The Less Blob

No they wouldn't have. And it sounds like the box would have weighed 50% more with all that high test cardboard!

My mailers came today. I forgot how heavy 150 of these are. Gonna be a brute getting that up to my third floor.

He should be thrilled, he paid for a 7.5 and, apparently, after it went through the magic wormhole, it was a 9.4. Or he could have just sent it to PGX like that Hulk 106 and turned a 7.5 into a 9.4. Blech! (OK, I know, I know, sometimes PGX grades are ok, I am just not aware of when they are)

yeah, the 313 would be a good prize. that probably gives you your $500-600 value at this moment's hysterical prices on that book (which don't make sense to me). I am not sure how you get over the trust issue. But being guaranteed more than a MOKF 26, which sold for $2 in decent shape recently (I know, it has sold for more), would probably help a lot if you could bulk out the lot a little more. Some of the descriptions seem a little bit of a stretch. Spectacular Spiderman 150 is worth whatever it is in 9.8 (something under $90 as an unsold copy is sitting on ebay), trying to speculate that the story line might one day be a movie? Also, Action 521 is a good book right now, but it is not much harder to find in the newsstand version. About half the copies on ebay are newsstand versions. DC Newsstands of that era are very common and probably had prior print runs than direct. They are likely hard to find in 9.8 and 9.6, but not mid-grade copies. I'm just saying this because descriptions like this are over hyping and turn people off. Then again, there are a lot of stupid people out there, so who knows? Like I said, people trusted me on my "$1000 as per Overstreet" and bid accordingly, usually looking for a 60% or better discount off that number. And I carefully went through each book in the lot in the list, gave my estimated grade, overstreet value, etc. And I had to put some keys in there, albeit sometimes ones I was having trouble selling anywhere near guide, but I had to put some regular good books in there too. I put a low grade ASM 28 in one of those lots. And I did well on that business model until three packages I sent to one guy via media mail got totally messed up, arrived late, he bombed my feedback stars (but did not leave a negative!), claimed a chargeback, and because they were all over $250 and had no signature confirmation (or whatever the rule was), I was hosed despite delivery confirmation, he filed a chargeback. That killed my account and I stopped selling like that. (As an aside, he wrote back later and told me that my grading lined up pretty well with what CGC ultimately gave the books he submitted.) With that said, with ebay's newer pretty much unlimited return rules I don't think you can sell that way anymore as folks could just buy grab bags and return them if they did not exceed expectations, foisting the shipping charges on you, keep a few of the better books, claim they sent them all back, etc. With your auction I see a distinct possibility if someone gets the raw book they don't want (MOKF 26, 125, etc.) they just return it, saying it is overgraded. They only people who keep the books are the slabs (and even then they might come up with a reason that ebay accepts) and the good books.

Looks better than this PGX 9.4:

I am just saying what a buyer is likely to think. I'm not sure how you ever get around this. I could see a very well regarded seller here having enough trust among boardies to do this right. I would never trust a low feedback non-comic selling ebay person to do it right. You're also plugging the SW #2 newsstand as if the newsstand made it rarer. The newsstand version is far more common. And there is no 5x multiplier on your gamble. The Thor 2 raw in 9.0 is maybe $150-$200. The SE 15 is maybe around $300. The Conan 1 maybe $300-$350. The Star Wars 2 is maybe $100-$125, quite likely less. The MSH 13 is likely not a $100 book as a CGC 4.0 recently sold for $100. I'm not thread krapping because I assume you didn't think there were potential buyers here, but anyone can go through this analysis like I am doing. There are plenty of mystery box sellers on ebay, but not structured like your's with such a high $ amount and the potential for really losing money if you get one of the lousier books. If you had more filler books in the lots maybe it would be less scarey. But looking at this listing and it looks like you are trying to sell maybe $1000-1500 worth of books (and that assumes your grades are all accurate) and get $2000 for them. I am telling you this as a guy who sold thousands of dollars of grab bag boxes during a stretch a few years back, but I structured it differently. I would sell $1000 in overstreet "worth of" books for $350 or whatever. I cry re: how many high grade Special Marvel Edition 15s I used to put in those grab bags as you couldn't sell them for 25% of guide back then.

I think most of our ground is common, I had a very specific issue with one specific thing you cited. And mainly if I buy some severely undergraded lot and decide some of them are much better than advertised (or implied), which has happened, I'd prefer not to be accused of fraud. Unlikely to happen, but certainly possible.

You not having much in the way of prior comic sales feedback won't help. And the fact that 3/4 of the books probably aren't worth $99 won't help either. Nothing stops you from just giving out the lesser books as "mystery wins" and keeping the good ones... or have them bought by your real selling account, post positive feedback, and then you just re-sell them on your real selling account. Of course, this is the risk anyone takes on these mystery lots. At least you are promising something, though i would not be too jacked to pay $108.50 for MOKF 26, 125, or Showcase 83 or most of the others you have up. They are often sub $10 books: https://www.ebay.com/itm/MASTER-OF-KUNG-FU-125-Marvel-January-1983-VF-8-0-/293853956854?hash=item446b0f8af6%3Ag%3AgD0AAOSw0eBfvZpX&nma=true&si=BZbpsjZvXBDBh7scMVfgI%2BAabNw%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 https://www.ebay.com/itm/MASTER-OF-KUNG-FU-26-March-1975-Shang-Chi-1st-Appearance-Cursed-Lotus-Awkwafina-/254807040729?hash=item3b53aee2d9%3Ag%3AzYYAAOSwU55f1nFM&nma=true&si=BZbpsjZvXBDBh7scMVfgI%2BAabNw%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 https://www.ebay.com/itm/SHOWCASE-83-NIGHTMASTER-DC-1969-Joe-Kubert-amp-Bernie-Wrightson-Art-VG-FN-/402205924786?hash=item5da5575db2%3Ag%3Au5gAAOSwqkxeihQh&nma=true&si=BZbpsjZvXBDBh7scMVfgI%2BAabNw%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 Anyway, I can dissect this all day.

Yes. Shill bidding isn't subject to interpretation.

I don't know how many people selling off their comics are on the edge of going hungry, but there is a chunk of the collecting community who work in industries that have been hammered. they have bills to pay. I know people who once had good six figure incomes in the movie/TV/theatre industry who are currently on foodstamps. a few of my closer friends in other areas are unemployed.... if you're a white collar worker in your 50s this is a lousy time to get laid off (it is always a lousy time to get laid off in your 50s).....but for others not so impacted I guess times are fine. i'm fine, for now. my wife is fine, for now (though, frankly, in my area, the law, we are busy, but many of my friends who are partners at firms have said they're doing a lot of work, but not getting paid for it...). I find it surprising that the lower tier, sub $300 market, is doing so well, with so many dollar box books now $10-$25. That's the price point I'd think a lot of lower end collectors who might be economically impacted would find themselves in.

So is the deal in NJ 25% capacity? Shocked you're having shows, but if that's what they are allowing, more power to you. Wearing a mask for a few hours while bargain bin hunting will be a challenge. i have been training at a local shop 30-40 minutes at a time...

Dude, I am assuming he is overgrading, I am just nit picking one piece of evidence you cite. As pointing out ebay evil doers is an important hobby to you, I want to help you make your arguments and evidentiary presentations perfect.

I'm giving out some free legal advice without calling it such. Take it. My usual rate is $650 an hour.

"That seller describes the books as averaging "good", with an assortment of the major grade killing flaws I just mentioned." As I have pointed out, he doesn't. I know, I am nit picking, it's the lawyer in me, but the seller doesn't actually say the books have those defects or that they are "Good," just that, potentially at worst, they could have those conditions. There is a distinction, because you are trying to convict based on the original auction listing. I am sure there is plenty of of other evidence to convict him on (and I am not using "convict" literally here), some of which I think you have also put forward. I'm not impugning your integrity, I think you're unintentionally reading things a certain way. The original seller lists ALL his books like this, regardless of their actual grades. I'm saying that were this a legal proceeding and the only claim against this guy was based on the wording in the original batman lot you reference, it would be a pretty straight forward to discredit your claims. That's all. Mind you, I don't doubt that the re-seller is overgrading and all of that, but it is not accurate to assume this was 2.0 to 8.0/9.0.

I dunno what is going on in immortal hulk, him reflecting as banner, does that tie in to the story? I'll read it as I am always fond of Ben Grimm and anyone else team ups. I was so fond of old ben as a kid that i actually got a subscription to The Thing .. with Alpha Flight and X-Men -- I think Marvel was doing something crazy like 3 one year subs for $12 or something.

"It's also not minor under-promising. He's buying 2.0 and grading them VF+ to NM- ." I am not here to defend the bad seller, but as I explained in a prior post, you're unintentionally mischaracterizing one of those transactions. The original seller in question lists ALL of his books as "Good" "or better", even the NM moderns, and says they could have a host of defects, not that they do have those defects. He is undergrading to be safe and avoid hassles, I assume. And he gets good $ for his books. I think you are right to point this guy out (the re-seller) and target him for his scammery, but I think when one does that they should be very careful not to spin it, even if unintentionally. The Batman lot did not necessarily consist of 2.0s. That's just not accurate. It's the kind of spinning, or overselling your poiont, as a lawyer, I would go holy war on in a brief or cross-examination on to discredit the accuser.

This is kind of the opposite. If I put money in your pocket without you asking it probaby isn't theft like if I took the money out.

As per my prior posts, while it took like 10+ days for one package to go 10 miles within my own city (and 13 days from NYC to Cleveland), another package sent the same day got from NYC to Hawaii in like 3 days. Go figure.

they're backed up because they're busy. and I guess they're busy because not enough people view UPS, FedEx, and DHL as viable options, either due to cost, convenience, whatever. USPS does not have a monopoly on packages. Maybe for letters/christmas cards. USPS is simply one option you have in the market for shipping packages. Granted, in some remote areas it might be your only viable option, but for 90% of us that is not the case. Indeed, there are closer UPS and FedEx drop off points to me than my post office. And for bigger boxes I may start thinking about UPS moving forward.

yep, for about 1/3 of the packages I mailed out a couple of weeks ago on the board sale there was a significant delay in even the initial scan, including your's, i think. this has happened to me before not during the holidays or covid though, but it might be one package out of 20, not 7 out of a batch of 20.

ahh, that's very different for sure. i read the posts as saying these were dollar box books that he further discounted for a sale.

I dunno, 1st lady bullseye, cap 217 , old man logan, static 45. and several others have been $ a while. Are those Hughes WWs? Those are hit or miss I'm not really thinking about the bulk star wars or 3 million thors.

While it is an awesome score to take home a haul like that, one has to wonder how a shop stays in business leaving so much money on the table.

I did a very unusual thing for me and bought 2 copies of the Ross Immortal Hulk 41. The last 2 at the shop. I dunno, just has that nostalgic feel. As an almost 50 year old, Rockwell was still something in my childhood, although he probably wasn't producing much.

Most of those are not/should not be dollar books and some of them never really were. The comic shop doesn't know what it is doing, doesn't have clientelle buying back issues, or just can't be bothered selling sub $15-20 books online. I am wondering how these books hung around in the dollar box long enough to then be in a $100-$120 a long box? So my guess is that the store just doesn't have customers who buy back issues if this myriad of $10-$25 books were sitting in the dollar boxes already. Heck, Static 45 is a $75-$100 book.