RockMyAmadeus

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SILVER-SURFER-44-THANOS-1st-appearance-INFINITY-GAUNTLET-KEY-BOOK-CGC-IT-NM-/291880382185?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368 Someone needs to send a polite message to this seller, informing them of their need to learn how to grade. The book, at best, is a VF/NM, and there's almost certainly damage that cannot be seen. Just a polite note...maybe direct the seller here. May do some good. By the way....this is very typical of the average eBay seller...books that are clearly and significantly overgraded. It's just the way it's always been.

Hey. You're not here to be clever.

No offense, but offering a 9.6 raw at that price at that time would not have been a good deal for anyone looking to do anything but put it in their personal collection. Knowing how you grade ( that's a compliment ), I wouldn't have offered much more than $50 myself at the time. The last sale of a graded 9.6 was $325 when I listed the book. $100 less than that was more than a fair deal, at the time of the listing. I'm not going to give away a book that was (obviously) a very high grade copy. If that means I have to grade every last copy of every last book, that's fine, that's the reality as it stands, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to avoid the time and expense if I can. $50, regardless of how you slice it, for a book that is offered for $225, with the last sold graded copy at $325, is the definition of "lowball." And $225 would have ultimately been a very good deal for whomever bought it. $150 would have been a very good deal. $50...? It's not a fire sale. That $325 was an anomaly. The recorded sales immediately following it were $126, $117, $169 and $128. If the book would've come back graded at 9.6 the person buying in at $225 would be under water. Granted. And I certainly wasn't expecting it to sell for $225. But was there no one willing to make a $150 offer? $175? No, because everyone (at least in the high grade Silver and later market) behaves as if no one can grade except CGC, and if it's not in a slab, it's a de facto 8.0, and offers are made as such. But, the book comes back a 9.8, and I doubt I'll get much less than $350 for it. That's why the market is nuts. I consider you to be a good grader and if you call something a 9.6 I personally wouldn't take a chance on it coming back a 9.8 Yes, I understand your point, but that's still not the point I'm trying to make. It's the exact same book. There's nothing different about it, except that it's now in a case with a certain grade. And, because it's now in that case, it's "worth" substantially more than it could have been bought for previously...no difference. Same exact book, same exact condition. The only difference is entirely external to the book itself. And I have thousands, if not tens of thousands, of books in the exact same situation. Outside of the slab, the books are "worthless." Inside of a slab, now they're worth a fortune. What's different...? (rhetorical question: the slab is what adds the value, which is a very, very, very bad sign about the health of the market.) It's been that way since CGCs inception. To some extent, yes, to most extent, no.

No offense, but offering a 9.6 raw at that price at that time would not have been a good deal for anyone looking to do anything but put it in their personal collection. Knowing how you grade ( that's a compliment ), I wouldn't have offered much more than $50 myself at the time. The last sale of a graded 9.6 was $325 when I listed the book. $100 less than that was more than a fair deal, at the time of the listing. I'm not going to give away a book that was (obviously) a very high grade copy. If that means I have to grade every last copy of every last book, that's fine, that's the reality as it stands, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to avoid the time and expense if I can. $50, regardless of how you slice it, for a book that is offered for $225, with the last sold graded copy at $325, is the definition of "lowball." And $225 would have ultimately been a very good deal for whomever bought it. $150 would have been a very good deal. $50...? It's not a fire sale. That $325 was an anomaly. The recorded sales immediately following it were $126, $117, $169 and $128. If the book would've come back graded at 9.6 the person buying in at $225 would be under water. Granted. And I certainly wasn't expecting it to sell for $225. But was there no one willing to make a $150 offer? $175? No, because everyone (at least in the high grade Silver and later market) behaves as if no one can grade except CGC, and if it's not in a slab, it's a de facto 8.0, and offers are made as such. But, the book comes back a 9.8, and I doubt I'll get much less than $350 for it. That's why the market is nuts. I consider you to be a good grader and if you call something a 9.6 I personally wouldn't take a chance on it coming back a 9.8 Yes, I understand your point, but that's still not the point I'm trying to make. It's the exact same book. There's nothing different about it, except that it's now in a case with a certain grade. And, because it's now in that case, it's "worth" substantially more than it could have been bought for previously...no difference. Same exact book, same exact condition. The only difference is entirely external to the book itself. And I have thousands, if not tens of thousands, of books in the exact same situation. Outside of the slab, the books are "worthless." Inside of a slab, now they're worth a fortune. What's different...? (rhetorical question: the slab is what adds the value, which is a very, very, very bad sign about the health of the market.)

No offense, but offering a 9.6 raw at that price at that time would not have been a good deal for anyone looking to do anything but put it in their personal collection. Knowing how you grade ( that's a compliment ), I wouldn't have offered much more than $50 myself at the time. The last sale of a graded 9.6 was $325 when I listed the book. $100 less than that was more than a fair deal, at the time of the listing. I'm not going to give away a book that was (obviously) a very high grade copy. If that means I have to grade every last copy of every last book, that's fine, that's the reality as it stands, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to avoid the time and expense if I can. $50, regardless of how you slice it, for a book that is offered for $225, with the last sold graded copy at $325, is the definition of "lowball." And $225 would have ultimately been a very good deal for whomever bought it. $150 would have been a very good deal. $50...? It's not a fire sale. That $325 was an anomaly. The recorded sales immediately following it were $126, $117, $169 and $128. If the book would've come back graded at 9.6 the person buying in at $225 would be under water. Granted. And I certainly wasn't expecting it to sell for $225. But was there no one willing to make a $150 offer? $175? No, because everyone (at least in the high grade Silver and later market) behaves as if no one can grade except CGC, and if it's not in a slab, it's a de facto 8.0, and offers are made as such. But, the book comes back a 9.8, and I doubt I'll get much less than $350 for it. That's why the market is nuts.

No offense, but offering a 9.6 raw at that price at that time would not have been a good deal for anyone looking to do anything but put it in their personal collection. Knowing how you grade ( that's a compliment ), I wouldn't have offered much more than $50 myself at the time. The last sale of a graded 9.6 was $325 when I listed the book. $100 less than that was more than a fair deal, at the time of the listing. I'm not going to give away a book that was (obviously) a very high grade copy. If that means I have to grade every last copy of every last book, that's fine, that's the reality as it stands, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to avoid the time and expense if I can. $50, regardless of how you slice it, for a book that is offered for $225, with the last sold graded copy at $325, is the definition of "lowball." And $225 would have ultimately been a very good deal for whomever bought it. $150 would have been a very good deal. $50...? It's not a fire sale.

Mr. Fish was always out of his depth. He "could care less"? So he cares?

There's no real reason it wouldn't. You know why it got a 9.4, and the handling that happened to it wouldn't have changed that. Sure, the 9.8s, ok, but I don't imagine the 9.4 will change because of what it went through. If anything, the pre-existing damage would be judged more harshly, but other than that, it's probably going to stay a 9.4.

Yes. Maybe. It depends on who you get to talk to at eBay.

That BA #14 is very difficult, great pickup!

alucard72 Made $4.44 offers on $63 items. Did it twice, so not a mistake. Waste of time lowballer.

Ok, so...this thread is back, but there's a large chunk missing.

By the way...this copy: ...is this copy: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NYX-4-2nd-appearance-X-23-NM-9-6-Beautiful-/191947429537?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT And the one offer was for $50. I think I'll get a tad more than that now, hopefully. This market is nuts. Certifiably.

Wasn't it already posted in this thread? I know somebody posted a pic of one recently somewhere on the boards. Anyway, it says "2nd Printing" rather than "Direct Sales" in the UPC box.

Wasn't it already posted in this thread? I know somebody posted a pic of one recently somewhere on the boards. Anyway, it says "2nd Printing" rather than "Direct Sales" in the UPC box.

K Card Companies in the 1990's seemed to create errors on purpose to build up false hype Comic companies don't get any aftermarket money. ...but they do get people, the "speculators" buying. It's simple marketing. Many opt to do "short yet unstated print runs" only to in later releases, once the collectors drive up the prices of previous releases, then crank the presses full steam ahead and flood the market, so capture the greedy money from folks who horde. Comics saw that with Jim Lee's X-Men #1 and the whole 1990's speculation, sports cards saw that in 1987 through the 80's, 90's and Y2K, and later turned to the "elite" marketing of scarcity where single packs of cards can sell at retail for $500+ and there's a "chase" insert of potential cardboard gold, so to speak. It came to a point where with the "chase" cards, collectors bust open cases, boxes and packs, sort through the cards, pick out the one hot card they're looking for and dump he rest in the trash. Comics did that with the whole bagged sketch cover thing DC did this year or last year, and with these variants with 1:10; 1:50; 1:100; 1:1,000 etc odds that a retailer has to order tons to get the one rare book. So, a lot of time the common books go straight into the dollar bins. So, the comic companies are indeed raping the industry with short term greedy decisions instead of building a stable fan base and earning loyalty. There's less single collectors of books and more speculators who never read the books, buy multiples to resell and encase 'em in plastic. Comics are a commodity not to be manhandled and enjoyed by children of all ages, and it's mainly grown middle aged men who are the day traders.

true

ok but no. "you chose that word specifically, to convey a very specific intent" Completely wrong. Thanks for reading though, lets not derail the thread