Mr. Zipper

Thanks for the feedback all. It seems my initial thinking is in the ballpark. I am going to submit and will report back hopefully soon.

I think this is good advice. I am not inclined to press, but I don't want to be a fool either because a .5 difference on this book makes a big difference. I also don't want to be shipping it around the country more than necessary. Perhaps I will use the CGC screening service. Not cheap for this book, but it will take the guesswork out of it.

Yup. I've been over it with magnifier and 50x Proscope. The tears on the back are open... no glue.

I recently posted this in the grading forum and someone suggested getting pressed before submission. In my view, the only pressable flaws are the moisture ripples on the back edge (probably from sweaty kid's fingers in the 60s). I would think that the other wear and tear would keep the book in the Good range and pressing out those ripples wouldn't make a grade difference. Am I wrong?

My guess was 2.5. I kind of use an averaging system. To me, it likely could not go lower than 2 or higher than 3, so I land on 2.5 Looking through Hulk 1 2.5s in Heritage archives, it is very consistent with books in that grade. Once you get to 2.0 and lower, it is typically missing pieces, incomplete or has a ton of tape, etc. Mine doesn't have anything that severe.

There is a little "moisture rippling" along back left edge... presumably from sweaty fingers reading and re-reading it in 1962. I kind of assumed that the other wear and tear would override this and pressing would not make a grade difference.

I think I'm finally sending my Hulk 1 in for grading. I have a pretty good idea of where I think it lands. Your thoughts? Accumulation of wear and creases. Two small edge tears left side of back cover. A few light stains. 1/4 inch spine split bottom. Staples tight. No pieces missing or significant issues inside.

You cannot expect eBay reps to know the nuances of the hobby and absorb all these details. You were doomed from the start. Bottom line: buyer was not happy and wanted refund. eBay will say "yes" the vast majority of the time unless there is BLATANT fraud that can be easily observed by anyone. You're playing with fire by listing any raw book as a 9.8. It doesn't matter if it is a 9.8. It's only a matter of time before you run into an anal retentive kook looking to prove his superior grading prowess.

This is pretty impressive and looks very sharp. Do they sell boxes that you can put one of these in to preserve the shiny black finish?

The extremely liberal return policy and the reckless application of it are certainly enough to give me great pause if I was looking to sell any high priced item. Imagine selling a five figure key and then getting an email from ebay 179 days later stating "there's a problem"? About 15 years ago I sold an FF 1 to someone who was a member here and they Paypal scammed me 44 days later. Not going to let that happen again.

Which is totally fine when you can inspect a book in hand. I don't need anyone to tell me the grade when I can do it myself. However, the online experience is different and I expect sellers to adjust accordingly.

It seems as though your standard operating policy is tailored for the uncommon nut job, not the average customer who expects a dealer to provide some sort of grade assessment. If I accurately describe a book VF/VF+ and provide good photos, I’m not going to worry about the outlier who may think it’s a VG. If your system works for you fine. But you are certainly turning potential buyers off with that approach.

I don't get it either As a general policy, I avoid any auction that does not assign at least a grade range, and instead says, "I am not professional grader. Look at photos and decide for yourself." Is there hard to see tears? Are there long bends not showing? Staple rust? I'm not playing that game. Total cop out and waste of time. I understand not wanting to paint oneself into a 9.6 or 9.8 corner, but at the very least offer a range with a general description. For what it's worth, I NEVER believe raw 9.6 or 9.8 grades on ebay. If I want a 9.6 or 9.8. I'll buy it slabbed.

I've purchased one or two things from them in the past. No issues with transaction. Although, I recall making an offer on an item that had "make an offer" and it was declined. For the record, it was a small discount... around 5%... enough to basically give me "free shipping" on a $150 item. I always wonder why seller employ the "Make an Offer" feature and then decline even the most modest discount.

This is the evolution of many collectors. Going from accumulation to targeted collecting. The problem is, even once you are a more seasoned and selective collector, the accumulation from decades ago is still sitting there. This is where I am now. I am thinking of trying Facebook Marketplace to unload some long boxes.

I believe these would be easy to detect in hand. From the dryness, color and feel of the paper to the toning on the staples, etc etc... it would be nearly impossible to create a replica that could fool experts -- or even most astute collectors. As someone mentioned, even the cut doesn't look right. These are the kind of fakes you may see crop up in disreputable antique shops or flea market vendors. They get the kind of buyers who may just take the bait thinking they are getting an under-priced gem. A con often requires a greedy buyer who thinks HE is putting one over on a naive seller.

This is from page 1 of the forger's handbook. I've seen it 1,000 times. When confronted: Assert you make a lot of money/have a high profile profession Brag about your wealth and attractive partner Tell accuser to mind his own business and stop living in parent's basement. Prolific use of profanity and emojis Of course, the alleged "wealthy and successful" fake seller also has the writing and grammar skills of a drooling cretin.

An "authenticator" who does not authenticate the three most popular signatures in the genre. Interesting approach.

Yet this bottom-feeder has turned a stack of ten-for-a-dollar comics into hundreds of dollars in the past year.

My initial reaction was that the Stan signed Wolverine 4 was likely authentic... very ugly but probably ok. Frankly, I think a forger would tend to do a neater job forming the "an." I believe there were a lot of backroom deals for bulk submissions, so it's probable the person did not pay the full retail signing fee for this. As odd as it may seem, a lot of people did bring him books to sign that he did not write or edit. I don't get it... especially when dollar bins are full of books or reprints of books he did write... but it is what it is. Of course, the so-called PGX authentication will cast doubt on this... and the sloppy sub-prime signature... not a desirable item IMO. If you gave it to me for free, the first thing I'd do would be to crack it out of the heinous slab.

The disgusting reality is that forgery sellers know how to target casual buyers, like those looking for holiday gifts. The worthless fraudulent COAs and shiny stickers are often all a casual buyer needs to see to think that they’re getting the real deal. Kitchen table forgers don’t make their money from experienced collectors falling for their fakes… their bread-and-butter are casual and impulse buyers.

$40 for a signature that bears almost no resemblance to an authentic example. Who says crime doesn't pay?

I believe the Kirby on FF 13 is good. Bear in mind, just a few years ago, Kirby was an inexpensive signature and generally not the target of forgers. It has only become so in the last few years as his signature skyrocketed. I believe this is partially due to the realization among many collectors that "KIrby" signatures previously thought to be authentic -- 1990s lithos, books, etc. -- are now suspected to be proxy signatures.

Thye guys doing Stan Lee on dollar bin books are kitchen table forgers -- ebay hack bottom feeders. The really skilled forgers are doing Beatles Albums, Babe Ruth baseballs, etc.

A forger has to learn a signature, and because it is learned and repeated exactly the same way every time, they have no natural variation. "Cookie cutter" fakes. This is how and why you are able to identify specific forgers. Could also be some sort of trace job as mentioned by someone else.