ExNihilo

This one's drawing attention...though, perhaps not for the right reasons.

For some odd reason, my RM packages from CGC arrive and then apparently circle the city for 3+ days. Without fail, every single time I'll see the notification that my package has Departed the main receiving hub for the local Post Office (the last step before Out for Delivery), and then that's the only notification I'll see for days on end. And I'm just left wondering A) why is my package circling the city, B) has the driver run out of gas yet, C) shouldn't my package have been checked in several times over. And yes, I've actually video taped my boxings on 3 separate occasions. I just video tape myself packing off to the side and then the video continues as I walk up and hand it to the postal employee. So the people in line don't really see me.

The coupon usually drops as soon as one or more of you buy something big. (See @mattn792 comment below). So if you could do the rest of us a favor and pay for that counteroffer, the rest of us will surely appreciate it. You're doing the lords work.

https://www.previewsworld.com/NewReleases

When you ship books to CGC, do you ship RM as well? I always ship books PM to CGC and the USPS employee always asks if I would like added insurance. If I recall correctly, the insurance available on RM is huge...far greater than I'll ever need. Whereas the max insurance on PM is a few thousand. The argument for RM vs PM has never been an issue about whether or not a product is insured or not. Instead, I've always heard that RM packages are handled better and that's why CGC uses RM over PM. But I'm guessing we all ship PM or UPS or FedEx and we aren't using something as complicated as RM unless we're shipping a VERY high value book. At the end of the day, I would rather my item only have to endure 2 days of traveling than the 7 days bumping around on the road as my book makes its way on the ground and is checked in and out each morning. Fewer days, fewer hands, less chance of damage in my opinion. And cheaper to boot.

Check in with Kaiser Ketchup. You might be able to squeeze something out of him.

What is... The Powerpuff Girls #1 or... My Little Pony #1 If not that, then Sailor Moon #1. "Gotta get in tune with Sailor MoonCause that cartoon has got the boom anime babesThat make me think the wrong thing"

Are you sure you don't mean... (I'm kidding. 181 is obviously where the value is at, but I still think 180 is a worthy book to pick up none-the-less)

Action Comics #1 Detective Comics #27 That's it folks. We've got this sorted out. Close'er up.

Yes, I always buy the insurance if it's that high. I just sent out a $750 book. At some point if you're sending out such an expensive book, you want to make sure your bases are covered. Considering the total added insurance was only $11 (for an additional $700 in insurance), that seems worth it to me. It's why I never understand why CGC charges a 50% premium for an inferior service. I sent my package on Saturday via PM, tracking says it's being delivered today. When CGC ships to me via RM, it takes a week to get to me. At least give me the option for insured PM. If the book comes back damaged, then I'll have learned my lesson and revert back to RM next time, but at least let me try it out.

Lol. I was just about to post this. In his other post he said the question hadn't been asked in 3 years. Apparently 1 week = 3 years.

In the 90's all those books 30 years earlier were worth a bunch. Now the books from the 90s are almost 30 years old so it stands to reason that they'll be worth a bunch too. My best guess is all those #1's and die cut/hologram/foil/fold out covers are gonna be worth bank in a few years.

It's an appliance manufacturer.

Amazing Spider-Man #365. With the success of Into the Spider-Verse I would find it hard to believe they would make a sequel and not include Spider-Man 2099. Just don't expect any dramatic increase that you can retire off of. All I'm saying is I expect the book to be worth more than $5 in 2 years. :P It's entirely possible it might be worth a whopping $6.

I had to put together a visual representation of what my packaging looks like. (Paint skills ftw. ) The blue tape comes off easily (the triangle represents where i've folded it over itself so it's easy for buyers to peel back the tape). I suppose the only concern I have with my own packaging is the tape along the spine. I've recently begun using "Thick" bags which can comfortably fit boards on both the front and back of the book (so the book is sandwiched within the polypropylene bag by boards to start). That and some liberal application of the tape hopefully doesn't cause any damage to the spine.

I'm confused how the outer tape prevents the book from shifting. My cardboard cutouts are usually about 3/4" bigger on each side than the books I've packed. I suppose it's irrelevant, but it's more like a last LAST resort should the postal worker drop the package and somehow damage a corner. My hope would be that the extra border I've provided somehow blunts the impact and prevents the corner of the actual books from getting damaged. Like I said, if a box is so damaged that I've resorted to praying that my cardboard corner is actually going to prevent damage, I'm guessing something catastrophic happened to the delivery guy. (For the record, I've only shipped small quantities. 6 books or a slab at a time. I've never really submitted a large quantity of books for anything. So it's usually book > cardboard sandwich > bubble wrap > Priority shipping box. If a book arrives damaged, I sure hope the postal worker was escaping from a vicious dog and had to sacrifice my package to save himself. )

Excellent resource on how to properly bag your books for signings. Also, CGC doesn't accept windowed bags so you'll need to submit a separate bag/board for Rich (or any facilitator) to use once the book has been signed. Be sure to write the same contact/book/con information on the back of that board as well.

Some people use it for the interior of the package because it removes easily. I don't believe it is allowed by the post office for external use on the box, and it would not work very well there. Just the interior. I use it for exactly this reason. There's nothing worst than when sellers tape the books together with heavy duty packing tape. If you buy several books and they all come taped together, your only solution is to use a knife to cut the tape. Which then means you have to be careful not to cut the book/bag/boards. Also, the bag/boards are a total loss at that point forcing you to re-bag (which isn't a problem if you typically re-bag anyways). Blue painters tape on the other hand comes off easy and doesn't leave a sticky residue behind. I always tape books together, then tape them to the middle of cardboard so they don't shift, then sandwich the cardboards ends together and tape that as well. Anywhere there's tape i'll fold the ends so it's easy for the buyer to lift and peel. (Then of course this goes in the box/package which is taped with legit packaging tape.)

I shouldn't be surprised that a forum of detailed collectors who perform studies on various comic storage materials, is as hardcore about their packaging tape...yet I am. I just use whatever clear tape they sell at the post office or at Office Depot/Staples. It's heavy duty and holds my packages together. Heck, I even use it to tape some corners as added protection.

I have a full run of Heroes Reborn (FF, Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America).

Baroness is by Natali Sanders. The middle sketch (above Serpentor's left shoulder) appears to be Soulfire by Michael Turner. If that's actual Michael Turner OA, god almighty I'll be jealous.

Can you elaborate on the rubber banding vs taping? What part of the book are they rubber banding? Also, are these issues with conditions from a few months ago when they were shipping out of Memphis? Or has this been persistent since moving back to Fort Worth? (ie the original talking point of this thread). I looked around on Reddit and didn't see any mention about issues with condition.

I'm looking to officially make the switch to DCBS, but a lot of the variant covers are unavailable for viewing. Is there a site that shows the variant covers or do people just order the variants and cross their fingers that it'll look good?

So here's the thing, when managing your personal finances, there are 2 ways to tackle the problem. 1) reduce spending 2) increase earnings Let's use the high end and say your "business" has earned $800/month. A normal person works roughly 160 hours a month (4x 40 hour work weeks). That means at most you're making $5/hour. I'm not Canadian, but I've been to Canada and it's no 3rd world country, so I have to imagine that the minimum wage is considerably more than that. You can build your "business" but the age old adage rings true to a certain extent. "You gotta spend money to make money." Unfortunately for you, you're just not in a financial position to spend more. Which means that in order to grow beyond your current means is going to require you to find a better source of income. I know you said you've had difficulty holding jobs due to disability, but there HAS to be something out there for you. You HAVE to go out and get a real job. It's not gonna be easy, but that's the harsh truth about growing up. What you consider your "business" is just a hobby to the rest of us (well, except for the actual store owners here who gathered enough initial funding to get their stores off the ground). But selling on eBay, Craigslist, or FB Marketplace? That's just pocket change for most people to clear some space while making a few dollars. Even if you got a job that paid $10/hour, you're looking at taking home almost $20k pre-tax. By your estimates in 2018, you brought in anywhere from $8500 to $11k. That's a huge difference and will go far in dramatically improving your quality of life. Regarding your crypto, your inability to give me a rough idea of how much you currently have locked up is quite telling. If you have a sizable amount of money locked away, you should really do a better job keeping tabs on it, especially given your financial situation. You absolutely SHOULD NOT be in a high volatility investment. I don't know what you started with, but if we look at just Bitcoin and Ethereum (two leading crypto's a year ago) they're down ~70% and 90% respectively. You think it'll go up 26% and that's fine. But I just don't think you have the capital to take that gamble. Here's a link on generally accepted advice on how to get started towards financial independence. There are 6 steps (the last being saving for discretionary spending...ie comics). You've jumped straight to Step 6 without any real consideration for Steps 1-5. Personal finance is about building a foundation and then going from there. You currently have no foundation. https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics I know I'm just echoing what others have told you before, but for however long this thread and the old thread have existed, it seems you haven't done anything to change. I strongly recommend you heed the advice of the other boardies here.

First comment also happens to be from a popular journal poster. All we need is an appearance from our favorite "to slab or not to slab" creator and we've got the holy Trinity.