shadroch

As I've said, but people choose to ignore, my whole problem was with the OP saying the guy was engaged in criminal activity for trying to say the book graded higher than CGC said it did. Then he started talking about the guy being dragged from his house in handcuffs. Does anyone here think that will happen? If the OP thinks the guy is committing a crime, then he should be going to jail, no? We all know he isn't going to jail so why keep saying the guy is going to be in handcuffs? The guy runs a shady business. Avoid him if you don't like what he sells. Call him out for lousy business practices but don't keep saying he is a criminal who is about to get slapped in handcuffs.

When a book is sent to mycomicshop in a cracked but whole CGC case and they grade it a point and a half lower, are they lying about it? When they sell it as a 5.0 when CGC called it a 6.5. are they being unethical or is it only if you raise the grade?

In two weeks, this thread will be on page 6 and the guy will still be doing what he is doing.

you are still presenting a twenty year old article about an indictment.

Ebay doesn't seem to have an issue with it, do they?

So now restoration is deception? When CGC had a secret pressing service available only to certain clients, was that deception?

Please don't attempt to bring facts into this. It will just muddle things up. I thought The Donnelly Act prevented shilling, but it turns out to be a NY act, not a Federal one.

I've never said he wasn't doing anything wrong. I said no one is going to jail over it. It also was in reference to his cracking out books and selling them at higher grades. That is not illegal, in Texas, in Florida or anywhere else.

An article from twenty years ago? Seriously? Not even a followup on what happened in the case, just an article about three men being accused twenty years ago. When I lived in NY, I was ripped off on ebay to the tune of some three hundred dollars. Ebay didn't care, as they said the time to complain was past. Same with paypal. The seller had originally said delivery would take 4-5 months and I didn't realize that would put it past ebays return policy. I called the Nassau DA who transferred me back and forth to a number of people who suggested I call the NY State AG. When I called them, i was told they only went after Buy it Now cases, not auctions. If a law is on the books, but no one will enforce it, does it matter if it exists or not? i was lucky that someone here recognized the seller as a person who sets up at shows and i was able to call around and find out a show he was doing. He was quite surprised when I showed up at a show several hundred miles away, and more surprised that I'd brought two walking condominiums with me. Point out a single person convicted of shilling auctions on ebay?

Is " acting like a muppet" some kool new phrase us retirees don't get? My nickname in Rugby was Gonzo, so perhaps you have a point. To quote a famous philosofizer: I'm not on anyones side, because no one is entirely on my side. My original point was that there is nothing wrong with disagreeing with the grade CGC gives a book, and it is not a criminal violation to call a book that CGC graded a 7.5 a 9.0, nor is it wrong to call a 7.5 CGC book a 6.0 if thats what you think it is.

If having to explain that there is no crime in disagreeing with the grade CGC gives a book is condescending, I'm guilty.

Calling out bad actors is a good thing. Where it goes bad is suggesting people who crack CGC books and offer them at higher grades are committing a crime, or that people who shill their auctions are going to be hauled out of their beds and arrested. Over the top rhetoric helps nothing.

That's just what I'm doing. Sitting on the veranda, tri-tip in the smoker, watching the villagers sharpen their pitchforks. I'll revist this in six weeks, where BBC will still be selling his wares and no one will have been arrested. But do carry on. The world can always use more comedy. As Brian Hibbs says, tilting at windmills can be fun.

I'd concentrate on any restored books he might be cracking out and selling as unrestored. Or his ripping off old ladies to finance his selling inventory. Oops, never mind. I thought we were talking about Pedigree. My bad.

Because he is way over the top. Claiming the seller is about to be arrested is stupid and counter-productive. Dupchek has been selling restored books on ebay for years, but we are supposed to believe a guy cracking CGC books and selling them at higher grades is going to be prosecuted.

Is the wife busy working a double on Thursdays? Kids not old enough yet? As a kid, it was my job to take out the garbage, and put the cans out. I'm not sure why, but I hated it.

Claiming people are engaged in criminal activity is a very serious matter. Suggesting the seller is going to to be hauled off in handcuffs is both dumb and possibly actionable in itself.

So you should have no problem providing a list of people charged with shill bidding on ebay. As someone who worked for a bankruptcy auctioneer and who has testified before a grand jury on shill bidding, and violations of Federal auction laws, I will ask you again for a list of people prosecuted for shill bidding on ebay. NY State has an office that will get involved in BIN products on ebay if they aren't as described but I seriously doubt they would get involved in overgrading a comic, but unless it has changed in the last few years, they don't get involved in ebay auctions. Even ebay seems to turn a blind eye to most schilling. After all, it makes them money.

Can you post any examples of any states AG moving on an ebay seller for over grading his wares? For shilling his own auctions? Do you honestly believe the ebay police are going to show up at his door at 5AM? You say he is on the hook big time for criminal and civil liability? How about some past examples of people who were prosecuted for similar offences on ebay? I'd be careful accusing people of crimes. Very careful.

4.5

I haven't seen a lot of them and I don't think there is excess demand for them. They reprinted Capt Marvel stories until the Superman- Marvel case put Captain Marvel on ice. After they lost the ability to publish Captain Marvel, they came out with Marvelman, which Allan Moore re-imagined in the early 80s and introduced a generation of American readers to these books. I think these Miller books are great, and under-priced but the market disagrees.

Yes would be the one word answer. Very few modern comics will ever be worth what they cost when new, so if you are buying current books as an investment it is a poor way to invest. If you are buying books to stick in a vault for 50 years to pay for your grandchildren, you can do much better elsewhere. If you are taking some of your discretionary funds and buying blue chip comics with established track records, you could do a lot worse. If it can develop into a hobby you can share with your sons, it is money well sent.

I've dabbled in Whiz and Master Comics for the last decade. I'd put in low ball bids at various auctions and if they went cheap, I often won them. Few, if any , seem to have appreciated much. I recently consigned a bunch and I think I will end up taking a loss on some. My guess is it wouldn't bring $300 on ebay. I think my offer is fair, but I'm a bit biased.

4.5-5.0

I was going through a box of old convention material I've received over the years and found about a dozen copies of a book titled Discover Dark Horse 2008. I look on ebay and see a few issues being sold for $40-$50 and it is the first appearance of some Star Wars figure i'm not familiar with. Then I went to MCS and it seems they are buying the book for fiftynine cents. I've no idea which price is correct, but the divergence between the two is nuts.