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Think I just got ripped off on ebay
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221 posts in this topic

9 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

That makes perfect sense to me and highly recommended for a collection of that caliber. I don’t EXPECT anyone to know what a NM looks like. Grading is very subjective and thusly CGC was formed. Weather your opinion of what a 9.2 looks like or my opinion of a 9.2 is irrevelant. CGC makes the call and we only agree or disagree with them not each other. 

I collect only GA. As an advanced collector, I have realized that if you are fortunate to find a certain book you often have to accept or not accept the grade it is. I would either have a VERY small collection or have VERY deep pockets to build much of a collection of this material. I have books from coverless/incomplete to Mile High copies. I love them all and if given an opportunity to upgrade some of my poor step children, I often do it. Grade does not limit my enjoyment of my collection. 

Usually I’m simply upgrading my childhood copies.  I still have all my books from when I was a kid.  :cloud9:
 

And I get that grading is somewhat subjective.  But this is the CGC forums.  If you post a book for sale & call it NM, I would expect that book to come back from CGC a 9.2 at worst.  If I’m waffling between giving a book a 9.4 or a 9.2, it gets a 9.2

 

Edited by THE_BEYONDER
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9 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

Usually I’m simply upgrading my childhood copies.  I still have all my books from when I was a kid.  :cloud9:
 

And I get that grading is somewhat subjective.  But this is the CGC forums.  If you post a book for sale & call it NM, I would expect that book to come back from CGC a 9.2 at worst.  If I’m waffling between giving a book a 9.4 or a 9.2, it gets a 9.2

 

Wow, that’s great you still have your childhood collection. Mine went where most early SA collections went a long time ago...:sorry:

I have long since replaced most of my original collection but realized, that most of it could be bought very quickly in most grades if I had the money. 

I discovered GA at an early age and as I got deeper into it, quickly realized the challenge of collecting them. It is often a real score when I turn up the stuff I want. 

I rarely list or post grades when I sell. Too much is open for “speculation”. Instead, I carefully describe a book with its attributes and all faults. I post several photos that are pertinate. I also would down grade a book I think is say a 9.4 to a 9.2 just to be safe. I can’t remember the last time I have had a return or a problem. I also rarely deal in Uber high grade books anyway so it isn’t much of an issue. 

Not every seller here is an “expert”. I have seen overgraded books quite often. But it is a good and honest group of collectors and sellers. I have never had a problem here. I also, no matter where I buy from, buy from sellers I trust. The Bay, is a carpshoot. Sometimes I have to take a chance. :wishluck:

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On 10/16/2014 at 10:35 PM, kav said:

Yep you'll get your money back one way or another

I know of one guy who did the resto scam and he ignored paypal so paypal told buyer to keep the AF 15 and deducted the money from seller. Hahahahaha

I have the same story for a Hulk 181. There wasnt resto but the comic was in much worse shape than described. He didn't get the nice comic he wanted but he got a free Hulk 181.

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23 minutes ago, William-James88 said:

I have the same story for a Hulk 181. There wasnt resto but the comic was in much worse shape than described. He didn't get the nice comic he wanted but he got a free Hulk 181.

you refused delivery when he sent back the return?  thats what happened with the AF15.

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4 minutes ago, kav said:

you refused delivery when he sent back the return?  thats what happened with the AF15.

No no. Firstly, it wasn't me (too bad, would have loved it to be me). The story is just that the person never responded to paypal when my friend made the claim that the book was not even close to as described. So Paypal closed the case in my friend's favour and refunded him the money while he also got to keep the book.
Also, I realize this whole thread started 6 years ago. I went to check out the seller and he now lists all the resorations. So I guess he learnt his lesson somewhere. Also, no more deals there.

Edited by William-James88
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anyone who doesn't either request better pictures when they are not good enough or doesn't look at the ones offered as closely as possible-- NOT EXPECTING THE WRITTEN DESCRIPTION TO BE ACCURATE-- is a fool.

It is a two way street-- and the buyer sure as hell better beware. If you want a 9.2 --- buy a graded comic book.

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8 hours ago, Robot Man said:

I don’t know about most of you, but Ebay has pretty much become a cesspool lately. Selling is OK, no problems, returns or hassle but results are very mixed. Decent results on some items but dispointing results on many. I usually start out with a minimal opening bid and I let it ride. No funny stuff like pimping, or “help” to drive up prices. 

As a buyer, another story. I am an advanced collector and am very familiar with market prices. I expect to have to pay up well to get the stuff I want. Lately, it doesn’t seem to matter what I bid, I am mostly always outbid. Often by one bid.

When I am luckily enough to be the high bidder, I am, more often than not, disappointed with what I end up with. Out of my last 6 “wins” (I don’t really call them wins because I didn’t really win anything, just the fool who bid the most), I had 2 accurate books. The other 4 were a fail. 

1.) missing a centerfold

2.) very obvious color touch in hand. ( not visible in photo)

3.) very obvious married book. Very even cover hang and two extra staples in center.

4.) a book I knew was lower grade with a little water damage. When I opened the cover is was full of very obvious black mold. 

I check out the sellers carefully. Feedback, length of time on the site, weather or not they often sell comics and how they grade or “skirt the issue”. Do they offer returns? Their photos. If anything looks remotely sketchy, I pass quickly no matter how bad I want it. 

Should I have to send them a “checklist” in order to bid. Is it really MY responsibility? 

eBay is a cesspool. These days, I don’t have a lot of options. Obviously no shows, I rarely use the big auction houses for a number of reasons, web sites are usually a waste of time. Anything I want is either not available or sold immediately. Flea markets, antique stores and estate sales are also shut down here. About the only place left is right here on the boards, private collectors or word of mouth. 

Glad, I am “old”, bought a lot of collection a long time ago and hung on to it...

I think cesspool sums it up pretty well. 

It's fine for laptop batteries and phone chargers and the like but for collectibles it's a disaster.  There's nobody policing the site and it doesn't take a genius to buy slabs, crack them out and 'improve' the grade or 'forget' about the restoration or 'miss' the missing pages.

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8 hours ago, Robot Man said:

I like to read my books so unless I am buying a slab mostly for just the cover or something very pricey, slabs are not an option. 

I buy lower grade books on eBay knowing they are lower grade at fair prices. If I really love them, I might upgrade. I just expect to get what I paid for. 

I picked up a nice, raw, Canadian White last month.  It was actually nicer than I expected and I got it for a lower bid than I expected.  

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I agree. I'm not doing much on Ebay these days and wouldn't touch raw books. 

From a collecting standpoint,  I've been sticking to the boards and buying from local shops and distributors. Call me old fashion,  but I still like doing deals in person when I can. 

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Some of you sound a bit jaded by ebay but I think it is the result of what and how you collect.

For the average Joe Comic Collector-- Ebay is not always some huge problem to deal with. Speaking for myself-- I am not in the market for expensive comics-- nothing graded or that requires only the highest levels of condition. I'm a mid grade or even low grade collector. The book, art, and story are more important to me than only getting the books that are 9.0 and higher.

I don't know-- maybe I am reading this conversation wrong but these seem like the complaints of people who are a bit snobbish -- and there is nothing wrong with that-- it is your collection. But at the same time-- it is a mistake to assume other people are always getting ripped off. We are getting some decent bargains. We can accept some books-- warts and all. My point is that you guys act like the entire selling market is full of ripoff artists. They tend not to screw with people look for a book at a deep discount.

You have a point-- even for low-ballers, there are people preying on us as well.  I strongly believe some people try to work this market by using their own auxiliary accounts to help push along their auction prices. I have seen the same book listed over and over again from the same seller suing the same accounts to pump up the price. You pick up on that after a while and just stop bothering to chase-- just throw in your top bid and move on.

Sorry if this sounded accusatory. For low level collectors like myself, hearing other big money players whine about the state of the market on ebay is like a Macy's shopper whining about the prices at Costco. I don't think that market is really built for your needs. Oh well. Happy hunting either way.

/mini-rant

Edited by 01TheDude
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2 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

Some of you sound a bit jaded by ebay but I think it is the result of what and how you collect.

For the average Joe Comic Collector-- Ebay is not always some huge problem to deal with. Speaking for myself-- I am not in the market for expensive comics-- nothing graded or that requires only the highest levels of condition. I'm a mid grade or even low grade collector. The book, art, and story are more important to me than only getting the books that are 9.0 and higher.

I don't know-- maybe I am reading this conversation wrong but these seem like the complaints of people who are a bit snobbish -- and there is nothing wrong with that-- it is your collection. But at the same time-- it is a mistake to assume other people are always getting ripped off. We are getting some decent bargains. We can accept some books-- warts and all. My point is that you guys act like the entire selling market is full of ripoff artists. They tend not to screw with people look for a book at a deep discount.

You have a point-- even for low-ballers, there are people preying on us as well.  I strongly believe some people try to work this market by using their own auxiliary accounts to help push along their auction prices. I have seen the same book listed over and over again from the same seller suing the same accounts to pump up the price. You pick up on that after a while and just stop bothering to chase-- just throw in your top bid and move on.

Sorry if this sounded accusatory. For low level collectors like myself, hearing other big money players whine about the state of the market on ebay is like a Macy's shopper whining about the prices at Costco. I don't think that market is really built for your needs. Oh well. Happy hunting either way.

/mini-rant

You have a good point.  There are a lot of comics for sale on ebay and it's pretty effective for filling in holes or finding hard to find items.  

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2 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

Some of you sound a bit jaded by ebay but I think it is the result of what and how you collect.

For the average Joe Comic Collector-- Ebay is not always some huge problem to deal with. Speaking for myself-- I am not in the market for expensive comics-- nothing graded or that requires only the highest levels of condition. I'm a mid grade or even low grade collector. The book, art, and story are more important to me than only getting the books that are 9.0 and higher.

I don't know-- maybe I am reading this conversation wrong but these seem like the complaints of people who are a bit snobbish -- and there is nothing wrong with that-- it is your collection. But at the same time-- it is a mistake to assume other people are always getting ripped off. We are getting some decent bargains. We can accept some books-- warts and all. My point is that you guys act like the entire selling market is full of ripoff artists. They tend not to screw with people look for a book at a deep discount.

You have a point-- even for low-ballers, there are people preying on us as well.  I strongly believe some people try to work this market by using their own auxiliary accounts to help push along their auction prices. I have seen the same book listed over and over again from the same seller suing the same accounts to pump up the price. You pick up on that after a while and just stop bothering to chase-- just throw in your top bid and move on.

Sorry if this sounded accusatory. For low level collectors like myself, hearing other big money players whine about the state of the market on ebay is like a Macy's shopper whining about the prices at Costco. I don't think that market is really built for your needs. Oh well. Happy hunting either way.

/mini-rant

 

I don't actually disagree with you. And I collect lower to mid grade books as well. 

I guess my bias is,  there is an inheritant risk with buying raw books on Ebay. That risk is, undisclosed restoration,  missing pages and other warts you may not have seen.  

When your chasing down a particular book, the prices on Ebay are often high. It's hard to get great deals. 

So I still track books on Ebay but generally I stay away. My preference is to buy books locally or from the boards where I know of most of the sellers and trust their assessment. 

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2 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

Some of you sound a bit jaded by ebay but I think it is the result of what and how you collect.

For the average Joe Comic Collector-- Ebay is not always some huge problem to deal with. Speaking for myself-- I am not in the market for expensive comics-- nothing graded or that requires only the highest levels of condition. I'm a mid grade or even low grade collector. The book, art, and story are more important to me than only getting the books that are 9.0 and higher.

I don't know-- maybe I am reading this conversation wrong but these seem like the complaints of people who are a bit snobbish -- and there is nothing wrong with that-- it is your collection. But at the same time-- it is a mistake to assume other people are always getting ripped off. We are getting some decent bargains. We can accept some books-- warts and all. My point is that you guys act like the entire selling market is full of ripoff artists. They tend not to screw with people look for a book at a deep discount.

You have a point-- even for low-ballers, there are people preying on us as well.  I strongly believe some people try to work this market by using their own auxiliary accounts to help push along their auction prices. I have seen the same book listed over and over again from the same seller suing the same accounts to pump up the price. You pick up on that after a while and just stop bothering to chase-- just throw in your top bid and move on.

Sorry if this sounded accusatory. For low level collectors like myself, hearing other big money players whine about the state of the market on ebay is like a Macy's shopper whining about the prices at Costco. I don't think that market is really built for your needs. Oh well. Happy hunting either way.

/mini-rant

Well said, dude...  

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On 7/2/2020 at 1:38 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Usually I’m simply upgrading my childhood copies.  I still have all my books from when I was a kid.  :cloud9:

Exactly the same for me.......on both counts. (thumbsu

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i still have most all of my childhood copies from my youth in the mid 70's 

four long boxes full... but i could care less about those i bought off the racks because even then as a kid i dreamed about acquiring the great GA comics that were completely unattainable 

until eBay come around

back in the mid 70's me, my cousins and every comic collecting kid in the neighborhood wished that we could get some real comics from the Golden Age !!

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20 minutes ago, 1950's war comics said:

i still have most all of my childhood copies from my youth in the mid 70's 

four long boxes full... but i could care less about those i bought off the racks because even then as a kid i dreamed about acquiring the great GA comics that were completely unattainable 

until eBay come around

back in the mid 70's me, my cousins and every comic collecting kid in the neighborhood wished that we could get some real comics from the Golden Age !!

Really? I was about the same age and collecting at the same time. GA books were not even a thought to me--- I was of course a Marvel collector and the collecting dreams I had most focused on those oh so old Silver age copies. It was a shock to find or even see books that were as old as you were.

I did know about the GA books-- but only knew of them through the handful of reprints or reading about them in Steranko's History of Comics.

Even today, I feel excited when I obtain another book older than myself. I appreciate the GA stuff but man is that a pricey collecting choice to make, especially in the mid 1970s as a pre-teen or even teenager.

That was my general impression with the other collectors I knew at the time.

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During the seventies I wanted GA books so bad but I had no idea how to go about it. I had ordered Famous First Edition, Treasuries and FOOM, but that was straight from the source. Luckily, a comic shop opened  not far from me in Philly, on Bustleton Avenue. I finally got to see GA books... and their prices! :fear:

 

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15 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

Really? I was about the same age and collecting at the same time. GA books were not even a thought to me--- I was of course a Marvel collector and the collecting dreams I had most focused on those oh so old Silver age copies. It was a shock to find or even see books that were as old as you were.

I did know about the GA books-- but only knew of them through the handful of reprints or reading about them in Steranko's History of Comics.

Even today, I feel excited when I obtain another book older than myself. I appreciate the GA stuff but man is that a pricey collecting choice to make, especially in the mid 1970s as a pre-teen or even teenager.

That was my general impression with the other collectors I knew at the time.

I was collecting SA Marvels as a kid in the 70s.  Once I learned there were GA versions of Human Torch and Cap America, probably from Marvel's reprints, I had to have them.  Unfortunately, it was many  years before I actually had a chance to buy a Timely.

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3 hours ago, thehumantorch said:

I was collecting SA Marvels as a kid in the 70s.  Once I learned there were GA versions of Human Torch and Cap America, probably from Marvel's reprints, I had to have them.  Unfortunately, it was many  years before I actually had a chance to buy a Timely.

exactly-- short of being a rich kid, I can't see how anyone could afford those comics. Didn't help being in a recession either. My kid budget had no allowance -- I had to work three paper routes to make about 40-50 bucks a month. Things got so bad at one point that my dad had to borrow some of my earnings that I had squirreled away in a savings account. But  that same helped me have money, get a brand new Schwinn 36x36 Chrome BMX bike (about $145), as well as buying the rack at 7-11 (Marvels only), a bag of candy, and a slurpee. It wasn't easy work (paper route)-- especially in the winter riding my bike in the snow.

So buying a comic or a beer can that cost more than $5 was just kind of tough to swing-- and GA books to me were somewhat of a pipe dream-- if you could even find them. I had enough trouble finding SA Marvels without breaking the bank.

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