polished_gem_comics aka diamond_comics_llc aka silver_valley_comics CGC slab cracking and overgrading for profit 8 8

[Hollywood1892]

1 minute ago, James J Johnson said:

Shake hands. We're in that same club. The $10 spending ebay limit for comics gang.

[wombat]

It still amazing me that people buy these high dollar books on ebay from random people. 

[MustEatBrains]

I’m glad I came across this post.  Was thinking about bidding on a few of the auctions.

For those that remember reminds me of SerbGorilla tactics, at “least” these crooks are not selling known restored books as unrestored (that I know of).   The level of scumbaggery never ceases to amaze me.

 

[James J Johnson]

26 minutes ago, wombat said:

It still amazing me that people buy these high dollar books on ebay from random people. 

Keep in mind that the majority of regular buyers of $500 and up books, CGC or not, know that the sale isn't final for 6 months! They know that if there's a problem that the seller won't resolve to their satisfaction, ebay/paypal/cccompany will.

[lou_fine]

1 hour ago, Atticus123 said:

She also tried to buy the Spotlight #5 in the collection for $1,500.  Thanks to a nice person on eBay, I was alerted to its value.  I've since sent to CGC and it came back a 9.0

Now, this is definitely a much smarter strategy on your part when it comes to selling books with some kind of value to them.  

As long as you don't go overboard like some submittors here and start sending in brand new books that just arrived on the shelves of your LCS last week.  

[James J Johnson]

27 minutes ago, MustEatBrains said:

at “least” these crooks are not selling known restored books as unrestored (that I know of).  

As Lionheart once said, "Wrong bet"! I've been tracking his purchases and sales for quite awhile, once I discovered the crack and relist strategy. There have been restored purchases in his feedback, books that later showed up as, you guessed it, "out of father-in-laws refrigerated safe, NM/unread", without mention of their being restored at sometime during cold storage. It's all there in the feedback. I know ebay scrambles IDs in most cases but the feedback number usually indicates who the seller or buyer is if you match it up. Other ways to tell to, but I don't want to give that away, like a tutorial for him on how to better game  people watching him.

[James J Johnson]

4 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

Now, this is definitely a much smarter strategy on your part when it comes to selling books with some kind of value to them.  

As long as you don't go overboard like some submittors here and start sending in brand new books that just arrived on the shelves of your LCS last week.  

+1. He can always ask for our opinion on his best submission candidates just by posting in the grade my book section.

[lou_fine]

6 hours ago, Randall Dowling said:

I haven't read this whole thread and I think the whole practice by this seller is very slimy.  But I have to ask, how is this different from other people that clean and press books to get higher grades?

Really, no difference at all if the seller is the person who brought the book and then KNOWINGLY had it manipulated into a higher grade and then attempting to sell it without disclosing this critical piece of information to the bidding public.  

The old argument that there is absolutely no need for disclosure since nobody cares if a book has been pressed or not simply doesn't hold water anymore.  This irrational argument is really nothing more than a spin used by scammers since they clearly should know full well by now that many people in the marketplace want only books that are completely unrestored and not manipulated in any kind of fashion.  

Edited May 15, 2020 by lou_fine

[kav]

"Book has never been read, touched, or even looked at!!"

 

[Hollywood1892]

Book doesn't even exist, it is that rare

[lou_fine]

4 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

Let's say you were the winner. You won the book for $1425, which is $1437 with the postage. Now if you're in a state that ebay collects sales tax for, your total cost averages about $110 on a $1437 invoice, so your total cost is about $1550.

If you're a buyer of raw high grade key books, chances are that you're not going to rat-hole this book, never to see the light of day again, and that you are going to submit it to CGC in the near future (or should I say re-submit it because you are unaware that the book was in a CGC slab as recently as May 1st, less than two weeks ago!!). You're also unaware that the book was already optimized before grading, so you pay for that service as well as the submission, and postage both way. Now you can add an additional $200 or so to the total invoice cost and you're now out of pocket about $1750 for a book that will probably return as it was previously graded, because it was already pressed to begin with; 9.2.

The question which I have here is if you want to own a slabbed book based upon all of the after purchase work you seem to be doing in your scenbario here, why in the world would you even buy a raw book in the first place?   And if you do, shouldn't a rational person also then take all of these additional costs into consideration, especially in a snake infested marketplace venue like eBay?  

As to your second point, if you had brought a book that was already graded and slabbed by CGC, would you be anymore aware that the book might have already had its potential maximized and you might similarly be throwing your money away for a service (i.e. pressing & cleaning) that is completely unnecessary and a total waste of your money.    

[James J Johnson]

2 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

The question which I have here is if you want to own a slabbed book based upon all of the after purchase work you seem to be doing in your scenbario here, why in the world would you even buy a raw book in the first place?   And if you do, shouldn't a rational person also then take all of these additional costs into consideration, especially in a snake infested marketplace venue like eBay?  

As to your second point, if you had brought a book that was already graded and slabbed by CGC, would you be anymore aware that the book might have already had its potential maximized and you might similarly be throwing your money away for a service (i.e. pressing & cleaning) that is completely unnecessary and a total waste of your money.    

I would have paid $1100 and gotten exactly the same thing that I did by paying $1750 if I had bought it when it was already slabbed 9.2. His business strategy would have cost me an extra $650 for the same thing. And after discovering this thread, he'd have a claim, case, or chargeback filed against him. I would win.

[kav]

J. Jonah Johnson is the Columbo of the boards.
"Just one more question-"

[James J Johnson]

12 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

The question which I have here is if you want to own a slabbed book based upon all of the after purchase work you seem to be doing in your scenbario here, why in the world would you even buy a raw book in the first place?   And if you do, shouldn't a rational person also then take all of these additional costs into consideration, especially in a snake infested marketplace venue like eBay?  

As to your second point, if you had brought a book that was already graded and slabbed by CGC, would you be anymore aware that the book might have already had its potential maximized and you might similarly be throwing your money away for a service (i.e. pressing & cleaning) that is completely unnecessary and a total waste of your money.    

People like to gamble. And they like and expect a fair roll of unloaded dice. People pay big numbers for unopened packs of cards, gambling on hitting an expensive rookie, or presentation, or autograph card, etc. that is worth substantially more than the price for the pack. Somebody is buying this hoping they can make money, because just maybe, their job disintegrated. They can't make money and they won't being into this book for $1750. If it was truly what he said it was, an unread/NM gem, maybe they'd have a fighting chance. Maybe it might score a 9.4 or 9.6, and then they'd be in the chips. But the chances of that are slim to none. It's already been pressed. It's already been CGC graded, and chances overwhelmingly favor it grading 9.2 once again by CGC. It's a big loser for whoever bought it and ponied up $1750 to own it and submit it. But they aren't aware of that deception. They won't be aware of it until they stumble across this thread. Once they realize they never had a chance and this was not a NM/unread 50 year safe stored book, they will be PO'ed. Period.

Edited May 15, 2020 by James J Johnson

[Myowncollector]

1 hour ago, lou_fine said:

Well, let's hope so then.  

Although the only problem here is that the buyer might possibly end up with a neg on his rating if the seller gives one to him for not paying on a completed auction. 

You can't leave negative feedback for buyers. They can non pay hundreds of times and still allowed to bid. Ebay is wonderful isn't it.

[James J Johnson]

1 minute ago, Myowncollector said:

You can't leave negative feedback for buyers. They can non pay hundreds of times and still allowed to bid. Ebay is wonderful isn't it.

Yes. A non-paying winner  can get away with it indefinitely, it appears. I think they get a warning at some point, but never anything more dire. It's eBay's equivalent of hauling off and giving someone a dirty look.

[kav]

4 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

Yes. A non-paying winner  can get away with it indefinitely, it appears. I think they get a warning at some point, but never anything more dire. It's eBay's equivalent of hauling off and giving someone a dirty look.

Until they go to buy more books and learn they have been blocked over and over from the blocked bidder thread.  Believe me-that is a serious curtailment.  As I have mentioned before, I have been blocked by exactly one seller over a misunderstanding (Jimmy doesnt like misunderstandings-misunderstandings and Jimmy-kinda clash) and it has foiled me dozens of times over the years!  Cannot imagine being blocked by dozens or hundreds of prolific sellers of comics on ebay!!
CONSEQUENCES when they thought there were none!!!!    

[lou_fine]

26 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

If it was truly what he said it was, an unread/NM gem, maybe they'd have a fighting chance. Maybe it might score a 9.4 or 9.6, and then they'd be in the chips. But the chances of that are slim to none.

Of course the chances would be slim to none.  

Especially since if the book was really an unread NM Gem copy, they would have gotten the book slabbed themselves.  

Like the old saying goes........if something seems too good to be true, it most likely is.  

Hence, be forewarned as you would most definitely be proceeding at your own risk here.  

[Myowncollector]

8 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

Yes. A non-paying winner  can get away with it indefinitely, it appears. I think they get a warning at some point, but never anything more dire. It's eBay's equivalent of hauling off and giving someone a dirty look.

This seller will probably be around awhile as well. There are lots of comic buyers with fewer and fewer collectors. Look how many people on this forum that cant grade. And they are cgc customers for most part. A lot of you have faith his buyers will wise up, the same buyers who have no knowledge of grading, fair market value, and no sense to not see the red flags in his listings. You will need to personally contact as many of them as you can. 

Even then what is the worst that happens. He refunds and sells books to another person. I wouldn't count on ebay doing anything, they are enjoying their cut. I reported dozens of sellers probably and all still on ebay doing same thing. If they would ban him, he just makes another account. Will be doing this until he cant make $. Interesting to follow, but I dont see it ending soon.

[Myowncollector]

13 minutes ago, kav said:

Until they go to buy more books and learn they have been blocked over and over from the blocked bidder thread.  Believe me-that is a serious curtailment.  As I have mentioned before, I have been blocked by exactly one seller over a misunderstanding (Jimmy doesnt like misunderstandings-misunderstandings and Jimmy-kinda clash) and it has foiled me dozens of times over the years!  Cannot imagine being blocked by dozens or hundreds of prolific sellers of comics on ebay!!
CONSEQUENCES when they thought there were none!!!!    

Some if these guys dont pay so much they must just do it as trolling.