justafan

LOL. I can't imagine owning 5 Dell'Otto's in 9.6/9.8 and 10,000 ASM variants worth under cover price.

the real money maker is the virtually guaranteed $5 for using the $10 authenticity AND grading service + the unlikihood that you would use the $5 voucher in 90 days. I might consider using it if they would offer just the grading service for $5 by itself. chances are inconclusive listings will be the bulk of the requests as it is exactly those types of listing that buyers would require this service and have a hard time with: blurry photo, cropped images, etc. to really ensure you get the full value of this service is to only use it on listings that have clear close ups of the front, back, interior covers, and each interior page. otherwise you might as well be submitting an obvious FN/VF book in for a 9.8 prescreen or paying for graders notes on a CGC 9.8. easy money all day long for cgc.

hype = short lived prices manufactured rarity = short term hype already popular artist variant = market saturation and brand dilution under ordered variants of a popular title by an artist of growing popularity = long term but slower appreciation under ordered manufactured rarity by an artist with growing popularity and/or iconic cover with either or both of the following: 1. high rate of production damage/loss 2. 1st app of a popular new character = mega variant $$$$$$$

Miller Low Life all the way. it is after all the champagne of beers! BUT if available I will always go with some Narragansett. Made on honor, Sold on merit!

The Likely 8.0 to 10.0 grade range is too broad for this service to be of use for those looking for NM or better moderns. Unless the service also indicates which end of the range the book is more likely on, I can guess that range for free. Most listings described as NM are often VF to VF/NM range which is where most buyers of NM are trying to avoid. I also wonder if sellers or buyers purchasing these grade authenticity services can use that to get out of assigning their own grade and avoiding returns due to SNAD on the grade. I also suppose the option to purchase this service will be available through ebay or the ebay app and offered for a fee to sellers for their listings. The next genius idea will be CGC or CCS offering a Pressable authenticity service: Likely Pressable to 8.0 - 10.0 Likely Pressable to 6.0 - 8.0 Likely Pressable to 4.0 - 6.0 Likely Pressable to 2.0 - 4.0 Likely Pressable to 0.5 - 2.0 Likely Not Pressable Likely Pressed based on CGC grade date and slab configuration Likely Unpressed based on CGC grade date and slab configuration

to be perfectly fair, communication goes a long way. If you sent that email explaining the situation and solution Tuesday night/Wed morning to all WD sub customers that would not be getting a copy that week, or at the very least placing a notice with that middle paragraph in the customers pullbox, you're all good and the OP should just be patient. I see no big deal here. Good LCS do that. ones who don't care or don't value each sub customer, don't bother. If you only sent that email after the customer complained and this has been a recurring issue then I have to agree with the OP, as clearly the LCS isn't capable of or interested in proactively keeping up with their current sub capacity. FYI: 2nd printing is no substitute for the 1st print so ensure you order and receive the 1st prints from diamond or you will have more annoyed customers. I'm also betting that book will be back to $5 or less in 6 mo. $1 if/when Kirkman decides/is pushed to revive the series.

sniff sniff. ah the memories sniff sniff

Whoops, I had it on a reliable source (the missus) but I guess she was wrong! Hah! something I can poke fun at her for. Wow, Halle Bailey as Ariel. I wonder what kind of spin she'll put on the music.

Saw it. Liked it. Going to see it again in Dolby Surround sound. I was initially very concerned about how they were going to handle Mysterio and the Hydro/Sand men/elementals and whether they were meant to be the characters in the comics or something totally different. but...

LOL, Joey, will your pressing service remove the cat hair. Is that a dry cleaning service you offer prior to pressing?

We would expect that but sorry to inform this is false. CGC appears to apply the 10 and 9.9 grades to structural perfection not presentation. I've seen enough 10's with miswraps and off-centered wraps that made me realize I'd rather own something that presents as perfection even if structurally it has 1 or 2 flaws that are imperceptible. Direct your attention to the CGC 10's of ASM 362 in Exhibit A, & Exhibit B vs the CGC 9.8 copies in Exhibit C. How about a single highest graded ASM 216 CGC 10 in Exhibit D vs a better presenting copy in 9.8 in Exhibit E. Exhibit A: Amazing Spider-man #362 CGC 10.0 Copy A Cert #0790583005. Notice the 1/8" miswrap tapering from the mid spine to bottom rotating the wrap to just off-center alignment front cover. Exhibit B: Amazing Spider-man #362 CGC 10.0 Copy B Cert #0790583003. Notice the 1/8" miswrap that runs all along the front cover spine. But it is centered. Now take a look at this copy in 9.8 with a nearly perfect wrap Cert #0701640020 on both the front and back covers. And for those of you that like the framing of the dark black border visible on the FC spine there's this example: Ok, now for a single highest graded alone at the top of the census Amazing Spider-man #216 CGC 10.0 Cert#0790587007. Just slightly off centered as the wrap is more towards the back cover at the top and shows white down at the bottom. The banner does look fairly well aligned so I'll give you the centering looks good but the wrap bugs me. Not as bad as the examples above but what about the back cover? Is that Front cover wrap peeking over to say hello? That back cover doesn't look very well centered. How about Marvel Secret Wars #8 CGC 10 with the miswrap to FC: The centering on this one is debatable but the presence of the BC wrap at the bottom gives it the appearance of not being perfectly centered and it may well be off by that 1/8". #1 Or worse yet the UXM #160 CGC 10 with a full spine length miswrap to FC AND Off-white to white pages: This one while vertically well centered is not horizontally well centered as the comics code and title is pushed to the edge. I give you this one has decent centering but the wrap and PQ are an eyesore. Oh they just let all kinds of miswraps in 10.0s folks. And those are only the ones I could find on Heritage. Would I like to own, them, sure, but I'm not going to pay as much of a premium if I can find a 9.8 or even a 9.9 with a better wrap, centering, and white pages.

Did you receive the books back from CGC already? If so could you post some front and back cover scans here. Did you elect to have them pressed prior to grading (I only ask to rule out any hard to see non-color breaking cover defects). If the covers are of 9.8 quality then there has to be some defect internally. While it is very strange for no grader notes to be present (even due to a data loss or forgetful grader) I find it stranger that they don't have a any record or documented basis for why they gave it the grades they did. If the staples are not rusty or discolored, the cover doesn't have hidden water spots, finger prints, or stains that are only visible under UV light or bright angled light, or production/shipping ink abrasions along the spine from 2 comics rubbing against each other, then the only defects I can think of that would knock it down to an 8.0/8.5 not on the cover would be interior defects. if a wrap was detatched, mutlple interior tears, interior staining I could see it getting an 8.0/8.5. When you get them back, try looking carefully through the interiors and see if there's any surprises. I've heard of collectors finding petrified pepperoni stuck to one of the interior pages. But if you checked them out completely and find nothing and the books are of significance to you or of value I would try calling again and requesting escalation. You deserve to be informed of at least one defect (if not obvious) why it received its grade.

I've passed up 9.9s for just this reason. I'd rather own a 9.8 with perfect centering and wrap on the front and back covers and White pages than a "structural" 9.9 with a 1/8" miswrap to the front cover and off-white to white pages. Even among the single highest 9.9 and 10's out there, there are those that have "production" defects like a bad wrap or off-center that would drive me nuts. Likewise, I would rather own a more perfectly presenting CGC 9.6 in White pages than any of the 3 CGC 9.8's in existence with printing creases, bad misraps or off-white to white pages. Why would I pay a premium for that?

That is part of it but with comics the other 2 reasons is the combination of fear of missing out (FOMO) coupled with faith/confidence that the books are actually worth that much and will continue to be worth that much to future collectors, if not more, in the future. In other words, people with money are willing to pay that amount because they see it as an investment just as much as a hobby. When you have less than 30 copies in 9.8 but over 100 in 9.6, that drives the fear of missing out factor (FOMO) + the demand factor + the desirability factor formula. What you will have to pay later may be greater than what you have to pay now for it so you'd better get it for whatever you're willing to afford now. Pedigree and ComicLink play to those fears in their auction listings by even stating how long it has been since a particular copy has been auctioned or even listed for sale, CVA and now QES stickers play to the additional desirability of this copy over all other copies. But if you have less than 10 copies at 9.8, now the FOMO is the primary driving factor even if the demand and desirability are the same. But in the case of popular characters like ASM or Supes, the demand factor is always going to be very significant. If you have just 100 collectors with 6 figure or higher incomes (with a good portion of that being disposable) in the world that are working towards a 9.8 collection and there are only 10 copies of a particular issue in 9.8 on the census, well then you see where a 9.8 goes for 5 figures or higher while the 9.6 with 50 copies goes for much less and the 9.4 with 200 copies and so forth. So yes, it is crazy especially if/when the demand ever drops to the point where the the most anyone is willing to pay is fraction of the current market value. Many of us are either going to take a bath on it or they will continue to demand even higher prices. I think many of us that are handbag B type people are just playing hot potato with our collections knowing we should sell before we get burned but would rather not. The rest who fit into the handbag A type category are going to be able to absorb the loss but they may also be the ones that trigger the crash if they all decide it's not worth chasing.

NICE!

This + 500 free fixed listings and 25% off FVF = multiple sales. gotta love the 10% ebay bucks and coupons. I love it when ebay times these things right.

they've got a lot of potential to rectify and reconnect everything if they do it right. I just hope whatever they do, they do it well. If done well and the stories draw viewers in, it may not matter if they're disconnected. Agents of Shield just didn't have enough of a good formula to keep me into it without it's tie ins to the MCU.

yeah that caught my eye as well. I wonder if that was intentional or if the mirror and reflection was added later or if the reflection was initially drawn without the top and it was too risque so they added the top but forgot it on the back. Or maybe it was a new back strapless he was hoping would catch on with the ladies in the late 40's. Wait, the reflection of her face and her right arm should be covered up as well by the green dress or blanket or whatever that is. And the mirror reflection of her hair is on the wrong side. Man that art is just all kinds of wrong. Well, nice books though.

I appreciate the competition my good man but the real money is made in cartels -er i mean cooperative competition then monopolize so in 18 months after both our respective sticker certification services have matured (i.e found themselves on a bunch of graded books) we can merge and start our own Collectible's Sticker Guarantee Service (CSGS) and start buying up all of the other sticker services like CVA, QES, etc and form our own conglomerate. we will of course maintain a level of integrity for all our services. A slab submitted for CVA but also requesting SAC validity service will be anonymous and graded for validity as if the CVA stickered slab had been applied prior to the merger. then it will go on to the MIS grading service to double validate the SAC service. there will be virtually no appearance of conflict of interest here.

Now that ComicLink's CVA has competition in the form of ComicConnect's QES, and hopefully soon to follow Heritage's version (CQX -just making it up) I will come out with a new service that validates, confirms, and grades those sticker's claims. For example if a CVA sticker appears on a book that is less than exceptional and considerably less appealing for it's grade compared to other known copies, my sticker will state in the form of a letter grade: A-F where A+ is the highest validity and F- is the lowest validity. My sticker will be called SAC (Sticker Accuracy Claim). For stickers receiving a grade less than B will include the graded Cert # of the better looking copy.

I would expect that the professional presser would at least inspect the comic for inserts or specks prior to pressing as anything of that nature might affect the press. I guess u could always tell them ahead of time.

when the value of my comic collection exceeds 50% of my net worth. when my bank acct falls below a certain threshold. when the prices for everything being sold that I want are significantly higher than gpa and/or exceeds the price/opportunity cost of more enjoyable life pursuits not unlike what was already mentioned.. for me it was snorkeling in the no name beach in Bon Aire, and relaxing in Curacao, taking my family on a Disney Cruise and giving my 2 kids the experience of a lifetime making great memories.

agreed. this is my concerns as well. the further removed from the original reality and timeline, the more disconnected the shows become and the less it holds my interest. plus it's just too crazy trying to keep all the funky realities together. this is what ultimately turned me off from Marvels Agents of Shield. for a group so entrenched in the MCU with early appearances from Nick Fury, and Sif, it kept me for a while. But the less connected it became the less I cared about those characters. I get that the television group is separate from the MCU group but it is a huge missed opportunity keeping it that way. even if Lokis show is still tied into the MCU, the multiple realities thing becomes too much of a stretch for me to care about.

lol, maybe a good thing, too, lest I got any funny ideas about using a reserve, myself. I do see some value, however, in using it to gauge interest. i just wanted to include a caveat. u can still get some info, just be aware it will be a limited market.

The ONLY value to the seller for this is to see what the actual market interest price is for that item and how close it comes to their reserve price. Then they can go ahead and decide if it's worth listing for a price that might sell. Generally a waste of time but if it's a book that might be in high demand they don't risk leaving money on the table. If it's a book that has little to no interest, they then know not to try selling it on ebay. One reason I might do this is if I had a rare comic that doesn't have much recent sales data on ebay or GPA I could put it up for auction with a ridiculous reserve price and see where the interest is and if it gets to where I'd be comfortable dropping the reserve price to near the current bid price I could do that or relist with it at that price. If it shoots past my ridiculous reserve then I know I've not left any money on the table. If I get nothing but crickets, then I have my answer. The only downside is many will ignore auctions with reserve prices so it won't be a complete market view.