revat

On 5/8/2024 at 1:21 PM, Martian Manhunter said:

I sent in a gorgeous copy of Swamp Thing #4 from the early 70s to get pressed and graded. Its been in pressing for almost a month now. Anyone know what's going on? This can't be normal!

they give estimates of turnaround times on the website, which are usually at least little bit under reality.  Aside from that, pressing might be over but it hasn't hit the system on the grading side yet, so it still looks like pressing hasn't finished.  

But in general, turnaround time is largely based on volume of submissions and staffing.  They are not actively pressing your specific book for 30 days.  They can't always control how many books come in on a given day and for what service.  They can't control if two staffs call in sick on the same day.  I guess think of it like a suit alteration. When the tailor sits down with your suit, it'll probably just take him 1 or 2 hours to finish it, but if there's 500 hundred suits to alter before yours, it could take a while - days/weeks/months.  Hopefully that example helps you understand.  

Think about what the pressing/grading/administrative process would entail from a business/operations perspective, and its not tough to see why there might be delays or errors or why the process takes so long to begin with.  Which is not to say they couldn't improve processes or communicate better, they for sure could.  You could also give feedback to CGC customer service, let them know they're not meeting expectations if that's the case.  If enough people do that they will be more compelled to improve.

It’s dependent on the book and the grade of the book.  And to a lesser extent the look and placement of the signature.

if you want, you can do a bit of research comparing eBay sold prices for signed and unsigned copies in the same grade.  Get as many data points as you need

what he was charging means largely nothing at this point 

I'm not sure what other option there would be than contacting the company and letting them know your address changed.  Maybe there are other options, I don't know.  Regardless, I think one would have to contact customer service at some point.

  CGC has a company website.  You can go there and look for the contact info for customer service.  Like many businesses, CGC customer service has telephones and email.  You might even be able to find them on social media if that is more your speed.

Good luck.

It depends, but yah the grade matters generally.  Especially if comics are newer.

so if it doesn’t matter to you, then you’re in luck

On 4/29/2024 at 1:25 PM, KCOComics said:

Both venues have a wide audience for comics. 

Heritage seems to hammer better for GA but they also have higher fees.  You'll want to do your homework based on the genre and sales history. 

If you have big books Heritage might negotiate a lower fee. 

 

good advice

take the books you have, and research yourself which auction does better on similar books, and of course factor commissions and fees.

Also consider Mycomicshop, which might be pretty good for some books.

Assuming 9.8 CGC SS with both signatures exist, probably 3x to 5x the price for the 9.8 version.

(also assumes no 10.0 exists)

I think you could pay for a press for this and the defect would probably press out, leaving an ok chance at a 9.8 if this is the only flaw.

As for the rest of your questions, lay out specifics and use complete sentences, and provide information to make it easy for other people to give you help.  

If you want to buy a book for a signing, do it if it makes sense for you.  Plenty of people buy graded and/or ungraded books in preparation for a signing.  Nobody knows your situation or preferences but you, and every book and situation is different.  

Good luck.

On 4/28/2024 at 3:08 PM, Neo "The One" said:

Hey @revat - as Sauce Dog alluded to, on the original thread Mike actually did threaten violence before that thread was locked. There were a lot of other things 'said'.  Books may have been stolen.  I mean, I sent him my book and he sold it on eBay without my authorization or knowledge.  No compensation was given to me.  I like many others were giving HR the benefit of the doubt, and they strung me along for months before ultimately closing shop.  I head 'rumors' of a robbery of his shop that may or may not have been staged as well as other 'interesting' things.  These things have all been mentioned either on the original thread or this one.  I also believe there is a third thread that goes waaaaay back to when Mike, 'introduced' himself to the community.  Kind of like that Seinfeld episode.  

 

I was more alluding to the fact that he didn’t go to anyone’s home/property and steal comics.  Or make tangible, criminal threats of physical harm that would be viable in court.  I’m not sure internet rants would rise to the level.  At least to my limited knowledge.  It seems like all books were voluntary physically given to him.  
 

these are factors that would often more likely lead to incarceration, or longer terms of incarceration.  Of course it also depends on the jurisdiction and judge/jury/lawyers and the situation at large.  I just wouldn’t get my hopes up about significant jail/prison time.  

On 4/27/2024 at 12:37 PM, JAUITO said:

I also spoke with Matt. He’s 95 percent sure he will get a conviction on Mike due to the fact that so many people have lots 10’s of thousands of dollars. Mike should have returned the books when he had the chance instead of selling them. He deserves lots of jail time

I hope everything goes right going forward for the victims, and that suspect faces justice with harsh punishment…

but I wouldn’t get my hopes up about a lot of jail time.  Nothing was taken by force or physically stolen, and the defendant doesn’t seem to have committed or threatened any violence.  

Most of these decisions are soooooo subjective.  Just make sure you’re working with the best possible facts and assumptions.  

if it’s true junk you can Craigslist it super cheap like $10 per long box just to get rid of it and save you the space or drive to goodwill

Contact customer service

As a general rule, the first thing I do when trying to figure out a signature is to look on eBay for cgc ss comics signed by the people on the front of the comic (if they are shown), and see if any of them match up with the signature I have. 

Well CGC has graded millions of books. So I guess the answer is yes, they haven't handled every transaction perfectly from start to finish.  Unlike other companies that have handled millions of transactions exactly perfect in every single possible instance.

Hope that helps answer the question.

On 4/22/2024 at 6:37 AM, Samariah said:

as it appears to be hand painted, there may be some benefit to posting about the general geographical location as it may be a local artist.

Additionally, if you are capable, you might be able to ask an AI program to identify the signature.

I hate it when restaurants charge me more than the actual cost of the food ingredients. It’s unfair, a shameless money grab

that being said, get the terms straight beforehand 

On 4/17/2024 at 3:27 PM, rlextherobot said:

Mile High's business practice as laid out by Chuck is maintaining a large stock of items at high prices, which prevents them from needing to restock regularly.  His philosophy is that Mile High is a destination since they will have more stock available than anyone else, although as noted above the grading is poor and seasoned collectors won't bother rolling the dice in the hopes of getting the book they're overpaying for in the purported grade. 

The customer base for Mile High is as far as I can tell: 

1) People who don't know any better, or are too impatient to shop around. 
2) People who can't find what they want elsewhere (and are again too impatient to wait for it to come up at a better price). 

So yeah. I think it's worth noting that any new business trying to get off the ground with this business model today would likely crash and burn. Because Mile High has been an established entity for decades and Chuck has amassed a lot of stock, they can make their money on fewer sales and thus keep their operating costs down. It seems nuts, but the business is at least outwardly still successful. 

 

Also, if you wait for the big sales, 50-60% off from MHC and you know in advance that the grading will be suspect, you can still fill large runs/collection holes at average prices or catch deals on comics that have blown up but prices haven't updated yet (if the timing matches).

As stated, probably not sustainable for a new business, but they can make up for it with volume now since they're already established

I'd say if you have an opinion about CGC policy, you should probably contact CGC directly.

Other than that, if you aren't declaring a postal insurance value on your high value items, good luck to you.

On 4/16/2024 at 8:11 AM, AltonKroobe said:

Okay I get that but how do I get cgc to note on the label that the comic was part of Harlan Ellison's collection do I send them the certificate and add a note asking that they add his name to the label  or is there an official form?

Just contact cgc customer service directly to make sure you get every aspect right. 
 

sometimes policies and processes change, and may be looking for different things for each pedigree/collection.  

you can check the cgc website for cgc contact info

good luck. 

Shirts v skins

It’s pretty subjective 

Does it add value to the user equal to or above the extra cost of the label do

 I’d lean yes in this case, for me persona ally 

CGC does not do authentications of signatures not witnessed by CGC.  SO DO NOT SEND IT IN NOW.   HOWEVER, they will start doing so soon.  I'd wait for press releases to come out, and then contact CGC customer service about the entire process.  It will be a new process, lots of chances for things to go wrong.  So I personally would keep in contact with CGC customer service to minimize the chance of mistake/error/delay/damage/loss.

The TMNT stuff?  I guess the movie didn't come out til 1990.  Up to you if you include or not.

There's the Dune comics, the Willow comics - Marvel 

Big Trouble in Little China comics that came in 2014 from Boom.

Whatever the first appearance of Conan the Barbarian (and friends) is.  

On 4/3/2024 at 1:48 PM, habsfan1 said:

Would it be worth bringing this up with the local media?  That sometimes puts the pressure on getting things moving.

This might help, but to really get traction you might need a local victim.  

But certainly worthwhile as a consideration.

It would be easier for folks to help you if you provide screenshots, but CGC is not perfect and definitely their user interface isn't perfect, and can vary based on the device and internet browser you use.  So this might be a better question to ask CGC customer service directly

good luck.

they have a website with customer service contact info.

some of you guys need to start making clever ticktoks and instagrams like they do with sneakers and pokemon/sports cards.  Get the youths to see comics that way.