Number 6

On 6/22/2023 at 5:57 PM, Book Guy said:

People who have walk-in shops seem to be doing less well than me and your analysis is probably spot on for those people. Having a bricks and mortar Bookstore seems hard nowadays.

I think this a key point:  if customers only have access to your book inventory by walking through your door or the handful of shows you attend you’re going to miss a lot of the interest that’s out there. 
 

Dealers who have their own websites with searchable inventory, or at the very least, sell through sites like ABE or Biblio, seem to be doing fine. Auction sites like HA and PBA Galleries seem to get strong results. 
 

It wasn’t just comics, there was a bunch of quality book material that got snatched up during the lockdowns of ‘20/21.  Books aren’t as sexy and pound for pound probably don’t get the same crazy money that comics are getting right now, but there still seems to be strong interest for now. 

On 6/21/2023 at 9:16 PM, Black_Adam said:

What about newer books like 1st edition Harry Potter? There must be some demand for those?   

The true first editions of Harry Potter books, particularly the earlier books in the series, have demand are worth money. 
 

I don’t want to get into a debate, especially since this doesn’t really seam to be the subject of the thread, but suffice to say I personally haven’t found the book collecting hobby to be in quite the dire situation that it’s being portrayed here. 

On 6/21/2023 at 2:21 PM, Black_Adam said:

Did Hero send CGC a cease and desist letter to shut down this thread?   

Only if CGC/CCS has a cease-and-desist statement he can copy/paste from. 

On 6/13/2023 at 6:16 AM, MatterEaterLad said:

Also, it may be impossible to get books back right away if he's done the work and already sent them to CGC for regrading, so there's that wait factored in as well. 

If the inability to return books was due to them being at CGC, I would think that would be a pretty quick and easy email to send to those asking.  And I would think most customers would be satisfied with that answer. 
 

Based on what’s been posted here, the email response…when there is one..is ‘your books are getting packed up now’.  Whether they’re being packed up to go to CGC or back to the customer wasn’t clarified. The context of this discussion seems to imply they were supposedly being shipped back to the customer. 
 

I’m not trying to stir the pot, but while books being at CGC might be a plausible explanation, I get the impression there’s more to it than that. 

On 6/10/2023 at 3:34 AM, Domo Arigato said:

I know I have some similar mini comics.....but, I believe they came with a stick of gum similar to what you used to get in packs of trading cards.

 

The mini comics that came with gum were called Bubble Funnies and had Marvel and Archie issues and were made by a company called Amurol. Those can be tricky as the gum was placed in the middle of the comic nothing separating the two and there can be issues with the syrup in the gum leaching into the comic. 
 

These are from a series called Leaf Candy Comics and came with hard sweat tart type candy. The candy was sealed in a separate bag other than the bulk of the candy causing stresses to the spine it’s probably easier to find those in high grade than the Bubble Funnies. 

I don’t have a definite answer as to whether they would grade this or not but I have seen the individual comics from this series individually graded. 
 

I would guess that if they did grade it they would grade just the album itself as it was a mail-away premium and didn’t come with the comics. And if it was submitted with the mini comics in it CGC would probably remove the comics, grade the album by itself, and return the comics along with the graded album, kind of like they do with the records for the Power Record Comics. 
 

While it’s completely up to you whether you have it graded, it looks like from the photo that there’s some staining in the gutter of the folder. I know CGC hits staining hard when determining a grade. 

On 6/9/2023 at 4:16 PM, Buzzetta said:

Tell him you will give him $100 toward the business and to use it to ship your books back. 

And a fresh batch of chicks. 

Real quick, and then I’m dropping out as I’m not going to waste anymore time with this:

On 5/21/2023 at 12:31 PM, BlackOut21 said:

Your post feels a lot like bullying to me. Talking behind my back, calling me names, yea it feels like bullying.

 

My posts were made in a PUBLIC forum for anyone -including you - to see.  If I were “talking behind your back” this conversation would have been happening in PMs.  And no, not tagging you doesn’t qualify as “behind your back”. It just means that I’m not actively seeking engagement with you. 

 

Second, I’m not playing victim. I’m not playing anything. That’s just how I feel.

If you continue to claim that THIS is bullying then you ARE playing the victim. The sooner you drop that tactic the better this will go.

 

I’m not mad at you, you have the right to say exactly how you feel under that whole ‘self-policing’ idea. 
 

I have the right?  Except when I critique your sales threads?  Then that’s “bullying”?  If I have the right why are you throwing a fit about DP and I said?

On 5/21/2023 at 12:31 PM, BlackOut21 said:

I checked out your page, you’ve been on here since 2012. You’re an ‘OG’ of the boards. You should be on here helping people. Promoting positivity.

 

I’m absolutely willing to help members who genuinely want and are seeking help.  As of yet, I haven’t seen any indication that you’re actively seeking my or anyone else’s help. 
 

And just a hint: THIS whole thing is not how you ask for help.  
 

And I’m hardly OG. There’s a bunch of people here that still consider me a newb. Heck, I can’t even figure out how to break up a quote properly. 

 

Not coming on here calling people tools or throwing accusations based on assumptions. “Wham bam take your money”? Really?.

Lol, yeah REALLY, because, IMHO that’s how your sales threads come off.  You can jump on your victim soapbox and accuse me of being a big ol’ meanie…or stop and ask yourself why that is.  Because clearly I’m not the only one who sees a potential problem. 

On 5/21/2023 at 12:31 PM, BlackOut21 said:

I’ll take some of your comments as constructive criticism and try to utilize them. But fall back a bit…I’m not your enemy, I’m on your team. 

I don’t know you. This has nothing to do with “enemies” or “friends”. Again, this is about the community watching out for itself.  And it’s not going to stop doing that because you claim you got your feelings hurt. 

On 5/21/2023 at 10:52 AM, BlackOut21 said:

 

@MR. Pontoon @Number 6 and everyone else who like the comments.

Why are you guys such haters / bullies ?  

I appreciate the fact that you are noticing my post, would be better if you purchased something though.  I'll try not to entertain to much of the hate, but you could have atleast tagged me if you had something to see.

I'm starting to understand how the board works and I can see it can be extremely cliquish, which is fine just good to know.

I have to take my kids to a lax tournament now, but please know I wish all of you guys/girls the bests and if secretly snickering in the corner about me makes you feel better then its cool.  

But again, if I'm on your mind so much please purchase something so I can purchase more books, list them here and give you more to talk about. 

You’re not being “hated” on or “bullied”  Give the victim terminology a rest. Nobody is stopping you from listing your stuff nor are they interfering with your ability to sell by krapping in your sales threads. 
 

You’re threads are being singled out because this marketplace is self-policing, that is, the community takes responsibility for watching out for each other and that things run smoothly. 
 

It has nothing to do with “cliques” or “picking on newbs”.   There are a posted set of clearly stated rules for selling in the Marketplace, as well as a discussion thread that goes into the reasoning behind the rules. If you insist on continuing to try and sell your wares here, as opposed to Instagram, Facebook or where ever you came from, then you need to slow down and take the time to actually READ the rules and then implement them in your sales thread. 
 

For example, one the things may want to look at is the fact that there is no such thing as a template of “normal rules”.  It’s the responsibility of the seller to come up his own set of clearly stated sales rules. 
 

I also suspect that another rule you need to pay attention to is that items offered here need to be exclusive to the Boards. If they’re offered for sale here you can’t be offering them at the same time on other venues.

That’s just a couple of examples, but there are plenty of other ways your sales threads would benefit by conforming to the Marketplace Rules. 
 

You seem to have no problem claiming books in other people’s sales threads. Why not stop and look at how those threads are put together and run as opposed to your near-dumpster fire threads. 
 

Myself and others would probably be willing to offer suggestions on how to improve your sales threads, but based on the discussion in the Probation Forum - and your post above is another sterling example - you’re more likely to continue to play the victim and insist on your wham-bam-take-the-money-run approach to selling stuff. 
 

I will NOT buy anything from you. As it stands, your sales threads have a bunch of red flags and come off like a train wreck waiting to happen and, no surprise, you’ve had one fender-bender already.  Personally, I’m not entirely convinced that you’re not trying to fleece someone. 
 

But I’m sure you’re just going to respond with more of your “hater” nonsense and how you’re too busy ‘hustling to make the phat stacks of scrilla to pay attention to the hate’ or whatever and then just continue to post the way you have been. 
 

But don’t be surprised if it get’s commented on here in the Sales discussion thread. 
 

The best way to make it stop is to make the effort to do better.

On 5/19/2023 at 6:23 PM, MR. Pontoon said:

Nothing says "I'm a tool" more than photographing your books for sale while balanced on your crotch.

More than saying “Normal rules apply” which is pretty much a dead giveaway that you’re being as vague as possible so as to have plenty of wiggle room in case something goes wrong?

More than ‘no returns but PM me so we can hug it out”?

More than selling thousands of dollars of books without a single reference? 
 

More than repeatedly opening sales threads and then closing them within an hour or two?

More than constantly having your sales threads pulled because you clearly still haven’t read the sales rules?

I just want to make sure of the proper order of priority on the Tool Seller list. 

On 5/9/2023 at 4:21 PM, Aman619 said:

"completely incorrect?  Havent 9.8 copies sold for 150K+ at their peak?  I don't trust ChatGPTs conclusions either for comics values --- too much out of the box calculation not just parroting internet text...  But that sentence rings tru as far as I recall the high prices TMNT realized at one point recently.  If only ChatGPT could deduce that prices PEAKED and have fallen since those record sales.

The question being asked is which CGC 9.8s can be purchased for less than $200 not $200,000. 
 

This chat things is saying TMNT #1 CGC 9.8 can be had for $150 - $200, not $150,000 to $200,000. 
 

Probably just goof with an incorrectly placed decimal point but still…

On 5/8/2023 at 9:04 AM, Matt1982 said:

I've heard that it is not based on that storyline, and it makes sense given the inclusion of Punisher and Echo.

Yeah, I have a feeling this is like Age of Ultron where they’re using the name because it’s catchy and has brand recognition but the series will have little in common with the actual comic series. 
 

It may also be kind of a sly reference to a character who is closely associated with a Netflix series being “born again” as a character in a series by Disney. 

On 5/8/2023 at 4:06 AM, jjonahjameson11 said:

I realize $5K may be a lot of money to some folks, but it doesn’t require a lot of books (Modern, Copper, Bronze) to achieve the minimum threshold to sell on HA.

after a few auctions, I think a consignor will have HA’s attention to negotiate the % rates, with the incentive that more consignments would be forthcoming 

Your second paragraph is kind of swerving into the point I was trying to make.  Likewise with EastEnd1’s point about having a history of buying quality material from them.  
 

So IF you have a history of repeatedly consigning books with them…IF you have a history of buying nice stuff from them…basically if you have an ongoing, working relationship with them as a seller, buyer or both they yeah you might be able to start a dialog with them about reducing their seller’s fee. (although, again, I think the quality of the material matters as much or more than just the quantity)
 

That’s different than making a blanket statement to everyone - regardless of their history with HA - that one of the benefits of HA is the ability to negotiate fees.  
 

Again….I’m not saying it isn’t possible to negotiate their buying and selling fees. But if they’re doing that on a regular basis I don’t see how they would be making money.  I have to think it’s more the exception than the rule and you (collective “you” here) really have to be able to convince them that you’re that exception. 

On 5/4/2023 at 1:22 PM, Jesse-Lee said:

I've sold 3-4 things now to international buyers through the program. Honestly, I never even realize it's an international buyer until I go to print the label and see the funky coding on the address. The process is exactly the same as any other sale, and I ship them to an address in Illinois - from there, eBay handles the rest.

That was my initial reaction, that it just Global Shipping Program 2.0. 
 

I had considered signing up for GSP a couple years ago based on favorable remarks from sellers here. 
 

But then I talked to an eBay rep and asked if I would have to pay for round-trip shipping on an International return and she said “yes”. So that scared me off that. 
 

But now with this program they’re promising “no cost returns” for the seller. So it’s piqued my interest again. 

So what’s the consensus on this new International Shipping program that eBay is automatically signing every seller into?

From the puff email I received it actually does sound appealing to me…almost too good to be true. 
 

I immediately opted out for now because of the fact that 1) it’s eBay and 2) they’re auto-enrolling which makes me suspicious that it may not be as great as it sounds. 
 

I’d be interested to hear what your guy’s take on this is before signing back up for it. 

On 4/25/2023 at 5:05 AM, Drummy said:

I didn't think Pride flag or Pink Floyd -- reminded me of the old Atari gaming cartridges of the late 70's and early 80's...

Dan

That’s actually a pretty good observation too.
 

With Gunn claiming the space suits are a nod to 2001…which I personally think is a bit of a stretch…it’s hard to say for sure what they’re aiming at with this poster. 

On 4/24/2023 at 6:17 PM, Artboy99 said:

makes me think of the pride flag, and I can't help but assume it is what they were going for.

I mean, you could be right, but is it possible that it’s a homage to that Pink Floyd album cover?

On 4/22/2023 at 6:49 AM, Domo Arigato said:

I wasn't mad before....but now I'm really pi**ed off.

I spent 20 minutes typing a magnificent and razor sharp reply on my stupid tablet.....submitted it......saw that the matter had already been resolved....and then had to delete it.

So.....who's going to reimburse me for my time now?

And if anyone says.....sorry, no returns.......I will seriously lose my sh*t on the whole lot of you.

 

At least you didn’t use “identify”. 

Funny that you mention his current sales thread. 
 

I spotted that sales thread when he first started posting it.  “No returns” and “Normal rules apply” with no references from 190 count poster. 
 

That pass just became a hard pass for me…but there’s others waiting on bated breath for him to post more.