barneythecantankerous

On 3/20/2024 at 3:24 PM, NicoV said:

It has nothing to do with servers overload - CAT has no more impact on indexed websites than a couple of standard users (and it's even less noticeable for the websites that contacted me to know how to optimize / speed up CAT indexing). They never provided any reason for blacklisting CAT, but it's probably more about their (very unique) "strategy".

A few years ago (whilst I was learning PHP) I wrote my own little scraper for myself (which was garbage!) and noticed the terms about not allowing scraping. So it's not that they have CAT blacklisted they forbid ANY scraping... My best guess is it's some incredibly outdated policy which they probably just haven't bothered to ever revisit, as there's absolutely no downsides for allowing it IMO. But yes, it's a weird strategy!

The site is absolutely outdated and needs a revamp, but then again HA is also not that great, I mean you need to contact customer service for a lot of minor things - the whole point of having a website is to remove friction and give your users autonomy, it's also why I dislike a lot of dealer and rep sites. 

But one thing they can change at zero cost is allowing website scraping. It's 2024 and they've got a ton of business, so their servers should be capable of handling it (if that's the excuse) and it would get WAY MORE traction IMO, as right now the process is - "oh a CLink auction, let me go take a look", seeing that not every piece has been listed and the auction is a few weeks/months away, then remembering to head back and take a look when the pieces are there, then remembering 30 days from the auction starting that you want to bid. Allowing sites like Comic Art Tracker to scrape would mean we could be made aware about auctions much sooner and with less friction. 

On 2/5/2024 at 11:25 PM, MV said:

Hi All - rookie question here so go easy. I am owed one piece of art from Cadence that I paid for using Paypal. I spoke to the artist and they said I should raise a case with Paypal. I'm not expecting Cadence to going to respond to the case - so do I escalate to Paypal straight away or do you give them a chance to respond??

(Thanks in advance - this is first time I have had an issue with comics / comic art being non-delivered)

 

I would raise a PayPal claim then contact Cadence and give them like a week to respond. If they get back to you DO NOT close the claim until you have the art in hand.

If they don't get back to you or are messing you around then I would escalate it and maybe even ring PayPal afterwards to explain the situation, as I had a weird case once (unrelated to comic art) and customer service instantly resolved the case for me rather than making me wait or potentially side with the scummy seller.

I'm friendly with Andrew who works full time at Cadence (I have no idea about any other employees or whoever is handling emails), I can tell you he really does try to help out collectors (not just buyers) and the artists they work with and he does indeed attend a LOT of conventions. Not an excuse but I can empathise, after attending cons it wipes me out and if you're selling pages in person and with as many artists as they have and spread all over the world, unless you're good at keeping records I imagine it can be a challenge occasionally to track a piece down for shipping. But I also empathise with collectors because bad communication is still bad communication, whether it's a $50 or $5k piece, so I'm not excusing that. 

Andrew is active in the community, on Facebook, etc. so if you drop him a line directly I'm 100% sure he will get you sorted. FWIW because of how many conventions they do attend it might be worth mentioning whether collection in person is possible if you're going to one when ordering? 

On 10/25/2023 at 1:05 AM, jjonahjameson11 said:

So many Sandman pages have popped up recently, and so many more in the upcoming Nov HA auction (including Dringenberg pages, and another page from issue #8 - not as nice)

given the above, plus other considerations, I think it will be challenging for this page to cross $100K

Yes I have to agree, the market has been inundated with Sandman pages the last few months, that personalisation right across the art of a fantastic page hurts it and with the economy in the crapper I can't see this breaking $100k. Especially on CLink.

Looking to raise some funds for a big purchase, so I've temporarily made most of my galleries available: 

https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=117354

Once I hit my goal I'm done.

It's extremely tedious and time consuming going through every piece on CAF, so I'm mostly taking offers. If something does have a price I'm happy to work with you on that if you have a budget.

All the necessary shipping info is detailed in my Offers & Trades gallery, but here goes:

Shipping within the UK is free over £200. Below that is £5-10 (it really depends on the pieces) and outside of the UK is £25-100, again it very much depends on the piece(s), the insurance required, etc. But rest assured I'll do my best to find the most affordable and reliable services.

Everything will include a little surprise bonus!

I will be attending Thought Bubble this year so we can also arrange collection, to save shipping, and if we do so I'll provide some extra special surprises!

On 10/3/2023 at 7:07 PM, jjonahjameson11 said:

When is a sale not a sale???

This Travis Charest cover was on Albert Moy's site earlier this year for $9K, then it went to Burkey's site where it sat for a while at $12K.  It was then auctioned at ComicConnect (while still being listed at Burkey's site until CC asked Burkey to remove it from his site) and sold for $11K last month.  Now its back on Burkey's site, but for $11K.  

FWIW Travis originally sold this for $3-3.5k back in 2019 and it's been for sale ever since. As it originally sold to Albert, along with a bunch of other covers, which I think he's had a hard time shifting at 3x, as it seems a lot of them are either still for sale or went to other dealers (as this one did).

On 9/28/2023 at 1:56 AM, NinjaSealed said:

…..the Swamp thing page…is that price because it was super early, issue #21? That price seemed insane to me at over 30k.

I'm pretty sure privately a few years ago pages from that issue with Swampy were around $20k and if memory serves it's been a long time since a #21 page was offered publicly. Even during the COVID price craze I can't recall seeing a page come up. That particular issue also marked a big turning point for the character so I think it's unsurprising it went at that price.

Lots, but how I've handled it depends on the piece. Some have just grown on me with time. Others I'm aware they were a unique opportunity, so I'll make do. But the rest are in my junk pile portfolio of stuff that's ready to go to auction.

Unless you're in need of that money back I would hold onto it for a bit, as you might feel differently in a couple of months.

On 9/20/2023 at 10:17 PM, JC25427N said:

I feel like this is the 20th time I've read this thread in some form in the past few months

Agreed, and it's just the same recycled points made over and over again

On 6/3/2023 at 9:57 PM, KirbyCollector said:

Upper end of the market seems to be healthy... Sandman 8 page up to $67K 

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FPREVIEW.ASP%3Fcode%3D2023may%26itemtype%3D1%26pg%3D2%23Item_1687634&id=1687634&itemType=1

I swear people who have published artwork they didn't contribute to the creation of being personalised need to have their collections taken away from them!

On 5/29/2023 at 8:36 AM, Garf said:

I can see your messages weren't offensive, but tone can sometimes be hard to get across in writing. How many times have people written and re-written an unimportant message-board post to get the right tone across? I would have gone with a longer initial message and a large sprinkle of sugar. There's no harm in a bit of flattery to try and get the right tone going, and every once in a while it might just net you what you want where you would otherwise have been turned down. I'm not saying people need to do this when they are requesting a list of available pages, but if you are asking for a commission it will pretty much always enhance your chances of a good outcome.

I personally find it a fun challenge to try and put together a nice inquiry email/message, and after a while you will have collection of them in your sent items that you can plunder when you are feeling less inspired. If you just throw a single sentence out there as your comms did you really care that much about what you were asking after in the first place?

I agree with most of your points and interestingly yes I used to write big upfront messages, have them drafted for a few days, refine them and then eventually hit send. But I would never hear back, get a dry response or be treated as transactional. So over time I've lost interest in doing that (which is on me), especially over the last couple of years where commissions really are treated transactional, prices are crazy and the effort put into most of them is low. But yes I take your point and I think next time it's someone I really want something from I need to put in a bit more legwork.

Thanks for the words of encouragement and thoughtfulness of your response as well, much appreciated!

As a UK collector let me sound ignorant for a moment about US taxes... But aren't most of these dealers high earners, meaning they pay higher taxes and as a result when they're getting these pieces they're paying auction house fees, sales/state tax(?) and then some kind of income tax? Meaning they need to charge these at often times overinflated/awkward prices to make it worth their while?

On 5/27/2023 at 9:51 AM, NicoV said:

Welcome to my 14,000th member! 

You're doing absolutely fantastic work Nico and it still blows my mind you're not charging for it given the quality and effort you put into it! Congrats!

After a month of missing out on pieces and lists at shows/online; an artist dragging their feet for 2 years on a commission, missing their own appointed deadline and me cancelling it in the end (as I was tired of having funds set aside, delaying it constantly and they literally doubled the budget we initially agreed on), as well as listing other pieces they agreed to sell me; and now a very awkward commission request I wanted to get some opinions as to whether I'm just an oddball that needs to give up and move on in this hobby. Seriously, brutally honest opinions welcome.

I've blurred out the artist and request, because whilst I'm great at digging my own grave deeper all of the context needed is already there.

On 5/19/2023 at 3:41 PM, RBerman said:

Could be! I was carrying a yellow backpack that I sometimes didn't pick back up when I moved on to the next table.

Yes! Think I also saw you going back to a table (around Peach) on Sunday having done the same thing 😂!

I also saw you got a picture with the 2 guys from Singapore - really nice guys, I was feeling a bit down early Sunday but having chatted with them in the line before entering really turned my mood around, which I'm grateful for.

On 5/19/2023 at 4:02 PM, John E. said:

I have this problem too and have lost artwork that way. When I used to “con,” I would set my backpack down between my feet so I couldn’t walk away without stumbling over it. With art portfolios (as with anything else) if you set it beside you away from your line of vision you may be apt to walk away going the opposite direction. That’s how I lost a sketch book. I always put my name and info on things. Last month, I had an artist sketch something in my kid’s book at a book festival and set it on a table to let the ink dry. I got caught in conversation and then walked away from it. So it still happens. It took a few emails, texts, and calls, but I was able to retrieve it. I’m considering getting “business” cards made with my name and contact so I can easily stick them in books, etc. 

I carry a giant backpack with a 13x19 portfolio and I can still mislay the damn thing! I also do the same thing of keeping it between my legs. 

On 5/19/2023 at 12:12 PM, RBerman said:

Bill Cox made a video montage of most of the photos and videos I took at Lake Como, and played it on his YouTube channel last night. Here it is, beginning at 1:38:16.

 

Ahh, I think I recognise your face, are you the chap who left pretty much all of his belongings at Gary Frank's table?!

On 5/15/2023 at 8:17 PM, J.Sid said:

I dunno. I remember back in the mid 2000s going to SD and hoping to try to get a spot on the AH! list....I got there a 2 hours before the day opened hoping to be the first in the door and first to his booth and you know what? The list was long filled by moment I got there. People who were up at 4AM waiting in line, people with dealer badges, etc etc. And 90% of the stuff ended up flipped for profit within a month of the show.

If I had known I had no hope of making the list, I could have enjoyed a very nice morning. I don't mind the auctioning of spots.

Yes there's been a lot of hate for the commission auction which I honestly don't get. I don't think the convention has made money (ever), so it's another useful way to keep the con going, it's totally optional and you can still get a commission, it just means you have peace of mind for maybe that white whale you've been after. 

On 5/14/2023 at 9:20 AM, pestonaccio said:

Example 3) in order to buy the first spot for a commission you had to auction. Last minute decision. You want to be the first in line with Manara? Bid. And the money is not included in the commission. So you pay the ticket, you pay the first spot, you pay the commission. One artist got a 25 euros winning bid and he got offended and didn't do any work during the day.

I went back to see who ended at €25 I could only see Liam Sharp and Ryan Ottley, who were both taking commissions the whole weekend. Was this a different artist?

On 5/14/2023 at 7:10 AM, J.Sid said:

How many days is the convention?

 

2 days for the convention, 1 day for a reception on Friday, which also gets you earlier access on the weekend.

On 5/13/2023 at 9:35 PM, igotnogame said:

Any updates for us unfortunates that couldn't attend?  

What kind of update would you like? 

I will say Dave McKean brought the heat IMO - a couple of Sandman related covers; an Arkham Asylum cover; Hellblazer stuff; etc. Just absolutely all incredible stuff. I'll try to get some pictures.

Most other artists just took commissions such as Gary Frank and Lee Bermejo, who didn't bring any published work. 

The Bill Sienkiewicz stall was hilarious - dude dressed up like a slimy salesman trying to sell unpublished work for $10k+ (absolutely nothing had prices on either), when 2 tables down a dealer had published stuff for €700-1,200.