justafan

That's a real shame and I feel for you. I'm looking forward to asking them a few questions about their customer service at NYCC. Guess I was just lucky or you were among the unlucky ones or like you said, they are just unable provide good customer service.

I actually received mine (ASM 796-801) on the 1st or 2nd week of august. if you still haven't received them and would prrfer to have them rathwr than do a chargeback do exactly this: locate your order # from your email. During normal business hours M-F 9AM-4PM ET. login to facebook. if you don't have an account just create one with fake info and a spam email account. then go to their Facebook page and direct message them and politely ask: "Hi, Can you please check on the status of my order #xxxxx?" reply times may vary but usually between 5min and 1 hrs for a response so if you don't receive a response right away check back every 15 min. If you haven't received a response in 1 hr, repeat the question and politely ask "When do you expect to ship them?" If you still get no response and if you are attending NYCC you can ask them yourself as they will be in attendance. Or Id be happy to inquire for you if you provide me your order #. otherwise you can resort to chargeback. direct messaging them on Facebook worked for me.

I actually plan on mentioning this to them on Sunday and comicxposure at NYCC next week. they r overdoing it. their variants are getting watered down. they might have made a killing the first few times but they may be feeling the hit on ASM 1 and beyond. law of diminishing returns and all that. I'd recommend they reign it in to no more than 1 maybe 2 variants and only on key events or coordinate with other stores to spread them out. As 797, 800, and 1 variants eat up an entire longbox. a whole longbox for 3 issues! that is not only monetarily unsustainable able. that is physically unsustainable. keep in mind the most valuable ASM variants were not store variants or artist variants that were artificially restricted to 1000 or less copies. they were just normal incentive variants that were partly under ordered and partly ignored until they became significant. many of these variants are hoarded and we'll preserved from release. I've managed to find many in NM/MT condition 1-2 months after release for less than half the prices on release date.

YEAH BALTIMORE! great con so far for buying and I haven't even made it past the 3rd row. been filling lots of runs and gaps. my comic lull has abated if only temporarily. I was pulling books and hunting like a fiend. maybe it was a temporary relapse but I was enjoying all my interactions with the dealers and fellow collectors. I LOVE Fridays at this con. sooo laid back, easy to dig and schmooze. I was even accommodating the shoulder surfers waiting patiently for their turn "oh you need this one? here you go, bro. oh here's another copy for you to choose from." I haven't found that 1 BIG book I'm looking to purchase only because I can't seem to find it in WHITE pages at my minimum grade. then again I still haven't made it to rows 4 and 5. lots of new or new to area dealers. special shout out to New Force booth co-seller guy Roman (forgive me I'm terrible with names.) I pulled 40+ comics and didn't know if I enjoyed finding the books or listening to him interact with the customers more. very funny guy. gave me a more than fair price too. just wish they had what I was looking for in white pages or I would have spent it all there. lots of other friendly folks both new and old. I didn't want to leave. they literally had to kick me out. but it's ok. I'll be back Sunday to pick over the leftovers.

this is a bit of an issue with GPAnalysis as well. Some certs you try to lookup to determine PQ or grade date and they show up as not valid. Could be yet another way GPA price manipulation is exploited if the book is resold under the new cert.

LOL, I'm sure no one on here wants to read the bitter rants of a has-been collector bemoaning the uselessness of the collecting endeavor. I think we have enough naysayers and doom and gloom debbie downers on here. Nah, if in the near future I decide to stop collecting altogether cold turkey style my presence on here will quietly fade away leaving my handle to be purged by the mods after some determined time of inactivity or when my CGC membership lapses.

I've also entered a lull in my buying/collecting. I went for nearly a month without buying or even looking for a comic. as prices have gone up I've become way more selective in my purchases. I think I'm also entering a period of enui with comics. maybe it's over-saturation with modern variants or high grade SA comics and OA that now cost more than a Picasso or Monet. (I've already completed my run). For some reason I've begun to be more interested in real estate as an investment and get more than my fill of reading comics as bedtime stories to my kids. I no longer feel that zeal or excitement when I walk into a comic shop. I'm not even sure why I'm going to both Baltimore comicon and NYCC as I'm not really looking forward to the hunt and jacked up pricing. I feel like I'm in comic book menopause. maybe it's just time to move on to something else.

I'm psyched at so many of those names on there but I'm dreading the super long lines, waits, and crowds just to say hi and maybe get an autograph or commission done. BTW, does anyone know what the daily hours for the convention hall are. The site shows 10am-5pm Thursday - Sunday. Is that the hours for all 4 days or does it open later and close later on some days.

This is a pump and dump alright but I'm not talking about the comic. I really don't see this working out for any potential buyer/streamer/investor unless they can put some real "meat" into the movie content and storyline that will not only draw viewers back in but are willing to do so at a premium if they have to pay for a new streaming service or shell out dough at a theater. This show is already damaged goods hanging on by the little it has left going for it. The "fatigue" that set in is a direct result to 2 key components: 1. loss of key characters: Glenn, Carl, (soon to be Rick). (Daryl is the only one left at this point keeping most of the female viewers still tuning in) 2. Walker population credibility and no hunt for a cure/cause (i.e. tired recycled seasonal plots) (the helicopter flying over dumpster HQ scene piqued my interest but starting to feel a little Lostish) There's really not much that can be done about the former unless they come back with some really fresh bad-asses and good-guys that can make us fall in love with the new characters but if they don't address #2 there's no point to tuning in or paying to see a stale rehashed plotline dragged out. I think the show has beat the dead horse to death in answering the question of "what happens after the end of a zombie movie when the heroes escape with their lives?" The same thing that happens in any other post-apocalyptic movie. They get to live day to day struggling to survive living in constant fear where other humans are the greatest threat. I can see AMC making serious bank on selling or negotiating movie rights and then bailing but I'm thinking this will flop. As for the comic, if there's a spike, I'm going to SELL, SELL, SELL!

dang I was excited for this show but now I'm not sure it's going to be worth the higher ticket prices and hassle with the crowds over Baltimore. I'm still planning on going to both shows (all 3 days for baltimore) but If I blow my wad in baltimore I might be looking to sell some of my NYC tix and just go Thursday and sunday. I was mainly going to nycc since I've never been and wanting to compare it with SDCC and hoping to see media guests and artists and big books that don't always make it to heroes con or baltimore. hope I won't be disappointed.

THIS is what concerns me most about this movie and it's potential integration with the Spider-Man universe should that ever develop. (let me preface by saying I get that this Venom iteration may just be intended as a direct to lethal protector Venom minus all the baggage.) For me that is too 1 dimensional without the earlier struggle and WHY would Venom have spider-man like abilities without the interaction/origin tie-in with Spidey? I just rewatched the SM Homecoming movie again last weekend and though it does have its merits (and I'm trying hard not to compare it to my favorite aspects from SM 1 and 2) it was sorely missing ANY Daily bugle/JJJ/references which have always been a key part of Peter Parker's life early on in the comics. Hell, half the funny scenes in the original SM movies were with JJJ (great actor they cast for him). Without the Daily Bugle angle, it's hard to shoehorn Eddie Brock's hatred for Peter Parker let alone the symbiot's. What I thought might transpire before I saw the first trailers was that the movie would be set in the future from the current MCU and Eddie had to move to the west coast after being fired from the Bugle due to being exposed by PP as a fraud. Having sought refuge there he was able to land another job with another paper. I then hoped that the symbiot costume would have been introduced in the MCU from Infinity War similarly to how it was in Secret Wars 8 and conclude with it being rejected by him and then found by Eddie or based on the trailers, some organization that held it captive until it encountered Eddie. For Venom ever to hold a grudge against Spidey there will have to be some severe event in the cross-over where both symbiot and Brock sustain a loss or emotional pain directly or indirectly due to Spidey's actions. Perhaps spidey fails to save someone Venom loves or someone Venom loves dies as a result of interference/action from Spidey. For me the depth and development of Venom is all about: 1. Spawning from the mutual hatred of PP due to flawed morality, emotional pain and abandonment 2. Absolute Obsession and dedication to nothing else but the destruction of PP/SM 3. Internal struggle with Brock's Christian beliefs and morality vs the rationale for hating PP weighed against not wanting to hurt anyone innocent in the process. 4. Ultimate transition and rebirth into a vigilante/lethal protector/anti-hero But ok, they want to go straight to badass mode with Venom AND give him the same powers? I hope they have a decent explanation for it otherwise I'll be looking forward to the reboot in another 3-5 years. Rant over. BTW: IMHO The cover to ASM #300 is a classic cover. (the issue/story may be another matter) My opinion is based upon: 1. it's repeated emulation/imitation/spoofing by multiple artists, titles, publishers 2. it is coveted by many for its simplistic artistic appeal and as a McFarlane cover. 3. It is a work of art that has established value and recognized by collectors (the book sells for thousands in HG, the OA is nearly priceless I would imagine) 4. The cover is iconic and stands out among other covers. But I'm also biased as I'm a big fan so yeah back to Venom movie talk...

Me and this kid (who's now like 45 and turned his $2 paper route into a six-figure career after his acting career didn't pan out) will be going halfsies on a new CGC middle-man shipping arrangement. We will be opening a receiving depot across the street from CGC and offering up a door to warehouse pickup delivery service. For a flat annual membership of $99 you can have an unlimited number of books "shipped" from CGC to our secure facility across the street by us (once we receive approval to be used as an authorized shipping service by CGC). You may then drive to our warehouse and pick up your books by appointment. We will be installing a drive through option for speedy pickups. In the next several. months we will be testing group UBER and LYFT coordinated pickups whereby an UBER/LYFT will deliver your books + others to your local address at the same time as you or someone else near you requests a ride. Make sure you are home or the shipment will continue to ride with the UBER/LYFT vehicle beyond the pickup point and begin to accrue fees for each destination until you catch up to it. In 2 years we will be expanding to our Redbox model whereby you can have your books deployed to a CGC kiosk where your books will be dispensed 1 at a time for an additional $2 per book. Returns will not be accepted at those locations. In the next 5 years (or whenever drone carrying capacity technology reaches this point) we will be using a drone conveyor system whereby your books will be in constant flux throughout the city skies ready to drop them off at any GPS enabled location of your choosing night or day. The one caveat is that you must make a pickup request and pickup transaction within the first hour of launch notification that day or you will be charged an additional $5/hour for every hour that the books have to be enroute or rerouted. Failure to pay will result in the drone failing to return for refueling and jettisoning its cargo at wherever it is currently located when reaching it's lowest powercell level. On black friday we will be offering this service at a discount fo $6/month but reserve the right to change our terms limiting the days in which you can pickup your books, quantity of books, and instill peak pricing for peak pickup times.

It may not be available to all sellers or possibly only on the ebay app. I encountered it while revising a listing through the ebay app. It doesn't show up when I try to revise a listing on my laptop.

Not sure if this has already been reported in another thread but it's all over ebay forums and reddit with pissed off sellers and I just encountered it today. I did a search on here but found nothing so link this post to one that already exists. Is ebay testing Reverse Auctions (Dutch Auctions) or is this yet just another way ebay is screwing its sellers. Kind of reminds me of the Freakanomics anecdote about how a seller's agent doesn't have the seller's best interest in mind often convincing sellers to lower the price of their homes for a quicker sale compared to how long they would have enforced pricing for homes they were selling themselves. I went to revise a listing and noticed the option to choose easy pricing which was disabled. It looks and sounds shady so I didn't even bother with it. After adjusting my BIN with offers listing and confirming the revisions I got sent to a page that promoted the Ebay Easy Pricing option which states: Make sure your item gets sold Starting 10 days after listing, we'll lower the price (5% every 5 days) until your item sells or gets to $xx.xx. We'll notify buyers who showed interest each time the price drops. Turn it off anytime by going to your listing." eBay provides you with two options in order to close the dialog box: "Turn on Easy Pricing" or "Maybe next time." This basically kicks in 10 days after a listing starts and begins lowering the price by 5% every 5 days thereafter until it either sells or reaches a certain percentage of the original (in my case it was approximately 60% of the BIN price). That would have been 40% off the BIN and below my lowest Best Offer price autodecline setting. Buyers interested in your item will then be notified. LOL, so if you decline a buyers best offer, they can just wait an additional 5-20 days and snatch it for a price lower than their best offer if it gets that far. I can see where this might work for some sellers but definitely not me or some of the folks out there. Now if they offered the option to initiate a reverse auction where you start at the highest price and allow it to decrement to a reserve price, that would be pretty interesting.

confusing eh? i get it. nobody likes ambiguity or poorly crafted misunderstood satire. let me explain: while i prefer dealers that allow me into their booths by polite request I was agreeing that some dealers find it an unnecessary risk allowing buyers/browsers/lookeyloos/gawkers/tire-kickers/etc into the booth which I tend to limit to a quick scan before moving on due to severe eye strain. at the same time I was intending on offering a flippant self-depricating solution for dealers encountering sight-fatigued buyers like me who would like to browse the dealers wall while remaining at a safe distance (i.e. the binoculars solution). then I decided to convert that throw-away solution into one that might actually be more mutually accommodating (and sanitary- can you imagine sharing binoculars with hundred of other guests-keep the alcohol wipes handy) by promoting the hi-res scan binder option with a request card. clear as mud?

I totally respect that point of view as well. perhaps you could provide theater box binoculars for those of us whose eye's tire from lack of blinking while scanning book after book all day looking for copies in grade. and maybe some visene and tissues. the more I think of it the more I like the idea of flipping through an indexed binder of high resolution front and back cover scans and then filling out a sushi card type form specifying which I'd like to view in hand. so much wasted time scanning the wall books.

I'm right there with you on the eye squinting with wall books. it gets even worse for me at the end of the day after digging through long boxes. you should never be shy about asking to enter a booth or get a closer look. what better way to get to know a dealer than to get on in there and mix it up with them. they are there to facilitate selling or introducing you to a possible sale and if nothing else then at least letting them know what you're looking for that they can connect you with in the future. as long as you're polite, introduce yourself and be patient if they are busy with another customer, feel free to ask.

lol, yeah that was wishful thinking.

they do upon request once the auction starts and they are clear high resolution scans like heritage. but that cva sticker holds no weight. I saw a better example of a copy in the same auction. I will always ask for a back cover scan regardless of that silly sticker. now if they came out with CPUA sticker for Certified Pressable & Upgradable Authority stickers then I might pay attention but that would have to come from someone like Joeypost, Hero Restoration or CCS with a guarantee of at least a .5 grade bump.

It is up to us. My son and his cousins all under 10 asked me the other day after reading ASM #7 (raw reader copy) to them during a bedtime sleepover who made that comic. I introduced them to the co-creator/artist/writers Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby (they all knew who Stan Lee was already). I explained how they collaborated on many superhero concepts, drew the art (not Stan Lee), and wrote the stories. When my son asked if he could meet Mister Ditko and Mister Kirby at the next convention like he did when he met Stan Lee and got his autograph, I had to break the unfortunate news that Jack Kirby died over 20 years ago and Steve Ditko had recently passed as well. He got a little upset and stated that we should have tried to meet them before they died. It would be difficult getting into the reasons why that might not have been possible even when they were alive but I just left it that I wish I had and that the best way for us to honor them is to remember them and what they did through their works. He seemed ok with that. A week later, I was surprised when I heard my son and my younger daughter reference Mr. Ditko and Mr. Kirby when we were going to start reading issue #8.

Agreed. Wasn't he a follower of Ayn Rand's objectivism philosophy? Its a very cold and deterministic way to live that eschews many a social norm and allowance for compromise or tolerance for the sake of merit. It can be a very selfish and lonely lifestyle. He may not have necessarily expected to end up any differently or he would have reached out long ago. I got the impression he grated at the notion of being known solely as a co-creator of comic characters as opposed to being an artist. He could have made millions rivaling Stan's estate if he had self-promoted and gone on the con circuit and released commissions and did signings. If he preserved any of the original art he did he'd have been able to sell for hundreds of thousands if not more. I'm not saying Marvel and Stan Lee shouldn't have done more to try and pay him back and give him more royalties for his work. I think he does deserved more credit recognition by Marvel but he definitely gets plenty of unwanted credit from his fans as noted by the many fans on here sending him letters with terse responses. Even if he had gotten it from Marvel I'm not sure he would have accepted it. He just didn't seem to want it or care for it that much.

This was my concern as well. Up until recently they probably could have done that without decreasing the value of the book simply by getting it signed by Stan Lee and submitted to the other guys. Doubt that will happen but I do worry they will try to apply some kind of alteration. I hope greed is overwhelming and they just decide to try to sell it as is or merely cracked out. I'm really sorry to hear this. Looking at your wall with the High Dollar books at the top 2 rows was this a book that someone handed them to look at and then got distracted or did the thief actually manage to scale up to pull it down? Happened between 11am and 11:30am; was this during setup on Sunday when the books were still being unpacked from the night before and not yet up on the wall? I do like the idea of setting up a $500 set of 2-3 cameras just in case but I think more dealers may end up moving to the scans in binders option. Not a bad idea which is easier on the eyes and allows me to see grade, PQ, relative eye appeal and price all at once without having to bother the dealer to climb up to retrieve and replace multiple comics. NewForce has a pretty solid secure booth as well. 2 glass cases with high dollar books acting as the counter and barrier wall with a single narrow 2' middle entrance which is blocked by a chair. You can be let in by request but they control the number of folks that enter and can see when they leave. They always have 2-4 employees including Rick in the booth at all times helping customers or keeping an eye on things. For the single or 2 man booth this can help limit the access from a free-for-all to a by request/invite to enter and examine books. Greg Reece and others have a similar approach which maintains a barrier of long boxes and tables restricting access to the wall books but allows you to get close enough to see them. As a buyer plopping down $1k or more in cash I prefer these booths as they make for more secure transaction areas where I can pull out a wad of cash and count it without worrying that someone could come swipe it or reach into my bag to steal money or comics. I'll keep an eye out for it as well.

maybe we should start looking at GPA prices as prices that sellers are willing to sell their books at and not necessarily prices that buyers are willing to buy at. In essence, GPA becomes the new ASK vs the Bid price and set the market price at something like a 5-10% discount to the ASK price?

Ah yes, the Key GA/SA leniency grade bump. I wonder if we're far enough along that we'll start to see the Key BA/CA leniency grade bump.

UPDATE on books I ordered that finally came in. 3 months later. photos to be posted soon. If you prefer not to read the gritty details see TLDR spoiler at the bottom. First experience with ordering from ComicXposure...even AFTER reading all the negative reviews. Yes, I know, I was playing with fire and fully expecting to get burned but wanted to to use this experience to document everything I did or tried to ensure a satisfactory transaction or resolution should something have gone very wrong. Date books were ordered: 4/19/18 mid-day Date received confirmation: 4/20/18 at 12:59am Date CC was charged: 4/21/18 for $700 + $6 shipping (for any order over $500 I would expect free shipping but maybe they do that for orders over $1k) Minus a half Star for petty shipping charge on high dollar orders. Total books ordered: 24 including 3-packs and 5-packs bundles and pre-orders Latest pre-order issue: ASM 801 release date June 20 so I knew these wouldn't arrive any earlier than late June to early July. I had a 2.5 to 3 month wait before I could expect to see these books since they ship them all together. Sent emails and left voicemail at their listed email and phone contact to try and establish contact, verify the order and see when the order might expect to ship. None of the emails or voicemails were ever returned. I contacted my cc company just to get their policy on a dispute and charge-back in case this transaction went bad. I placed a similar order with Unknown Comics (which I had a trustworthy previous relationship with) with pre-orders including ASM 801 so I wasn't expecting that until July as well. Side note: While waiting for these comics one thing I realized is I really don't like pre-orders or having to wait 2-3 months to get all my comics that I ordered including the ones that arrive sooner or are already in stock. It saves a bunch on shipping but really sucks to have to keep track of all the purchase invoices and wait to get copies that everyone already has or are available to buy at cons or ebay. Fast forward to early June I received notice from multiple other retailers that ASM 800 had a delay (up to 7 weeks between 799 and 800 due to printing issues) June 29 - Large order from Unknown Comics arrives with pre-orders up to ASM 800 (4 damaged comics - currently being addressed by Unknown Comics) Late June I received notice from some retailers that ASM 801 was delayed by up to 2 weeks. July 6 - Copies of ASM 801 began appearing on ebay and at retailers. No word yet from ComicXposure. July 15 - received last order from Unknown comics including the ASM 801 variants July 16 - Sent email to ComicXposure inquiring about the order status with no response. Located ComicXposure on Facebook and direct messaged them about my order #. Surprisingly someone quickly replied to my facebook message informing me that they had not yet received all the ASM 801 variants included in that order but would expect to receive them in 1-2 weeks and to check back then. July 26 - Checked back in on my order with ComicXposure via their facebook page. Received response 5 min later stating that all ASM 801 variants had just arrived and begun processing orders for shipping. They informed me that I should be receiving a shipping notification via email soon. August 1 7:57pm - Received ComicXposure email confirmation that my order has shipped with tracking # via MEDIA MAIL. (USPS Tracking status showed as pre-shipment, not yet dropped off with carrier for the next 6 days. I signed up for shipping status text notifications) Minus 1 star for delayed drop off and another half star for using Media Mail. August 7 4:22pm - Received notification that the shipment has been dropped off at USPS. Departed PO at 5:40pm same day August 8-13 - enroute via USPS August 13 2:38pm - Received email confirmation that my order has been Delivered. I arrived home and found the large box to be in decent shape and condition. Upon opening I found the contents to be surprisingly in great shape considering the packing method used. They packed the comics in bundles of 5 facing one direction with packing tape at the top and bottom of each bundle to hold them together. Each bundle was stacked on top of each other face up over a thin cardboard bottom piece and squared against 2 of the box edges with no padding between the comics and those 2 edges or the bottom. The rest of the empty space in the box was stuffed with bubblewrap securing snug but with gaps in place to the 2 bare edges with more bubblewrap stuffed on top snuggly. see photos Removing the tape from each bundle was an exercise in patience and caution as the tape made it difficult to remove without potentially damaging the spine or corners while gripping the comics tightly enough to pull the tape off. Thankfully (possibly purposely) the tape had some folded over pieces making it easy to get a decent grip to begin pulling the tape off. I recommend just cutting it off or cutting the bags of both outer comics that both tape ends attach to. All 24 comics arrived. The order was complete and matched all items and variant covers from the order invoice. Grades on all New and pre-order issues ranged from NM to MT with only minor easily pressable corner bends on 1 or 2 copies. There was only 1 NM copy that had a combination of a pressable corner bend, 1-2 light spine ticks up to 1/16" and an edge crease with hint of color break, and small production print streak on the back cover. 1 NM- and 2 NM copies of a back issue 3-pack that was over a year old. The other 20 were NM+/MT. I can honestly say I was very pleased with the results of the order and happy that ALL of the comics ordered were sent and all new and pre-ordered issues were in at least NM condition. I had very low expectations to begin with but surprisingly their issues arrived with less damage that my previous Unknown Comics order which included some color break corner creases and finger creases due to handling despite more secure shipping. I gave them 3 out of 5 stars with 2 stars being subtracted due primarily to shipping method/costs/handling times. Will I order from them again? Possibly now that I know I can contact someone via facebook and have at least established a bit of trust on the order and receiving side. Will I pre-order from them again? Probably not. I may only do a pre-order for 1 item or bundle at a time but I won't be combining pre-orders with current stock orders anymore from any other retailer either. I will most likely order comicxposure variants from Unknown Comics where possible due to their free shipping and better packing methods but will order from ComicXposure for those items that I can't get elsewhere. TLDR See spoiler below: