Wall-Crawler

...Or save yourself the hassle and just buy it graded already...

Awesome key Black Panther book. Fantastic Four #53 CGC SS 9.0 - fantastic Stan Lee signature placement too. Origin of Black Panther. 1st appearance of Klaw. https://www.ebay.com/itm/FANTASTIC-FOUR-53-CGC-SS-9-0-STAN-LEE-ORIGIN-OF-BLACK-PANTHER-1st-KLAW/122912350399?hash=item1c9e25a0bf:g:JSUAAOSwVA5aR-km Open to reasonable offers.

While I would love to air some grievances about the old show to the other people and the organizers with how they handled things and the whole donation thing (I still don't even know why they bothered making a donation in the name of the show now that it is defunct) it would likely fall on deaf ears anyway. Plus, in a smaller town, it is not worth it and you never know who may or may not be supportive of the cause and I don't want to end up in a "pee pee match" with anyone. I did well at that show, it got me started. Now, I found another show and I have other options. Time to just move on and keep selling is my philosophy. Plus, I have you guys to vent to

Thanks @thehumantorch I genuinely appreciate that! I did get connected with one of the organizers and it is looking like I am "in". I think they people who put this together were a close knit group and seem to be on their way and I will try this one out and see how it goes. One of the organizers is the owner of new local antique/consignment shop. There are a couple of downsides...One, for some reason, they have decided to start with a two day show. However, they may let me only book for one day. The show doesn't seem to have a lot of time to advertise, but hopefully they have a marketing strategy. I have always relied on my regulars anyway, so no big deal, but if the show actually has some advertising, that would be great. The other 'downside' is it is the weekend before my second biggest show of the year. Back to back shows not always fun, but hey, gotta do what you gotta do. I don't want to "miss out" and not get re-established quickly again with this show. The pros are that the people seem motivated and the venue is newer and right downtown, so lots of parking and other shops. Maybe that will help. I have never been there so I don't know about loading and unloading, but judging by the website, it is a lot "fresher" than the location of the other show. So now, it is looking like this: *NEW* Great Northern Antique and Oddities Show - April 21st and 22nd, 2018 (pending) Northern Game Expo - April 29th, 2018 (confirmed) East Ferris Flea Market - May 2018 (under consideration) - This is a huge local flea market. An 8 foot table is like $5 -$10. I'm strongly considering seeing if I can attend and bring nothing but $1- $5 books. Nothing fancy. Just some cheap books and business cards. I mean, for $10 even if it is a flop, all that I lost was my time and it is only like a 30 minute drive from my house. Sudbury Graphic Con - June 9th, 2018 (application pending) Gateway FanEx - Fall 2018 (to be determined) So there is where we are at for now...Nothing else exciting to report. I know I keep saying it, but I have to find the time to list more on my eBay store...

It would certainly appear that way. Definitely frustrating. Just found out this week that another group may be attempting a new local show so will see what develops there. The thing is, this town use to support a very large and successful two day antique show...While things have changed since then, I see no reason with the right venue and marketing, etc. why my town couldn't host something like that again.

How do you figure that?

Ok, so now I am pretty annoyed. Actually, I am more than annoyed. As some of you may have been following for awhile, know that the local show that got me started, The Northeastern Show, has folded. There were several reasons for this, mostly related to declining attendance (and I had offered ideas how to right the ship) but one reason I decided not to move forward with it when one of the organizers dropped out, is that I was not sure how much my 'voice' would actually be heard. I also reported that the 'gate' money was being donated to one of the political causes of one of the organizers, instead of really be reinvested back into the show. I never really knew how much though. So, today, on Facebook I see a post from one of the organizers, still saying clearly saying "from the organizers of the Northeastern Antiques, Collectibles and Nostalgia Shows" (even though they have cancelled the show), stating that they have donated a total of $4,000 in 2017 to this cause. WTF? I had proposed a better venue. Didn't want to do that, too expensive. They never even bought or rented signs to put out directing traffic to the venue. They didn't think advertising on social media or local papers was "worth it". They didn't pay for radio ads. The list goes on and they basically did not reinvest anything back into the show and now to learn, in what is the final year of the show, they have donated $4,000 to a local political cause? I highly doubt I will ever be involved with a show they put on again, should they decide to bring it back at some point. What a waste.

Sigh. The OWNER of the book in CGC eyes is still Paradise. Is it possible if the actual owner of the book called CGC with the invoice number and asked when the book was received by them that they would tell him? Maybe. However, all CGC will likely do is refer the "owner" to Paradise to get answers to that question.

So Paradise either sent it to CGC and it sat there or they only recently sent it in. When his book was provided to Paradise though the previous manager was there so it should really not have been a management/staffing issue...

Ever think another reason, on top of what @Turtle @Transplant and others have said, is because CGC doesn't want to throw Paradise under the bus Bottom line, Paradise knew they had many customers waiting on overdue books. Why didn't Paradise simply post a notice on their Facebook Page and/or also post a notice in store that they were going through a transition phase and there would be a delay with them processing customers books with CGC but they were working through it? I think most customers would have understood and been pretty forgiving. The delay is a problem for sure, but to me, the real problem is with how Paradise chose to handle the situation. Paradise not offering any concrete information about the status of their customers books, sometimes after repeated inquiries, only compounded the problem and is the real issue.

You did say CGC was "the bad guy" a few posts ago as per your quote. So how did you come to "understand" it was not a Paradise issue but a delay on CGC's end?

Some use LCS as a "gateway" when just learning or don't sub a lot so 'easier' to just go through LCS. Some LCS are authorized witnesses and can get CGC Signature Series designation.

I have a 64 book, all Canadian Newsstand Price Variant Auction up and ending tonight shortly after 8 PM EST. https://www.ebay.com/sch/more_fun_comics/m.html?item=372213992902&hash=item56a9aecdc6%3Ag%3AUxUAAOSwmuVaa9R2&rt=nc&LH_Auction=1 Have a look and yes, I do combine shipping. I will be out and about today, but will do my best to respond to any questions. Thanks for looking!

So, you are still "angry" with CGC but "cool" with Paradise? Some questions: Did you provide CGC with an invoice number(s)? If no invoice numbers what details did you provide to CGC? What book(s) did you submit? What tier? What date did you submit them to Paradise? Who was the supervisor you spoke with? How did you present the information?

...If they actually provide you with the invoice number...

Put "Paradise Comics" in the title of the thread...I bet there will be more people who will come out of the woodwork and more of a response...

Read this thread and read the excuses that sellers get from buyers. What is captured in this thread is only a FRACTION of actually what goes on out there with buyers wasting sellers time, retracting bids, low balling, demanding "partial refunds" and flat out not paying, ranging from not responding at all to "my cat/kid bid on this accidentally" to "health issues". So, yeah, "filtering" the truth from the lies, not really worth a sellers time. I appreciate that (if true) your family situation is a difficult one. We have all at some point had to manage a crisis or two. I assume though that during this difficult time your other bills got paid? It takes 5 minutes to go online and pay to honour your commitment.

I guess I don't personally classify it as "theft" per se but it sure as heck ain't right!

I agree with the statement that they are "not stealing books" or "closing" but you just drank the Paradise Kool-Aid. Awesome customer service? Ignoring my messages, passing the buck and flat out not getting back to me over a period of months and only getting something concrete when contacting PayPal? I don't know who you are speaking with at CGC, but CGC took care of this for me, not Paradise. What about the fact that I subbed books on my own LATER than the ones I dropped off a Paradise and had them months sooner? A delay is to be expected with bulk shipments but not to the degree many have experienced here and there have been several posts about the problems with Paradise on FB Groups as well. You are right. 2 + 2 does not equal 3.

This is not a CGC problem. Paradise is just passing the buck. Something has gone wrong since Doug left. It took me months of asking (and either being ignored or getting the run around with the "we are expecting a CGC shipment soon") and finally following up with CGC to get my books returned to me. Example: 6 months for a basic reholder and it would have been longer had CGC not looked into it directly. When I first got into CGC, I use to sub a lot through Paradise, then got my own account so only used them for CGC SS and every once in awhile when I was in the city. I won't be using them for anything CGC related anymore.

Seller said he would mail Part II of the list...Has not arrived yet. I left a message for him to see if he has sent it, etc. Been hectic with personal and work life so other than this, no big leads or anything of note to report other than I am hoping that Part II of this list is phenomenal

Nope. So, did the comic store have them or track them down again and call the RCMP to facilitate the hand over? Still trying to figure this one out too. Regardless, if the books were stolen, glad to see them back in the hands of the rightful owner.

ROM could make for a pretty cool Sci-Fi Action Horror flick. Edge of Tomorrow/Terminator combined with Alien(s)/Invasion of Body Snatchers kind of thing

Agreed. If everything the OP is saying is true, even the possibility they were stolen, the LCS should have "held" them until it got sorted out.

The one store that sticks out for me is/was One Million Comix in Toronto. They had books up high so it was difficult to actually see them and were "displayed" with a small binder clip onto the very top edge of the board on a thumbtacks stuck into the wall (I hate stores that display like this). Some of the books (or the boards) started to 'curl' and you could see some of the clips were actually pinching the top edge of some of the comics. They were also ridiculously over priced. I would pop in occasionally when I was in the city for work as it was close to my hotel and would see the same wall books month after month, year after year. ...They no longer exist as a store as far as I know now.