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Available older keys "drying up" a report from NYCC
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223 posts in this topic

24 minutes ago, ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE said:

A sensible person. Thank you. Yes I agree there’s very knowledgeable people here and I can appreciate their viewpoint. It just came across as angry old guys telling me I’m being ripped off and am stupid for using eBay. I know that’s not maybe what they meant but it comes across that way. There’s a way to say what they’re saying without being bitter know it alls. 

Just to clear things up...

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1 minute ago, speedcake said:

Ebay can be great. Is buying raw big money books (particularly golden and silver age books most prone to restoration) from unknown sellers the best idea without a whole bunch of experience and knowledge? Probably not lol.  So buy a slabbed copy.  This is a very specific and very, very small % of the ebay comic book market. No reason to toss the baby out with the bathwater.  

The reality is many books I buy between 300-600 come in slabs. I just haggled a Slabbed restored $1200 FF #2 down to $800.  I bought a slabbed 3.0 FF #12 for $500. Am I being ripped off? I dunno but those seemed like decent buys to round out my collection. Then I crack the slab because I don’t dig them. 

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1 hour ago, ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE said:

I love how everyone assumes it’s crazy restored and I’m being ripped off (for $320??) 

a lot of poo pooing me to elevate yourselves and your skills.  Relax.  You all serve a purpose and I’m glad people go to cons and comic shops. I’d love to send it to cgc just to quiet you guys. But I’m not even interested in that because I have no interest in selling it. 
 

in a perfect world my LCS would have a great selection of back silver age back issues with multiple grades of issues. But they don’t and eBay does. C’est la vie 

I bought a copy of my favorite comic ever, Four Color #199 (Donald Duck in Sheriff of Bullet Valley) on ebay for $75. It is about a fine, maybe VF. If so, I got a great deal. Not selling but will slab it for display.

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1 minute ago, paqart said:

I bought a copy of my favorite comic ever, Four Color #199 (Donald Duck in Sheriff of Bullet Valley) on ebay for $75. It is about a fine, maybe VF. If so, I got a great deal. Not selling but will slab it for display.

Congratulations! 

I'm always torn about to slab or not to slab. If it's a favorite, I like to have a higher grade slab for display, and a lower grade raw reader. 

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5 minutes ago, Jaylam said:

Congratulations! 

I'm always torn about to slab or not to slab. If it's a favorite, I like to have a higher grade slab for display, and a lower grade raw reader. 

On a related topic, about eight months ago or so, two 9.0 Four Color V2 #9's came up for sale at auction. One on ebay, the other at Heritage. FC9 is not one of my favorite comics. I actually don't like the story or the art very much but it is the first comic book drawn by Carl Barks. For that reason, I've always wanted one, though I think his second and all subsequent efforts are far superior, like FC29 (Mummy's Ring) and FC62 (Frozen Gold). The ebay copy was not slabbed but described as a 9.0. Based on the photos, it looked like a plausible grade for the comic. The Heritage comic was in a CGC slab with a 9.0 grade on the sticker.
I was willing to bid the ebay copy to $2500. After that, I worried the condition might really be an 8 or 8.5. Even worse, what if there had been restoration or something else not visible in the photos?. I was the high bidder at $2,550 right up until there was literally one second to go, when it jumped to $2,600. Meanwhile, the Heritage copy went for over $10k. So, did I miss out on an incredible $2,600 bargain? It's hard to say because the comic wasn't officially graded. I would have been confident of the Heritage copy but am not in a position to spend over $10k on one comic. Hence, my attempt to get the ebay copy. That said, I knew it was risky and was somewhat relieved when I didn't get it.

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8 minutes ago, october said:

eBay is a GREAT place to buy if: 

  • You know how to grade to CGC standards. 
  • You are good at recognizing defects in small scans and less than ideal pictures. 
  • You can spot every type of restoration, especially color touch. 
  • You have a lot of time on your hands to search. 
  • You don't mind returning books. 

If any one of those doesn't apply, you are going to have a bad time. 

Guess I had a horrible time completing my run then. News to me. 

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28 minutes ago, october said:

eBay is a GREAT place to buy if: 

  • You know how to grade to CGC standards. 
  • You are good at recognizing defects in small scans and less than ideal pictures. 
  • You can spot every type of restoration, especially color touch. 
  • You have a lot of time on your hands to search. 
  • You don't mind returning books. 

If any one of those doesn't apply, you are going to have a bad time. 

Grouchy old guy post alert

 

:jokealert:

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30 minutes ago, ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE said:

Guess I had a horrible time completing my run then. News to me. 

Well, buying a book with undisclosed trimming is generally considered a bad thing, but YMMV. (shrug)

And full disclosure, I buy off of eBay almost every day. 

Edited by october
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12 minutes ago, october said:

Well, buying a book with undisclosed trimming is generally considered a bad thing, but YMMV. (shrug)

And full disclosure, I buy off of eBay almost every day. 

I’m kind of going round and round on this— Assuming it had trimming I bought a really good looking FF #3 for $320. People are acting like I bought it for $1600 or more and got ripped off.  The worst case scenario is I bought it for that much THINKING it’s perfect and I try and SELL it for multiples of what I bought it for — then a buyer points out it’s trimmed and it’s “only” worth what I paid.  I’d argue even then that a slightly trimmed FF#3 is worth more than $320. But it’s all a moot point because I don’t sell comics I buy.
 

I’m not a “flipper” and I don’t buy “hot keys” hoping they’ll go up. I want FF#5 because it’s an amazing Kirby issue with the first appearance of my favorite villain AND I’d be that much closer to completing my run. Not because it’s “hot”  “Hot” books and playing the market has no interest for me. I want the Eternals because it’s Kirby not because there’s a movie coming out. 
 

for all the people thinking I got ripped off- what would you price the comic I posted? $150 bucks? There’s no universe where you can buy that early of an FF with a nice cover and white pages for that amount unless you have a Dolorean and hit the pedal to 88 miles per hour. 

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1 hour ago, ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE said:

I’m kind of going round and round on this— Assuming it had trimming I bought a really good looking FF #3 for $320. People are acting like I bought it for $1600 or more and got ripped off.  The worst case scenario is I bought it for that much THINKING it’s perfect and I try and SELL it for multiples of what I bought it for — then a buyer points out it’s trimmed and it’s “only” worth what I paid.  I’d argue even then that a slightly trimmed FF#3 is worth more than $320. But it’s all a moot point because I don’t sell comics I buy.
 

I’m not a “flipper” and I don’t buy “hot keys” hoping they’ll go up. I want FF#5 because it’s an amazing Kirby issue with the first appearance of my favorite villain AND I’d be that much closer to completing my run. Not because it’s “hot”  “Hot” books and playing the market has no interest for me. I want the Eternals because it’s Kirby not because there’s a movie coming out. 
 

for all the people thinking I got ripped off- what would you price the comic I posted? $150 bucks? There’s no universe where you can buy that early of an FF with a nice cover and white pages for that amount unless you have a Dolorean and hit the pedal to 88 miles per hour. 

OMG, Marty, destination is December 1961!!!

back to the future gif.gif

Edited by Jaylam
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1 hour ago, october said:

eBay is a GREAT place to buy if: 

  • You know how to grade to CGC standards. 
  • You are good at recognizing defects in small scans and less than ideal pictures. 
  • You can spot every type of restoration, especially color touch. 
  • You have a lot of time on your hands to search. 
  • You don't mind returning books. 

If any one of those doesn't apply, you are going to have a bad time. 

This. Times 8 on its side.

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3 hours ago, greggy said:

I said what I had to on page two. 
 

when I have some real time I will respond to some of the replies. 

Edited by Buzzetta
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Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes you break even. Depending on the shop there can be deals like when asm 129 was selling for well over guide on eBay I bought multiple copies at shops for under guide after some haggling and buying other stuff. Tripled my money.

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