Westy Steve

Thanks for the replies! I'll pay it forward by grading a bunch of books here. I think I'm in the 8.5 camp myself. In hand, it seems like it's a "shot 9.0", but it's a little soft on the corners. The picture makes the whites appear a little brighter than they are, which might hold it down too. I don't believe an 8.0 because the insides are pretty nice. Not the whitest paper, but supple.

Thanks so much for the replies! Last night (still the 3rd business day), I wrote him an email asking him to reconsider. The guy wrote back and said he was "done with me" and wanted to cancel the transaction. I think I have grounds to get this negative reversed. It's not that I need to, but it's the principle of the thing. No way would I neg someone for potentially going a day over their shipping time. People should be more understanding.

So did the seller advertise that the book was missing pages? If not, it's an implied "not as described", or if there is such a thing, "defects not disclosed". This seems open and shut to me. If I buy a radio and it arrives missing pieces, I can return it on ebay....unless its advertised that way. Even if the seller didn't know it was missing pieces.

I put an item up for sale. Ok, it might not be a comic book, but maybe I can be forgiven for asking just this once. Anyway, my item sold on Sunday. I usually try to toggle "4 business days handling time", but somehow missed it, so it was 3 days handling time. Today is the third day. The reality is that I'm not a professional seller. I sell things once in a while, and I get busy with my day job. I've had almost 900 feedbacks and no complaints dating back like 25 years. But this morning, the guy contacted and asked me why I didn't ship his item. I told him it would go out no later than tomorrow (4th business day). So he gave me negative feedback. The buyer has a feedback of 3. I don't really want to complete the sale. I feel like I'd have nothing to lose if I somehow couldn't find the item in question. Oppsie! I already got the bad feedback, so reversing the sale wouldn't harm anything. My question is: Will reversing the sale erase the bad feedback? If I elect to go ahead with the sale, how long can I drag out the shipment at this point before ebay gets involved. Yeah, I'm pretty pizzed and right now feeling spiteful. I try hard to be an attentive seller but I didn't have a chance to go to the post office.

I think you'll either get an 8.5 or a 9.2. It will depend on how they treat the spine ticks. If they agonize over them, it'll hurt you. But sometimes they don't and those are small ticks.

Hey, I'll grade yours if you'll grade my Conan 1. Kidding, but seriously, I tried to grade it, but I need to see the whole cover in one photo. It's the only way I can get a feel for the book to grade it.

I snapped these photos while waiting in line to submit it for grading. Book was pressed and the presser did a decent job. What do you think it will come back as? Inside is nice with no defects and average page quality.

That sounds like a Consortium.

Glad to hear that! TampaCon is my favorite convention because it's not too far from home and has more of a comic book focus than the others. You're correct that my attendance estimate was based on how long I had to wait in line, which was much faster this year. No offense intended.

Sorry I'm replying to so many here, but this is a good question: I feel I know my comics pretty well, and every time I go to a show I come back with some kind of deal that justifies the cost of gas and the hotel. Not this time. I go to shows open minded, because I need to be flexible to find a book that justifies the gas money and hotel fees. FWIW, I don't blame the dealers and sympathize with them. I feel sorry for the dealers because cons have gotten so bloated that they have to pay huge table fees and they pass those costs on. Maybe I'm not finding deals because the cons themselves are getting expensive. This weekend I'm planning on going to a smaller "hotel show" that is just comic dealers. The table fees there are smaller. I suspect I'll have better luck there, which defeats the purpose of going to a big con completely.

(my buddy that I keep referencing)

Those would have been great pickups for me. (I'm the O.P. in this thread). Wish dealers would make a point to bring more books like that.

I was there on Friday only. It was the smallest Friday crowd I've seen in the last few years...it was very easy to get in with almost no wait in line at all. It was pretty easy to get around. My buddy and I joked that this might be their last year based on how few people were there Friday. Comic book dealers appeared to be steady but slow, usually with one person looking at wall books at a time. There was the usual crowds looking through the $1 books...not sure if they were buying or not. I didn't see as many cosplayers as the last couple years, and I was OK with that. I personally would be interested in hearing what Saturday was like compared to last year.

TampaCon. Again, not an indictment to the dealers or even the show. I think it's just the market place and the market forces in general. Dealers can't afford to display the cheaper wall books, and typically need to seill their bread and butter cheap books to help pay for table space. I suspect the books in my budget get left at home.

That's a gray area. I like collecting important milestones. I also buy classic non-key stuff to read, but I have a huge backlog of stuff I need to read. I do feel some enormous responsibility to at least get the money back out of the books that I put into them since I have three kids who need to go to college.

I hear you. But I realized that it made more sense to save my money for an ebay purchase than to spend it on something just to buy something. If I can't at least get a discount to ebay prices, I don't want to play. To clarify, this is not an indictment on the dealers. I saw they had some deals, but the deals I saw that weren't "drek" were above my budget.

I don't personally. I always bring money and trade material. FWIW, I prefer the shows without panels. I'm there for books! I try to bring more than $200, but I was still thinking I'd find SOMETHING at this show. I think my $200 budget was in the no-man's land between the table-top fodder and the wall books.

So I went to a comic book show this weekend. I only had a couple hundred $$$ to spend at the show because times are tight right now. For the first time ever, I went home from a show without a book. I couldn't find anything I wanted that was either (a.) in my price range (b.) not "drek" (c.) too new to be interesting to me or (d.) above ebay prices. In fairness, I did see one book I wanted, but I put it down for a moment and someone else picked it up and bought it. Aw well. My friend who went with me experienced the same thing. Yes, there was a lot of $20 books for $10, but I need those like I need a hole in the head. Any semi-serious, somewhat key bronze or older book seemed too high and the newer stuff doesn't float my boat. I could have bought some mid-grade silver age stuff, but that just seems like tying up money to me. Golden age offerings that were even somewhat interesting started at $500. No flames, guys. Can we just talk about the lack of material in that price range? edit: Just to be clear, I got to the show early.

Need money for Tampa Con. Make offer?

Tales of Suspense is Now Sold. Phantom Stranger still available. Typical rules apply. First "take it" gets the book. "Take it" trumps an ongoing negotiation via private message. US sales only. Shipping will be USPS. Asking $100 each for the following two books. Secure and sensible boxed shipping is included in the purchase price. First Book: .Tales of suspense number 35 which is a Watcher Proto type. I think this book is it least a fine and may be approaching VF territory. Pages are supple. I bought it because it just looks so nice compared to what you usually see out there. Second book:.. is a Phantom Stranger Number 14. One of the coolest covers and a key in the run. It's a Swamp Thing Proto type. Seldom seen in this high grade. think it would slab as a 9.0..maybe an 8.5. It looks pretty good. No major problems with it. Note I can provide a $15 discount per book if you want it hand-delivered on Friday to Tampa con.

Can't wait to read this whole thread, because I'm passionate about the subject. But here's a few tidbits. 1. I'm in a Facebook forum dedicated to personal finance investment and I broached the topic of investing in collectibles. I got a ton of "laughing emojis" as a response. So the answer to the OP's question is a resounding, No. In fact, that group is hilarious because all they talk about is buying cheap index funds, and their idea of diversification is to buy different funds, or foreign stock funds. I tried to point out that true diversification comes from buying other asset classes, and that includes 10% of your portfolio in stuff like collectibles, but it fell on deaf ears. 2. As some people pointed out here, many collectibles are viable investments if you take the same care in selecting them that you might take in buying the right stock or mutual fund. You don't just buy any stock, and you shouldn't buy any collectible for investment. Some comic books are far better investments than others and due diligence is important, just as it is in buying investment real estates, stocks, or even bonds. 3. All that being said, collectibles really need to be a small percentage of your holdings, and stocks are a great investment vehicle. It can be relatively cheap to buy them at your day job, and if your company does 401K matching and you're not doing it, you're being stupid. Start by putting 1% of your salary in there and then bump it up a little bit every time you get a raise...you won't even miss it.

Needs to go to a variant collector. Don't be afraid to make an offer.

Man, I really need to pay attention. I've missed two of the three rounds so far.

Standard terms apply. First firm commitment in any format takes it. Shipping is $5. Will send via USPS. I will except returns less my five dollar shipping fee. Returns will be "all or nothing". I won't piecemeal a return. Payment via PayPal or money order only. This is a Whitman viriant lot for $50 plus shipping. These books all came from a one owner collection. I want to stress that most every grade here can be improved by at least one grade increment by pressing. I get the impression these books were read one or two times and put away but were Not bagged or boarded so they have light bends keeping the grades down. Books graded below VF have spine stress included in this lot is brave and bold number 151 fine/very fine brave and bold number 154 fine superboy and the Legion,number 255, very fine plus Superboy and legion number 251, Very fine plus Action number 496, 504, and 507. Each is VF except number 496 which is more like VF/NM 7 books total very nice page quality. Bear with me because I'm doing this with a cell phone.

I'd like to play!