapton of flaws hidden by the well and case. I think it's what everyone should do for their permanent collections. Slabs (with exceptions) were never meant to be permanent storage. It was to facilitate transactions. And slabs take up a huge amount of space.

I don't know if the analogy quite fits this situation, but it's certainly worth consideration. After all...there has always been the "everyone else"...and during the early 90s boom, there were a lot MORE "everyone elses"...and yet X-Men #94 still maintained its edge throughout. To an earlier comment about readers, I suspect that many new buyers and "collectors" have less interest in the artform than ever before. It used to be that people who were attracted to comics as a means of financial gain would then be exposed to these things, and naturally form an affinity for the artform. I'm a good example of that. Now, however, I don't think that most new buyers are interested, and moreover, will ever become interested in the artform. Most of what is being published is so convoluted, it creates no continuity with the past. After all...when you have issue #643, and you know that issue #359 of that title is the first appearance of a current character, you can see that continuity. When it's Vol 43, issue #1....not at all. The past is wiped away. And then there's the whole "you can't open a slab!!!" So people with no intention of opening a book and absorbing it end up being focused on widgets, rather than works of art, and the "classics" as collectibles end up forgotten.

By the way....none of these policies is secret, so those unaware of them, but still choosing to do business with Paypal ought to make themselves aware prior to transacting, no?