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BeatleBlueCat DEFRAUDING BUYERS with Massive SHILL BIDDING and Same old "Buy CGC graded 7.5, crack and sell as raw "NM" scam
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Started by James J Johnson,

1,200 posts in this topic

MatterEaterLad

MatterEaterLad

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, comicginger1789 said:

Would it be poor practice for me to enter an obscenely high bid so I win, and then never pay but ensure that I make his life hell and somehow leave feedback that shares his nefarious practices?

I took time to send some messages and click on some ebay reports....if enough people do, maybe something will happen. Maybe not. 

The last guy who was doing this tried to buy one of my slabbed books. I sent him a message and said "I really don't want to sell you this 8.5 if you're going to crack it open and sell it raw as a 9.4, that's unethical and I don't want to be a part of it." He never replied, but I do think sending a message will at least let him know that people are aware of this scam and watching. Maybe he'll change his ways. Probably not.

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James J Johnson

James J Johnson

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2 hours ago, D2 said:

I knew it!!

 

ive run into beatle blue before. I always thought there was something sus about that guy. 
 

he has been selling books for years. Glad someone figured out what he was doing. 
 

I also thought he had fake bidders to bump his prices. 

I knew what he's been doing. Just never took the time to fully investigate his purchases and sales, which I will make up for now. These crack and scammers don't realize that something may appear to disappear from ebay after 3 months or so, it doesn't disappear from the web; and if it appears to have disappeared from the web, it hasnt disappeared from the deep web. 

At any rate, wen BeatleBlue showed up to post using a contrived name with atale of complete fantasy, buying raw books from himself at 9.2 that grade 9.6, that was the impetus for me to get started on this project; investigating his CGC graded purchases, like this IM 55 at 7.5 and then crack and scamming a raw 9.4 out of it. So as odd as that is, BeatleBlue blew the whistle on himself when he showed up with his fantasy report. 

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D2

D2

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5 minutes ago, MatterEaterLad said:

Oddly enough, I sold Halperin a book this summer. 

The irony.

Hopefully you doctored it to mint condition with photoshop and tripled your money.

Not to say you would do that sort of thing, but it would be good for him to get a taste of his own medicine. 

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James J Johnson

James J Johnson

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1 hour ago, lizards2 said:

I haven't read all the eBay rules for sellers, but I doubt whether what he is doing is illegal, or against their rules. Maybe unethical, but not illegal. A CGC label is just an opinion.

I received a book from a boardie recently that was in the original graded bag of an online comic store.  He sold it to me as an 8.5/9.0, but the label said 7.5. When I finally got around to entering the book into my collection, I'll be damned if the book wasn't 8.5/9.0 - it appears that the grader mistook some of artwork for creasing.

It's not illegal. It's scummy. But still, since scummy enough to adversely affect the wallets of hobbyists spending $2000 for books that CGC has already graded as being $700 worth, and knowing full well that these books he's misrepresenting are instant losses, a shout out is appropriate, a thread to warn hobbyists about the probable CGC outcome of buying these raw but formerly slabbed books from this flimflam seller. 

 

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shadroch

shadroch

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So if someone buys a CGC 7.5, has the book pressed, resubmits it and CGC now calls it a 9.4, you guys are okay with it being sold as a 9.4 but if they do the exact same thing but skip resubmitting it they are scum? 

I bought a 2.0 Avengers #1, sent it to CGC who graded it a 4.0, and then sold it on the same site I bought it from. Should the site have mentioned this was previously graded a 2.0 by their graders? My book doubled in value without anything being done to it. 

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James J Johnson

James J Johnson

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3 minutes ago, shadroch said:

So if someone buys a CGC 7.5, has the book pressed, resubmits it and CGC now calls it a 9.4, you guys are okay with it being sold as a 9.4 but if they do the exact same thing but skip resubmitting it they are scum? 

I bought a 2.0 Avengers #1, sent it to CGC who graded it a 4.0, and then sold it on the same site I bought it from. Should the site have mentioned this was previously graded a 2.0 by their graders? My book doubled in value without anything being done to it. 

Doesn't look reslabbed to me. Does it? Different thing altogether. And knowing you from the forum I'd wager that you'd be one of the last ones to photoshop flaws and juice the contrast of that Avengers 1

 

IM55b.jpg

Edited by James J Johnson
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Lightning55

Lightning55

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Someone doing a CPR thing is fine with me - it's fair game.  Or even crack-press-raw sale.  As long as there is no manipulation. 

Manipulation such as photo-shopping ANYTHING, "creative" photography to dodge defects that would normally be visible, deceptive lighting to hide defects or make the book look stellar when it isn't.

Or puffery such as "bought by my grandfather and stored away" when it was trace-ably purchased a few months  ago.

Or overstating the grade and then "please go by the photos to arrive at your own opinion of grade" when the photos don't reveal the whole story, etc.

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James J Johnson

James J Johnson

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1 hour ago, october said:

Same discussion in Copper, regarding his endless "NM/NM+" ASM 300s...

 

The reason why he's targeting the books he does, H 181, AS 129, AS 300, AS 194, IM 55, and thelike is because there are so damn many of them listed and sold on ebay each month that he's counting on the "confusion principle" to camo his books. While its more daunting to pick out similarities of these than books with more flaws of greater rarity, the confusion principle is ineffective and non-detrimental to my manner of researching, as he will discover. . 

Edited by James J Johnson
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the blob

the blob

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top right corner looks a little different. might he have pressed the book a bit? while yes, 7.5 to 9.4 is a big jump, CGC is not the word of G-D, I have a 7.0 from them and I don't know why it is not a 9.2. And I've had 9.4s that look like 8.0s. Not sure how it would be a 9.4 as presented though.

 

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comicginger1789

comicginger1789

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If CGC calls it a 9.4 after it gets a press, that is fine.

However, self-pressing, assuming you automatically up the grade, assigning a higher grade, selling raw and not disclosing the prior CGC grade or the fact that you pressed (and possibly taking photos that are not true to the item) are the problem.

Edited by comicginger1789
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comicginger1789

comicginger1789

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Here is the real kicker question..if he really thought it was 9.4 or even 9.2 as his listing suggests, why wouldn't he spend the money to grade and then make a $1500-1800 sale?

However, he knows its not but that it "looks sharp". So he adverts high, greedy others who think they can get that 9.2 or 9.4 bid it up and it sells for $1000 or so raw...higher than paid for it and a nice profit.

Edited by comicginger1789
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comicginger1789

comicginger1789

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At any rate, I called him out on it. He seemed surprised that I knew he had bought a month ago. I told him my issues and concerns and that all he had to do was answer this question: "Why am I not telling the potential buyer that this book has been pressed and used to be a 7.5?"

His answer to that question would tell himself and everyone else what his true intentions are. My guess is the answer 1000% is "if I don't disclose some stuff here, I will definitely make more money". And that is a risky game to play and one I don't appreciate. 

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sledgehammer

sledgehammer

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2 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

Doesn't look reslabbed to me. Does it? Different thing altogether.

 

Shad wasn't saying that it is slabbed now.

Do you know for a fact that he isn't pressing the books?

If people are happy with the books he is selling them, maybe he is pressing them, and they are now much better than 7.5-8.5.

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