Westy Steve

26 minutes ago, Rhymenoceros said:

I'd be frustrated, too... though changing the handling time is your best bet for sure if you're worried about not meeting it and having a delayed handling time happen in the future. His feedback doesn't seem exactly accurate based on the info you gave, but at least it wasn't a negative. 

The thing that irks me is the "full of excuses" part.  What sucks about it is that he wrote me and said "it's all good" before writing that feedback.  What a person_who_is_obnoxiously_self-impressed.  Seriously, I pride myself on being extremely honest.  I didn't think I needed any excuses since it was the fourth business day, and all I told him was that I had a family emergency (which I did). 

Does anyone remember when ebay was new and most sellers took a while getting out the shipments because we weren't all Ebay professionals...but rather just hobbyists who liked comics?

Full of excuses my Azz.  If that guy doesn't reverse his feedback, I'll out him here...it's the right thing to do. I can't leave feedback for him on Ebay, and  I don't want you guys to get dinged by him.  I wish I could retroactively block him.

I've got over 700 feedbacks with only one neutral.  Until today.  I got another one.

When I sell things, Ebay automatically indicates the turn-around time on the seller form.  It says 2 to 3 business days.  I'd like to figure out how to change it (my default setting), but I've been just living with EBay's selection of my turn around time.  I'm not a professional seller...this is my hobby.

I sold a book to a guy and couldn't ship it until the 4th business day.  I shipped a slabbed comic in a Priority box.  I didn't have packing peanuts, so I used paper towels, as I have done many times.   I actually prefer them because they are cheaper and do a good job.

The guy wrote me and asked me where his book was on the fifth business day, and I informed him that I'd sent it the previous day.  I believe I entered the tracking info before he asked, but can't be sure of the timing.

A day later, he informed me he got the book, but said I didn't have enough padding in there.  But the book arrived fine, and it was insured in the event that it was damaged. 

So the guy gives me a neutral, said that I was "full of excuses", that the book was poorly packaged and "luckily" arrived in good condition.

I know by posting this I'm opening up to criticism, but I wanted to vent.  I had a legitimate delay in my shipping time and I will be changing my settings to a slower default shipping time when I figure out how to do it.  I sell books to fund my hobby.

Thanks for your help. I figured out with the press the lower right corner will straighten out somewhat. It is folded under. The upper right corner is similar but less so. What do you think this would be grade with the press? I added some better pictures in a reply post below. Thanks for your help.

3 minutes ago, kav said:

Chin up fellers.

I'm good.  Missed the Hulk by 1 and hearing people who thought the ASM was a 9.2 gives me hope that I may not drop in the rankings.  Trying to make a dramatic come-back after a serious dip.

1 minute ago, jcjames said:

Top and bottom right corner c-b creases.

 

 

That's crazy.  Last time I got burned by including "corner creases" that were on the slab.  This time I ignored them, thinking they were on the slab, and they were on the book.  I've decided I do my best grading in person!

 I wish I had a dog in this fight.  I owned an AF15 for about 20 minutes back in the 90's and traded it for a nicer ASM1.

Here's my thought about the AF15s.  A collectible will rise in value at a certain rate, like an inch worm climbing a tree.  The more blue chip it is, the more the movement will be nearly continuous. Second and third bananas move like inch worms that move more erratically.  Third bananas sometimes only move in a very hot market  (which is a great way to tell if a market is hot).   ANYWAY, sometimes prices will get ahead of itself and fall back.  Sometimes prices will form a bubble, but that's less likely with blue chip material.  The faster it rises, the more likely it's in a bubble.  To me, a bubble is formed when people are buying things not because they necessarily love that thing, but because it is rising in value. In my years of experience investing in stuff, I've learned that when something is moving up in price very fast, that's a bubble and don't be a pig.   IMHO, the AF15 is getting "bubbly".  You know you're in a bubble when everyone is discussing the investment aspects of that collectible, as they are here. and they are in general disagreement.  Like stocks, when the volume of sales is way up because there is a divergence between those who think it's topped and those who don't, creating rapid sales, that's a "volume spike" which often signals a turn-around point.  Are they selling fast right now?  Faster than usual?  (I'm asking...I don't know).

Those of you who believe it won't backslide, have to realize that if it stalls and begins to dip, people will see their "profit" eroding, and decide it's a good time to sell, causing it's price drop to accelerate.  Then the price will drop fast.  The buyers will disappear when they realize it will be cheaper next month than it is right now, making it even worse.  If I see this happening, that's when I'll jump in...when blood is in the streets.

Disclaimer:  I'd love to have one, and if I had one today, I wouldn't sell it ever.

Footnote:  I wrote some stuff about internal rate of return in my journal that's somewhat related to this discussion.  You shouldn't compare books like AF15 to Action 1 unless you also consider the age of the book.   It's all about internal rate of return.

9.0.  Spine looks pretty nice.

52 minutes ago, toro said:

Just curious,  is the person who graded the SW a 6.0 the same person who graded the SA a 4.5?  And props to all of you who grade from phones that is tough to do. 

No.  It was me.  And I got a bullseye on the second book.  But on the Starwars 107, I saw what I thought were really light creases that looked like remnants of a press.  I guess I was seeing scratches on the case.  

Edit:  I've attached a photo of what I thought was one of the creases that I've circled in red.  There were two of these on the book:

45 minutes ago, Red84 said:

3 rounds in - 3 bullseyes and 3 way off.

This round the tide turns!!!

So they'll all be way off?

(sorry...couldn't resist)

23 minutes ago, jcjames said:

 

Welp that's what happens why I try to apply what I learned from the last round's "9.4" AT25 (yeahright). Didn't see any significant difference between Baloo (8.0) and AT25 (9.4) from last round, in fact Baloo looked way better with almost no spine issues.

Can someone who graded AT25 as being 9.4 and Baloo being 8.0 please let me know what you saw in AT25 that Baloo was lacking and vice-versa? Honest question. I looked at that AT25 with all those spine-ticks and that corner crease and said, well hellzbellz that Baloo looks pretty darn good compared to that! Ugh.

 

So... back to grading and not prognosticating what CGC would do.

 

 

I feel your pain.  I went 9.0 for the Aviation book and 9.4 on the Baloo.  On my screen, the Baloo looked like it had a 9.6 cover but a weaker back, hence the 9.4.   But the Aviation book had what I thought was scratches on the CGC case, and I guess they were a fold or tape or something?

Can we stick to straight forward books that have a grade in same zip code as their appearance?  I guess I can't grade through plastic via a monitor.

On ‎8‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 9:46 AM, JTLarsen said:

Definite keeper. And, yes, overshadowed by Adams, especially. One of the definitive Batman artists.

I don't know about overshadowed.  Aparo is one of many artists who would be rock stars today if they were still with us.

Submitted.  I'm swearing off zooming in on the pictures...makes me grade too conservatively.

9.4 with that bottom right corner?  Interesting!

24 minutes ago, 01TheDude said:

the rules mention that all books have been pressed. I would assume that whoever had this submitted would be wise enough to have cleaning done in addition to pressing. In other words, that book is probably as clean as it is going to be. Could be wrong but that seems logical to me.

Actually, I think we are to assume that the books were pressed.  But in reality, they may not be.  But still, we're not supposed to grade them based on what they could be improved to be, but rather grade them at face value.  I think it's safe to assume none of the books in this contest have a soft bend or other defects invisible in a scan. 

1 hour ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

I hit the bullseye with Crimes at 3.5 the ASM though I put 6.5----I guess because I didn't notice the stain----only the corners and spine-----note to self, when using the magnifying glass to zoom in, don't only look at the edges  

Sadly, I did see the stain, but I guess I under-estimated how much it brought the grade down.  Ah well.  I'd be sorely tempted to have that book cleaned and resubmit.

Looking at the distribution, more than twice as many people thought the ASM 129 was a 6.5 than a 5.5.  Furthermore, almost twice as many people thought the ASM 129 was a 7.0 than a 5.5!

Maybe it's time to crack that puppy out and resubmit it. 

On ‎7‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 9:10 PM, mads said:

Hi, 

   I have a question, I have a cgc graded copy of She Hulk #1 Oyum variant signed by Stan Lee 9.8 and I've seen one of them sold on ebay for 800.00 unsigned. My question is that an accurate value and if not how can I find out how much it's really worth?

Hi, they have sold for a lot less unsigned.  Stan Lee is a great man, but his signatures only add so much value...either the cost of the signature, or something like a 20% bump in value.  But since 20% of $42 isn't much, it's probably the book's value graded plus his signature.  I'd put the value at around $150.

The top one is much more egregious.  Sometimes the graders ignore or at least minimize production flaws.  But even if they didn't, that bent corner is worse than the little color fleck.

45 minutes ago, 1950's war comics said:

Hope you get bumped up to an 8.0 ! let us know the results down the road..........

Thanks.  I'll definitely share the results.

I personally think the dealers should take the difference between the selling price of the trade-in and the desired book, and multiply that difference by a reasonable profit margin (for example, like adding 30% to that difference)

Say I had a bronze key book in CGC 8.0 and I wanted to upgrade it to a CGC 9.0.  Any recommendations on the best way to go about it?  Are dealers receptive to allowing you to do a trade plus cash without having to give up the farm?  Anyone care to share their experiences?

Thanks for the input.  Ya'll are confirming my own estimates.  Here's the thing...  What you can not see in the picture is that there is a nearly invisible diagonal bend in the cover.  That bend is not color-breaking.   It's so light that when I bought the book, I didn't even see it until the ride home when I saw it when the light was shining against the gloss.  I felt like a noob because you always need to check the reflection of the gloss and I forgot.  Anyway, the book is/was sitting in a CGC 6.0 slab, so the graders at GCG saw it and factored it in.  So I bought it for the price of a Fine, but the bend will easily press out. At the time I bought it, I thought it was horribly undergraded.

So I've sent the book off to be pressed and re-graded, and your guesses are (literally) as good as mine regarding how it will come back.  Without the bend, I'm hoping It'll come back as an 8.0, but I could see either a 7.5 or a 8.5 depending on the how well the pressing works and how grumpy the graders are. 

That does beg the question of when you'll give the grades for the first two books.  Do we have to wait for the end of the contest, or after grade submission for those two books are closed?

Thanks for doing this...lot of fun!