Pat Thomas

It all just depends how much he has going on. When I had some books restored about 5 years ago, he was just a 1 man operation, and there was a pretty good wait time for just about any service. I believe he's hired some people to do pressing and cleaning for most books, and mainly does the big jobs himself. Right now, USPS is compounding the turnaround time problems with their terrible service, so I don't know how much of your wait ends up being their fault instead of Mike's.

I've been through all that. Only discouraged me more. I even wrote the Postmaster General.

Not really. It's kind of cool outside today and I don't have anything pressing. Most days I just do whatever I want. I do need to take the garbage cans to the street on Thursday, though.

now it's 2 longboxes.

See if you can find my packages USPS lost while you're digging.

Sure. You want me to IM you all my personal info?

You are correct. Of course, that pretty much defeats the purpose of pre-printing my labels for convenient drop-off at USPS without standing in line, or leaving at UPS Store for pickup. Worked just fine for me for years, and then it didn't. Why offer the "conveniences" if their employees can't be depended upon to do their part?

No, I'm just a collector.

You're only a hero to yourself. Thousand dollar comics are a luxury. No watchdog needed.

Do you not have anything else in your life beside sticking your nose into what others are doing? Are you just alone and lonely or something?No real people to hang with and looking for purpose? Just don't buy from the guy.

Not adding any new insight or anything here, but I've got to vent. I primarily am a buyer, but I also sell to mycomicshop a couple of times a month, and it's usually a couple of longboxes per order. Right now, a longbox I dropped off the week after Thanksgiving has just vanished. The only activity shown is the label being created, so I suppose it never got scanned into their system. The box that went with it never got scanned either, but it was caught at a distribution center somehow and made it to the receiver a little more than a week ago. So I have no idea where the missing box is, and neither do they. This is the second time it's happened to me since June, and the first one never reappeared. So, with the amount of shipping I do, I think losing 2 big boxes in 6 months is inexcusable. I can only imagine how much it would hurt if I was a high volume shipper and USPS was losing 10-15% of the packages I sent to people. But nobody else is really any better right now, so what can you do? I'm frustrated to no end about this, and I don't have hope for any type of fix down the road, because it is just getting worse. Should I just give up using mail for purchases? Shouldn't this be a major concern that can't be fixed by raising stamp prices or cutting expenses? Does nobody in charge even care?

There's a site called Covrprice that issues lists in their newsletters telling you what's been hot the previous week, how much of an increase, and why the book is going up. They finally mentioned this book last week, even though it's been on peoples' radar for a long time. I had a nice raw copy that was close to NM, and sold it on ebay for $300 back in July. It kills me to think of how many copies of that book I've seen in dollar bins and passed on. I don't understand the mentality of newer collectors regarding variants, first appearances, and 9.8 slabbed modern comics, but there is no shortage of buyers willing to invest thousands of dollars in a comic at the drop of a hat. And the back issue market as a whole is benefitting from it. I would hesitate disposing of just about any comic presently, because people are really paying big money for books once considered worthless. Or you can complain on the boards since you don't understand.

While I agree with the sentiment of this thread, there are actually some honest "grab bag" sellers out there. A grab bag is how I acquired my Avengers 1. I had only been back collecting for a short time when that happened, and it made me realize that I could collect the entire run, and really pumped up my enthusiasm about collecting. I thought I should post this to let others know there are still legitimate people running some of these things. I don't think I'm the only person who's ever won the grand prize in one of them. Besides, if you have the extra money, and a reputable dealer lists one that you couldn't afford to buy outright, why not take a chance? Who knows? It was a big thrill for me to open that package.

If you have the money, why not give it a try? Chances are that you'll strike out, but remember; When you hear stories of people hitting the comic jackpot, they had the same odds. There are still comics out there that have never been to market, because there are still people around from the time Action Comics 1 came out, and the kids of that generation are mostly still alive. I'm not saying there are Golden Age comics in huge numbers hidden in attics and sheds, but there are some out there. It's worth trying things outside the box if you can afford it, and one day you might get lucky.

mycomicshop.com is (and has been for some time) hiring people to train as graders right now. I don't know how long it takes them to train somebody, but I do know it's intensive, and they don't set the new graders loose after a week or so. Buddy won't let somebody grade new stock until he's confident they have fully embraced the "Lone Star Standards" for grading. One of the things that is so screwed up about comic grading is that no 2 people are going to follow the same exact rules unless they work together setting it up. mycomicshop will have differing opinions than CGC or CBCS on certain items, and both grading companies will grade differently in some areas. Everybody is supposedly basing their grading using Overstreet's parameters, but that really only guarantees that anybody attempting to grade a comic does so using their own bastardized version. I think eventually somebody will invent a program that can accurately measure how close a comic is percentage-wise to being gem mint. In the meantime, there needs to be an official Overstreet Grading School for shops to send people to. Everybody learns and uses the same procedure start to finish for every comic. There is too much money involved in the expensive comics for somebody's distraction while grading to cost a person thousands of dollars. Byw, It's very hard trying to put into words what I'm trying to say, so I hope everybody can figure out where I'm coming from.

I don't think it could know until it's reached. It's way faster than a human, though.

There's an option to set a reserve.

I wouldn't. Maybe I'm too picky, but I would expect any comic graded 9.2 or above to present absolutely perfect in the slab, with no bends or spine tics or overhangs. That's not to say you haven't done everything in your power to keep the comic in the condition it was when you bought it, but that it was an imperfect candidate to begin with. Are you planning to sell it or something? If not, put it in your collection and be happy it graded that high even with the overhang and corner bend. CGC is never wrong, you know, so it must be a 9.6.

This is the correct answer. They will buy them all and make it simple for you.

It seems to me that 9.8 is given out at a pretty regular rate on modern comics, so there isn't anything "rare" about them. If you are in this to make a quick buck, 9.8 moderns is the way to go. But at some point people are going to realize there is no long term value in most of these books, and the 9.8 modern craze will be over. Buy nice raw copies of the books you like. Invest in Bronze Age and older comics with proven track records. Keep up with industry news and look for bargains that you think might have potential for growth. Read your new comics, put them in bags and put them up, and just take care of them. Just don't waste your money on an overpriced slabbed 9.8 comic that isn't a key.

USPS lost a longbox I sent to mycomicshop at the end of May. My local branch told me to quit bringing my heavy prepaid boxes into the lobby, and instead drop them in the warehouse. That particular day, I had 2 longboxes and another regular sized box, and the warehouse guy and I loaded all 3 onto a skid. I didn't find out anything was wrong until I tracked them all 2 weeks later. Two were already delivered, and the other one hadn't been scanned into the system yet. It has not turned up yet, and I still don't have confidence that anybody physically looked for my big, heavy, white box. It cost me about $400 in store credit with mycomicshop.com, but I can't prove anything. I'm pretty sure they couldn't care less.

Try pushing the air out with a ruler as you fold the flap over. That will help some. If you don't pull the flap too tight, the rest of the air should come out when you file away in your box.

FYI, mycomicshop.com buys entire collections, too. They have several different options depending on what the collection consists of and how much time you want to spend on it. You can call and talk directly to the owner, Buddy Saunders, and he will tell you whether they are interested in buying the entire collection or not. If they aren't, he will probably give you advice. You can read all the testimonials from sellers on their website. There are thousands of them.

I say buy what you want. It's human nature for others to be envious when someone possesses an item they can't afford, especially if it's more than one. Envy and jealousy are prevalent in society today because everybody needs to be a victim. Ignore them and buy as many copies of any comic you want. It's your collection to shape how you want it.

2012 I think. The movie hadn't come out yet, though.