Can anyone help me out? 0

[Comic Playhouse]

I have bought several thousand dollars of books from a top ten comic shop on eBay. I recently had my Hulk 181, FF 45, and ASM 50 graded and they all have the purple label of death. Has anyone ever had this problem from a major seller on three keys? The Hulk 181 was described as VF/NM. I asked the seller what they thought it would grade out at and he said 9.0. The FF 45 was described as, "Super High Grade." The ASM 50 was described as "Near Perfect." What would you do without breaking the law?

[comicquant]

I can already tell this is all_things_comics.  Not only do they sell restored books as unrestored (though they disclose some of them in the description) they over-grade substantially.  All I can say is stay away from them.  If the listings for the books you mentioned don't disclose resto I would definitely confront them with the issue.

[Tony S]

What you describe is EXACTLY why professional grading and encapsulation of comic books exists.  You have spent thousands of dollars on raw  key issues purchased on eBay only to find out they have had restoration.  Ask yourself. In this current market, why wouldn't a seller get copies of Hulk 181, ASM 50 and FF 45 graded before offering for sale? 

The answer for a private collector selling their collection is they might not realize the advantages/benefits professional grading offers.  They might need the $$ faster and not want to wait, not realize those books professionally graded and encapsulated sell for more money. More than the cost of grading. 

But for a "dealer" selling on eBay every week - they are leaving money on the table not slabbing such books. UNLESS the books have problems.  Color touch, trimming - or just over graded. 

The listings and the terminology used are deliberately ambiguous and should raise flags. Super high grade and near perfect are not grades. The are adjectives and hawking.

If you are going to buy expensive books on eBay you should consider two changes.

!) Buy only professionally graded books

2) Buy raw only from sellers that have a long return period AND immediately send your purchases in for professional grading. This way you know - within  the return period - if the books have issues. 
Welcome to the boards

 

Edited October 17, 2017 by Tony S

[telerites]

12 hours ago, comicquant said:

I can already tell this is all_things_comics.  Not only do they sell restored books as unrestored (though they disclose some of them in the description) they over-grade substantially.  All I can say is stay away from them.  If the listings for the books you mentioned don't disclose resto I would definitely confront them with the issue.

Do they not also been found to deslab restored books and sell as unrestored (or at least not disclosing restoration)? 

For the OP, there have been a number of threads if that was indeed to seller/dealer, but yes as the others have stated, communicate with them.  I assume it is too late to file ebay/pp dispute.  The possible problem is since you did not contact them fairly soon after receipt that you noted restoration, they could say, it was done while in your possession.

Like @Tony S said above, buy CGC copies of high dollars books, especially if you had planned to get them graded yourself.  There are usually a slew of slabbed copies of the ones you mentioned available and if you are not as confident of identifying restoration yourself, it is worth the peace of mind.  

Good luck 

[seanfingh]

Also, don't let greed drive you.  If a Hulk 181 goes for $3000 in 9.0 and this guy is telling you it is going to grade 9.0 and selling it for $1800 something is rotten in Denmark. They would slab it and get the extra $1200 if it were. It is either woefully overgraded or it has undisclosed resto or both.  I am really sorry you got fleeced. No one deserves that. But thinking you are getting a smoking deal that will yield big returns will often leave you screwed.

[Comic Playhouse]

On 10/16/2017 at 8:44 PM, comicquant said:

I can already tell this is all_things_comics.  Not only do they sell restored books as unrestored (though they disclose some of them in the description) they over-grade substantially.  All I can say is stay away from them.  If the listings for the books you mentioned don't disclose resto I would definitely confront them with the issue.

You are correct

 

[Comic Playhouse]

Thanks for your comments. I've been blown away by what this seller has got away with while preparing my case.

[thehumantorch]

7 minutes ago, Comic Playhouse said:

You are correct

 

Sorry, he's a crook with a proven 'business model' of selling restored books without disclosing and he overgrades.

Did CGC agree with his grades?

[Comic Playhouse]

21 minutes ago, thehumantorch said:

Sorry, he's a crook with a proven 'business model' of selling restored books without disclosing and he overgrades.

Did CGC agree with his grades?

not even close

[thehumantorch]

1 minute ago, Comic Playhouse said:

not even close

Sigh, I hate this.  We see him selling all the time but we can't stop him.  By the time you get these books graded it's too late to leave negative feedback, that's why guys like him have excellent feedback and appear to be 'trusted' sellers.

As Seanfingh posted above, if the price is much lower than a graded book of the 'same' grade it's too good to be true.

Always a good idea to google a seller's ebay handle

https://www.google.ca/search?q=all+things+comics+ebay&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi-q7XEm_nWAhVW5mMKHUDcCJkQBQglKAA&biw=1511&bih=777

[cranky's]

I had ASM 50 as a saved search on ebay for a long time and kept getting notified for new listings from this guy.  Unbelievable how many copies he's butchered and foisted on the community.

[thehumantorch]

31 minutes ago, skrank said:

I had ASM 50 as a saved search on ebay for a long time and kept getting notified for new listings from this guy.  Unbelievable how many copies he's butchered and foisted on the community.

Most of these guys buy graded, restored copies, crack them out and sell them as unrestored and at a higher grade.

Not sure they bother to butcher the books themselves but clearly they'll do anything to make a buck.

All_Things_Comics has been doing this for years under different ebay handles.  Here's a previous thread.

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/260814-alert-bijoubaby05-now-selling-on-ebay-as-all-things-comics-and-comix_code/