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polished_gem_comics aka diamond_comics_llc aka silver_valley_comics CGC slab cracking and overgrading for profit
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Started by James J Johnson,

595 posts in this topic

Hollywood1892

Hollywood1892

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, lou_fine said:

 

 

Not sure what all of you guys are getting your panties in a knot about with this auction here?  Especially when this is such small potatoes as compared to some of the ones that have gone through Ebay in the past before.  How can anyone forget about this c(r)ock and bull story here from these 2 guys if you want to talk about true huckstering and embellishment to the tune of $3.2M dollars:

If your spidey senses weren't tingling when they started to mention the cedar chest and a collector holding onto it for 30 years, then I've got a copy of Spawn 1 which I can sell to you for only a mere million dollars.  O.o  :takeit:

 

Good vid!

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goodrockrich

goodrockrich

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Hollywood1892 said:
4 minutes ago, goodrockrich said:

Please tell me this is sarcasm?

If you couldn't tell the peanuts one in you're shipping procedures was, then you may never know.

Now that was sarcasm!

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Buzzetta

Buzzetta

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

Feedback is protected by the time lag in some cases. My belief is that buyers paying this aggressively means express submission for a quick resale. IMO, someone paying $2550 for a NM/unresd FF 67 , raw to boot, isn't going to be rat-holing it. It's going straight to CGC, whose operations are still timely, even in this shutdown, and when their $2550 purchase returns a $900 book, a claim will be filed.

Also, let's keep in mind that on ebay, with paypal, a buyer has 6 months to file a claim!  CGC turnaround time will not pose an impediment for buyers seeking remedy.

He has a few things going for him, where despite the scenario you present, he will still find it profitable to continue.

Let's say he takes that 9.0 book, cracks it, and lists it as a 9.2-9.4.

How many of the winning bidders are actually going to file claims?  I doubt everyone will. Remember the bidders do not know one another and have no real way of reaching out to one another to compare notes.  So I envision the following scenarios:

  • Seller satiates the complainant winning bidder by offering a partial refund 
  • Seller is able to convince that eBay / PayPal that he advertised a 9.2-9.4 and since grading is subjective and CGC graded it a 9.0 that he is not far off.  We have seen stories where this has worked. 
  • Seller is able to convince the buyer that they are one of only a few issues and that maybe the buyer needs to send it in for a press or something else or that CGC was off by .2 that day. 

By no means do I approve of what he is doing but I believe that this guy will continue to do this / business as usual.  I don't see him stopping for a good long time.  

 

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Hollywood1892

Hollywood1892

Posted
Posted
Just now, Buzzetta said:

He has a few things going for him, where despite the scenario you present, he will still find it profitable to continue.

Let's say he takes that 9.0 book, cracks it, and lists it as a 9.2-9.4.

How many of the winning bidders are actually going to file claims?  I doubt everyone will. Remember the bidders do not know one another and have no real way of reaching out to one another to compare notes.  So I envision the following scenarios:

  • Seller satiates the complainant winning bidder by offering a partial refund 
  • Seller is able to convince that eBay / PayPal that he advertised a 9.2-9.4 and since grading is subjective and CGC graded it a 9.0 that he is not far off.  We have seen stories where this has worked. 
  • Seller is able to convince the buyer that they are one of only a few issues and that maybe the buyer needs to send it in for a press or something else or that CGC was off by .2 that day. 

By no means do I approve of what he is doing but I believe that this guy will continue to do this / business as usual.  I don't see him stopping for a good long time.  

 

Sadly this is the truth...especially when people fall victim to "Jackpot fever".

The seller is a colossal scumbag, and the only good thing is that people are made aware of his actions so there is a reduction in the amount of victims.

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90sChild

90sChild

Posted
Posted

I'm not so sure he will keep making money.  We're assuming every listing he sells is going to sell at the "assigned" grade.  Eventually he will run out of buyers and auctions will start selling for less than the graded slab price he paid for the book.  He has another 30+ books ending soon so it will be interesting to see if these ALL hold high sale slab prices.

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lou_fine

lou_fine

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

So I envision the following scenarios:

  • Seller is able to convince that eBay / PayPal that he advertised a 9.2-9.4 and since grading is subjective and CGC graded it a 9.0 that he is not far off.  We have seen stories where this has worked. 
  • Seller is able to convince the buyer that they are one of only a few issues and that maybe the buyer needs to send it in for a press or something else or that CGC was off by .2 that day. 

Sadly, for the long time true collectors who have absolutely no interest in partaking of CGC's CPR game, this scenario here is unfortunately the new reality that we live in with 3rd party independent grading, where it's all about the money and the top and bottom lines for corporations like CCG.  :(

After all, depending upon the specific defects on a book, it's quite possible that any book could possibly take a jump by multiple increments and a book like this that's been graded initially as a CGC 9.0 graded copy could conceivably finally end up as a CGC 9.8 graded copy by the time all of its potential has been maximized.  Haven't we seen this exact same scenario played out before in the past?  hm  :censored:

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Buzzetta

Buzzetta

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

Sadly, for the long time true collectors who have absolutely no interest in partaking of CGC's CPR game, this scenario here is unfortunately the new reality that we live in with 3rd party independent grading, where it's all about the money and the top and bottom lines for corporations like CCG.  :(

After all, depending upon the specific defects on a book, it's quite possible that any book could possibly take a jump by multiple increments and a book like this that's been graded initially as a CGC 9.0 graded copy could conceivably finally end up as a CGC 9.8 graded copy by the time all of its potential has been maximized.  Haven't we seen this exact same scenario played out before in the past?  hm  :censored:

My Hulk 181 PGX 6.5 came back a CGC 9.0 after Joey pressed it.   To be fair, I knew PGX screwed up on the grade as it was too nice for a 6.5. 

Never  know... 

Edited by Buzzetta
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lou_fine

lou_fine

Posted
Posted (edited)
12 minutes ago, Buzzetta said:

My Hulk 181 PGX 6.5 came back a CGC 9.0 after Joey pressed it. 

Never  know... 

Very different from the old days prior to CGC when collectors use to pay a lot more attention to fugly miswrapped covers that you can see from across the convention floor, as opposed to barely percetible tiny NCB creases which you can sometimes see only by holding the book up against the light.  :preach:

With their undisclosed grading standards, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which defects were shifted to the top of CGC's hit parade and which ones moved further down.  After all, why in the world would a company want to make money on the same book only one time, when they can come up with creative ways to have customers rush to send the exact same book back in multiple times with their wallets wide open and money pouring out.  hm  :devil:

Edited by lou_fine
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lou_fine

lou_fine

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, Buzzetta said:

My Hulk 181 PGX 6.5 came back a CGC 9.0 after Joey pressed it.   To be fair, I knew PGX screwed up on the grade as it was too nice for a 6.5. 

Never  know... 

 

8 minutes ago, Hollywood1892 said:

Wouldn't be the first time...glad you got a wicked awesome upgrade!

Might not be a screw up on PGX's part as I have heard of jumps from CGC 6.5 up to CGC 9.0 on quite a few occasions before when pressing first got outed here on the boards.  :gossip:

It was usually for books that had a noticeable crease on them such as a soft subscription crease that did not break color and hence, easily fixable through a simple press job.  (thumbsu

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goodrockrich

goodrockrich

Posted
Posted

I'm always a little bit disappointed when I purchase a raw book BIN on eBay.  The books that look like the advertised grade in the scan always seem to have a defect that brings them down a notch or two.  The dealers know what they are doing.  You can say the same about auction books but I can bid what I want.  With BIN's you're typically paying a premium.  This being said I'm with @wombat, I would never spend thousands of dollars on a raw book on eBay. 

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Inhuman Fiend

Inhuman Fiend

Posted
Posted

I hate liars like this dirtbag seller. Spent a few minutes looking at the books he has sold...every single one was VERY recently purchased on eBay. Not all were slabbed, found this one. 

When he bought it: 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Marvel-Premier-034-The-Power-of-Warlock-034-1-April-1972-Great-Condition-/264673438414?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=6eLM13dtdan09NFs9Ss54HuArRo%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc

When he sold it:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Marvel-Premiere-1-High-Grade-Unread-Original-Owner-CGC-Ready-HOT-KEY-WOW-/143568407901?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l10137.c10&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true

I love how he turns up the lightness so high on the back scan that you can scarcely see the tear on the upper right and that was so obvious in the pics from the auction he bought it from. 

What a tool...I think we should bombard him with annoying messages about his "original owner collection" :eyeroll:

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