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When selling on ebay, is it now okay not to grade them anymore?
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140 posts in this topic

Maybe that's why some buyers are so adamant to get grades-it gives them an 'out' for a return or partial.

 

That's ridiculous. I haven't had a return for grading in at least 5 years and the one return I took the buyer agreed it was NM he just didn't like it. It does happen, but only if you don't do your homework.

 

Grade the book well and scan the book well the rest will take care of itself.

 

Sure there are cons on ebay, but the % goes way up when you are selling slabs I think. If you look in the ebay threads a larger % is involving a slab for all types of reasons.

 

It is impossible to grade a book well when at any time someone can disagree with your grade. Your grade could be spot on but they still disagree with it. I know one LCS that when you sell them books, they are a 3.0, when they go to sell em, they're 6.5's.

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I grade when I sell on eBay, but I tend to grade very conservation, or even under grade slightly to avoid people trying to return stuff on me. I provide good, pictures, and will disclose as best as possible any defects I see. So if I think a book is a 9.4, I will usually list as a 9.2 or even a 9.0, if I am a little shaky on the grade.

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I grade when I sell on eBay, but I tend to grade very conservation, or even under grade slightly to avoid people trying to return stuff on me. I provide good, pictures, and will disclose as best as possible any defects I see. So if I think a book is a 9.4, I will usually list as a 9.2 or even a 9.0, if I am a little shaky on the grade.

this is my problem with giving grades-you end up having to undergrade just to be safe. Then the books don't sell for what they could.

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I grade when I sell on eBay, but I tend to grade very conservation, or even under grade slightly to avoid people trying to return stuff on me. I provide good, pictures, and will disclose as best as possible any defects I see. So if I think a book is a 9.4, I will usually list as a 9.2 or even a 9.0, if I am a little shaky on the grade.

this is my problem with giving grades-you end up having to undergrade just to be safe. Then the books don't sell for what they could.

 

Lots or pros and cons of providing a grade and not.

 

When I buy, I do like to see a seller provide a grade of their own opinion but I ultimately decide for myself on scans and pictures. It ultimately my decision if I like them or not. My grades are only subjective to me as others have their own opinions.

 

 

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I grade when I sell on eBay, but I tend to grade very conservation, or even under grade slightly to avoid people trying to return stuff on me. I provide good, pictures, and will disclose as best as possible any defects I see. So if I think a book is a 9.4, I will usually list as a 9.2 or even a 9.0, if I am a little shaky on the grade.

this is my problem with giving grades-you end up having to undergrade just to be safe. Then the books don't sell for what they could.

 

The hope is that the buyer will have a discriminating eye and factor the apparent undergrading into his bid, but the downside of that is bidders might bid optimistically, and then be disappointed and seek to make a return anyway.

 

It's tough to predict (I've already whined a couple of times on the board for a return that I called high GD that seller returned because he and his LCS agreed it wasn't VG), but big scans and pics can help somewhat.

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Long story short, when selling a book, the seller should put "im not a professional grader so please determine for yourself the grade range of the book" that way the seller will have an respectable and honest reputation. Therefore they won't have to worry of returns, complaints etc. On the other hand, if it is obvious the book is a low, mid, or high grade, the seller can put "this book is in the low,mid, or high grade range." My opinion

 

How is a seller earning a respectable and honest reputation of they pass on all accountability to the buyer?

 

 

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The main thing IMO to consider for sellers that don't grade their comics is they are pretty much eliminating 40-60% of potential buyers. No matter what the reason sellers have for doing this they are going to toss away a lot of potential business. Like I said I would never spend any money on line with sellers that don't grade their comics. I think a high percentage of them (of course not all) are trying to over charge. Since there are ample sellers that do grade their comics I would much rather give those sellers my business.

 

Thanks for your opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-slym

 

This guy is funny cuz he contacted me asking me to give grades then goes on and tells me he doesn't buy just because seller don't assign grades nor will he buy because seller provides scans.

 

Why did he even bother to contact me on my raws? I'm confused.

 

How I see it, if I assign a grade and when he received and doesn't like what my assigned grade is, he will blow a fuse...

 

Put him on ignore...

 

 

 

I contacted you because I was interested in purchasing them. If you had sent me the grades as I requested in my pm I might have purchased them.

 

Instead you decided to throw a tantrum.

 

Regarding the ignore button I commented about this in a previous thread. Putting a person on ignore is a huge sign of weakness. You might as well hand in your man card when you do it. Can you imagine John Wayne or Clint Eastwood doing that. No chance.

 

Under no condition would I ever lower myself by putting someone on ignore.

Edited by raybowles
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Maybe that's why some buyers are so adamant to get grades-it gives them an 'out' for a return or partial.

 

That's ridiculous. I haven't had a return for grading in at least 5 years and the one return I took the buyer agreed it was NM he just didn't like it. It does happen, but only if you don't do your homework.

 

Grade the book well and scan the book well the rest will take care of itself.

 

Sure there are cons on ebay, but the % goes way up when you are selling slabs I think. If you look in the ebay threads a larger % is involving a slab for all types of reasons.

 

It is impossible to grade a book well when at any time someone can disagree with your grade. Your grade could be spot on but they still disagree with it. I know one LCS that when you sell them books, they are a 3.0, when they go to sell em, they're 6.5's.

 

Just ONE?!?!?!

 

When those types of LCS are firm with me on their selling price and say, "That's what it's selling for on eBay!" I reply, "Yeah, but this ain't eBay. This is I'm standing here with cash bay!"

 

Which is better because I'm looking right at it as I make my offer, so that there is no return/you can't grade/my mailman's dog ate it issue. LCS's need to value that, because eBay can be a Wild West for a seller. Easier to control who you buy from than it is to control who buys from you.

Edited by Readcomix
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There is an inherent problem with how eBay handles feedback at this point. If you try and put in anything other than positive, you get a whole bunch of messages to ask you to try and resolve the issues with the seller before it will actually allow you to give a negative review.

 

Now this does end up in a dialog starting, and does usually end up in the issue getting resolved. I think it also ends up inflating positive ratings however. So people that would have perhaps given a neutral review will often push it up to positive, etc. I think there is essentially "grade inflation" when it comes to eBay feedback. You can not convince me that 99.99% of all sellers receive a 90% or better seller rating, but that is how it will look like if you go through ratings. How many times have people here posted do not buy from this seller, and if you go look at them they have a 95% or better?

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Regarding the ignore button I commented about this in a previous thread. Putting a person on ignore is a huge sign of weakness. You might as well hand in your man card when you do it. Can you imagine John Wayne or Clint Eastwood doing that. No chance.

 

Under no condition would I ever lower myself by putting someone on ignore.

 

Except that here I'm pretty sure "ignore" can also double as a mechanism for blocking members from buying in their thread in the Board Only sales forum.

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There is an inherent problem with how eBay handles feedback at this point. If you try and put in anything other than positive, you get a whole bunch of messages to ask you to try and resolve the issues with the seller before it will actually allow you to give a negative review.

 

Now this does end up in a dialog starting, and does usually end up in the issue getting resolved. I think it also ends up inflating positive ratings however. So people that would have perhaps given a neutral review will often push it up to positive, etc. I think there is essentially "grade inflation" when it comes to eBay feedback. You can not convince me that 99.99% of all sellers receive a 90% or better seller rating, but that is how it will look like if you go through ratings. How many times have people here posted do not buy from this seller, and if you go look at them they have a 95% or better?

I know of one seller that consistently wildly overgrades. I have seen him call a book with book length creases a NM. He has thousands of transactions with 100% feedback. Which tends to support the fact that buyers don't even put much stock in listed grades they just look at the pics.

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My pet peeve are the sellers who don't put a grade and just say "high grade" or "look at the pics and judge for yourself". This is fine if you're trying to tell if a book is a vg or a vf, but what if you want to know if a book is a 9.2, 9.4 or 9.6. Even with high res scans, they don't always pick up a small imperfection that can knock a book down.

 

When I sell a book and grade it a 9.2 but the scan makes it look like a 9.4/9.6, this let's the buyer know there is a small spine tick or something keeping the book from grading higher.

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The main thing IMO to consider for sellers that don't grade their comics is they are pretty much eliminating 40-60% of potential buyers. No matter what the reason sellers have for doing this they are going to toss away a lot of potential business. Like I said I would never spend any money on line with sellers that don't grade their comics. I think a high percentage of them (of course not all) are trying to over charge. Since there are ample sellers that do grade their comics I would much rather give those sellers my business.

 

Thanks for your opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

-slym

 

This guy is funny cuz he contacted me asking me to give grades then goes on and tells me he doesn't buy just because seller don't assign grades nor will he buy because seller provides scans.

 

Why did he even bother to contact me on my raws? I'm confused.

 

How I see it, if I assign a grade and when he received and doesn't like what my assigned grade is, he will blow a fuse...

 

Put him on ignore...

 

 

 

I contacted you because I was interested in purchasing them. If you had sent me the grades as I requested in my pm I might have purchased them.

 

Instead you decided to throw a tantrum.

 

Regarding the ignore button I commented about this in a previous thread. Putting a person on ignore is a huge sign of weakness. You might as well hand in your man card when you do it. Can you imagine John Wayne or Clint Eastwood doing that. No chance.

 

Under no condition would I ever lower myself by putting someone on ignore.

 

lol Tantrum? Nah, I just choose to not do business with you. With your comments here, you're screaming trouble and headache and so far with your response clearly shows :whistle:

 

Just look at your response...Man card? Sign of weakness because I put you on ignore? Putting you on ignore is a sign of strength because if you showed a sign of weakness I would give into your stupid antics.

 

And with your pm telling me you won't buy because I didn't assign a grade... Why even bother messaging me when you weren't looking to buy because I didn't assign a grade.

 

lol

 

Anyways, I did myself a favor and used the ignore for the very first time. You're my first, be proud lol

 

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Regarding the ignore button I commented about this in a previous thread. Putting a person on ignore is a huge sign of weakness. You might as well hand in your man card when you do it. Can you imagine John Wayne or Clint Eastwood doing that. No chance.

 

Under no condition would I ever lower myself by putting someone on ignore.

 

Except that here I'm pretty sure "ignore" can also double as a mechanism for blocking members from buying in their thread in the Board Only sales forum.

 

Blocks them from messaging you and blocks their message on the page giving you some kind of idea why they on ignore. Good mechanism I might say.

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I grade when I sell on eBay, but I tend to grade very conservation, or even under grade slightly to avoid people trying to return stuff on me. I provide good, pictures, and will disclose as best as possible any defects I see. So if I think a book is a 9.4, I will usually list as a 9.2 or even a 9.0, if I am a little shaky on the grade.

this is my problem with giving grades-you end up having to undergrade just to be safe. Then the books don't sell for what they could.

If only there were some service or business that would grade them for you to help you get an appropriate sale price.

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I grade when I sell on eBay, but I tend to grade very conservation, or even under grade slightly to avoid people trying to return stuff on me. I provide good, pictures, and will disclose as best as possible any defects I see. So if I think a book is a 9.4, I will usually list as a 9.2 or even a 9.0, if I am a little shaky on the grade.

this is my problem with giving grades-you end up having to undergrade just to be safe. Then the books don't sell for what they could.

If only there were some service or business that would grade them for you to help you get an appopriate sale price.

:idea: A company that grades raws and stamps the grade on the cover!!

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