Bodhi396

I have used eBay's approved escrow service for two purchases. On future eBay auctions of my own (I'm selling) I will specifically offer it as an option on big items. I define "big" as anything over 10K for sure as this is where paypal pretty much leaves buyer and seller on their own. You could also look at any item over eBay's own private insurance (shipcover?). I cannot remember what that limit is but I'm certain it is no higher than 5K and might only be 2K. You should absolutely only use ebay's approved escrow service (escrow.com) Anyone suggesting any other escrow service should automatically serve as a red flag as there have been lots of scams with phony escrow services. Escrow.com's website explains it well, but here are the basics. Buyer and Seller agree to use escrow.com and register with escrow.com You list with escrow.com the sale information (item, price, inspection period, etc) Buyer sends payment to escrow.com Escrow.com notifies seller that they have the payment and seller should ship Buyer receives item(s) and has x number of days to inspect Buyer notifies escrow.com they accept the item Escrow.com sends payment to seller If buyer rejects the merchandise Escrow.com informs seller and buyer returns merchandise Once seller confirms they have merchandise back, escrow.com refunds buyer's money minus fees. How long this all takes depends on how buyer submitts payment to escrow.com, how fast item ships, how seller wants to be paid. Assume a couple of weeks to get paid if you are the seller. What it costs. It's 3.25% of the first 5K but then much less than that from 5-10K and less than 1% after 10K. On expensive items escrow.com's fees can be less than paypals. And it is common for the fee for escrow to be split by buyer and seller. Great info, I don't see why anyone wouldn't use this service on items over 10k.

Love those Fantastic Fours.

Here are my recent Silver Surfer acquisitions. My goal is to get all 18 original issues, although numbers 1 and 4 will be tougher given how expensive they are. So far I've got 9 down, 9 to go.

Just got back into collecting, here's what I've got in the last month.

I am happy right now focussing on raw comics, and not paying the premium for graded ones. However, I'm a bit weary of buying raw on ebay, especially listings that have just one pic thats not high resolution. Some questions I have are: Are the grades people give on ebay usually accurate? If there is only one low resolution photo, should i stay away, as the person may be hiding something about the books condition?

Awesome comics, I'm guessing you're a Silver Surfer fan. I love silver age Silver Surfer and am looking to get issues of all his early FF apprearences, along with all 18 issues of his solo comic. Is there a Silver Surfer collecting thread on this forum, I couldn't find one?

What was your bad experience?

Just curious if anyone has thoughts on how long a comic that's slabbed will last in the condition it was originally graded as? Let's just assume you get a silver age comic graded 9.0 in 2012. You keep it in good storage with proper humidity and temp and light. Will it still be a 9.0 in 50 years? 75 years? 100 years? In 2012, the comic might already be 50 years old, so in another 50 years it will be a 100 year old comic. Even slabbed, won't the paper start to break down?

Now this is exactly the style I would like to have for a comic room. Very minimalist and clean, almost all nicely displayed comics and not any junk. Very cool, I'm jealous!

That book is a freak of nature. I agree, seems highly unusual to find a book that old in such perfect condition. I've always wondered how such a thing happens. Everyone seems so concerned with getting the correct boards and bags to store their comics, and keeping them away from light and humidity. Yet this comic survived unscathed for 75 years without any of our modern protection. Where was it stored I wonder?

Interesting responses. I guess I understand the urge to have your comics in the best condition possible, even if as some alluded to, it might be just collectors' OCD. I think I miss the time when just having a certain comic seemed to matter, as long as it was not falling apart. Now it seems having a certain key issue is not enough, but you have to have the issue In a really high grade. Maybe I'm misremembering how collecting was before CGC, But it seems like the strict condition of comics wasn't as big a concern. I also think that old comics in low grade condition are interesting, because they can almost tell a story by their condition. You see a beat up Amazing Fantasy 15 and can imagine that it once belonged to a kid, and maybe was stored in an attic somewhere and somehow arrived at a dealer decades later. Comics in more 'perfect' grades have none of that history and character. I still have the first comic I ever bought and it's in fairly beat up condition and probably worth only a few bucks at most, but I love it more than any other comic I own. I could easily go out and buy exact issue in perfect condition, but it wouldn't be the same to me.

I'm trying to get back into comic collecting and am wondering why people will pay so much for high grade comics. I don't see why a 9.0 graded comic could be worth hundreds, if not thousands,more than the same comic graded 8.0. To me, the differences are so minor, why has a market been created around those differences that make them worth so much money? Is it mostly people speculating on comics as investments, or is a collector really willing to pay $1,000 more for a comic to not have some slight imperfections if they are simply going to keep it for themselves? To me, I just want a comic that generally looks nice. If the 4 or 5 looks nice, I don't see the value to myself in buying any higher grade if I'm going to keep it. This is especially true for modern comics, when the differences between a 9.8 and 9.4 seems so minimal, give me the much cheaper 9.4 any day!