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eBay buyer wants to return my raw book after CGC'd, if the grade is less than what I stated on the listing...
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131 posts in this topic

57 minutes ago, Ride the Tiger said:
6 hours ago, TwoPiece said:

You have his address. You know what to do...

Flaming bag of dog poop on the front stairs?

Nah not enough cruelty...find out where his locker is & catch him off guard 

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1 hour ago, MGsimba77 said:

Nah not enough cruelty...find out where his locker is & catch him off guard 

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3 hours ago, MGsimba77 said:

To the OP- Did you guarantee a numerical grade in the description?

I said to my eyes it was VF-NM, bu that they should look at the photos as their guide, and then I addressed the mechanical error. 

The buyer said nothing about any other flaws other than the error. 

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@oldrover Sorry to hear about your insufficiently_thoughtful_person buyer. After reading the many eBay horror stories, I added a piece to the boilerplate section of my listings. "I am *not* a certified grading professional; I cannot provide an estimate on what grade this book "could" be, and my opinion could be very different from that of a professional. I have described the condition as best as I can, and additional photos are available upon request; but what you see is what you get, I cannot and will not assign a grade."

I've gotten requests for additional photos, which isn't a big deal, especially with graded books. Slabs make life easy. Raw books, I occasionally get a request for a picture of the splash page; probably for people checking for first/second/third/etc. printing. I've had a couple goofballs with, "ok, so you won't give it a number, but what do you *think* it is NM/etc.?" I politely respond by cut/pasting the blurb; and that's usually the last I see/hear of those people. So far I've been lucky & haven't had any issues. I'm assuming one day I'll run across someone who makes me want to set the world on fire, but it hasn't happened yet.

I hope you work this out without too much inconvenience. If nothing else, when you re-list the book, I hope it goes to someone with better reading comprehension skills. :)

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14 minutes ago, BabaLament said:

@oldrover Sorry to hear about your insufficiently_thoughtful_person buyer. After reading the many eBay horror stories, I added a piece to the boilerplate section of my listings. "I am *not* a certified grading professional; I cannot provide an estimate on what grade this book "could" be, and my opinion could be very different from that of a professional. I have described the condition as best as I can, and additional photos are available upon request; but what you see is what you get, I cannot and will not assign a grade."

I've gotten requests for additional photos, which isn't a big deal, especially with graded books. Slabs make life easy. Raw books, I occasionally get a request for a picture of the splash page; probably for people checking for first/second/third/etc. printing. I've had a couple goofballs with, "ok, so you won't give it a number, but what do you *think* it is NM/etc.?" I politely respond by cut/pasting the blurb; and that's usually the last I see/hear of those people. So far I've been lucky & haven't had any issues. I'm assuming one day I'll run across someone who makes me want to set the world on fire, but it hasn't happened yet.

I hope you work this out without too much inconvenience. If nothing else, when you re-list the book, I hope it goes to someone with better reading comprehension skills. :)

I never give grades.  I could be a professional grader, and there would still be buyers who disagree with my grade.  Why even open that can of worms?  I've experienced no issues with selling using this approach.  When I gave grades it was nothing but headaches.

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@kav "Buyers who disagree with my grade" being the goofs who cry, "every book I lay my hands on should be 9.8-10 because I'm special!" 

Yes. Yes you are. Very "special."

I agree with you. This way makes life easier, and it appears to cut down on the crybabies and con artists. 

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9 minutes ago, BabaLament said:

@kav "Buyers who disagree with my grade" being the goofs who cry, "every book I lay my hands on should be 9.8-10 because I'm special!" 

Yes. Yes you are. Very "special."

I agree with you. This way makes life easier, and it appears to cut down on the crybabies and con artists. 

Bingo.  One has only to recall the countless threads started by newbees ( @oakman29 ) to confirm even professional graders are excoriated and claims made that they dont know how to grade!!!  Because the newbee submitters are special and deserve 9.8s....

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No sure if this will be of any help...

I've had two issues buying books on ebay. The first was a book I suspected of being trimmed. I contacted the seller and explained the situation.  He asked for pictures. I provided many... some with a ruler showing the issues. They agreed with my assessment and offered a substantial partial refund. I accepted. Considering the cost of return shipping, I feel we both made out ok.

The second was a low grade book that featured a relatively complete narrative of visible defects. Of course there were the infamous "I am not a pro grader" and the "look at the pictures and judge for yourself" clauses, followed by the assertion "I believe this book is an estimated grade of 2.0". I paid a premium for the book even at 2.0, banking on the improvements that I felt were possible with CPR. Upon receiving the book, I found interior water staining that was not disclosed or included in the pictures. I contacted the seller and again sent pictures of the defect. The seller admitted he missed the defect and immediately suggested a mutually beneficial partial refund. I did tell him I wanted the book. He offered a low initial refund amount and I countered much higher. We met some where in the middle. We both lost a little...and gained a little, but came out ok in the end. 

Just a thought... 

Edited by Supa-Bad-Mofo
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28 minutes ago, kav said:

I never give grades.  I could be a professional grader, and there would still be buyers who disagree with my grade.  Why even open that can of worms?  I've experienced no issues with selling using this approach.  When I gave grades it was nothing but headaches.

I take a slightly different approach. In my eBay listings I always provide a link to every grading contest I’ve participated in on the boards, links to the image of each book, links to the spreadsheets listing the bullseyes, over / under on each book and my overall placement.  I even list what prize I win from being such a good grader.  I will also 100% guarantee every book I sell will get a CVA sticker.  I’ve also experienced no issues to date.

 

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1 hour ago, BabaLament said:

@oldrover Sorry to hear about your insufficiently_thoughtful_person buyer. 

Thanks... while annoying, and unreasonable (I mean, if he changed his mind after looking at it, why send it to CGC? Just send it back now... ) ...in the scheme of things, it’s not a huge deal... and hey, if he wants his money back, at least I get the comic back too. :)

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On 6/15/2019 at 12:05 PM, oldrover said:

He hasn't gotten it back yet. It has a manufacturing error (printing crease), and he's worried it will be counted as a flaw. (ASM #66)

I told him, and said on the listing, that I had another of these books with the same flaw, that I listed at that point as VG-FN, since I wasn't thinking manufacturing error. The book sold at auction for $80... WAY above grade.

Which I thought nothing of at the time, since I wasn't familiar with the book per se... until I went to sell my OTHER copy... and it had the same exact defect!!!

I had a Spiddrman 64 with the same defect about 3-4 inches long on the front cover. Came back a 9.6. 

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On 6/15/2019 at 1:33 PM, oldrover said:

Anybody else have this happen? Pretty sure I'll have to refund his money regardless, if he goes through Paypal... I'm inclined to do it anyway just to avoid the hassle and negative feedback... it's only $150ish. But...

People want to return items when they don't make the grade but if they grade out higher they don't want to return them.

Unfortunately, many people don't want to assume any risk and want everyone else to assume the risk for them. Welcome to the new boss.

In the old world, people would do their due diligence and then decide for themselves whether or not they would purchase something. If you got burned by misinformation you chalked it up as a learning experience and avoided that seller.

And over time, you sharpened your skills and got better at mitigating your own risk.

These days some want to be spoon fed wins and have everyone else fight their battles by simply throwing darts and if a dart doesn't stick they get big corporate money to pick it up for them and hand it back to them so they can try again.

eBay, PayPal and credit card loopholes, which are not simply designed for just customer protection (although they do offer that) are also designed for corporate protection, corporate profit and corporate stock prices and so you have buyers exploiting these loopholes unfairly.

The fact is that even CGC doesn't guarantee the grade of a book if you crack it out of it's holder.

Any why should they? Anything can happen to a book in it's travels.

Even if a book is a raw 9.8, once the seller ships it to you it can be an 8.5 (or whatever grade) by the team it reaches CGC's hands as anything can happen to it as it is handled, shipped, handled, shipped and handled again.

If someone wants a CGC grade they should buy a CGC graded book. That is the only way to get a guarantee.

And in case anyone cares, when I sell raw books on here I have a grade guarantee whereby I offer a refund if the book does not come back within one grade increment in either direction.

So if I grade a book an 8.5 I guarantee it will grade an 8.0- 9.0. I figure one grade increment is only fair as CGC themselves can be inconsistent at times.

Strangely enough, I've sold books that grade out higher than I grade them and I've never  been asked for a refund.

Most of my books come back in the grade I assign, a few less.

What can I say, nobody's perfect.

 

Edited by VintageComics
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56 minutes ago, batman_fan said:

I had a Spider-Man 64 with the same defect about 3-4 inches long on the front cover. Came back a 9.6. 

It's obviously a printing error. Hopefully he'll get back a good grade and I'll never hear from him again.

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Yeah, the more I think about it, if you didn't specifically guarantee a CGC grade (did you? I'm too lazy to scroll back) as long as the book came as you actually described it, printer defect and all, I'd say the guy is SOL. Buy the book, not the projected possible slab.

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