LordRahl

Some highlights from my MegaCon onsite submissions...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Damn Andy that is an impressive submission

One of, if not my top Bronze cover.

Would have shelled out what this would have gone for a couple of years ago. Alas with the movie hype I guess I will have to continue to settle for my 9.6

So they casted a girl who is completely Asian to play a character that is Chinese-American (Jubilee).

 

And they casted a girl who is Asian-American to play a character that is completely Asian. (Psylocke...with a hint of British-ness)

 

Wierd choices.

Aaaand that matters... why exactly?

It's called Comiclink

I bought an Avengers # 57 from him, he graded it VF - it arrived and was VG+ at best.

To be fair, he refunded including return shipping from the UK.

Of course he did. That is his MO. Overgrade badly and hope that the buyer either isn't good enough at grading to know the difference or too shy/lazy/whatever to go get a refund. That is how he keeps his 100% positive feedback, going back to his Robojo days this is how he always did it.

I think it's actually "Nice comic(s) " and I think it's been trademarked

And now they are using PGX to give them some measure of legitimacy of being unrestored because PGX can't tell a trimmed book from a hole in the ground

Has anybody gotten the sellers user information yet from eBay yet?

 

I actually thought you would know and was going to PM you.

 

Not yet, I'm surprised the people who bought form him have not come up with it.

His name is Ed Kelly if memory serves.

My personal opinion is don't allow auctions at all unless it is some sort of charity auction thread. But if auctions are allowed, definitely a sub forum with limitations put on it. 1 thread at a time, no more than 3 books/lots per thread.

I like the idea of limiting it to people that have a certain number of posts. I think 500 was mentioned which seems reasonable. Just not sure this can actually be automated.

It's either a DannyD front or clone. Stay away.

I got 1,000 shares of Yahoo instead. IPO at $92 is way inflated.

 

But I'd still take 100 shares of BABA over a low grade AF15...higher potential for a higher return.

 

***Clarify...Yahoo priced back during their dip a few months ago. Now even Yahoo is inflated at current price.

It IPO'd at $68

The answer is likely very dependent on your time horizon and how long you are willing to hold each.

Compare the share price of Alibaba to an AF 15 next Friday and then 6 months from now and then a year from now. Pretty sure that Alibaba will have much more significant movement, whether it be up or down.

$700 Million is considered under-performing these days? I predict that if comic book movies continue to bring in $700M in box office (not to mention licensing and DVDs etc) they will continue to make them until the end of days.

2 Economy subs

 

Received 1/21

Shipped 4/10

 

 

3.5 months. I don't know if that is good or bad...

 

It went pretty quickly for me.

Maybe that is because it was 2.5 months and not 3.5

2.5 months for not FT seems quick

When did they stop showing the grades when the books get graded and start waiting until shipment?

If you knew how to do something which was in demand to the point where people paid you to do it based on the skill rather than just the labor, would you teach them how to do it?

 

That's how it works routinely in the Arts and Sciences.

 

For CGC though, not at all.

Nor in software either which is where I work. Software companies don't just go giving out their code to people or business partners. IP is IP, whether it be software or resto detection. If I were them I wouldn't disclose it either. Why give up your competitive advantage?

This is all I want: what exact physical characteristics make it trimmed? Like, tiny chips off edge from being cut after ink dried or color of edge paper lighter than other edges or smoothness of edge not compatible with other edges? SOMETHING.

Yeah, hang on for those. They'll be releasing detection methods right after their grading criteria. Just be patient.

Jesus.

Can't anyone just do something cool one time for the hell of it? Huh? for the people that keep them in business??

They already explained it to you.

'Extra scrutiny' is applied whenever the 'extremely subtle' is confronted.

I just wanna know what their scrutinizing revealed, that's all. So we can all better understand what happened then maybe we can watch out for it.

 

If you knew how to do something which was in demand to the point where people paid you to do it based on the skill rather than just the labor, would you teach them how to do it?

Yes because it would not impact my business. Being able to detect stuff and having a business that slabs stuff are separate. An auto shop can explain to me what was wrong with my car and I wont jeopardize their business. I dont have a shop. People still have to come to them to get their car fixed, regardless of what I know about cars.

You are incorrect about the bolded part, no they don't. Not if they knew how to fix it themselves and didn't mind doing the work. Your analogy is weak as there is a lot of labor involved in fixing a car that people would not want to do even if they knew how to fix it.

Whereas in detecting trimming in a comic book, there is no labor involved. A minute or two of your time, if you knew how to do it.

This is all I want: what exact physical characteristics make it trimmed? Like, tiny chips off edge from being cut after ink dried or color of edge paper lighter than other edges or smoothness of edge not compatible with other edges? SOMETHING.

Yeah, hang on for those. They'll be releasing detection methods right after their grading criteria. Just be patient.

Jesus.

Can't anyone just do something cool one time for the hell of it? Huh? for the people that keep them in business??

They already explained it to you.

'Extra scrutiny' is applied whenever the 'extremely subtle' is confronted.

I just wanna know what their scrutinizing revealed, that's all. So we can all better understand what happened then maybe we can watch out for it.

If you knew how to do something which was in demand to the point where people paid you to do it based on the skill rather than just the labor, would you teach them how to do it?

I don't think you will find anyone here who would argue that CGC isn't the best 3rd party grading service, I mean who is their competition?

 

This is exactly what I've been asking. This discussion between you and I hasn't been about who is better than CGC because there isn't.

 

If you don't use CGC (or any established, credible 3rd party service) then what are your options?

 

You are either relying on someone else or yourself. Those are your options.

 

In other words, unless you have someone spectacular in your back pocket (like Fishler) there are no other viable options.

 

 

How much would one have to (theoretically) pay Fishler per hour for resto detection on books he isn't selling you?

 

 

This sounds like a question for kav!

 

On a side note.... I'd like to hear what Zaid has to say about this particular incident. I don't see him post much anymore.

My concern is that the practice of micro-trimming will be met by a wave of indifference.

 

 

I don't see how any other outcome could come of this. If CGC is admittedly unable to consistently detect trimming, then consumers only have 2 choices:

 

1. Indifference

2. Stop using CGC

 

Is there another option I'm missing?

 

Chris, by the way hope all is well in T.O

 

I don't think things will occur in those absolutes, though I agree that those are options. The third factor is cost and, or money. Let's assume that CGC is not able to detect micro trimming to the same degree as non-dis assembly pressing - that is a very shocking idea, but again we don't know how many books CGC is missing (I'm hopeful that number is lower, but this recent incident probably demonstrates that it is higher than the general collecting public believes).

 

I think cessation of the certification of comic books would probably take even more than that. However, the resulting problem would largely be fought in the marketplace. Your two options, and they are two good ones play out something like this. A) Indifference. We've seen it before (sm. bit of glue to GA, NDP etc) during the latter argument people scoffed at trimming, no way that was the Rubicon - pressing not resto, trimming is in another stratosphere. Is it now years later? I don't know, but I could see indifference. Of all the posts in this thread the most disturbing is Mike's (Dr. Banner) who compares the road coins have taken to the road comics are now on. I hope Mike is wrong, but where money is involved I NEVER underestimate human nature's ability to corrupt. Are we being prepped for micro trimming acceptance? I am NOT a religious person, but pray to the comic gods that is not the case.

 

B) Stop using CGC. The domino's need to fall here in a pretty clean line. Trimming erodes market confidence ... customers are paying less for slabbed books .... dealers are slabbing less books. There are a bunch of variables along the way, but for consumer confidence to put CGC on the street that is what is going to need to happen.

 

I've always viewed this aspect (people looking for ways to restore books and retain Blue labels) kind of like hacking into the Matrix. People are always looking for doorways, and CGC is constantly trying to eliminate their techniques - or tell us, "there is no spoon" when things go awry. As I said earlier, I hope they exercise due diligence and use this as a quality control tool to make their product more consistent. I support and always have supported certification, BUT not to the extreme of Indifference.

For what it's worth I don't think indifference to micro-trimming will happen. Trimming is too ingrained in the collecting public as a bad thing (whether you think it's destruction or restoration) for this to happen. Pressing wasn't.

I don't think you will find anyone here who would argue that CGC isn't the best 3rd party grading service, I mean who is their competition?

 

This is exactly what I've been asking. This discussion between you and I hasn't been about who is better than CGC because there isn't.

 

If you don't use CGC (or any established, credible 3rd party service) then what are your options?

 

You are either relying on someone else or yourself. Those are your options.

 

In other words, unless you have someone spectacular in your back pocket (like Fishler) there are no other viable options.

 

How much would one have to (theoretically) pay Fishler per hour for resto detection on books he isn't selling you?

Before I bother doing that math.....

 

How many comic collectors get paid to detect trimming?

 

But that isn't the point nor what we were arguing. You asked why people would pay CGC to do something they can't reliably do and I answered that it is because they can do it a whole lot better than 99.9% of collectors. I stand by that. Most collectors can't detect most resto, let alone micro-trimming.

 

That's exactly the point I was arguing

 

You are going to have to explain that one to me. If that's where you were going, that most collectors can't spot resto, then why ask why people would continue to pay to have their books slabbed? The answer should be obvious.

 

Not to mention that resto check isn't the only thing that you get. The third party grade is just as important. But that is a different discussion.

 

The point your trying to make is that CGC can detect trimming more accurately than 99.9% of collectors. You're making that point to support their service.

 

My point is that your statistic isn't significantly supportive.

 

How is it not significantly supportive? You can do something better than 99.9% of the people that want to do that thing (whatever it may be). That isn't significant? I think maybe your definition of significant needs to have its expectations lowered

Before I bother doing that math.....

 

How many comic collectors get paid to detect trimming?

 

But that isn't the point nor what we were arguing. You asked why people would pay CGC to do something they can't reliably do and I answered that it is because they can do it a whole lot better than 99.9% of collectors. I stand by that. Most collectors can't detect most resto, let alone micro-trimming.

 

That's exactly the point I was arguing

 

You are going to have to explain that one to me. If that's where you were going, that most collectors can't spot resto, then why ask why people would continue to pay to have their books slabbed? The answer should be obvious.

 

Not to mention that resto check isn't the only thing that you get. The third party grade is just as important. But that is a different discussion.

Before I bother doing that math.....

 

How many comic collectors get paid to detect trimming?

 

But that isn't the point nor what we were arguing. You asked why people would pay CGC to do something they can't reliably do and I answered that it is because they can do it a whole lot better than 99.9% of collectors. I stand by that. Most collectors can't detect most resto, let alone micro-trimming.

And actually I have some serious doubts as to whether the dealers would be able to spot micro-trimming. But for the sake of argument let's say some can. The numbers will still be overwhelming. 99.9% is about accurate.