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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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595 posts in this topic

21 minutes ago, goodrockrich said:
8 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

Bought as a CGC 9.0, March 23rd on ebay for $1499:

This is a lot of money for a 9.0.  According to GP the high sale for 2020 is $900.

Well, not if you can claim it is a 9.4 or 9.6 equivalent copy and be able to easily find readily available buyers suckers who will gladly run out and pay you almost GPA equivalent graded value for the book.  :gossip:  :whee:

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4 hours ago, OuterboroGuy said:

It doesn't seem that what he is doing is illegal.  Unethical, yes, but not illegal.  His business plan actually seems pretty solid, although the point about potential negative reviews and returns is certainly a risk factor for longer-term success.

Agree. ( about money making plan, legality I dunno ) And lots of sellers do this and have so for along time. Nothing new. Like some look for slabs that can be pressed into a higher grade. This is the opposite, look for books that look better than grade. How many comic buyers know how to grade? They see all the positive feedback and think the guy is legit. He might not ever receive much negative feedback, might easily accept returns or do lil refund for unhappy person. Worst case use another account. It amazes me how much people get for clearly over graded books. But happens all the time. How many sellers on ebay undergrade their books? 

Edited by Myowncollector
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31 minutes ago, Myowncollector said:

Agree. ( about money making plan, legality I dunno ) And lots of sellers do this and have so for along time. Nothing new. Like some look for slabs that can be pressed into a higher grade. This is the opposite, look for books that look better than grade. How many comic buyers know how to grade? They see all the positive feedback and think the guy is legit. He might not ever receive much negative feedback, might easily accept returns or do lil refund for unhappy person. Worst case use another account. It amazes me how much people get for clearly over graded books. But happens all the time. How many sellers on ebay undergrade their books? 

An important point. A lot of buyers on eBay do not realize that a 100% feedback score doesn't mean much more than the seller cheerfully takes returns. Or as you mention maybe gives a partial refund if someone asks. Kellyssuperheroes has a 100% rating, right? I notice Daniel has branched into autographs as well. Another source of easy pickins's from the uniformed. 

As for the OP's original post. No knowledgeable collector pays a slabbed 9.4 or better price for a raw book sold on eBay. Even experienced collectors and dealers - physically looking over a book - can get burnt  paying NM+ prices for raw. So while I feel a little bad for the buyers getting ripped off, knowledge is seldom free. If they get much lower grades sending the book in for grading maybe they will learn. If they never send in the books to be graded then they never know they bought an overgraded book. 

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14 hours ago, kav said:

The 10% of brain thing is a myth-nature is very efficient-the brain fully uses everything and keep in mind only a small part is used for thinking.  It also has to regulate the entire body and process incoming information and reply constantly.  The human body is more complex to run than an aircraft carrier.

There's a great book called How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. It's about psychedelics. In it he talks about how the older we get the more our perception is altered internally. We only see a fraction of what's actually there and our mind fills in the blanks from past data. So less about the 10% brain thing and more about a brain that's working less on observation and more on assumption. So sometimes an eager buyer wants to get a great deal on a 9.4, so they click on that scan expecting a 9.4, and are less inclined to focus on the book's flaws. 

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14 hours ago, kav said:
14 hours ago, JollyComics said:

Where is Q?

picard was dolt to not make Q crew member.  he could destroy all borg in 1 second.

You guys had me until "nerd"

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Looks like he just changed his User ID name to polished _gem_comics.  

Obviously he has read this thread. You would think an innocent person would be arguing his/her point instead of remaining silent and changing their user name.

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8 minutes ago, raybowles said:

Looks like he just changed his User ID name to polished _gem_comics.  

Obviously he has read this thread. You would think an innocent person would be arguing his/her point instead of remaining silent and changing their user name.

:roflmao:he's polishing it, that's for sure

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56 minutes ago, raybowles said:

Looks like he just changed his User ID name to polished _gem_comics.  

Obviously he has read this thread. You would think an innocent person would be arguing his/her point instead of remaining silent and changing their user name.

WOW

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2 hours ago, raybowles said:

Looks like he just changed his User ID name to polished _gem_comics.  

Obviously he has read this thread. You would think an innocent person would be arguing his/her point instead of remaining silent and changing their user name.

As is the title of this thread, which has been edited and re-tagged, "polished_gem_comics aka diamond_comics_llc CGC slab cracking and overgrading for profit"

We can do this every month, or with greater frequency if ebay allows more than one member ID change every 30 days. This thread may wind up having the longest title in forum history.

 

Edited by James J Johnson
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1 minute ago, vheflin said:

Gee, looks like changing his username really through everybody off his scent. :facepalm:

And my guess is that he's going to keep on truckin' on, cracking CGC graded X and listing raw as X + 2 to 4 grades, not realizing that most of his buyers, if not all, will be submitting these grade hyper-inflated raw books. And when those NM/Unread books come marching home at their true grades, the claims will follow and the whole house of cards will start to crumble.

As stated, he's not smart. I'd give him an F in fraud101. It'll finally dawn on him eventually that this account is basically finished for this type of flim flam, and he's going to have to abandon it and start over with a new one.

Of course, he'll still have fall out from what's already been sold, but the game is basically toast. I've captured almost all his buying and selling activity for this account, and when his buyers start to show up here after google searching his user name(s), I can show them the CGC graded before pictures of their NM/unread gems if they wish.

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3 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

And my guess is that he's going to keep on truckin' on, cracking CGC graded X and listing raw as X + 2 to 4 grades, not realizing that most of his buyers, if not all, will be submitting these grade hyper-inflated raw books. And when those NM/Unread books come marching home at their true grades, the claims will follow and the whole house of cards will start to crumble.

As stated, he's not smart. I'd give him an F in fraud101. It'll finally dawn on him eventually that this account is basically finished for this type of flim flam, and he's going to have to abandon it and start over with a new one.

Of course, he'll still have fall out from what's already been sold, but the game is basically toast. I've captured almost all his buying and selling activity for this account, and when his buyers start to show up here after google searching his user name(s), I can show them the CGC graded before pictures of their NM/unread gems if they wish.

I thought these guys were protected by the time it takes to get books slabbed being greater than ebay return policy/paypal/credit card tho.

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