Samoyed Sabaka

On 3/30/2024 at 8:45 AM, Robot Man said:

Ran into my pal, boardie Hap Hazard. He is holding a cool, fat Xmas comic I bought from his brother in law who had a booth. Had a nice conversation and geeked about books. 

We were both digging the boxes at the same time.  Was great to see you again.  Nice score on this book.  They even gave you $50 off!

I also brought a lot of money to spend, but left with nothing.  Couldn't find too many deals.  Are the dealers here mostly just showing off their collections at their booths and not really interested in actually moving product at ebay prices?  I can understand holding out for top dollar on super key cgc graded books - they will probably sell eventually, but 90% of their stock seems common enough to get if you are patient, at much cheaper prices online.

Here's a book Bob pushed me over the edge to get.  It had some condition issues, but the cover is so cool.  But seriously, I couldn't pass up a story titled,"Satan Trades in Debutantes", could I?

Great pictures Bob!  It was so great to finally meet you and sacentaur in the flesh at last.  It was a really interesting show to just walk around and meet people.  I got to see Michelle Nolan talking to Lupoff (apparently the CGC boards will not let me type his first name}, reminiscing about the old Phil Seuling cons in New York.  I think I saw Bruce Timm shopping around too.  I'm sure there were many other people who I didn't recognize.   Like you said, other than the pulps dealer, there really weren't too many other things to get excited about.  Tons of cheap paperbacks though - fun if you are into that.

As a side note, for those living in the Los Angeles Area, I did discover that my LCS - Legacy Comics in Glendale does offer a nice 33% discount on Marvel and DC, 20% off other publishers - so I'm definitely thinking about switching back to buying at a brick and morter - something I haven't regularly done in almost 20 years.  I will miss the ease with which I could place an order on DCBS, but hopefully, being able to deal with my local shop in a face to face situation will be better in the long run.

On 6/4/2019 at 11:50 PM, geoffdude said:

Consider yourselves lucky.. here's a few pics of what I was getting.

 

 

 

I've been having the same condition issues over the last few years with DCBS.  Used to not be so bad, but now it's at least two books per shipment that have torn covers or color breaking folds.  They used to be quite responsive (Carrie) and would credit me fairly quickly, but I reported two damaged books in December and have had no response for close to 6 weeks.  I've tried to be very polite and understanding since it was the holidays, but now it's getting to the point where I'm losing my patience.  I'm just asking for like a $5.00 refund, so it should be pretty easy to process - but nope - they're ghosting me with no replies at all.  It's this total disregard for customer service that seriously has me considering going to try another service.  Guess I might give mycomicshop a try.  Any other recommendations - (I'd prefer to find someone that has a similar discount)?

I'm auctioning off a few pieces from my collection on ebay right now, ending in a few days.  There is a nice Adi Granov Maleficent, Stephane Roux Vampirella and a vintage Spawn vs Venom commission by Marat Mychaels.  Also have a bunch of Japanese anime cels listed too:  https://www.ebay.com/sch/comixman1970/m.html?item=193146807912&ssPageName=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

If this has been discussed before, sorry in advance.  I sell maybe about 3 to 5 items a month on ebay (definitely small volume but at least a few hundred dollars worth), but I just noticed that paypal has stated that beginning around the second week of October, they will not be refunding seller fees (2.9% of the transaction if I remember correctly) in the event that the seller has to issue the buyer a refund.  They originally announced this change earlier in 2018 but had to back track due to seller outrage.  Now they are trying to slip it past everyone again. 

So if I sell a piece of original art for $500, that's about $14.50 in paypal fees that I would have to eat if for some reason the buyer decided they wanted a refund or to even cancel the transaction after they had paid, but before I shipped.  I don't have to do that many refunds since I don't sell that much, but it still gets me kind of angry that it is another layer of risk that I'd have to accept as a seller. 

Ebay basically only allows sellers to accept paypal, unless you have a merchant account to process your own credit cards (does Square count?).  I understand that they will be phasing out paypal sometime next year for their own in house payment system, but until they do that, the small time seller seems out of luck.  My question is, are there any other options for selling on ebay to get around having to use paypal?  

My sales have dropped so low over the past few years, that I'm just thinking of moving off ebay entirely and selling here, craigslist, or facebook, at least until I see what changes ebay makes to their payment system in 2020 or 2021.  Could any other ebay sellers share their opinions?  Are you just going to suck up and risk paying the fees if a buyer cancels, or have you decided on another payment system, or left ebay altogether for another selling channel?

That also brings to mind, what are CGC boardie sellers are going to do?  I haven't bought off the boards in years, so I haven't kept up, but with these paypal changes, do you think boardies will move to another type of payment system as well?

3 hours ago, Montezuma said:

gavelsnipe has been working again for a while now.

Thanks.  I'll check it out on an auction I won't mind if I lose later today.  They still have this message posted on their webpage though:

IMPORTANT: We are aware of the issues with eBay sniping, and it appears eBay is blocking snipes from GavelSnipe. As we look into resolving these issues, it is recommended GavelSnipe NOT be used for important eBay bids. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

So about two months ago, the sniping program that I'd been using for the last few years, gavelsnipe, got blocked by ebay.  It still works with Heritage, since I believe that they own it.  I then tried using gixen, which is much clunkier to use, but still does the job.  Now they just informed me that they will only allow four winning snipes per month on their free version going forward.  Admittedly, it's only $6.00 a year to pay for their service, which is a good deal, but as I don't bid as often on ebay as I used to, I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good, free sniping service for ebay?

On 8/14/2019 at 6:57 PM, Terry E. Gibbs said:

Late reply, but I spend a fair time looking at these so I will give you my thoughts. Somewhere on the net is a scale of discount you should apply to Restored books. Basically it goes from around 90% for a NM down to much lower discounts as you go down the list. The theory behind this is that you need a lot of R to get a book back to a NM but again it oversimplifies. Their is a huge difference between the classic conservation R from 50 years ago with "small colour touch small glue on spine", to a more modern, "pieces added, spine reinforced, staples cleaned, cover cleaned and re glossed". Both books are purple but one book in twenty years will have changed while the other will be pretty well as is when bought.

The next point is R is quite common on 50s books. Look at SC 4.  from the CGC census 138R out of a pop of 483, or 138/483 which is 28.50% !!

Now lets look at some others.

 

1959 SC 22# 161/1031 = 15.6%

FF 1# Nov 1961 + 592/2290 = 25.85%

AF 15# 1962  856/3208 = 26.68%

ASM 1#  1963 807/3825 = 21.09

FF 12# 116/1327    = 8.7%

FF 48#    375/5597  = 6.7%

I was actually quite surprised by how many FF 1, AF 15, and ASM 1, were R. My guess is that this was early dealer attempts to up their books. You can see though that once you step away from Mega keys R is quite a small %. Even with a good discount I would suggest just move onto a blue label.

You can see that R is more common on mega key books. The buyer then has the choice of a Purple label with small colour touch but a decent looking book, rather than something that looks beat to death and barely cling to life for the same price.

I am not an expert on Golden age but I am guessing some of the minor R on 1950s Silver may pass inspection on Golden age (would love someone with experience to chime in)

 

I bought a SC 4 5.0 with small ct and glue on sp, for less than a 3.0 at the time. It was for my collection something I wanted for many years and I wanted something nice to look at, but not something that depreciates, (as in reglossing pieces filled / added and pressed to death)

The other observation is that the discount on books under 5.0 is much less on Marvel mega keys than most DC.

 

and I will get out of here before we get onto trimming ..

 

 

 

Thanks for your great analysis Terry.  This is a topic of great interest to me as I think I'm going to have to start considering going after heavily restored books if I even want to be able to afford a mega key.  I've only bought a few golden age books with minor color touch or glue in the past.  Nothing with major pieces added ect..., so I really don't know much about this.  I was recently looking at this auction for Adventure #247:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/Adventure-Comics-247-Reader-039-s-Copy-KEY-ISSUE-1st-App-Legion-of-Super-Heroes-GD-/223638900909?nma=true&si=6YMOchfCxNPmEZf9O%2Fi7%2BKbv40A%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

As you can see, the book had it's logo torn off, along with a big tear on the back cover by the spine.  I had considered bidding on it and then sending it to a restorer but from the preliminary research I did, it seemed that the boost in restored grade would not be worth what it costs to restore it.  The $300.00 it ended up selling for seems like a good value price as a 2.0 is about $900.00 in the guide, and I see that a coverless copy went for around $400.00 on Heritage in the past.  In the end, I decided not to bid as I'd rather add a more beat up, but complete copy, rather than buy this copy. 

Any thoughts on buying keys with their logo's torn off and then getting them restored?  Is it worth it to attempt something like that?  I think the caveat seems to be that it is worth it only if the book would grade around 8.0 in all other aspects before adding the large pieces necessary to restore the logo.

21 hours ago, Aweandlorder said:

Gixen

Cool, I will check it out.  Thanks.

Ebay has been blocking gavelsnipe for at least the last two days.  They are working on a fix, but until then, can anyone recommend another sniper?

Like most people here, I've seen the rate of damaged books increase, albeit slightly, over the last year or so.  Now I just got the notice that California has been added to the sales tax list for DCBS.  My cost just went up almost 10% - yikes!  Those two factors have me considering switching to another service, either online or local (based in Los Angeles).  The DCBS discount was the main reason I stuck with them, but if I can find another vendor with a similar discount that isn't charging sales tax - that would be great.  Any suggestions?

On 12/29/2018 at 10:28 PM, ExNihilo said:

The thing is I really only wanted the MJ and Gwen's signed.  I was hoping to get the others raw/unsigned.  But then I was told that all books were pre-signed and I hate getting books signed but not yellow labeled.  So due to being very precise about how I like books presented, I ended up subbing all 9 books.  All in all, the experience left me soured on buying s/s at his booth, much like yourself.

I find this really interesting, but just from reading the last few posts (didn't get a chance to really read if anything was posted earlier), what exactly was the turnoff / drawbacks from doing the S/S at the booth?  Going forward, how do you plan on collecting these exclusives?

7 minutes ago, Avi said:

Kinda mad the 5 book captain marvel set is MORE expensive than the 6 book Xmen set! 

I'm torn between trying for the signed 5 book set or the unsigned.  I know that many here prefer the unsigned so that they can CGC them later.  But just based on future resale potential (I'm not planning on submitting these to CGC), what does everyone think would be better to try for?

7 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

Hmmmm was the listing picture of the comic in a bag? I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to keep it if the book is not damaged...... was it a bag with a seal?

Yes, it was a sealed mylar bag that originally came from J Scott. Campbell with the hologram seal.  The seal is still intact, but the bag is not.  As an OCD collector (LOL), I prefer having the whole mylar intact since it is sealed with an exclusive hologram from the artist.   Just wondering if others here would have a problem with the mylar being completely split open on the right side.

I just received a Campbell True Exclusive Signed book from an ebay seller.  Unfortunately, the mylar was completely split on the right hand side of the bag.  Does this happen often with these type of books?  In my personal opinion, having the bag split open is a defect, even though the issue inside is ok.  What does everyone else think?

So does anyone have any recent dealings with this seller?  I always see books I'm interested in bidding on, but I don't because he seems like a scammer.  Yet, his ebay sales still remain strong and there don't appear to be that many negative comments from ebay buyers.  Also, is he connected to the "all things comics" dealer too?  I'm just amazed at their operation on how they are able to consistently amass so many in demand books.  Just wondering where they are sourcing their stock from.  

On 8/29/2018 at 1:29 PM, ExNihilo said:

Are you paying for the uniqueness of the product or for the experience (lunch, personal time, and having a piece that is not a reproduction but was actually drawn by him)?

I believe the cost for just the remark alone was around $850, at least, that's what I gather from reading the article on Bleeding Cool about the VIP Lunch.

Thank goodness they let you use these on items that you still have to pay for!  Won a few pieces of artwork on Sunday that I waited on paying for, hoping for a coupon.  Yay!!!!!

I tried to use this with purchases that I still had to pay for, from auctions that I've won over the last 10 days.  Looks like this only applies to auctions that end during this 8% promotion period, not simply just paying during the promotion period.  And of course, if you go for buy it now during the promotion that would obviously count too.

Question for future reference, when the JScottCampbell website says that exclusives are limited to 2 sets per order, does that allow you to purchase 2 of each option (ie: 2 sets of signed and 2 sets of unsigned), or are you only allowed 2 total sets (ie: 1 set signed, 1 set unsigned).  And if you are only allowed 2 total sets, can you just place another order under a different email address, but have it sent to your same mailing address, or do you have to have a different mailing address as well?

8 hours ago, gregwynn said:

If you want all 4 unsigned they will probably sell out in 3 or 4 minutes. Signed 4 cover sets under 5. Shipping will be extra and I was not charged any tax but I live in VA

 

Wow, that's interesting.  I would have thought that the signed sets would be the more desirable ones.  So, in terms of future appreciation, is it better to go for the unsigned versions?  If so, is that because collectors prefer them to have CGC verify the sigs?

I've never ordered from his site before.  What with the new ASM #2 going out for sale on 8/11, what should I expect at checkout?  Will it be a 90 second sell out like it is for Mondo posters, or will it be more casual so I can go in after an hour or two and still be able to get a set? Also, is there extra charges for shipping and sales tax to California?  Thanks.

Thanks for this thread!  I've been feeling this way at cons for a long time and I was wondering if it was just me.  I used to bring at least 1k "just in case" money to SDCC and Wondercon and even some smaller Socal shows, but really, it's been going on 5+ years for me since I've found anything "reasonably" priced - by which I mean - comparable to what I can purchase the books for on ebay.  I'm not talking about keys either, just regular "common" 8.0 or higher silver and bronze.  For many of the bigger dealers, when I peruse their stock, its almost as if they are taking the ebay price and practically doubling it.  I'm still kind of shocked that these dealers seem to be able to get enough sales to keep attending these shows.  I still spend several thousands a year on ebay, so I'm getting my "fix" satisfied.  So is ebay still the best place to shop then?