BarristerBaker

Sold Tracee a nice Bronze Age classic. Wasn't a cheap book, and Tracee paid immediately. Great communication; was a pleasure to deal with. Deal in confidence, folk.

I bought three raw BA book from Rich. Grading was tight and books arrived quickly. I would certainly deal with him again.

Agreed on this one.

I agree with your assessment. This is the toughest of the run. Maybe one of the toughest mainstream issues of the Golden Age. I've seen 5 copies in 5 years (1.8, 3.0, 6.5Q, 7.0, 9.0) -- and that includes turning over every stone I could. I had a three year period where I saw no, zero, zilch copies. Glad you got yours. Excellent.I finished my Flash Comics run, by the way, tabcom. Seemed like the impossible quest, when I started.

Eric bought a Silver Age key from me. Paid quickly, had prompt communication, and was easy to deal with. Recommended; dealing confidence.

Sold a reasonably pricey book to Ali. Quick payment. The guy is a pro. Deal with confidence.

Bought a couple lots of modern stuff from Dave. I found his communication to be professional and grading to be very tight. Recommended seller.

25-40 is my favorite group. 86-104 is not far behind. Hardest issue? I think tabcom and I share the same opinion there. I won't steal his thunder.

Depends on how you define "this era." In the end of the run, some of the Hawkman covers are pretty great (lots of Kubert and some by other artists). But, across the entire run, I'd say the Sheldon Maldoff stuff is even more desirable (throwing out a few scarce issues in the end - driven more by rarity than Kubert). For instance, Flash Comics 33 (like this one -- Flash Comics 33 copy on ComicLink) is fantastic. Hawkman...but Shelly.

Per request, here's a copy of Flash Comics 78. Happy Halloween, all.

I'm fine with that. I originally told him to keep it, but he didn't want it. I think by having it in his possession it weakens his case for suing me, so he would rather I keep it. Also if I sent it back to him, it would just take longer for me to be able to refund him. He wants the refund, not the book. Of course, if he has changed his mind I am happy to send it back to him, but it will delay my ability to refund him. I sent it back to you because it wasn't what was advertised, I didn't want what it actually was (I've since bought a replacement from Harley Yee), and it seemed like the right thing to do. It had nothing to do with my "position." You offered a refund and I took you up on it. That's it. I'm generally a pretty easy guy to deal with, but, yes, I get annoyed when I am without money for long periods of time.

Guy buys book, seller claims isn't restored. Submits to cgc, comes back restored. Seller offers refund in time payments. (Like the book was paid for). Payments from seller stopped. If I understand the narrative correctly, the seller made no payments other than an m.o. with the wrong name, which had to be returned. This is true but I think a point that should not be over looked that the plan was that the original seller was making time payments for the refund, which means he acknowledged fault. So him not giving a full refund and now saying "oh well what about my personal issues" is total cry baby stuff. We get it, your wife cheated on you and there was a messy divorce lost half your assets, whatever - the mayor of my city smokes crack - none of these things matter. The seller agreed to a refund and didn't go through with it. The seller is so wrong its not funny. And on top of that, still has the book as well as the $1500. Well.. we know he HAD the book. No idea if he still has it. Could have resold it or cracked and resold it. Yeah, I meant more along the lines of the seller not refunding the money and still getting the book. Oh I didn't see the seller was sent the book back. I assumed he'd get it back when all money was returned. Guess the buyer is too good of a guy for his own good. Makes sense why the seller would abruptly claim to not give his side of the story and decide not to participate in sales on this site. Yep, he has (or had) the book and the money. I've done a lot of deals. I've been let down before -- but never like this.

Guy buys book, seller claims isn't restored. Submits to cgc, comes back restored. Seller offers refund in time payments. (Like the book was paid for). Payments from seller stopped. If I understand the narrative correctly, the seller made no payments other than an m.o. with the wrong name, which had to be returned. Exactly right. No successful payments.

I think you meant to give the date of the initial purchase as 2012, rather than 2013. You may want to correct that. You're right. Just fixed it.

Nope. Just the full read. Guidelines asked for details.

I am writing for the inclusion of higgsboson/Larry Margulies to the Probation List. This is my first time with one of these, so bear with me. To start, I am a huge Flash Comics collector. I have been trying to assemble a run for quite some time. Early on, one "grail" of mine was Flash Comics 100. Posted on eBay by "biffcomics" (now going by "jmontalto1121") was a raw Flash Comics 100 listed at VF-/VF. Eyeing the grade and auction, I knew I didn't have funds (well, really, clearance from my wife) to pay full on the book at the time. So, I reached out to the seller (Larry) to ask if he could do time payments. I received the following response: The reserve on the book, initially, was $1,600. At the time, this would have been the highest priced book I'd have bought. As such, I had concerns, and reached out accordingly. Larry wrote a reply to my questions, including the following: Further, in another reply, Larry wrote: Fast forward, and Larry lowered his reserve on the auction and I won the item at $1,500 (6/22/2012), paid via payment plan and finally received the book (shipped on Sept 19th, 2012). Upon receipt, I was happy. I submitted to CGC some time thereafter. Unfortunately, it came back restored (details below) . That's when the problems began. Here’s my first email to Larry after getting the book back from CGC (1/26/2013): Larry’s response (1/27/2013) I didn’t want the Flash Comics 22 when initially offered. Nice comic, but I’d rather put my money elsewhere. Flash Comics 22 was just not a book high on my priority list at the time. Larry’s next response (1/28/2013) My response: I was fine with payments being broken up in return. Larry provided me with time payments. I felt it only fair that I provide him with the same flexibility. I mailed the package on February 3rd, 2013 and sent email confirming same. Communication from Larry slowed considerably thereafter, but, essentially, that’s where things ran aground. We traded emails and phone calls, always with promises to send payment. There was never follow-through. Without mentioning details, Larry conveyed that he was going through tough times. In response, I did my best to provide space, tried not to be nagging and to think creatively about how we could forge ahead. For instance, an early example of that brainstorming came on 3/9/2013. We had a lengthy phone call in April of 2013 where Larry provided some more information related to his situation (and that his books, including Flash Comics 22, had been stolen outside a comic convention). I felt bad for him, obviously. I tried to find the easiest way to get us square. On the call, he promised to send $50 checks each month. Though it would take 2.5 years to pay me back ($1,500/50=30 months), I preferred that to nothing and agreed to his proposal. He said that was doable. Thereafter, nothing happened. Here is another email I sent him on 5/20/2013. Then, out of the blue, a $100 money order came in June of 2013. I was elated – though far from whole, there’d finally been movement. I sent Larry the following: As I made my way to the bank, I noticed that Larry had the name wrong on the money order (“Matt Baker” rather than “Andrew Baker”; I didn’t catch that at first glance – being as I was just happy to receive some money). I have a photo of the money order, as I sent Larry a picture of it. Larry then began to respond to emails. He told me he could not stop payment without the money order (I’ll leave this email out, as he detailed more personal issues than bits of relevance to our dealings). Then, on December 21st I wrote a lengthy email to Larry. I had intentionally waited, given how jarring his prior email was (detailing his personal situation). In that email, I laid out what my approach was. I wanted to be open with Larry that I would be going through the court system. I didn’t want there to be any surprises. Here's that email: I followed up again January 8th, 2014 after receiving no response. No response to that follow-up either. I have since talked to a few trusted advisors about the situation. However, because I have been wickedly busy at work, I haven’t executed on that plan involving the court (or the post on the boards either, obviously). That said, it is still the path I intend to take. In sum, we’re nearly two years past our first communication. Larry has $1,500 of my money and I have nothing (not even the restored comic book). Intentionally or not, he has jerked me around without serious attempts to resolve the situation. I understand that life has dealt him a rough hand lately, but that does not absolve one of his/her responsibilities. I've tried to be patient. And, though two years removed from our initial communications, I would happily agree to a plan to right this. All I want is to be made whole. That’s it. There is no personal vendetta here at all. It’s just business. We have settled on various payment plans – none of which he would execute upon. The facts are simple, and I’m willing to be creative (full payment, time payments, trade in lieu of amount owed, etc.). But, it requires Larry to be willing to correct the situation. To address it directly, during the first portion of this interaction, I was not a member of the boards. However, I would include any number of the promises or plans Larry has put forth or made (but which were not followed through by Larry) after my joining the Board to be significant enough dealings to bring this transaction under the rules of the Probation List. Those discussions for compensation and subsequent failure to execute were between two boardies. In sum, from my vantage, the Probation List is here to help instill confidence in transactions and dealings within the CGC Messageboard community. For this not to be addressed and acknowledged not only skirts fairness but hurts other members who may also encounter the same dealings from Mr. Margulies.

Will do. Again, not trying to eschew any protocols. I've never had any problems on here with another board member, so my apologies for coloring outside any lines.

Not personal at all. Only business. I don't wish him or anyone ill will - but I do wish for the return of my money. If a guy that stole from you suddenly shows up displaying interest on another's book after going dark for many, many months, would you just sit on it? I buy and sell on here regularly, as others do. This is a board of dedicated collectors leaning heavily on trust to complete transactions. I think this kind of thing is important. That said, I'm fine with detailing what happened elsewhere. He was absent from all communication with me and posts here for a long time, so I didn't do that yet...but certainly can.

Agreed to sell 4 slabbed books to Joey. Great communication and super-quick payment. I hope to do business with him again.

Feel free to PM me too, if you'd like another side of the story. While I agree that your personal situation has no business being aired in public (that you did yourself), a forum based upon trust and prior dealing does have room for factual information related to another potential buyer's behavior. You stole from me, and that's a fact. Others should know before dealing with you.

That GL is very scarce. Such a cool book and tough, tough to find presentable copies. Vandal Savage isn't exactly Lex Luthor, but it's a cool GA first appearance, nonetheless. I just dropped off a slabbed 2.0 with Metropolis Comics for consignment (handed it to them at C2E2, so will probably be up soon). Originally picked it up from skypinkblu/Sharon. I bought the ComicConnect copy you mentioned (and, yes, it went for much more than I'd hoped), so parting with my undercopy. Nevertheless, very nice work.

I sold Kevin a slabbed Adventure 210. He was a pleasure to work with - very communicative, paid quickly, knows the shipping process well, etc. I have no reservations recommending him and hope to deal with him again.

I'm fairly up on the specifics. 85 through the end are tough (as are 25-40). 94 is tough, but not as bad as 93, 96, 99 or 103. Those are the doozies, IMO. Nevertheless, very cool book.

I'd pay a lot for a copy of Flash Comics 96 in the 5.0-7.0 range. Throw the guide out.

Flash 96 is wicked tough. In the four years I've been (diligently) following Flash, I've seen fewest of that issue. The only one I've seen that isn't near PR is the one I own....and it's only a 3.0.