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

[allthingskryptonite]

25 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

That sounds like a bulletproof plan! Good luck with that. You should reap huge rewards with that strategy. So glad I was able to point out such a fantastic get rich quick wealth-building resource to you! Very gratifying to know, and you're very welcome.   

 

[littledoom]

Original owner passes comics to son in law? I'd really like to kick his

Edited May 14, 2020 by littledoom

[lou_fine]

On 5/13/2020 at 2:43 PM, Lightning55 said:

On 5/13/2020 at 1:35 PM, lou_fine said:

Am I missing something here as I thought this book was sold in the old style eBay auction format, as opposed to a BIN or sale price set in advance by the seller.  

If so, then it's really much more a case of a buyer being able to buy a book for whatever they want, after factoring in the caveat emptor principle. 

Even more so in this particular case here where the seller specifically and clearly states in big bold letters that the grade is ONLY HIS OPINION and asks potential bidders to look at the photos as GRADING IS VERY SUBJECTIVE.  Now, if that's not raising big red flags to any potential bidders, then they have only themselves to largely blame as they are definitely not bothering to conduct any due diligence on their own part before throwing down irresponsible bids on a common book that already has well over 5,000  3,000 copies graded and slabbed in CGC 9.0 and above.    

You ARE "missing something here".  The seller is using likely deceptive methods to portray his advertisement of the comic.  You can't hold a buyer responsible for information that is withheld, or overstated.  It's presented under deceptive practices. 

 

As I had posted the previous week, not sure why everybody is getting themselves all in dither about a minor book like ASM 194, when you see virtually the same type of thing happening with the much bigger books.  If you are concerned about the withholding of information, I don't noticed these 2 guys mentioning the fact that this so-called highest graded copy of Action Comics 1 actually started out as a CGC 8.0 graded copy and then supposedly a CGC 8.5 graded copy before acheiving this final grade and a big factor in why the book sold for $3.2M dollars:

On 4/26/2020 at 4:46 PM, 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.    

 

 

[lou_fine]

19 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

20 hours ago, Lightning55 said:

probable photo manipulation to mislead

Definite photo manipulation.

I assume you must be referring to scans of any books which Heritage Auctions is auctioning off?  

[James J Johnson]

16 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

I assume you must be referring to scans of any books which Heritage Auctions is auctioning off?  

Are you referring to increased brightness/contrast/intensity? Or actual photo manipulation? As in touching up the book's flaws that would be otherwise evident on the unretouched images? Because I've never seen the latter performed on any Heritage scans.

[James J Johnson]

31 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

 

As I had posted the previous week, not sure why everybody is getting themselves all in dither about a minor book like ASM 194, when you see virtually the same type of thing happening with the much bigger books.  If you are concerned about the withholding of information, I don't noticed these 2 guys mentioning the fact that this so-called highest graded copy of Action Comics 1 actually started out as a CGC 8.0 graded copy and then supposedly a CGC 8.5 graded copy before acheiving this final grade and a big factor in why the book sold for $3.2M dollars:

 

Yes. Three letters. A CGC 8.0 that became a CGC 8.5 that became a CGC graded 9.0.

Not a CGC 8.0 that was bought, cracked out and then was falsely represented as a raw "unread/NM polished gem that was plucked from the newsstand in 1938 by his father-in-law and then meticulously archived for 82 years in a refrigerated safe, never to see the light of day until now". You don't see any difference in that?

Edited May 14, 2020 by James J Johnson

[James J Johnson]

35 minutes ago, littledoom said:

Original owner passes comics to son in law? I'd really like to kick his

As the books cited in this thread and dozens of others like them, bought and sold in the same manner, the seller having bought them online from various sources in CGC slabs, I'm sure he has no idea as to who plucked them from the stands and if they were or weren't at some time stored in refrigerated safes. I'm sure that his father-in-law is either mythical, or far removed from having anything at all to do with any comics he's listing.

[Atticus123]

I have firsthand knowledge of this unscrupulous seller as she (yes, it's a she) bought two books from me and then I saw her turn around and sell them claiming they were her father's, were never read and of a much higher grade than they were. She got twice as much for them, calling one NM when it was probably an 8.5 book.  Her pictures did not show any of the flaws, as mine did.  I could not help but message her and 'call her out' but of course she denied it was the same book.  I very much wonder what happened when the buyer who paid $1,500 for a book expecting it to be a 9.4 or higher received it.  NOTE that she used to be Diamond Comics and is now Polished Gem or whatever but that's not suspicious now, is it?

And let me add that I am selling books owned by a family member - for real - and it was easy to likely also take advantage of me as this is not my area.

Edited May 14, 2020 by Atticus123

[Atticus123]

On 5/3/2020 at 8:09 PM, littledoom said:

the worst part is he's doing this during a global pandemic

The worst part is that he is a she

[James J Johnson]

1 minute ago, Atticus123 said:

I have firsthand knowledge of this unscrupulous seller as she (yes, it's a she) bought two books from me and then I saw her turn around and sell them claiming they were her father's, were never read and of a much higher grade than they were. She got twice as much for them, calling one NM when it was probably an 8.5 book.  Her pictures did not show any of the flaws, as mine did.  I could not help but message her and 'call her out' but of course she denied it was the same book.  I very much wonder what happened when the buyer who paid $1,500 for a book expecting it to be a 9.4 or higher received it.  NOTE that she used to be Diamond Comics and is now Polished Gem or whatever but that's not suspicious now, is it?

That's this seller's strategy; the game plan. But to make this even begin to work for them with the necessary stealth to pull off a deceptive scheme like this, rather than simply a ticking time bomb that will explode long before the 6 months from the time of sale that his buyers will have to file Paypal claims and CC company chargebacks, the seller lacks three necessary elements. 1) Funds  2) Patience  3) Cognition. .

[James J Johnson]

2 minutes ago, Atticus123 said:

The worst part is that he is a she

No. It's a he. I'm sure Rebecca hasn't a clue. There is a Rebecca, but like the mythical father-in-law and other unicorns, she's far removed as well, IMO.

[Atticus123]

Just now, James J Johnson said:

That's this seller's strategy; the game plan. But to make this even begin to work for them with the necessary stealth to pull off a deceptive scheme like this, rather than simply a ticking time bomb that will explode long before the 6 months from the time of sale that his buyers will have to file Paypal claims and CC company chargebacks, the seller lacks three necessary elements. 1) Funds  2) Patience  3) Cognition. .

My books weren't slabbed.  They literally have been in boxes since my brother bought them. It really burned me to see what she did, especially as I am actually selling original owner books.  My guess is that if buyers complain, she refunds but the percentage of ignorant folks probably makes that number low.

 

[James J Johnson]

Just now, Atticus123 said:

My books weren't slabbed.  They literally have been in boxes since my brother bought them. It really burned me to see what she did, especially as I am actually selling original owner books.  My guess is that if buyers complain, she refunds but the percentage of ignorant folks probably makes that number low.

 

Yes. As stated earlier in the thread. He buys raw as well. Then overgrades them as well.

[Atticus123]

1 minute ago, James J Johnson said:

No. It's a he. I'm sure Rebecca hasn't a clue. There is a Rebecca, but like the mythical father-in-law and other unicorns, she's far removed as well, IMO.

I don't know, I 'conversed' with her when she was trying to buy these books and i'm thinking female.  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

[James J Johnson]

1 minute ago, Atticus123 said:

I don't know, I 'conversed' with her when she was trying to buy these books and i'm thinking female.  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

Conversed through messages? Or on the phone?

Which are the listings that were yours? Links?

[Atticus123]

Just now, James J Johnson said:

Conversed through messages? Or on the phone?

Which are the listings that were yours? Links?

Messages.  Okay I will tell you but remember I said that I (legit) am selling comics I don't know that much about.  So...  Spiderman 101 and a Luke Cage #1.  And yes, no doubt I got burned a bit which then made seeing them re-sell for double under shady circumstances make me even madder

 

[James J Johnson]

5 minutes ago, Atticus123 said:

I don't know, I 'conversed' with her when she was trying to buy these books and i'm thinking female.  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

If I might be so bold to ask; which CGC graded book did you want to know how to crack out?

 

[lou_fine]

4 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

35 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

 

As I had posted the previous week, not sure why everybody is getting themselves all in dither about a minor book like ASM 194, when you see virtually the same type of thing happening with the much bigger books.  If you are concerned about the withholding of information, I don't noticed these 2 guys mentioning the fact that this so-called highest graded copy of Action Comics 1 actually started out as a CGC 8.0 graded copy and then supposedly a CGC 8.5 graded copy before acheiving this final grade and a big factor in why the book sold for $3.2M dollars:

 

Yes. Three letters. A CGC 8.0 that became a CGC 8.5 that became a CGC graded 9.0.

Well, this sounds like the withhholding of some pretty relevant and significant information if they just happen to conveniently forget to mention the 8.0 and 8.5 grades in their long 5+ minute spiel on the book.  

 

8 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

Not a CGC 8.0 that was bought, cracked out and then was falsely represented as a raw "unread/NM polished gem that was plucked from the newsstand in 1938 by his father-in-law and then meticulously archived for 82 years in a refrigerated safe, never to see the light of day until now".

Yes, although the book may indeed have been kept and stored by the original collector at the bottom of a cedar chest for some 30 year, and then resold some years later to a prominent dealer who kept it for a further 30 years before pulling it out of his bank vault to sell it to this current eBay seller in the video.  Definitely sounds all nice and good except for the big and rather significant gaps as to what happened to the book from the time it was first graded as a CGC 8.0 copy and then finally as a CGC 9.0 graded copy.  In an almost 6-minute spiel on this particular book here, I am sure these two guys here should have been able to set aside at least a few seconds for that rather important fact.  

[James J Johnson]

1 minute ago, Atticus123 said:

Messages.  

OK. So you never really conversed with a female representative of polished_gems about anything to do with technicalities of comics. (And you never will, I would guess)

[kav]

2 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

If I might be so bold to ask; which CGC graded book did you want to know how to crack out?