Number 6

On 12/13/2023 at 11:50 AM, phretbored said:

Previously when I indicated that books were stolen I think that was not quite the correct term.

Would embezzlement or misappropriation be more accurate in this situation?

When it comes to the correct term, the lawyers here would probably be in a better position to ascribe a label to what Heroes Restoration is doing to his customers.

Maybe defrauding a person of their books?  Inducing people to part with their property under the pretense that it's going to be handled a certain way, when the actual reality is the work promised isn't done and neither the money nor book(s) are returned.

On 12/12/2023 at 9:13 PM, Lightning55 said:

Not saying Ebay Shipping is bad, but I find Pirate Ship to be better.

They don't keep messing with the interface. There are no glitches, no interruptions of service. They have low Commercial Rates, and also Priority Cubic, which always beats Flat Rate. They charge 80 cents per $100 for insurance. Very friendly and fast CS - you actually get a human! By phone, email, or chat.

It's always good to have a secondary shipping method, so you might want to set up Pirate Ship as that. It's free. I did that, and never went back. And I really like that eBay gets zero $$$ of my label money.

I had coverage through PS labels on a claim for $600 in USPS-damaged raw comics. I was personally assigned a PS rep that coordinated with the underwriter. Paid in full. Nothing like that is going to happen with eBay, for sure.

Regarding the part in bold:  I'm not saying your wrong or trying to be snarky, I'm genuinely asking so I can better understand - how is it that e Bay doesn't get a cut of the shipping?

Because my understanding is that e Bay calculates their fee to the sellers based on the total amount that the buyer pays: item price, taxes collected and amount collected for use on postage.

Even if you're using Pirate Ship to actually print the shipping label, the cost for shipping would have to be part of the listing and therefore part of what the buyer pays, which is used to calculate the fees to the seller.

On 12/11/2023 at 9:36 PM, RockMyAmadeus said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was the underbidder on the #180. 
 

When the listings first went up he had a negative feedback for inflated shipping and refusing to combine but the seller successfully had it removed not long after the listings went live. 
 

He had a couple books I was interested in the - the #179 and 180 - but there’s nothing in his listing regarding his combined shipping policy so in light of the poofed feedback I messaged him and asked him what his policy was. He never responded. 
 

His listing states he ships via Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate box which is $17.10 and he’s charging $25 so he’s already gouging on shipping. The refusal to combine just takes it over the top. 
 

The guy is a tool but I decided to bid and just adjust my bid from what I was willing to pay down by $25.  
 

I wasn’t really bothered when I got outbid but I thought to myself the other guy is going to be in for an unpleasant surprise.  Sorry it ended up being you. 

Edit to add:

When the listing was live it was showing Priority Medium Flat Rate box but now I see on your invoice he switched the shipping method the Media Mail.  $50.00 for Media Mail shipping.  What an absolute piece of work.

Also add:  weird, when I look at his profile on a desktop it shows only positive feedback, but when I look at his profile on the app it shows him as having a 100% feedback score but you can still see the negative feedback he had removed,

On 12/8/2023 at 1:52 PM, Steviehuv66 said:

Probably a dead end.

Sounds like filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau but without the threat of ending up on a "bad business" list.

Unfortunately, it does sound like a dead end.

On 12/5/2023 at 3:18 PM, wombat said:

Not to be that guy, but why didn't they catch these in QC? Shouldn't they have been "on the lookout" from the beginning?

Agreed. Not to pile on, but wasn’t there someone just a couple pages back who sent a book back as ME for this very thing and CGC returned it with the same bent label. 
 

CGC’s response makes it sound like they just now discovered this was a problem. 
 

How many times do people have to say “Your hair is on fire! Your hair is on fire!” before you finally acknowledge ‘oh, hey, that’s why it’s so hot in here’. 

On 11/27/2023 at 11:40 PM, ExNihilo said:

You would have thought that would have been the case in July, yet people still sent him books in August.  I get it, no one's perusing the internet for every reference of a business, but it's clear there are still people out there who are still blind to what's happening.

Hang on, you're taking my words out of context.

I was speaking to the notion that collecting information from the affected customers might be the first step in eventually getting some legal pressure applied. 

At no point did I suggest that this effort to gather information would have any kind of impact on new customers submitting books.  It's pretty easy to see how a new customer would be completely unaware of what's being discussed here.

On 11/24/2023 at 8:31 PM, Tnexus said:

Not to burst bubbles here, but police would probably consider this a civil case versus criminal. I doubt they'd do anything. You willingly sent him the comics.

Sure, they willingly sent him the books. 
 

But if I start an organized operation to induce people to willing send me their property under what turns out to be false pretenses, refuse to return their property when repeatedly ask to do so by the owners and then limit or cut off communication altogether - that sounds like defrauding people of their property. 
 

I’m not a lawyer and I’m not up to speed on the laws in HR’s locality, but I’m pretty sure fraud IS a crime. 
 

Now, if people are only sending me $5 comics then yes I could see that getting brushed aside as a civil matter. 
 

But the kind of money we’re talking about here?  Again, not a lawyer, but I would have to think there’s some thresholds that have been hit for criminal charges. 

On 11/25/2023 at 6:37 AM, Sauce Dog said:

Latest update:

While it would be nice if this were true, I’d be willing to guess he’s been keeping up the developments in this thread.  Seems like yet another stall tactic, an attempt to dissuade the aggrieved customers from coming forward because ‘he just might actually follow through this time if I just lay off him’.  But I guess we’ll see. 

On 11/24/2023 at 7:21 PM, Point Five said:

Not to nitpick (honestly), but just as a point of interest re the scale --

The original thread from the summer was started by one guy who had sent HR $10K worth of books for pressing -- not even a restoration job, which was the company's bread and butter. I have no idea if the $10K valuation is precise -- but for the sake of argument let's assume it is, and think about that for a second. The $10K in books would barely be a blip in those rows and rows of short boxes. Ditto the five or whatever copies of AF 15 that HR said he had in various stages of restoration, and the other books mentioned in the summer thread. Tiny tiny fractions of those pictured books.

Perhaps a few handfuls have been shipped back by now, who knows. But the value of the books in HR's possession has to be *many* hundreds of thousands of dollars, and over a million would not at all be inconceivable. It would just take a stack of high-dollar GA and SA keys to get there.

 

I understand what you’re saying. 
 

I remembered that there was mentioned earlier that a number of books were shipped back.  But not knowing the value of those or what remained, I was trying to err on the side of non-hyperbole. 

On 11/24/2023 at 8:20 AM, wardevil0 said:

Maybe "deniability" is a more appropriate term than "liability."  As long as no one really sees what's going on, he can claim to still be working on it and the problems are all due to impatient, pushy, inconsiderate customers.

Yeah, you’re probably right, that is a better way to put it. 
 

I was just thinking “how much more liability can there be than outright theft”?

On 11/24/2023 at 8:45 AM, Chip Cataldo said:

...until the police get in there and find nearly all the books gone. Then the stuffing hits the fan. 

Well, like the other posters have said, I’m not super confident that Matt approaching this guy is actually going to result in getting books back. 
 

But I do think/hope that it IS an important first step to eventually getting someone in authority over there to confirm what is and isn’t there, how much stuffing needs to hit the fan and whether the fan needs to be turned on high-speed. 

On 11/22/2023 at 4:30 PM, Math Teacher said:

Well, considering that it was @Cat who brought the mental health issue up, is Cat the one who is playing and manipulating me or is it Chip?

Since you’ve read the linked thread you now probably have a better idea of who I was referring to but just to be absolutely clear:  I was referring to Chip, not Cat.

While I don’t necessarily agree with Cat’s impression of Chip’s status, I think Cat relayed that information in good faith and without any attempt to deceive.  

On 11/22/2023 at 2:12 PM, Math Teacher said:

 

I wasn't even a board member when all this brouhaha with this Chip occurred. But if taking him off this "list" helps him feel better about himself, then I think taking him off this "list" is a good idea. As it is clear that this really bothers you, you can become the "Chip is not allowed to sell on this board" sheriff.

As you can tell, it bothers me greatly when people make light of other people's mental health issues. And no, I have NO intention of changing how I react to this.

While those unaffected may not completely comprehend what's it's like to struggle with depression, conversely, because you weren't here for all the "brouhaha" you may not fully appreciate how your sympathies might possibly be played upon and manipulated.

Again:  no one and nothing is stopping him from participating in discussion.  

As others have said, there's nothing actually stopping him from posting.

IIRC what landed him in hot water last time wasn't even anything with buying/selling here, it was him telling a sob story to get people to contribute to his GoFundMe and then misused the funds to buy more stuff.

There's always been a sad story and there's a long history of using that as a foot in the door.  There's probably been a fair number of new members who've joined since he was added to the HOS (or were here and weren't aware of what was going on) and wouldn't be aware of the history. 

At this point, there's a sufficient track record that I think he needs to stay on just to keep everyone on a level playing field.

On 11/21/2023 at 8:01 PM, MattTheDuck said:

Attention, attention! 

If you have sent books to Hero Restoration and have not received them back, please send a copy of your email receipt from H R showing what books were sent and the date to @Sauce Dog and myself.  Feel free to redact any personal information you aren't comfortable sharing such as a credit card number and so forth.  Please use your own judgement on what you do or do not want to share at this time.  It may become necessary to provide more detail later, but let's start with this.  The purpose of this request is probably obvious, but feel free to PM me or SD with any questions or concerns.

 

I know @CGC Mike has already addressed your question about where else to post this, but what about starting another dedicated thread where the purposes of gathering information is clearly stated in the title and first post?  Possibly even having it temporarily pinned?

Currently this request for information is on page 7 of this thread. I could see someone affected by this seeing the thread for the first time, reading a couple of pages and get discouraged concluding that it’s just business as usual for Heroes Restoration and click out of the thread without ever making it to page 7. 

Granted, there’s this thread and the locked thread, so I could see why Mike might be hesitant to allow a 3rd thread about this. 
 

Just a thought. 

On 11/10/2023 at 12:16 PM, Pontoon said:

Speaking of monsters, here's my Monster Scenes Hanging Cage and Feral Cat, along with Dr. Deadly and the Victim. I'm not 100% satisfied with it (although I like the way the sword came out) but need to move onto the next one. I've been splitting my time between the Forgotten Prisoner of Castle-Mare and the Prehistoric Scenes Triceratops.

 

 

 

That’s awesome work. 
 

I bought a reissue of the Mummy kit and I’ve stalled because I’m so discouraged with my lack of painting skill. 

On 11/10/2023 at 7:39 AM, Superman2006 said:

As a couple of sports card examples, 1986 Fleer Michael basketball has a Michael Jordan card and sticker, and 1987 Topps / OPC has a Brett the Hitman Hart card and sticker and in each case I believe the card sells for more than the sticker there as well.

So the “rookie” phenomenon in non-sports is completely governed by the precedent set in sports regardless of what’s actually rarer. Interesting. 
 

(As you can probably tell, I’m highly skeptical of “rookie” being applied to non-sports cards and think it’s just another ploy to hype cards)

On 11/10/2023 at 7:11 AM, Cat said:

As maddening as it is, it's not your responsibility, mate. We need someone with force and lawful means to take responsibility. He seems the type to call the police on you, if anything. Do you think he'd hand over the books? Plus good luck verifying ownership. I have a feeling his record-keeping is a nightmare. 

That was my thought as well. 
 

As far as getting money back, I have a feeling whatever money is sent to him instantly evaporates and it sounds like this may be a case of trying to squeeze blood from a turnip (though I’m not discouraging any of the victims from trying). 
 

I would think the priority would be trying to get the books back as it seems like that’s the one thing he still does have (though his excuses for why he hasn’t sent books back that have been clearly requested back is giving my pause). Once the books are safely back, then try and recoup whatever funds you can. 
 

But then again, if pursuing this through law enforcement or insurance, all-or-nothing be the way victims have to go  

On 11/9/2023 at 6:17 PM, DC# said:

Another example of how some, more rare collectibles are doing well still.    PSA 10 of a Luke Skywalker "rookie card" just sold for a what I believe is a record $78k.   Only 9 cards at this grade.  Previous high according to PSA site was $55k back in 2021 - and the card was a bargain back in 2019 at $5k-$7k.   

And the only PSA 10 of the rookie sticker went for $58k (last sold in 2018 for under $7k)

 

 

 

Kind of surprised the sticker didn’t sell for more than the card because with the issue of gum stains and printer roller marks, the population on the sticker is going to rise much slower than on the card. 
 

But the whole “rookie” label being applied to non-sports cards is a porting over from sports cards which (talking old-school sports cards) don’t have comparable speciality cards like stickers so I guess that’s why the card is given priority. 
 

Crazy prices either way. 

While it’s disheartening and frustrating to hear this, I honestly can’t say I’m at all surprised to hear he’s been taking new work. 
 

My memory is that in the previous thread HR came in all hot and bothered because he felt the discussion was impeding his ability to keep his business afloat and complete the backlog of work he had been paid for. 
 

And he was very adamant that he thought the way to do that was to take on more work to keep things running. And he dug in on that despite having it explained to him numerous times and ways by several people that that was a bad idea and would only dig the hole deeper. 
 

And I also remember him making veiled threats:  do a charge-back, you don’t get your book back; push him too hard and he has a heart attack and nobody gets nothin’.  Complete with legalese that supposedly gave him carte blanche once he gets ahold of the book. So his mentality was always very much ‘my way or the highway’. 
 

I’m sorry to hear there now at least two more books being held hostage 

I guess there’s nothing in the “agreement’ that precludes him from soliciting more business.  How is he still getting his name out there as a going restoration business?  He certainly can’t afford to pay for advertising in any meaningful way I would think. 

I’m looking for a copy of Wonder Stories October 1933 in Fine or better condition.