stormflora

On 12/10/2023 at 2:03 PM, shadroch said:

What grades did MCS assign the books?  That doesn't sound like a typical experience with them. They didn't note a missing centerfold?

At least Good or Very Good, with I believe one of them being Fair/Good (but that still implies no missing pages). None of them were graded Poor, and none of them had any notes mentioned. I am prepared to take photos to show to them to prove it (upon request; it's quite a lot of photos to shoot), so I have nothing to hide, really.

For the missing centerfolds, I carefully referenced with the GCD to make sure the page counts and interior stories matched up for each issue. As for the mold, they are not the ones with rust migration, as I have confirmed in another thread here.

I don't really mind the misgrading or lack of inspection on these comics, since they are low value/low grade after all. Cartoon comics, not superhero. (As long as they reimburse me for the oversight, of course.)

To clarify upon my experience thus far: I've lost track of how many issues I have on hand at the moment (at least 300+; I made a ton of orders within the last few months and still have more coming in) and found problems with comics from two stores so far. The comics from I received from other stores were fine: complete and without any notable damage (besides rust migration, but that's acceptable).

Captive Audience Comics: One comic out of twelve had mold in it; I contacted the store and was promptly refunded for it. All good.

MyComicShop: I've ordered 139 comics from them so far, and 11 of them had problems, primarily missing centerfolds or containing mold. I've e-mailed them already, which they have not yet responded. It's probably because I contacted them past business hours, so I'll wait and see whether they do on Monday.

If anyone cares about statistics, that's about 8% across those two stores. (But across all of my comics instead, it would be much lower.) Not too bad, especially if they are willing to reimburse me for them. I'll chalk it up to them not really spending time (if any) in inspecting these low value/low grade comics for quick resale.

Sellers have a responsibility to make sure that the products they are selling have not been tampered with/are damaged, but when a company gets larger and they start dealing in thousands to tens of thousands of comics a day, it becomes unreasonable for them to spend too much manpower on inspecting each and every comic they receive in boxes/bins/palettes. They focus on flipping them quickly, as the bulk of comics out in the market are worth only dollars at most, and fulfillment times and storage space are far more valuable to them.

So yes, as a buyer, you should indeed by inspecting the products you buy. Why would you buy something and settle with it being faulty in some way? There is no logical reason why you would want a broken product. You paid good money for something you equally expect to be good.

On 12/9/2023 at 11:25 AM, VintageComics said:

I started a thread about 15 years ago discussing conservation techniques, specifically deacidifying comics due to the inherent nature of paper to acidify. 

We also discussed replacing staples, the rationale being that eventually you're going to HAVE to. 

There was a lot of pushback against it. 

The hobby is still relatively young. Let's face it, 80 years is nothing compared coins which have been around 1000s of years, and people were very resistant to the ideas, but eventually they will have to catch on. 

Because the hobby is young and most collector's books are stored reasonably well, in our lifetimes it's probably something not to worry about but eventually people's mindsets will need to change to adapt to the fact that time is undefeated. 

Yeah, the purist mindset. Some people want their comics unadulterated (even though they're willing to accept the double-standard of having drawings/writing or rookie/amateur repairs done on old comics).

As time passes and these comics turn 100, 200, 300+ years old, people are gonna be happy of their very existence, regardless of condition. We've seen this from books circa pre-1900 that are already breaking down in various ways, and museums/libraries/etc. trying to conserve them however possible.

I've made the decision to replace bad staples for my own collection. The question is, does replacing it stop the rust (already on the paper) from spreading?

On 12/9/2023 at 11:24 AM, Robot Man said:

Reserve auctions are the kiss of death. Rarely do they sell. Start your auctions at the least you will take and offer the least expensive shipping available.

I have found that good stuff if started out low will usually seek the market or better. Too many “auctions” start at the top of the market and most likely won’t sell at all. 

Yeah, similar findings on my end too. Buyers hate being "forced" to buy things at certain prices. And the reasoning for that is, majority of the time, the seller thinking something deserves more when it's actually overpriced, but they want to recoup losses.

Just set up an auto-renewing auction with a minimum bid OR set a realistic maximum price with best offer enabled, and normal shipping. Let it sit for however long it takes to sell.

Luck of the draw. Also, shipping costs are important, as some sellers try to sneak in a reserve price by embedding it within the shipping so that they can guarantee a minimum whilst also setting up an auction that starts at $0.

Certainly, they could just set up a proper reserve price, but bidders don't like seeing that marked on an auction and being pressured by it, and sellers don't want to pay the additional fee in order to set one up. And setting a minimum auction price, although a possible alternative, doesn't look good either to many buyers.

Quote

Reserve price is an optional upgrade for auction-style listings, with a fee that is charged at the time of listing.

When you set a reserve price, bidders will see that you have a reserve price in place and whether it has been met, but not the reserve price itself.

I see shipping-embedded reserve prices far more often than proper reserve prices. It's probably only reserved for high value items where the fee is insignificant compared to the overall value of the item.

On 12/8/2023 at 11:16 PM, AJD said:

Ultimately the staples in comics will rust away to nothing - the only question is how long it will take. I know that collecting institutions often remove staples from items intended to be stored in perpetuity and replace them with sewn thread to obviate any possibility of paper damage in the future. But the comic market clearly frowns upon that, and for books kept in good storage conditions it shouldn't be an issue for the bulk of our collections. That said, I have replaced or cleaned staples that are very rusty because they have already caused some damage to the comic. It's a bit trickier than you might first think, so if you decide to do it, practice on some beaters first.

Is it as simple as replacing the staple? Does that stop the rust from spreading?

On 12/9/2023 at 7:28 AM, Pontoon said:

I believe these *are* beaters. This is a group of low-grade, low-value Tom and Jerry comics IIRC from the OPs other threads and the photos in this one. $1-$3 bin books.

Yep, they're not particularly expensive comics, although I wouldn't call them "beaters" in my eyes. Just low grade.

On 12/8/2023 at 4:52 PM, shadroch said:

Could you bleach the pages of a modern book until all the ink was removed?  People supposedly do that to one-dollar bills. 

Probably depends on what kind of ink is used. Some may resist bleaching.

On 12/8/2023 at 12:43 PM, grendelbo said:

Probably let it be. Keep the books out of humidity as the rust will only get worse.

I did some research online, and apparently rusty staples can eventually corrode the comic. Are you sure I shouldn't replace those staples? Or is it that any significant amount of damage would also need a significant amount of time to unfold, making it a non-issue for the most part? (This is more of a conservation question.)

I will avoid moisturizing/HOP pressing these rusted comics, unless it's possible to heat press away all of the moisture with multiple passes.

@Point Five @AJD I suppose whether or not the comic will still have any value depends entirely on what it is. Key issues originally worth hundreds to thousands might take a hit to its final value but would still sell for quite a bit. But on lower priced comics, probably would not be worth reselling at all, or maybe just to someone who wants it as a reader issue with the issue explicitly mentioned. Thanks!

On 12/8/2023 at 3:54 AM, grendelbo said:

Most likely stains due to migration from rusty staples.

On 12/8/2023 at 7:35 AM, Cnight said:

Not an expert but methinks some kind of chemical reaction happened; I’m going to say foxing (decomposing) of the paper, and the black around the staples is probably a byproduct of the nickel or some element in the steel used for the staples.

 

@joeypost you got any insight, superman?

On 12/8/2023 at 7:56 AM, AJD said:

As pointed out, that's rust migration from the staples into the paper. Incidentally, the book with shiny staples and rust stains has almost certainly had the staples cleaned or replaced, so would get a conserved grade.

On 12/8/2023 at 8:10 AM, joeypost said:

This. 

On 12/8/2023 at 11:21 AM, Cnight said:

Oh dang! That’s a great catch!

Thanks a bunch, everyone! I'm not looking to resell these comics or anything. Just want to keep them for my own collection. They were typical raw, low-grade comics. But I was worried whether it may have been mold, which is a biohazard I don't want to keep around. I guess that means these three issues are safe to keep, then. Should I replace the staples on these issues, plus on any other issues that have rusted ones? Or what is the recommended approach?

Here are photos of another issue:

And here is another issue:

I’ve seen this sort of thing in a few comic issues so far, to varying severity. The photos I’ve attached are of one single issue, on multiple pages. It’s the most conservative example I have. 
 

In the other issues, they are larger in diameter or have blotched into other areas as well. But all the same colour and seem to come from the nail. 
 

I don’t smell anything in particular but I am nonetheless concerned. 

On 12/7/2023 at 11:07 PM, Lightning55 said:

Which comics did you find to be without centerfolds?

A couple of Tom and Jerry issues. I’ve been double checking with Comics.org and have confirmed two to be missing them so far, interrupting story. 

On 12/7/2023 at 7:56 PM, Lightning55 said:

I believe it's a 0.5 grade, incomplete. 

Oof, so not worth anything. Glad I'm planning to replace these then.

The only reason why I could fathom a seller omitting this bit of detail is if they aren't even aware of what the comic should include and they never bothered to check, and they secured the comic without the centerfold to begin with.

So I bought a ton of comic issues lately, and after encountering one with an undeclared missing centerfold for the first time, I'm now spending the time to do a thorough examination of each comic I have to make sure no others are missing them as well. I'll try to contact the seller(s) for reimbursement for these issues, and if that fails, I'll resell them with the issue stated and replace them with new copies.

In your experience, how often do you end up with comics sold with missing centerfolds that were not mentioned in the listing (perhaps because even the seller wasn't aware)? Are non-Modern Age comics prone to this sort of issue? When centerfolds are missing, what grade does it automatically drop down to no matter what?

On 12/6/2023 at 10:13 AM, lostboys said:

Damn...so basically the grades are a lie at this point.

 

Wow.

On 12/6/2023 at 1:16 PM, Pontoon said:

I think "inaccurate" or "no longer correct" would be a better term than "a lie". They weren't rusted at the time of grading. The seller put "EVEN THOUGH THIS IS A SEALED CGC COMIC IT HAS RUSTED STAPLES. DON'T HESITATE TO ASK QUESTIONS" in large print in his description, it doesn't look like he was trying to put one over on anybody.

The thing is, grading and slabbing a comic only shows a score on the condition of the comic at the time of grading.

Someone could accidentally drop their slabbed comic into a pool and pull it back out, and it would still be considered the same grade, even if it's bound to be eventually damaged.

The question at this point is whether or not that someone is willing to be truthful about said damage, or tries to sell it without being fully transparent about it.

I respect this particular seller for telling their buyers that the staples have rusted. But whether the buyer may resell it without mentioning that bit (for the purpose of profit), that possibility will always exist.

Without being able to inspect a comic in person (e.g. eBay), you run that sort of a risk when you buy high graded, slabbed comics.

On 12/3/2023 at 4:35 PM, Point Five said:

As a general comment, grading notes seem to be "interesting" more than exhaustive, and are not intended as a checklist of defects. Sometimes they mention hidden defects and sometimes they don't; sometimes they mention clearly visible defects and sometimes they don't. Maybe chalk it up to the graders' personal style? From my experience I can't really see any pattern to how thorough they are.

 

At the end of the day, it's not one single person working in the grading department of CGC. It's many different people. And everyone has a different eye for grading. Kind of like a driving test examiner. Some might be more lenient, some might be more strict. If you're lucky, you get someone who's lenient enough to overlook some blatant issues and slap on a high grade (not that that is a good thing for CGC, but it is for you xD)

As some have said, even if you resubmit the same comic to CGC again, there is no guarantee you'd end up with the exact same grade. Someone who hits a 9.0-9.7 but not 9.8 with a comic might just roll the dice a few times without changing a single thing or acquiring any cleaning/pressing/etc., and eventually hit 9.8 that way. Standards are always going to be a mixed bag, and for cases like these where you "won the lottery" in getting a good grade on a bad test, just take it and quietly move on about your day.

@Tom789 I commend you for grading your comics regardless of their worth on the market. You want your comics graded for your own collection, because it looks nicer to you that way, and is also a good way to protect the comic too, as it kind of freezes it in time.

Well, as you said, the comic scene is split into different branches due to there existing different kinds of content and demographics.

Any sort of blanket generalization of the market as a whole would not be an accurate indicator of the value of specific subsets of comics.

Just like how the S&P 500 or NASDAQ works, they don't necessarily illustrate an accurate picture of the different sectors that they cover. Some may perform better than others.

I'm sure someone who has the time and patience could go around making a large summarized tracker of individual key issues for every since comic series, derived off of PriceCharting.

But that's a lot of work. And again, results would be obscure due to the existence of different comic ages.

On 12/4/2023 at 12:24 PM, revat said:

I'm not saying this is a good idea or not, but what would be the scam? 

other than not strictly following ebay's terms of service or the tax requirements of the Crown.

 

I guess there's the possibility of being robbed and/or murdered for your comic - but that seems more serious than "scamming".

Or the possibility that he tries to negotiate you down further in person - but that seems less serious than "scamming" (although seriously annoying).  

This seems pretty far from an "ebay scammer", so on that front you're probably good.

 

There have definitely been cases of in-person theft/mugging in the past, albeit not necessarily with comics.

Back when the PS5 and GPUs around that time were just released, there were many cases in the news of people meeting up with others to buy their (scalped/upcharged) items, and then robbing them armed or with a group.

Of course, that's not nearly as prevalent nowadays, but there is always that possibility with high priced items.

Thus, whether it is eBay or Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace or whatever, any sufficiently expensive item sold in-person should be done in a location with other people around, or with surveillance.

On 12/6/2023 at 8:12 PM, The Sledder said:

Hello! 

You're welcome to participate.  I will just encourage you to really consider whether or not you're in.  In the past, we've had one or two newbies in the past who have claimed an item and then disappeared without sending their offering out.  It really puts a damper on the event, though we do have some amazing people who tend to step up and pick up slack created by others so no one is left out.

As with any transaction here on the boards, proceed in good faith and you'll find yourself among friends. 

Oh yeah, I am. I have no intention of doing such a thing. I've participated in other Secret Santa events in the past on other sites, so I know all about making sure to fulfill my end of the bargain

Besides, it's a good way for me to part with some stuff that I no longer need, but can't bring myself to simply donate.

On 12/5/2023 at 5:49 PM, OtherEric said:

Since I was grabbing some stuff from MCS anyway:

 

Did you just grab whatever rare Whitmans they had in stock? What did the comics average out to, per issue?

I didn't really bother looking them up on MCS, only eBay. Wasn't a main priority to me for MCS.

On 12/4/2023 at 11:15 PM, fifties said:

Of course they have some worth; they were worth it to you, LOL! 

Please post the Adv Into Weird Worlds by itself when you receive it, for us to give an estimate of value. 

AFA the other books, crime, unless with a GGA or bloody cover, doesn't get a lot of respect.   The war books all look like they're CCA coded, so I wouldn't imagine a lot of value there either.  If you were going to liquidate them, I'd list them on eBay as a lot of 7 war books.  List each crime book by itself with a starting bid of $10-15.

Thanks for the advice! Much appreciated.

By definition, would the "crime books" be the Crime and Punishment (obviously) and the Kenny Drake Detective book?

On 12/4/2023 at 4:49 PM, fifties said:

I have most of that run, and bought that issue 50 years ago at a used bookstore for 4 bucks.  The stories and artwork are reasonably good, and the Sci Fi story is excellent horror.  

Minor update. It was very, very close, but I managed to nab it for $250 CAD ($184 USD) + shipping/fees/taxes/etc. It came in a lot along with a few other old comics of that era, albeit not horror. May or may not be worth a pretty penny on their own; who knows. But do feel free to give me a guesstimate as to whether or not they have at least some worth (obviously, I'm not an expert in this field):

Yeah... I'd just sell it as-is at a slight discount and hope nobody notices. It's not like you're the one who opened up the case.

When buyer asks, just say it was shipping damage. It really is, after all.