FN-2199

Neg him so that the rest of the community knows to avoid him in the future. Thank you.

Just had a customer tell me that PayPal is showing that I billed him for $XX when it was, in fact, a partial refund. I told him not to pay and sent him the refund transaction ID just in case he has clear it up with PayPal.

I just saw that PayPal debited my bank account for eBay shipping a few times earlier this month. That is the first time that has ever happened. Ebay shipping is supposed to come out of my PayPal balance. I've shipped a dozen or more packages since then and everything is back to normal.

The book looks OK but the inner well has me concerned. I also have another slab like this.

Disney is too busy axing bloated contracts at ESPN and reeling in bidding of sports licensing not making them money. If my math was correct at the time, ESPN was costing Disney as much as Marvel and Star Wars combined when Disney purchased those properties.

Not being sarcastic and not a rhetorical question but perhaps: Do you think Marvel has put their best creators on the film side of the business and intentionally let the comics slide since more money can be made at the movies? I don't hear anyone complain about Marvel films.

A similar thing happened to me (not media mail though) and I had to pay the difference in weight. I paid the extra $10 and figured we could work it out. Seller refused to pay the difference. I tried to open a return but eBay sided with him. I could have fought, but $10 is not worth the time and stress.

I made an offer and had it accepted about 2 years ago. It was countered to probably within 5-10% off of the listing price. I think ComicConnect automatically declines offers under 75% of the asking price.

The base model is not quite high enough to take photos of slabs. You'd have to consider buying the extension (which I do not have and have not used).

In the above examples, all four shots took less than 10 seconds total to capture. I use a piece of white foam board as a background. The kind that you can find at the dollar store, Michael's or Hobby Lobby. Often times with blue pages, such as the Mark Jeweler's insert, the foam board will become light pink when taking photos. You may also notice a slight shadow in the top right of each photograph. It is because my light sources are set up in front of the camera and to the sides. Because I have set up the light source in front of me instead of behind me, I get a slight shadow from the arm of the device on which the camera rests. If I wasn't using this camera for cheap comics I would care about slight shadows and I would stage my lighting differently or use a light box.

Sorry for the delay in responding. Here is a sample of the shots taken by the camera. These are of a low grade ASM 132 front cover, Mark Jeweler's insert, Marvel Value Stamp, and back cover.

I use that exact model. I only use it for my eBay auctions which are raw Copper and Moderns NM- and below. For NM+ and BIN, I use a scanner. I use it because I can do a front and back photo faster and clearer than holding a camera. I did not want to shell out the $$$ for a tripod and boom to hold a camera. I also sell other things on eBay but have not used this camera for those. The tutorials I watched when doing research for this camera showed that you can get great detail for coins and stamps. The camera will only be tall enough for one comic at a time, otherwise you will be capturing portions of the camera base if you extend the arm long enough to shoot two comics at a time. You will also need lots of white light and maybe a filter. I have been using cheap, clamp on utility lights with a fluorescent bulb and a piece of paper clipped over the light. Yes, there can be glare (not the camera's fault, that is the studio set-up). I know what comments are coming: "You can't show enough details." "The photographs are missing flaws." etc., etc. etc. Response: Yes, this is not a high resolution camera and it only captures one angle. Remember, I use this for Copper and Moderns, most of which are FN to VF and auctions start at $0.99. Most of those auctions close between $1-5. When the majority of my eBay competition is not even taking the comic out of the bag for photographs and has no back cover picture whatsoever, I think that I am doing pretty well for my customers. By using a cheap camera system that allows me to save time on photographing, I can give customers more auctions. As I am writing this, I do not have access to my archives to post examples of photographs. If you are still interested, I can dig some up off my hard drive.

I liked the Superior Spider-Man storyline. I'm glad it wasn't forgotten.

If I had 19 bids on a book, I'd be happy. The real bidders don't show up until the last day or they bid on dozens of your books up front. This guy sounds like he is gonna get sniped. Look at the watch count to put your mind at ease.

Thank you all for not complaining about the Star Wars stuff at "comic conventions".

I have purchased several large lots of moderns from them and bid on many others. Nothing has ever been damaged due to shipping. I wish they sold more.

OK, I thought they stuck the buyer with the credit card charge to encourage using PayPal funds or bank transfers.

I thought PayPal put the 2-3% credit card fee on the buyer when you checked out. It's hard to find a cash back rewards program that offers 3+%.

I guess the decimal was in the wrong place

I agree, not everyone is a dealer but when I flip through Instagram, it seems like almost everyone is doing some buying and selling. That is fine so long as there is some new money coming into the pool. There are a lot of private sales and trades being facilitated by social media that was never around before. Social media keeps me more involved in the hobby than Wizard Magazine ever did. Sharing your new score with distant friends and strangers is something that we couldn't do in the 90s and keeps the hobby interesting.

I like the idea of raw grading, especially for moderns. I'm a run collector and when I see a modern ASM CGC 9.8 get no bids at $20, I feel stung because I passed it up. I pass it up because I just don't have the space for all of those slabs but I have plenty of room for raws, in fact, if I bought a raw 9.8 for my PC, it would just replace the 9.4 I already have. But now my 9.8 modern slabs are sitting in boxes that I should be using for my selling inventory. Yes, I want graded $XXX+ books in a slab, but for a completionist, I don't mind keeping run filler raw. I actually have a cherry-picked batch of lower value NM+ I set aside for each CGC submission that I know I wouldn't make much money on if slabbed. Since these are 9.6-9.8, I won't feel bad if I roll the dice and some come back 9.6 because that is fine for my PC but not good for resale. What about raw grading of signed books? What would be more of a turn off, a green label or a raw grade? If I want to put together a run of books signed by an artist, I may consider raw grading. In fact, I am putting together a run of signed books that are only signed in pen on the splash page. What if I want these insured at a specific grade AND I want to see the signature? I don't know if this is something I want/need but now I can have the option.

I also use ULINE boxes most of the time. You can adjust your shipping cost in eBay with "Calculated Shipping", enter the box dimensions and then round up for weight to the next highest pound (usually 2 lbs for 1 slab). Now your shipping costs will be lower for customers in your region than if you had used a flat rate box. This may help drive business for your slabs. Since I'm in Florida, my calculated shipping costs are significantly lower for anyone in the southeast. This gives me an advantage if priced the same as another seller who uses flat rate boxes.

I agree with this. Unless it is international shipping or a high dollar book, over 2 lbs. seems like excessive packaging for 1 slab. I agree that the coast to coast shipping is often a bummer. I've had to eat portions of shipping costs many times for listings with fixed price shipping.

Wow Greg, you're getting hammered this week. Times like this, I don't mind being a bottom feeder selling $1-5 comics. All the deadbeats can afford those, but of course they then ask to have the books shipped media mail.

Feedback score of 945 is high for these types of things. Usually I get this from low feedback buyers.