miraclemet

That OA would so be gone if only all my earthly possessions weren't in a shipping container at the port right now... I have literally NOTHING to offer at the moment. *sigh*

well that's a new one...

or maybe he didnt see tuffy's "I'll take it if he doesnt"?

I found it... I also found all the notes of post apology shilling in the last few days.

He apologized this morning saying he has been done with shilling because he is on medication now. Then I posted a bunch of links to his shilling early this morning and I believe he said he will retract everything. http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=281383500980&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2565 This is from tonight. His apology didn't even last 12 hours. I missed the medication thing! Someone please link if it's even still there...

Here's another one I bought not long before the move (using some of the funds from my giant TPB/HC sale). Modern Comics #99 I got it from Worldwide and its from the Cape Cod collection. The colors on the cover were so sharp I thought it'd be great to own, plus NO copies on census, so once I get around to it, it'll be the lone copy graded. Just hoping it makes the shipping from the US with all of my other comics... I think it's the lone "Blackhawks in space" type cover... Love the helmets (but look ma, no gloves!) I also question the woman's choice to wear a skirt on the moon, it's probably gonna be cold. The bad guy crouching behind the rock looks like a young Abraham Lincoln.

Symbiotics pattern of almost constant poor decision making followed by abject apology and efforts to make amends makes it hard to believe he will come around. He doesnt seem to be able to fix what ever the "root cause" of his problem is, he's efforted in repairing some of the symptoms, but the root cause remains, and will cause his next mistake. He also doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes. He was called out for shilling in the past, it was made obvious what the boardies thought of such acts, he claimed he would change his ways, but as we saw in his latest round of ebay auctions, he had no problem returning to his shilling ways, and repeating the process of "making things right" once he was caught/exposed. Maybe he's a kid (how young can you be on these boards? 18?) and maturity in the coming years will help him learn how to behave, and he'll develop the "should I do thi?s" filter that most people have in between having and idea, and acting on an idea. Do I think he's a lost cause? No, but I also dont think the Marketplace is where he should be figuring things out, and leaving us to suffer his growing pains.

dont think I havent already created ebay accounts for .uk, .fr and .de! They are definately far sparser than their US counterpart, but hey that might mean less competition when a cool book comes along. anything to avoid collecting Smurfs!

Ok, well now that I've finished the move across the pond I can get back to collecting... or can I? Belgium (where I moved to) has some crazy import taxes and fees, so shipping a book from the states tacks on about 33% to the total cost of the book So a $500 book ends up costing me $675, kinda hard to try and get books for their "market" price, when I know Im having to pay a big markup for importing. I've already got a plan to buy and hold books in the US to avoid this, but that means fewer books being in my hands as I work on my collection, which sucks. So on to my tale of Venus #10. One of my favorite Golden Age Sci-Fi covers, the black border is striking, the GGA, the "hero" in his space suit, the alien landscape.... it's just great. Venus went from being Romance, to Sci-Fi to Horror as it tried to survive as tastes changed with readers.... and their Sci-Fi cover is great. So a few months back one of our boardies posted a low/mid-grade copy for a good price, but it had restoration. But it's restoration (tear seals) would fall into the "conservation" category with CGC's change to their assessment of work done on books so I decided to get it and then resub it to see how the new guidelines worked. Well in parallel I was having a conversation with another boardie, who informed me after I had agreed to buy the restored copy that he had just sent his 7.5 on to CLINK for addition into the summer auction. Deciding that I'd love a higher grade copy that was universal the first seller let me out of my purchase (a good guy who I've done many a transaction with) and I set my sights on the 7.5 that would be auctioned in a few months... Time passes... we get closer to the Summer August auction on CLINK, and what pops up on the boards? An amazing 8.5 copy. But I've moved to Belgium, and if I want to get this book delivered it's going to cost an arm and a leg in import fees. But WAIT, the seller is in the UK. No import fees for Europe! Thanks to chromium the other Belgian boardie who confirmed the no-fees hope I had, and I made the purchase. Cant wait to have it in hand soon...

so is pointing out the shilling in Symbiotic's marketplace post considered thread crapping? I just hate the idea of someone using the boards to promote his ebay auction, which is being unethically shilled...

its MOOT point!

One more and he's gone. wishes apparently came true! Looks like ban was added...

If you wake up this morning to 100 posts in the Probation discussion here's the summary: Current HOS vote up for discussion: Symbiotic HOS nomination poll with detailed write up courtesy of HarveySwick Symbiotic came on and (after saying he would accept whatever the boards determined) started back tracking arguing that he really didnt do all that much wrong and he didnt actually cheat anyone out of any money so why the HOS? There was some back and forth about the solarcadet HOS listing with buzz and Solar rehashing positions (nothing new) JimmyL had a buyer on ebay notify him 8 months later that a book didnt arrive. Everyone said Jimmy owes the buyer nothing due to the long delay, and it could just as easily be a scam since there was no international tracking to prove/disprove delivery. Now go read the Symbiotic summary and vote!

Had he said "My book isn't this one, but it's the same grade" that would make sense. However, he was selling a slab. Slabs have their own serial number. White page (bronze and earlier) slabs sell at a premium. To Slab buyers the wrap matters, the visible defects matter, the date of certification (research-able through the serial number) could even matter. He simply listed the book, as if it was his, when he knew it wasn't and without disclosure of any kind. I agree if it was a raw modern that it wouldn't be a problem. It's a problem because it's a slab and a $400 one. Any slab sale that uses a stolen scan is going to be a problem whether it's a modern or and oldie. He also mentioned in his sales thread that he thought the book had a "chance for an upgrade"... inferring that a press could get a higher grade. Which means the potential buyer would then look at the scan to see if he agreed that the defects were pressable... except the scan the buyer would be looking was not the actual book being sold.

technically speaking his old thread (with the HFH at the lower price) is still open, someone could go buy it from that thread.... cause im eeeeeevil

So in Symbotic's own feedback thread he's posted that he has refunded Wolfpack... in a post today. Wonder when he refunded the money, was it just prior to him starting up his sales thread? That'd be pretty weak, wait to resolve a refund until you wanted to get off the probation list... Wonder where wolfpack is so he can confirm the refund...

I bump this for future reminder since the lure of profits is simply irresistible....pathetic Is it more pathetic that he went back on his word, again, or that he still gets sales despite all his shenanigans? I just assume every word that comes out of his mouth is a lie so no surprise he went back on his word again. And I'm sure he's still shilling books on eBay.I only saw one sale though and it was from a n00b so s/he probably didn't do any due diligence. Still (facepalm) in this hobby your word is so important. I guess for symbiotic he just doesn't care. I PMed the noob and let him know that he should be sure to use paypal for protection and get tracking... not much else to do beyond being diligent.

and I do too... but when I see a book get a "nice price!" comment (and it doesnt set off the sarcasm radar) and then I look at GPA and see the price is 20% over GPA history then I get confused...and suspicious...

so when you see someone pipe up in a sales thread saying a book is "a great price" or something... when it isnt... do you assume the poster is a)ignorant or b)a friend who's pseudo-shilling the book for his buddy trying to help convince someone that it really is a great deal...

Im always drawn to that cover, one of my favorite early covers along with #8... GL was not blessed with great covers during the first few years, but #4 is one of the few sharp ones!

hey Gator (or anyone else) are there any other titles that are currently in the midst of this scenario that are worth keeping an eye out for (in terms of potential price drop)?

Are the books in questioned being priced with shipping included from a certain kangaroo infested Continent? If so spot check would be close, but I haven't checked them all... I.e savage she-hulk 1 9.8 90 day gpa is $141 (his "crazy under gpa price" is $150 which includes shipping from AU, which I'm guessing is $20-30? So he would be selling for under gpa I guess)

I usually pm the seller with the correct info and ask kindly for a correction... If nothing happens...well factual information isn't crapping is it?

And - correct me if I'm wrong - GPA doesn't collect sales data from here, right? that's a good point for sellers to realize. many dealers/buyers use GPA. So if GPA is reporting top sales of say $1000, and you are asking $1100... well that $1100 sale wont show as a market transaction, and the GPA continues to sit at $1000... if the new owner tries to sell then all they still have is the $1000 average GPA for the market to value their book at.

And - correct me if I'm wrong - GPA doesn't collect sales data from here, right? I thought you could self report if you wanted to? maybe I'm thinking of something else. when I first started using GPA there was a self-reporting option... it's gone now... I think there was an assumption that it opened up to much opportunity for market manipulation and had a high overhead to just verify a small number of self-reported sales. and no GPA doesnt collect sales data from here.