stormflora

Yeah... It's... getting a bit ridiculous. And blocking him doesn't even hide his threads, only his posts. @CGC Mike Any reason for that, if I may ask?

Deliverymen don't get paid enough to care. That's just how society will be for the next long while until government intervention and legislation pressure corporations to be more accountable.

There are so many better ways to make money with the time it takes for you to hypothetically profit off of comic appreciation that it doesn't really make sense to bother flipping high value comics unless it's precisely the nature of your business (e.g. maybe you run a pawn shop or collectibles business, etc.). Opportunity cost is something people often overlook. It really only makes sense if you inherited some comic from your family or relative for little to nothing and have no use for it and want to sell it to help pay off some monthly utility bills. Thus, unless you're strictly buying it because you genuinely want to collect it, trying to buy for the sake of resale is most likely going to disappoint you, and make you pull your hair out as you wait months to years for miniscule returns. And the last thing you want is a potential cash crunch from buying comics as illiquid assets. @Dr. Balls has hit it right on the nail. Consider watching a show like Antiques Roadshow, and you'll see what I mean. People bring in antiques that are 50-100 years old or older, and although they might sell for thousands to tens of thousands now, it took basically their lifetime (and probably the lifetimes of their parents and/or grandparents) just to appreciate to that price. By no means a very great return on investment, but a nice payday if they were just things lying around in your attic/basement for ages collecting dust.

What we really need, is government intervention and legislation to force companies to be more accountable for their negligence. Similar to what the EU does to force companies to be more consumer-minded. Unfortunately, North America is capitalistic, and the government is in the corporations' pockets and are at their mercy for taxes and societal functionality.

Yeah, I've met my feed of great deliverymen over the decades who actually cared about the recipients rather than the senders or corporations. Sadly, they typically do not stick around for more than a few years.

Just threaten legal action. I had my FedEx important document parcel costing $300 to mail internationally get stuck in their American warehouse beyond the promised three-day arrival, and they persistently attempted to claim it was not their fault and that they had no obligation to fulfill their money-back guarantee due to "customs delays". After I threatened legal action, they gave it back, no further questions.

Very great answer. Rust isn't nearly as serious as mold/mildew though.

This. Threaten legal action. They'll settle, trust me. Hasn't been a problem for me so far after making several dozen orders on eBay, but then again, I don't order more than a dozen or so comics per Media Mail parcel. Believe me, the postal service has better things to do than to open up every single parcel to check its contents. They only open parcels when it's obviously suspect. Customs services are more likely to open parcels up than local services, but even then, they don't want to waste time either, and typically screen parcels based on declared value, size, and weight first and foremost to determine whether they're worth the hassle.

I don't know how parcels are handled in the USA, but here in Canada during COVID, no form of signature required matter, for any logistics service. It was always "safe" dropped (aka just left on the porch) regardless of whether or not you were home to receive it (and the deliveryman ringing the doorbell as a form of courtesy was entirely at their own discretion too, which was a hit-or-miss depending on the person). Didn't matter how much the sender paid to have it signed. This was a huge issue with fellow Canadians, but the government simply turned a blind eye and expected citizens to take it up via claims and disputes. The only way to have any parcel or letter securely delivered (enough) was to send it to a post office or pick-up location instead. Often times the only way you could know if a parcel arrived was if you looked up the tracking number or enabled SMS/e-mail updates. But they're typically delayed by at least a little bit (anywhere from 15-30 minutes to even hours if the deliveryman updated the system later), which is already enough of a window for a porch pirate to steal your parcel, if they so desired. I certainly have noticed better logistics services with the government-sponsored companies as opposed to third-party. I've dealt with Canada Post and USPS on multiple accounts during and after COVID, and they seemed to be a bit better overall. When I spoke with my local post office buddy, he once explained that it's better to ship things internationally with government organizations, as there are far less hidden fees and much better service standards. He wasn't wrong.

I'm just saying that there are worse things a comic can experience than some water, which you can heat press to desiccate and smooth out. Sure, might lead to some rust on the staples and weaker fibers, but the comic's still going to outlive you anyway. And, FWIW, virtually every single presser out there moisturizes your comic with at least distilled water before pressing, if it is not Modern Age or perhaps Bronze Age. So that's technically "water damage" already.

I remember during COVID, it was common for pretty much every logistics company to simply "safe drop" your parcel on the porch and then leave. No signature required, even for the most expensive tier of shipping or ones marked as signatures being absolutely critical. They simply did not care due to social distancing. The only safest way to have things shipped was to a post office for pick-up instead. The problem post-COVID is that a lot of companies still use an adapted form of this system they used for COVID, as an excuse to save on costs and expenses. They realized they could make millions more by not caring too much about parcels, and simply expect people to file claims or lawsuits (to which they attempt to use scare tactics or legalese to sneak their way out of). It's kind of like a company deliberately selling faulty products and expecting people to return/RMA them, but only 10% or less do since most people in the world can't be bothered and would rather just throw the product out. One way to help secure a package (besides forwarding it to the post office) is to send it with a true value stated for insurance. All logistics companies will always put a bit more emphasis on parcels that are worth a lot, as they do not want to lose money on them. But this does typically mean taking losses on customs and duties if they are not domestic parcels.

Water damage itself isn't really an issue. It's mold that is, which is exacerbated by water. Moisturization can be very easily pressed out.

This is why it is recommended to contact sellers to negotiate. Sometimes they may be willing to ship so long as you are willing to pay the expense.

You're probably asking on the wrong place, and with the wrong attitude. You're better off asking the seller whether or not they're willing to ship if you pay extra for delivery, and then enlist the help of a forwarder.

I once had a serious issue with FedEx as well, when they claimed to have lost some important, irreplaceable documents in the mail, which I shipped via their most expensive option. I had to complain a ton just to finally get them to get off their asses and actually investigate. Long story short, it got lost at some facility in the USA, before it ever even got released to international customs in the target country. Since they passed their on-time guarantee, I was entitled to a full refund, but their dispute department attempted to brush it off claiming that it was not their fault and was a "customs delay." But it was clearly delayed at their American facility, long before it ever reached customs. I had to threaten small claims court just for them to get scared and actually reimburse me. In your case, I think you may need to resort to legal action as well. Although it might be a hard case to put forward, considering the low insurance amount and time elapsed since then.

Let me know when they're actually available.

Once again, tell him to kick rocks.

Hah. If the comics are in your possession and you have all the receipts/invoices to prove you did purchase the comics and/or get them graded, tell him to kick rocks.

I used a forwarder in the USA for my Canadian address, and it's not nearly as good as forwarders in Japan. It's one of the best in the USA but even then, still restrictive, due to a holding time limit of two weeks. Forces you to have to rush and order everything within that time frame. If you don't make frequent orders, just swallow the occasional shipping cost. Ideally, everyone would want a local friend in a target country for conveniently cheap forwarding, but that's not always going to happen. If you don't have a friend in the USA, then you're SOL.

40c price tag for that issue is insanely rare. Good job.

Everyone sees different value in different things. It's just that it's easier to buy pricier items without batting an eye when you have a lot of money or plenty of disposable income.

Opportunity cost. The potential profit to be had from holding said $30K comic indefinitely just to resell in the future would likely be earned tenfold by the time selling it is relevant. You're forcing yourself to have a cash crunch when that money could be better used elsewhere, such as paying off a mortgage, doing some home reno, taking a vacation, or buying a car. It's not really investment material unless it's some extremely expensive $100K+ or $1M+ comic.

Unless you're rich and it is meant to be a trophy or investment, or perhaps a collector's item, there's no logical reason to buy extremely expensive comics. At the end of the day, that $300K comic once only costed a few dozen cents at most and was treated as a typical magazine to be read and discarded like any other.

Here is a link to my (just updated) buy list:

At the end of the day, if you don't like their prices, don't buy from them. MHC is not the only store in the world that deliberately overcharges their products. What they try to offer is a larger inventory during times of specialized demand. Their primary clientele is most likely not small folk like us, but the richer whales who are willing to pay anything to get what they want, so long as they have it. I've only ordered from them once so far just to try them out despite all the negative opinions towards them (and to fill many gaps in my Tom & Jerry collection), and frankly, it turned out pretty well. Although my series isn't particularly high profile, they undergraded most of the comics (even their Fair-graded ones) and do issue you refunds in case there are problems. Buy during one of their frequent "sales," and you may be able to grab something closer to market price.