Motor City Rob

On 11/23/2022 at 11:04 AM, mycomicshop said:

Hahaha, think this is the first time we've been the subject of a Youtube sleuth.

This is all wrong in terms of there being a scam involved, or us being involved in anything other than selling an expensive comic.

First, basic facts are wrong. The guy says more than once that we take multiple weeks to ship, which makes me wonder if he actually orders from us, because our orders go out same or next business day the vast majority of the time. From an internal dashboard. This shows by month what percentage of orders shipped the same business day (if received by 11 am Central), next business day, or the day after that. The times reported here count from when an order has been paid for to when we ship it. So for credit card and Paypal orders, it's from when the order is placed. For offline payment methods like check or bank transfer, this doesn't start til we get that payment in and it has cleared.

 

We report sales to GPA when a book ships, not when it is ordered. And a book doesn't ship until it's fully paid for. The Nov 4 date showing in GPA means we shipped it Nov 4, it doesn't mean it was ordered Nov 4. Many buyers who purchase 5 and 6 figure books make use of time payments. Our standard window for time payments is 6 months, occasionally longer than that but to get longer than 6 months depends on the circumstances and requires approval from us before the purchase.

I can see how it could be confusing for a sale price to be reported at the end of the time payment period, rather than the beginning, when a book is both high profile and has seen big price movement. Prices have dropped over the past 6 months so this sale looks high.

I can check with GPA and see if they'd prefer we report the purchase date rather than the ship date for time payment orders. If we did so, we still wouldn't report the sale to GPA until the book actually shipped (because we don't report anything to GPA unless the sale is 100% paid and final and definitely went through), so then you'd have a different kind of confusion--a sale showing up for the first time in GPA 6+ months after the date listed on the sale.

If you look back at where prices were for AF 15 in 5.0, 5.5, and 7.0 around May 2022 rather than Nov 2022, a $114K sale price is not unreasonable. And we paid $103K for the book ourselves when we acquired it from a Goldin auction Feb 2022.

 

Other stuff... the guy wonders how a book could possibly be ordered from us Nov 4 and be in CLink's hands in time for their auction. Next day shipping--it's not that hard. We got our final payment Nov 3, book shipped Nov 4, in buyer's hands Nov 5. A buyer of a six figure book doesn't have to request expedited shipping, anything $2000-5000+ is pretty much always going next day shipping, much less a $114K sale.

 

I can't speak for anything after we shipped the book, how/how quickly the buyer got it to ComicLink, or what the buyer's motivations are for reselling it so soon after receiving it. There are a million reasons that would motivate a buyer to get out of a recently acquired expensive book even though it likely means losing money on it.

 

 

I think the explanation of this being a 6+ month payment plan makes perfect sense. Agree that it makes the GPA data look misleading though. I'm sure you and GPA can find find a way to input the sale price on the original date of sale, even if it doesn't get put in their system until 6 months later. Thanks for the quick reply.

On 11/23/2022 at 9:45 AM, Axelrod said:

I mean, it's only a loss if the first sale is real.  That's the entire point of the speculation.  Basically a fake sale to juice the price and then an immediate re-list.    

If you don't think that happens in this industry I think you are just being naïve.  

But sure, could also be a complete insufficiently_thoughtful_person who bought a book for $114,000 when he could have bought one for $70,000, and then somehow got MyComicShop to expedite shipping directly to ComicLink, who immediately put it in their next auction (with no previewing or advertising of the book?), and where it needs to be a record-breaking sale to just break even on this investment.

That could also be it?

Exactly. None of it adds up. That being said, I'm always open minded to there being an explanation that makes sense, but I don't think we're going to get that. 

Has anyone else seen this? I've always had good results with MCS and CLink but I found this video interesting. Hope it's not true but he makes some great points. 

On 11/14/2022 at 9:52 AM, Badger said:

Had a great time at the Collector's Summit in Dallas this weekend. Picked up a new book.

 

Collectors Summit was fantastic! Great pick-up.

Congrats to the winners! Great fun, as always. Well done, @CGC Mike. 

On 11/11/2022 at 11:27 AM, lizards2 said:

My eyes glaze over when I see yellow labels, and I just turn the page.

Same. I used to love yellow labels. Now, I just feel like they're inferior. Yes....I'm a label-ist.

Either this person is seriously misinformed, or they are up to no-good. Pass.

On 11/4/2022 at 4:51 PM, The humble Watcher lurking said:

Something to keep a eye on is the Sports cards  market is down 50 to 75 percent. Their bubble started to get hot six months before comic books. Modern basketball cards in particular have been dropping like 

I'm assuming you just mean from the peak. If so, that means it's up 25% to 50% from pre-covid. Those are big gains.

On 10/14/2022 at 2:05 PM, D2 said:

@Ed Hanes
Whoever said comic books were recession proof, clearly were basing their words on their own opinions, and not actual market data. 
 

Partly why I truly hate comic book influencers. I didn’t care one way or another before, but this past year, I hate them. 
 

I do. I genuinely hate them. They pass misinformation, typically to hype their own collections. They give false expectations to legions of people that follow their words. They have no care whatsoever about the true enthusiast at all. 
 

Sounds like a religion! No wonder I hate them. 

I'm not a fan of many "influencers" either, but I also believe that everyone is responsible for who they listen to and what they do with that information. If someone chooses to buy a book based on someone else saying it's a great investment...and that book tanks...they only have themselves to blame. Can't blame anyone else. Unfortunately, too many people are like sheep and give these influencers way too much power. 

Almost every dealer at the local cons around here accepts Paypal and Venmo. A few accept credit and I would say that number is growing. Since there is a fee associated with credit, some ask for that fee to be covered. 

I'm in!

User: abeaulier

Returned an item because they wanted everything to be new, even though the title stated issues range between FN and NM. Not worth the trouble. BLOCK!!!

I always insure for the value I feel would be acceptable for reimbursement. That being said, you need to be able to prove that value if a claim were ever needed. In my opinion, the risk is much greater if you don't insure properly. If you insure properly and someone targets your package, you should have the peace of mind that you'll be reimbursed for the amount you felt appropriate. 

On 10/3/2022 at 8:48 AM, F For Fake said:

I'll say this; I don't know about the market overall, but I'm not getting many steals on CLink and ebay like I expected! There was a dip this summer when I was able to pick up a lot of drek on the cheap, but the last couple of sessions, where I expected to steal a few more, ended as strongly as ever. And I'm talking about really common junk that I'm chasing almost strictly due to nostalgia. Thought it would be a good time to stock up, but...not so much. 

I shopped heavily on the last two CLink auctions and got zero "deals". Everything I big on ended up selling significantly higher than previous sales. 

On 10/3/2022 at 8:06 AM, GermanFan said:

The downfall of Europe will affect the US heavily. First negatively but after a couple of years in a positive way: The USA will take the remaining potential of Europe in, people, know how and industries. It seems the USA saves itself by sacrificing Europe.

This is the same playbook the US used in the 30s to get out of the great depression after 1945.

So my prediction: expect a downturn in comic prices in the short term and after a couple of years with the economic recovery prices will rise again.

Sorry for my ignorance, but what European downfall are you referring to?

Doesn't look like the price was recorded on GPA. That's a good thing, but I'm wondering why it's not showing. 

On 9/30/2022 at 2:08 AM, Ltpink2002 said:

Interestingly, Collectibles Insurance Services (CIS) will not insure collectibles valued above $2,500 shipped via UPS.

Definitely interesting. Do they specify any limits for other carriers? 

On 9/1/2022 at 11:47 AM, Robot Man said:

And he got some serious books stolen because he was “showing off” to the wrong people. 

Whoa...I didn't hear this story. Sounds interesting. Any links?

Another question for me is how does CGC determine if a specific raw copy is a Gaines File Copy? I would imagine it can't just be from providing a COA. That could be sent it with any raw copy. Also, I believe CGC stated not to send in COA's anymore because they won't be returned. So...how do they know?

On 8/18/2022 at 9:39 AM, F For Fake said:

I always appreciate it when the deadbeats give me a detailed lie, as opposed to just straight up ghosting me. This one has the "my kid bid on this" AND sick parents thrown into the mix. Good stuff!

Won the auction, next day received this response. Block away, if you're so inclined.

 

serrano1536

"Good Afternoon, my son bid on this and I was not aware of it. I have sick parents and I’m not paying attention to things lately. But he came up to me and told he won, I ask what you win and he said the shark and now I’m confused and I said what shark and he showed me…sorry I just took ebay off the house computer . He doesn’t need toy shark…sorry for the inconvenience."

 

Definitely an odd response. Don't we all need a toy shark?!?!?!

On 8/23/2022 at 10:15 AM, AmazingComics413 said:

My LCS no longer buys or sells CGC slabbed books after this 

My guess is this won't last long.

On 8/23/2022 at 7:43 AM, MGH said:

I'm far from convinced it was a mistake beyond mistaking how   the response to this poor decision making process would be and how much exposure it would attract

 

Yes, maybe the motive behind changing their stance is not what we would have wanted, but CGC definitely knows they made a mistake.