Poekaymon

I mostly responded to people who quoted me and/or asked me direct questions (like you just did). I wasn't really looking at that as micromanaging--just being responsive. In my defense, whenever anyone posts in the thread I get a super loud gong notification. But yeah I did listen, and for the most part, a lot of it made sense, especially the people who just said that it wasn't possible due to trolling/animosity between board members. That does seem totally plausible to me now.

I agree. And I didn't mean that I was leaving. CGC is the best grading company, and this forum is great, and has a lot of knowledgeable, respectful people. But this thread has also shown me that it has several who are not, and at least a few who are outright trolls, and I have learned my lesson with regard to attempting to engage with them. So I may still start a topic on something that I find interesting, like this, but I'll be more selective in responses. Plus this was just too much work But, yes, you are right that it is because they are sellers. But just being a seller isn't the whole story, it's that some are very insecure sellers who have great difficulty discussing something rationally if it has the potential for any change. It's a bit of a shame because this is a message board, and not eBay or Craigslist, but c'est la vie. And correct me if I'm wrong, but no one in this thread is a CGC employee or even a moderator of this forum. If that's true, then regardless of when any of us joined, or whether we have 6 posts or 60,000, we're all collectors on a forum for a private company. So unless I'm missing something, this forum doesn't just exist for Bob to sell his books, and newbies are free to post topics, like this one, without breaking any rules.

That's one way to handle it. You could also just make it so no one can post unless they registered before 2010 or have 10,000+ posts. But if it makes you feel any better, I have certainly learned my lesson.

You're the future of the hobby. No pressure.

It's all anecdotal, but I really, really, really don't think they are stricter. I've passed on a number of of 9.8 CBCS's on the bay because just by looking at the pictures I was pretty sure they would not come back a 9.8 with CGC. Lot of them have highly visible color breaking ticks, and comments of same right in the notes. I guess it's possible they are stricter on some things and more lenient on ticks, but in general they seem both more lenient and less consistent.

Figured I would update on this. I ended up getting 2 Campbell raws and both came back 9.8s. In the meantime, I have grown weary of JSC, but that's beside the point.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=plQIf5fS8xw

Sugar Man.

I understand.

I think I have been pretty measured in my responses to the vast majority of the people in this thread. I guess if I can only choose between high horse and high, I'll go with high horse. He said his life philosophy was not to bother people--I made a quip for an alternate life philosophy. Any serious arguments, if anyone ever actually attempted to engage with me at all, were made 10 pages ago, so it's mostly lighthearted stuff at this point. Though it may be that the people still checking this thread are only doing so to complain about anything I post whatsoever, so I suppose it's futile.

Take it easy, friend.

I gave you a compliment.

Have said all along I wasn’t endorsing trolling. Even looking at my first post again that’s pretty clear to me, but I guess you see what you want to see. If your board is full of trolls then, yes, you aren’t going to be able to have honest discussions of price, or anything else really, and then my initial premise falls apart.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

Makes no sense. I don't want anyone trolled, including myself. If you honestly feel something of mine is overpriced, then go ahead.

Yep, I agree that the BINs are not perfect fungibles, hence the margin of error (previously I said 20% over BIN is not worthy of any discussion, but I'll let you go even higher, cause I like you). Edit: And, realtalk, BINs are actually pretty damn favorable to sellers in the first place as they are usually overpriced and that's why they are sitting there unsold. It's just that I've tried to be overly accommodating in the hypothetical, so I set it up as nicely as possible for our fine sellers here. But if I'm being real, really real with you, BINs are almost always high. To be even higher than those, and not even have to pay the eBay fee, seems pretty greedy to me. That's just an aside though. Just one man's opinion. Don't tar and feather me.

Don't really want to go back and debate every single post from the last 14 pages. These points have already been considered and responded to. But in general, I don't even disagree with you. That's why we are expressly talking common books with multiple, current BINs that are considerably lower than the posted book. Super objective. Easy to verify. Hard to justify. You're imagining scenarios in which people are ruining threads with stuff like Buzzetta is suggesting. Because they are trolls and they don't have clear evidence it's grossly overpriced--they are just trying to haggle or ruin the thread. No, sir, that's not okay. I agree with you. And if this board is infested with such people, then that's game over. I might just have a little more confidence in people, but I freely admit that I might be wrong.

Spider-man 238. Got from the LCS when I was just a tyke. First book where later I looked at a price guide and realized that some books could actually be worth more than I paid for them. It was a strange realization.

I actually thought eBay was 10%. Anyway, have repeatedly said people don't need to be lower on these boards, although my personal opinion is that they should. Cut your boardies a break. But some guy said he likes to go 20% over eBay on here. I personally think that's messed up, but for the purposes of this thread, it's in the realm of reasonableness. Anyway, people can charge whatever they want. That was never the issue.

Read what you quoted. On a book with multiple $300 BINs, I said I would be fine with $300 or $310. At $310 you're making, at a minimum since those eBay BINs might not even sell, $10 + $30 over eBay. Is that not enough?

I just told you exactly the standard involved in this discussion and gave you permission to intervene if I violate that standard. You seem to be asking for permission to troll, but I've been against that all along. No one should have their posts trolled--Including me, right now.

I mean, you just keep changing the goal posts to fit your agenda. 1. It was never my position that books had to be lower, just that they should be in the ballpark. "Realm of reasonableness," I said. At one point I specifically said 20% over market was fine. The discussion was around books that were grossly overpriced. Like 50% or double. Variations in 9.8s are not going to make something double. Maybe 10-20% at best--so 20% over eBay is still A-OK. 2. It was never my position that if there were 10 prior sales in the month and one was lower that it was in any way relevant. The discussion has always be in relation to multiple, currently available BINs. That's key and that's why it has been said so many times. What you are proposing is asinine, and I expressly never suggested it because it is so asinine. 3. I don't pay tax on eBay, no. I have never endorsed badgering someone on these points you are raising. In fact, I have repeatedly said I didn't condone them. So threatening me with them makes no sense except to continue your trolling. Having said all that, if you ever see me post for sale a graded, common book, which has multiple BINs up on eBay at the time I make the post for 50% less than my book, I give you permission to bring up that fact in the thread. You know what? I'll even hold myself to a higher standard than I was suggesting for everyone else. If you even see one available BIN for less than my book, you can point it out.

And I recognized that it's the majority position. And I stated that I am going to do exactly what you suggested. That's a slam dunk, captain.

1. You mean you're going to question CGC's grading skills? As has been said something like 10 times in this thread, we're talking graded books. 2. Citing examples of when a book sold for less. Irrelevant. As has also been said something like 10 times in this thread, we're talking stuff that has current, available, multiple BINs. 3. Ebay fees are valid. I do think stuff on here should be lower by the amount of ebay fees. So I'm on board with that one. Your "few other things," while simultaneously enticing and frightening, are also irrelevant compared to the existence of the BINs, which is the entire premise of this post.