serling1978

Seems unlikely another event like the MCU hype/fomo cycle will happen again to have such a dramatic impact on values. For that reason I imagine prices will continue to correct and maybe even go down over the upcoming years. Sure marvel will come out with more movies and shows, but the excitement and hype won't be the same. More likely burnout will set in (if it hasn't already)

On 5/16/2023 at 7:29 PM, universal soldier said:

Heading down there myself Memorial Day weekend. Did you end up finding anything worth visiting?

Sorry to say, I didn't find anything for my needs. Players choice was cool to browse and the retro arcade next door was awesome.  I could have spent hours in there.  But as far as comics, they had mostly modern stuff, I didn't find any silver age at all and maybe a couple Bronze age books.  Definitely not a place I'd hit if you're looking for older stuff.

On 5/12/2023 at 4:06 PM, B2D327 said:

My copy was similar to copy B and cleaned up nicely with a spine correction that allowed me to flip it for a nice profit. If you plan on cracking the slab, I think yours could get a grade bump too

This is a reason I'd choose B. A wrap issue has a chance of correction.  A torn away piece has a zero chance of being fixed in this situation.  

In top of that I don't have a big problem with a rolled spine.  Much more of an eyesore to me to see a torn piece.  At least with the wrap, the comic is all there,  it's just rolled. 

On 4/27/2023 at 6:41 PM, Lou Sir said:

Yes it absolutely is 👍 

Noooooo. I really do agree that it's smart for buyers to check their books before buying.  To me though there is a line between what is a good idea and where the responsibility lies. The dealer is responsible for what they sell and should take ownership for any undisclosed issues. The buyer shouldn't have to check the books, but because we live in a world where not doing do can result in being ripped off (even unintentionally) it is a good practice.

On 4/26/2023 at 10:36 AM, Robot Man said:

Sorry, but this is on you. It has happened to all of us. I have found suprises (both good and bad) with even big, well respected dealers. When you handle large amounts of collections, things slip through the cracks now and then. To me, it’s all about they handle it.

Now dealers that deliberately try to cheat or mislead buyers is another story. Been going on since the dawn of collecting. They usually get weeded out one way or another.

Always check everything you buy carefully. Especially from dealers you don’t know. Even cheap books if you are not willing to take a chance.

I have learned over the years who I am willing to deal with. I avoid those who do not meet my standards and spend my money with those who do.

I will repeat, even though this guy, apparently, had a checkered past, he doesn’t deserve to be a victim of direct theft. 

 

Thanks for the heavy handed advice. 

As a buyer, it's not my responsibility to validate the dealer isn't intentionally or unintentionally ripping me off. Is it a good idea to check because they might be? Sure it can help to catch the situation before it's too late. But it's not "on me" to check every comic I buy. It's on the dealer to know what they are selling and disclose it. If we politely disagree that's fine,  but you can't convince me otherwise. 

On 4/25/2023 at 9:03 PM, Dark Knight said:

Looks like karma finally showed its face with this Greg White dealer and bit him hard in the butt! I never really seen him nor knew about him at all so at first, I felt bad about what happened.  After reading more and more first hand experiences from him and how he knowingly advertises these restored raw books as unrestored without any disclosure of the restoration, I really don't feel sorry for this guy anymore. Who knows how many people he had ripped off during all those years as a dealer!!  It must add up to the value of the AF 15 that was stolen from him I would think 🤔 

I've been burnt by dealers like this at cons more than once in the past. Not on any grails, but on silver age run fillers. For books that are $5-$10 I normally don't take every single one out of the bag, but I've had a number of surprises like detached covers,  detached centerfolds,  missing pages, ripped out pieces,  etc that weren't disclosed. Based on those experiences and what I've heard about this guy, I don't feel all that sorry for him. Not saying he deserved it, but I'm definitely not going to lose any sleep over it.

On 4/20/2023 at 8:34 AM, comicginger1789 said:

I think that at this point, as others have alluded to, Mile High Does Not Care. They have comics, a huge "collection" and almost operate more as a museum nowadays. And hey, mycomicshop may sit on that $7.20 comic for a while. Mile High, likely forever. But Mile High attracts the comic people who don't know comics in and out. So yeah, they may make hundreds of sales a year that are 5 or 6 times what a self respecting collector would pay just because they get the "rookie" market who is simply wowed by the spectacle of the place.

This pretty much sums it up nicely.

On 4/14/2023 at 12:39 PM, comicginger1789 said:

I also would never grade it. I would personally prefer raw

But if you are deciding between grading as is or adding a facsimile cover, I would definitely NOT add a fake cover. 

Amen. No fake covers. Once it was slabbed that's what would be staring back at you from inside the case.  That would drive me crazy personally. 

What book is the cover for? As with the Captain America  #2 example, that's a no brainer, but if the book isn't an iconic cover from a grail book then I wouldn't bother grading it. 

On 4/6/2023 at 9:57 PM, mjoeyoung said:

It still seems to me that people keep moving to books that seem "cheap," bidding them up (especially if it is a 9.8), and then, when the prices get too high, they move on to the next books.  I'm not sure if many of these books will hold their inflated value.  I'm looking at you A-Team #1. 

Say it ain't so. I've got an A-Team #1 somewhere in my basement.  

On 3/28/2023 at 12:13 PM, lostboys said:

Before he passed, he shouldve sold the entire collection to a random 14 year old comic lover for $1.

 

Don't underestimate how quickly I can make myself look like a 14 year old comic lover.

Buying silly things like TOS #39, JIM #83, and HUlk #1, instead of putting all of my money into countless mint copies of Kickers inc #1.

On 3/18/2023 at 3:20 PM, Stefan_W said:

I think it is common for people to sell off some stuff to be able to buy things they want more. My own story is a few years ago I got back into the hobby after a couple of decades off, and I wanted to fill out my Fantastic Four run. I quickly realized that I did not want to pull hundreds out of the household each month for my hobby so things started to fizzle. A guy contacted me asking if I was interested in his ASM 2 (I had an ad looking for FF comics). It was super low grade but I bought it for $200 and sold it for almost 600. I took the proceeds and bought raw ASM 40-49 at a Comic Link auction and turned that $350 into about $700. I kept doing stuff like that and built up a stock of books. Every book I now own in my PC or otherwise came from that initially $200 investment, and I have not pulled cash out of the household funds for comics since then. In fact, I actually paid down some household debt when prices started climbing and everyone wanted my Silvers. 

Flipping is not inherently a bad thing. Some people are kind of sleazy about it, but that is more who they are then the actual buying and re-selling process. 

Same here when it comes to not using personal money to build my collection.  I specifically made it a point to only buy comics using money from flips. And it wasn't even only comic flips. I flipped everything from RV toilets to handicap shower chairs lol.

On 3/18/2023 at 11:59 AM, Stefan_W said:

The really funny flip side to this coin is some of the people who were overpricing their books kept raising the prices above FMV as the market went up, and then when it crashed out they missed their golden window and were stuck with the same books they had before. Their tears of anguish give me sustenance. 

Amen.  The funny thing about flipping for me personally is I'm a recovering flipper myself lol. When I got back into collecting about 12 years ago after a 15 year hiatus I build most or my collection through flipping.  I have a huge collection today of many silver/Bronze runs and grails to boot, so I should love flipping I guess,  but it seems like even in the last 10 short years it's gone to a new level where the market is more flippers than non flippers.  I stopped flipping about 4 years ago once it got to the point where finding deals that left room for profit to make the effort worth it had really started to vanish. So I guess in other words I got too lazy to put in the newly required effort to be an effective flipper.

Dealers who are skilled at finding books at low prices only please. As long as the dealer is good enough to get actual deals then I have no problem.  My problem is only if a dealer fails at finding a good price and therefore when they mark up the price to make a profit they are now asking enough above FMV that it's instantly clear its overpriced without even having to check GPA.  Sure it doesn't directly effect me in the sense that I can simply not buy the many many many many overpriced books out there,  but I still reserve the right to feel annoyed when I see overpriced books flooding the market. To me that's largely a symptom of the seller not having taken the time or having the resources to buy their books at a deal to be able to still make a profit while not overasking.

I wouldn't worry about him sending you back an empty package. I once had someone send me a greeting card mocking me I guess but I was able to use the package dimension/weight info to show ebay it wasn't the item. I've found through the many times I've had people try to scam me on ebay the best thing to do is call ebay right away and get your story documented.  This could be used for evil but it seems like they will take whatever you say as gospel and note the account backing up your story for future reps or decisions.  

If you sold it lower than the FMV as it seems from previous posts then consider this a blessing and sell it for more when you get it back.

Man...I saw the thread title and had some thoughts on Hulk 180/181 but after reading through all 9 pages here and the arguments (started drinking heavily around page 5) I'm just curious about the ownership of these books on each side of the argument.  Does ownership of one vs the other sway the person to see that book more favorably?  Maybe not conciously. It can be debated to the end of time, but to me just owning all 3 books is the way to go . I'm a Hulk collector so I have them all as part of my Hulk run so if 180 becomes the more desirable/collectable/valuable/insert-other-words-here-able book then I'm ok with that.

On 1/24/2023 at 2:30 PM, Ken Aldred said:

One step further would be that in virtual 3d.

I would prefer actors to come to my house and act out ASM 121 and 122. I'll use crayons to create the backgrounds on my walls. 

Pandemic,  people not going out and having more disposable income,  stimulus checks, cyrpto money, Disney streaming new MCU content creating hype and FOMO, new wave of non collectors entering the market...

All that stuff and probably some I left out combined to create a temp skyrocket for a lot of actual and non actual key comics and it wasn't sustainable as others have said.  If I'm remembering correctly for a time books like DD1 more than doubled in value. Madness....

takes precedent but PM's are fine as well.

TTA #27 - $3925 

Selling at 90 day GPA (last sale was $4225).  Sad to part with, but need to pay off another grail.
 

No returns on slabs.  Payment via PayPal only. Payment due within 2 days. $10 priority shipping in the US with sig required.  No shipping outside the US.  

If you're really excited to own that copy then sure go for it, but if you have doubts, don't get stuck in a book you'll quickly regret once the high of its newness wears off. I made that mistake on a JIM 83 and took a hit when I couldn't stand it anymore and had to upgrade.