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Sparkle City Action 1 on ebay!!!!
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Started by LDarkseid1,

269 posts in this topic

N e r V

N e r V

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Posted (edited)

You write beautifully. :foryou:

I never thought I’d see pig in the poke and sow’s ear into a silk purse in  the same sentence though....lol

Edited by N e r V
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LDarkseid1

LDarkseid1

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Ultimately, it’s very easy to make assumptions without actually seeing the book. It’s distinctly possible it was detailed correctly by Sparkle City as far as the amount of resto goes, the sale will go through and there will be no issues. I mean these aren’t newbies haha. They sell expensive graded and raw books all the time. So a lot of talk about how bad this can go, but it may just work out lol. Anyway, yeah I also wouldn’t be surprised if wheoever’s bidding has a centerfold or coverless complete. This would be like a dream come true for them.

Edited by LDarkseid1
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James J Johnson

James J Johnson

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2 hours ago, LDarkseid1 said:

Ultimately, it’s very easy to make assumptions without actually seeing the book. It’s distinctly possible it was detailed correctly by Sparkle City as far as the amount of resto goes, the sale will go through and there will be no issues. I mean these aren’t newbies haha. They sell expensive graded and raw books all the time. So a lot of talk about how bad this can go, but it may just work out lol. Anyway, yeah I also wouldn’t be surprised if wheoever’s bidding has a centerfold or coverless complete. This would be like a dream come true for them.

And because it has the potential to go bad on so many different levels, in many different ways, as a seller, it's to your advantage to minimize those chances by doing whatever you can to put the odds of a successful, uneventful sale in your favor and under your belt. 1 thing the seller should have done to accomplish this is to offer the book already CGC graded. IMO, it's unthinkable to auction off a $100K+ book raw when we all know that this book will be at the CGC offices to be graded probably within 48 hours of delivery, the winner probably flying in with it. If the buyer has missed any details at all about this raw book and/or not read and absorbed all of the lines, as well as read between them, that 0.5 restored/incomplete CGC grade might resonated with the buyer enough to call his cc company right then and there, or soon after, once a few of the people he solicits opinions of his purchase from make that circling the temple crazy motion after learning what he paid for it.

Selling this as a restored 0.5 incomplete CGC slabbed book will eliminate any later action of a chargeback because the buyer might have expected a G/VG grade once slabbed. IMO, if you're going to sell a book for north of $5000 that isn't CGC graded, or something comparable, you're asking for trouble. This is already at 25 times that level, pricewise.

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LDarkseid1

LDarkseid1

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29 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

And because it has the potential to go bad on so many different levels, in many different ways, as a seller, it's to your advantage to minimize those chances by doing whatever you can to put the odds of a successful, uneventful sale in your favor and under your belt. 1 thing the seller should have done to accomplish this is to offer the book already CGC graded. IMO, it's unthinkable to auction off a $100K+ book raw when we all know that this book will be at the CGC offices to be graded probably within 48 hours of delivery, the winner probably flying in with it. If the buyer has missed any details at all about this raw book and/or not read and absorbed all of the lines, as well as read between them, that 0.5 restored/incomplete CGC grade might resonated with the buyer enough to call his cc company right then and there, or soon after, once a few of the people he solicits opinions of his purchase from make that circling the temple crazy motion after learning what he paid for it.

Selling this as a restored 0.5 incomplete CGC slabbed book will eliminate any later action of a chargeback because the buyer might have expected a G/VG grade once slabbed. IMO, if you're going to sell a book for north of $5000 that isn't CGC graded, or something comparable, you're asking for trouble. This is already at 25 times that level, pricewise.

Oh yeah I don’t disagree with most of what you said and this is definitely an interesting situation you don’t see often. Definitely safer to sell extremely expensive books graded and not taking the chance. I’m just saying I get the issues towards selling raw instead of graded if the seller was an unknown, but that’s not the case here. I mean also it’s possible it wasn’t Sparkle City’s decision. It’s possible whoever the original owner is (since I believe Sparkle City is just consigning it) decided they wanted it to sell raw. Sparkle City could of course say no in that scenario and not want to take the chance, but I imagine too much money on the line to pass up. Regardless, you pretty much know what you’re getting with this so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. I agree that there’s a distinct possibility the restoration could be more extensive than they detailed and that would be bad, but once again these people aren’t amateurs. In the end, people definitely seem content to take the gamble because it’s at $125K now! I hope the eventual owner, assuming the payment goes through, gets it graded and posts the results. Maybe he/she will get a nice surprise and it will come back a 9.8 ??

Edited by LDarkseid1
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James J Johnson

James J Johnson

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2 hours ago, LDarkseid1 said:

Oh yeah I don’t disagree with most of what you said and this is definitely an interesting situation you don’t see often. Definitely safer to sell extremely expensive books graded and not taking the chance. I’m just saying I get the issues towards selling raw instead of graded if the seller was an unknown, but that’s not the case here. I mean also it’s possible it wasn’t Sparkle City’s decision. It’s possible whoever the original owner is (since I believe Sparkle City is just consigning it) decided they wanted it to sell raw. Sparkle City could of course say no in that scenario and not want to take the chance, but I imagine too much money on the line to pass up. Regardless, you pretty much know what you’re getting with this so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. I agree that there’s a distinct possibility the restoration could be more extensive than they detailed and that would be bad, but once again these people aren’t amateurs. In the end, people definitely seem content to take the gamble because it’s at $125K now! I hope the eventual owner, assuming the payment goes through, gets it graded and posts the results. Maybe he/she will get a nice surprise and it will come back a 9.8 ??

The under-bidder at present, at $127,777 is a new ebay account with 1 feedback. They bid mostly on comics, beads, and charms. They've been a constant presence in the bidding on this, typically either the high bidder or under-bidder for most of the time thus far. Still a long way to go. This might finish in the $250,000 area, or more, given the bids so far and the time left to go, not even halfway home as of yet. It certainly has that potential.

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showcase22gr1959

showcase22gr1959

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2 hours ago, G.A.tor said:

The person that is bidding and imo will likely win this does have a complete coverless copy

No doubt the competition will be fierce for this copy. A few years ago, a voldy coverless copy sold Heritage and the coverless copy sold on CC missing the first page/wrap, so those buyers may seek this book. Not to mention any other holders of coverless copy. The cover is where the huge value is, and it will be interesting if it sells high 100's and may sniff 200K.

Edited by showcase22gr1959
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G.A.tor

G.A.tor

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21 minutes ago, showcase22gr1959 said:

No doubt the competition will be fierce for this copy. A few years ago, a voldy coverless copy sold Heritage and the coverless copy sold on CC missing the first page/wrap, so those buyers may seek this book. Not to mention any other holders of coverless copy. The cover is where the huge value is, and it will be interesting if it sells high 100's and may sniff 200K.

 I am guessing 200 K is a  strong possibility maybe even probability 

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sfcityduck

sfcityduck

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On 6/16/2018 at 2:13 PM, James J Johnson said:

I agree. But $150K purchase? On ebay? Getting that $150K bid is going to be a lot simpler than actually getting paid the $150K! Ebay and Paypal would be among the last entities I would entrust this sale to: Why?

The buyer is always right. But what if something goes wrong. With the delivery, with a return, with anything. A chargeback, a paypal claim for item not described or received?

In my opinion, this seller's greed, his cracking it out and going the ebay raw route has opened him up to risks that he wouldn't have had if he left it slabbed and sold it through Heritage, Connect, Link, etc., as a slabbed book.and let them handle the responsibility of buyer fraud on an item like this.  

 

Sparkle City has sold a lot of books through eBay (apparently 57,000+).  I'm pretty sure they understand their risks and benefits better than you do. 

Of course, we've already seen the highest price ever paid for an Action 1 recorded in an eBay transaction.  We've also seen many other six figure transactions on eBay.  The history of eBay and high value comic sales is well established.

 I've never heard of a "buyer fraud" case coming out of one of these expensive comic transactions. So it just doesn't seem like the hand wringing is necessary. 

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sfcityduck

sfcityduck

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On 6/16/2018 at 2:13 PM, James J Johnson said:

In my opinion, this seller's greed, his cracking it out and going the ebay raw route has opened him up to risks that he wouldn't have had if he left it slabbed

 

Sparkle City says the book was never submitted to a third party grader.  Why are you making this somewhat slanderous statement about the seller?

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sfcityduck

sfcityduck

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21 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

So, what this really translates out to is that when the buyer submits this to the CGC, and it bounds back to him or her in a 0.5 purple labeled holder from whence it came, slabbed with the words, "extensive restoration" and "Incomplete" included on the label, plus far more disclosed work than the seller is disclosin mentionedg, relegating the book's resale value to approx. the 25 to 40% range of the winning bid price, "don't look to remedy the deception, because you'll find us unmoved by your grievous error in winning it, and by the way, the short pier is that'a'way, if you'd like a nice place to take that long walk, you're welcome!".

Is that about the gist of it?

The dollar amount is much too high for this type of non-disclosure to stand up as a mitigating factor with the cc company. Anyone who has a CC with at least 6 figure thresholds has standing with their cc company and the chargeback will be effected pending a return without an insane re-stocking fee, of course, $25,000 to place the book back in a box just plain usurious to demand.

First, why are you saying "purple labeled holder from whence it came"?

Second, Sparkle City's description, photography of the book, and Q&As appear comprehensive and make clear it would go into a PLOD:

 this book is restored. Overall restoration would be considered in the 4 - 5 range (Moderate/extensive restoration) by a 3rd party grader. Restoration includes: Color Touch (slight on the cover), Color Touch inside front cover, Piece fill and support to cover, Cover Cleaned and reinforced, Pages cleaned, staples replaced. 

The book is a PLOD .5 no matter what.  The description includes a disclaimer that third party graders may disagree with aspects of the description.  I'm not seeing any real risk here based on the disclosures.  This seller has probably rightly concluded there is not need to pay a third party grader to encapsulate a book that is likely to be taken apart by the purchaser, married to another interior or cf, and probably then re-restored. 

Third party grading can certainly get you a higher price for a book, but that's usually to get the certainty of a higher grade.  This book is a different animal. 

The slander by this poster is ridiculous.

Edited by sfcityduck
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sfcityduck

sfcityduck

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10 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

 IMO, it's unthinkable to auction off a $100K+ book raw when we all know that this book will be at the CGC offices to be graded probably within 48 hours of delivery, the winner probably flying in with it.

I don't know that.  To the contrary, I believe that this Action 1 is destined to be pieced up with the cover going one direction (married to a coverless interior), the first wrap possibly going another (married to an incomplete coverless copy), and the going rate on single wraps or pages from Action 1 would certainly make it worthwhile to piece out the remainder and substantially defray the purchase price.  The buyer here is almost inevitably going to be a very sophisticated participant in the comic market.

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