Tony S

I don't know if the teminology is still widely used - but collectors used to refer to the checkerboard as "go-go checks" and collecting books with them was a popular theme. Maybe I'll post up my copy tomorrow. "Just" an 8.0 - but it presents very well.

Spec sheet from HP http://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c02249108.pdf Important data SCAN TECHNOLOGY/TYPE CIS; Flatbed, ADF APU+ You will not like the scans of slabs.

No new scanner less than $1500 is going to be any good for scanning slabs. Thats' because they all use CIS (Contact Image Sensor) technology. Using CIS technology is cheaper and lets the manufacturer make it smaller. But CIS sucks at slabs as it has no depth of field. If what is being scanned isn't flat against the glass the image quality will be poor. To scan slabs you need a scanner that uses CCD (charge coupled device) technology. CCD's have much better depth of field functioning more like a camera lense. CCD was the technology nearly all scanners used 10+ years ago. So in this case new is only cheaper- old is better. Microteks 9600-9700-9800 scanners can be found used on ebay. These are all large format scanners. They were made for years and the later ones often have USB ports. You can get around most driver problems by just using the Windows scan utility (camera/scanner wizard) built into windows. They are rugged and last forever. If you get a USB model you should be able to install it on virtually any version of Windows. While sellers BIN prices tend to be high, when sold at actual auction they often go for around $100. Expect another $30 on shipping because they weigh like 30 pounds. This is the way to go. Epson does a line of Action Scan scanners with CCD but they start around $1500. I don't think HP has anything less than 2K

The seller is a crook and someone may be a victim **This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available** Someone might be a victim for sure. The seller likely had some offers to end the item early for XXX amount of money. But "item no longer available" is just a common reason for ending an auction early. It could also mean that the seller was contacted by ebay about this thread and concerns about the listing and so decided to end it and move on. But his "selling" it to some rube for a "buy it now price" and that buyer - or buyers -sending him a money order or wiring him money is a possibility. We might never know. .

I have used eBay's approved escrow service for two purchases. On future eBay auctions of my own (I'm selling) I will specifically offer it as an option on big items. I define "big" as anything over 10K for sure as this is where paypal pretty much leaves buyer and seller on their own. You could also look at any item over eBay's own private insurance (shipcover?). I cannot remember what that limit is but I'm certain it is no higher than 5K and might only be 2K. You should absolutely only use ebay's approved escrow service (escrow.com) Anyone suggesting any other escrow service should automatically serve as a red flag as there have been lots of scams with phony escrow services. Escrow.com's website explains it well, but here are the basics. Buyer and Seller agree to use escrow.com and register with escrow.com You list with escrow.com the sale information (item, price, inspection period, etc) Buyer sends payment to escrow.com Escrow.com notifies seller that they have the payment and seller should ship Buyer receives item(s) and has x number of days to inspect Buyer notifies escrow.com they accept the item Escrow.com sends payment to seller If buyer rejects the merchandise Escrow.com informs seller and buyer returns merchandise Once seller confirms they have merchandise back, escrow.com refunds buyer's money minus fees. How long this all takes depends on how buyer submitts payment to escrow.com, how fast item ships, how seller wants to be paid. Assume a couple of weeks to get paid if you are the seller. What it costs. It's 3.25% of the first 5K but then much less than that from 5-10K and less than 1% after 10K. On expensive items escrow.com's fees can be less than paypals. And it is common for the fee for escrow to be split by buyer and seller.

The listing is gone - the "item is no longer available". http://www.ebay.com/itm/270981943440?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

SummumBonum I also meant to mention that if you agreed to cancel the transaction this prevents you from leaving feedback. If you agreed to cancel the transaction before you got your $$$ back that is a big mistake. The Buyer has to agree to cancel a transaction. (unless the seller has grounds for it like the buyer not paying) If you haven't received such a request from ebay then the transaction has not been cancelled. If this is the case please do the collecting world a favor and leave negative feedback so that everyone else knows he didn't deliver on a 12K transaction. If you get the gold bar later you can always withdraw the negative. If you have to fight it out to get your money back you can let the neg stay.

Thank you Summun for your post and information. And welcome to the boards. FYI for those who haven't tried using Paypal for big ticket purchases (over 10K) What SummunBonum describes is how it looks and has to be done. Because you are making two or more payments the purchase is not tied to the original ebay item. The seller can make up an invoice of course - but it doesn't link back to the ebay item. So as far as Paypal is concerned you as the buyer just sent someone money. Period. They are no longer guaranteeing anything. I can't say how it works out if things go bad. I just know you cannot rest on "buyer protection". If it's any comfort, it's not all that much better for honest sellers. PayPal's Seller Protection is even more useless. So many scams where the person claims their account was hijacked (unauthorized purchase) or they never received the item. Especially bad with out of the USA sales. It's why so many sellers won't ship anything or anything expensive outside the USA. I recently sold a book on ebay for 13K. My first sale or purchase on ebay over 10K. It was an eye opener just how much hassle Paypal made it and how they (Paypal) were not going to be on the hook if anything went wrong. They will collect their fee of course.... Also of concern is how little eBay does to police itself. Here they have an open dispute on a seller for 12K and they let the seller run another auction for a similiar amount? For me, any future big ticket items I sell I will offer to use eBay's approved escrow service (escrow.com) and splitting the costs. Those costs are about the same and sometimes less than the Paypal fee. I'll propose the same to sellers for purchases if the Seller isn't well known.

Very nice catch Sal. Thank you!! It surely looks like the same book. So let's see. Whoever bought it back in 2009 from Heritage for $52,281.25 put it in a box with a couple of raw comics and then put the box in a storage unit. That is where all high dollar collectors keep their books you know. Then they quit paying the storage unit fees or maybe they died and their heirs didn't know about the storage unit. So now it shows up on ebay with a listing that was suspicious even before Sal here found the Heritage link. Will be interesting watching this one. I expect negative feedback left at some point.

What you are missing here is how Paypal really works. You can't send a payment bigger than 10K through Paypal in one day. That's because Paypal views large transactions as risky. To send more through Paypal you have to do an echeck which isn't guaranteed by Paypal. The only way you do a payment for 25k through paypal and have any protection is to break it into three parts paid over three days and fund it with your credit card. They you rely on your credit card company to back you if there is a problem. Most of us don't have a a 25K limit on our credit card, though I'm sure some do. Or have multiple cards. Anyone with any sense will only do this transaction -at a safe location - in person. And it doesn't appear the seller has responded to any inquiries as of yet.

This would not be the seller. If you look up the thrift store (Encore) for the link above it is in the basement of St Johns Episcopal Church. They are just selling clothes.

57 Started buying comics in 1963. My first book purchased was Superman Annual 7. By 1965 my brother and I considered ourselves collectors. Ordered my first "collector" comics around 1967 from Grand Books Incorporated - they ran ads inside comic books of the day. I think I could have purchased ASM 1 for around $70 but instead spent almost that on a 10-15 issues or so starting around #20. The new issue market - that is what you could buy on the comic racks - was certainly more "healthy" back then. Marvels were all the rage of course. But everyone also read Batman and Superman. Gold Key's were popular - both the Disney titles and their small group of hero titles. I even read Casper and Wendy. Lots of Romance titles, lots of War titles, lots and lots of "kid" titles like Bugs Bunny and crew. Several titles back then sold close to a million copies a month. Now the publishers brag for weeks if they manage 1/5 of that. Most titles sell what - 40-50,000 copies a month? I still remember going to the Barber shop next door to the Drug store looking for old issues. If I found something I wanted (I remember an ASM #4) I would buy a new comic next door and trade it. Stopped collecting at age 16 when I discovered cars and girls. Conan 1 was one of the last comics I purchased. Started collecting again my Junior year of college when i discovered that comics had started attracting an intellectual following - Adams GL, Kirby's fourth world, ASM drug issues - and those Smith Conan's. My brother and I also collected coins. When we left home (he married, me last year of college) he took the coin collection and I the comics. The coins have done well too - we both had paper routes and had amassed a nice run of coins. I started being a part time dealer/collector in 1976 through the pages of Alan Light's "The Buyer's Guide" which is now Comic Buyer's Guide. That status - sometimes more dealer than collector, sometimes the other, has continued to this day. Tony Starks PS. At 77 Marty is still the oldest guy on the thread. I'm used to being the oldest guy at the comic shops. It's nice to be a youngster!

Conan's not in the page - and I don't miss him one bit!! What an awesome aquisition

I'll be watching from the sidelines for sure while the grown ups bid....