The Troll King

Kudos to Monkeyman for a couple of great looking Giant-Size Marvels! I'm getting closer and closer to having a full run!

I just now noticed you said Slyde too!

I voted for The Spot because the choices were limited but here's my real vote! http://www.marvel.com/universe/Slyde Funny as I was reading that The Spot was associated with him once. You know you suck as a comic villian when another sucky villian kills you... (Underworld)

Kudo's to GACollectibles for a couple of great Giant-Size Marvel's and an incredible looking Vampirella!

Already did that for three months...mountains are tough things to crack let me tell you... And as far as your sob story...how pray tell are we to stick up for you if we don't know the situation? How are we supposed to know? Osmosis? You're the one who took the Forum to task for not doing so. Don't cry about spilt milk if you're the only one at the table that's aware... Jim Like I said, there were several people aware of the situation(s) at the time through PM's and emails. My intent was not to make an issue of this but to only give an example towards this thread.

Please spare us... Per your post... ...but in trying to look up the thread in which you referenced, there doesn't seem to be one. How is anyone supposed to "stick up for you" if no one knows there's a problem? And why bring it up months later? Don't expect to bring up allegations like this and NOT expect some to try to find out where the problem, as related by you and still not verified as anything but bull , really lies... Jim I have no idea why you've taken it upon yourself to be so hostile and aggressive towards what I said and in no way did I claim that I was going to "out" anyone. I was merely stating that I think the idea of this thread is a good one. Most of what happened occurred in PM's between myself and others and it goes WAY beyond the failed transaction. I've been selling collectibles off and on for going on 20 years and sure transactions fail from time to time but that was not the sole reason for my complaint. Why don't you take up some of that pent-up anger you seem to have and use it towards something useful, like say... bomb the mess out of Osama?

I would like to add that the bad sale was not the only issue with this person at the time, for those of you sleuths that are trying to figure things out. Really the bad deal was just the beginning.

What are you talking about? Jim I'm talking about a prominent member of these boards that did not follow through with a transaction drove me away from these very boards. I'm glad to see that someone is making an effort to "out" these people is all I'm saying whether they be Overstreet advisors or first time posters. It's the pompousness of people in any hobby that drives people away from it.

I've just now returned to these forums after being gone for nearly a year and the idea of this thread is the exact reason why I was gone for so long. I'm sure I wasn't really missed by most but there was a situation where someone posted a in one of my sale threads and didn't follow through with the transaction. Now mind you I can understand most situations but being who this person was and what this specific situation happened to be I was extremely disappointed that no one bothered to stick up for me at the time. In short, whether it be dorky or not, my feelings were hurt. The CGC forums are a tough crowd and though I had been posting fairly frequently and had several transactions (both buying and selling) I never seemed to "belong" as these forums can be very "clich-ish". It's unfortunate that many of the forum members, though they be grown adults now, can't seem to get past a high school mentality when communicating with one another on these boards. I hope this idea (this thread) goes a long way to achieve its goal.

Your statement would be fine if we were dealing with one of a kind items here. We are not. Reread what I "bolded" above, what if you had paid 300% of OS? Of course the other person would feel good about it! Where would that leave you when you realize that your Spawn #1 isn't even worth 100% of guide and you find another one for 20% of what you paid? Would you still feel good about that purchase or would you be pissed?

Mar-vell, you're definitely making my point for me much better than I have.

Sure everyone's definition of a "reasonable price" is dependent on all sorts of things. My definition of a REAONABLE PRICE like you asked for is a price that the AVERAGE CONSUMER can AGREE upon is a FMV of a given item. Which also equates to a price point at which the AVERAGE CONSUMER is willing to pay for a given item. (a la' the results that you find on GPA) You have been in business selling "collectibles" long enough to know what an average consumer in this hobby is. My concern is your temperment towards "new" things and perspectives in this hobby. We all have worked in jobs where we feel like the customer/client doesn't know what their talking about or that you're tired of hearing the same things all the time. If that has made you as upset as you appear, then maybe it's time to retire?

Well, I believe there are far too many venues available to have to try and "low ball" someone repeatedly until they finally give in. I personally wouldn't want someone doing that to me! i have bid on a couple books there. Sometimes the seller will meet you half way! Worth the hassle if you see something you really want besides its part of the set up so if you list overpriced books there you should expect it! It took me a year to sell a spidey 5 CGC 7.5 for a $1000 on the link . In that time period i received numerous low ball offers of around $700 - they didn't bother me i just declined them and moved on! But what's the point? Why bother listing something for a price that you'll never sell at just to get low ball offers? It seems to me that if you list something for sale for a price that is within reason that in the long run you're going to sell a lot more items with a lot happier customers. We're not talking Hulk #1, or even ASM #1 here... I'm talking about the books that are easy to find on any given week. Seems to me that if you're reasonable on those that when it comes time for people to buy those big keys then they'll come back to someone they trust that has been fair with them. people just want to get top $ but after the books sit awhile they get discouraged and will take less sometimes. As far as having happier customers most sellers on comiclink don't care about the customers happiness i would think being as certified books are non returnable and the set up is completely anonmous so it's almost like you are selling to a non entity! but I kinda think you're missing my point a little. I'm not either

Well, I believe there are far too many venues available to have to try and "low ball" someone repeatedly until they finally give in. I personally wouldn't want someone doing that to me! i have bid on a couple books there. Sometimes the seller will meet you half way! Worth the hassle if you see something you really want besides its part of the set up so if you list overpriced books there you should expect it! It took me a year to sell a spidey 5 CGC 7.5 for a $1000 on the link . In that time period i received numerous low ball offers of around $700 - they didn't bother me i just declined them and moved on! But what's the point? Why bother listing something for a price that you'll never sell at just to get low ball offers? It seems to me that if you list something for sale for a price that is within reason that in the long run you're going to sell a lot more items with a lot happier customers. We're not talking Hulk #1, or even ASM #1 here... I'm talking about the books that are easy to find on any given week. Seems to me that if you're reasonable on those that when it comes time for people to buy those big keys then they'll come back to someone they trust that has been fair with them.

that is exactly my point on this

Well, I believe there are far too many venues available to have to try and "low ball" someone repeatedly until they finally give in. I personally wouldn't want someone doing that to me!

Your GPA sources should also be able to tell you that the 7.5 has had a fairly consistent price of between $350 and $420 - the $420 price (or $418.25 to be exact) was one sold only a month ago on Heritage and was a nice off-white pager. Looking at a couple of grades either way sometimes gives you a good overall idea of the CGC prices for a book. My thoughts on this exactly. That's what I'm noticing on these books is that for the prices they're asking I can look around for one that may be a grade or 3 higher for the same price!

Well, giving you the benefit of the doubt I decided to check out Justice League books on your site. As several people on these boards know I'm always keeping for SA Justice Leagues and loe and behold I found one! Justice League #3 But sure enough, here again the asking price is more than double GPA and Overstreet. In fact, scrolling down the list of the graded ones. It appears that most of them are at least double. These are not high grade books either, but in that 6.5 range. That's the type of thing I'm talking about. Look, I understand pushing a threshold, I use to sell old Star Wars toys! At the same time though, I think that a lot of us patient types when it comes to these books are going to wait out for a better price. This type of price gouging does more harm for the industry then good, IMO. People that buy readily available books for that kind of multiple of guide are going to have a hard time re-couping that investment when it comes time for them to sell in a few years. They are going to want more than they paid, which anyone would, which in turn will turn off future collectors also.

Wow, a lot of activity in this thread that I started. Being sick and missing out stinks! My original post in this thread was never intended to say that sellers have any obiligation to base their prices on GPA and quite honestly I don't think I ever implied that either. The reason why I posted to begin with was that I just thought it a little that a book like this ONE has an asking price almost 5 times the 12 month average on GPA, 10 times Overstreet, and even 5 times what Chucks wanting for the book raw. Now mind you, Vampirella's are not often slabbed because they are not really valuable enough to warrant doing so with the exception of certain issues of course.. I happen to be one of the people slabbing them. With that in mind, there are 7 of THESE in this grade of 9.6. I'm not talking about books like Hulk 1 or whatever was mentioned here... those books SHOULD break records every sale if they are high grade. Everyone expects that and it has been the case for 30 years on books like that. I doubt many people have taken a loss on a 'tec 27 or Marvel #1 I guess I look at this the same way as if someone were trying to sell a Spawn #1 in a 9.6 for 5 times guide, or heck, even double guide, people would think they were crazy and would probably be turned off of looking for anything else from that seller WHICH brings me personally exactly where I am at right now. I know a lot of you buy/sell on Comiclink and I've heard great things about it which is why I checked it out, but I was quickly turned off by the exorbitant prices that I probably won't bother looking on there for much of anything now. No one wants to turn off a buyer do they? I guess the defending attitude is the same feeling that one gets if they walk into Neimans wearing a ratty t-shirt and jeans. The reaction that some of the sales clerks have is usually not a polite one. On a side note, I will pay over guide for things, but within reason. Case in point, I bought a Fantastic Four #12 yesterday that isn't in the best of shape and has a coupon cut from the last page (non-story page) and I paid the full Overstreet price for a "Good" on it.

Well, I'm not in the market for $1000+ books right now and it just seems like a waste of time to try and sell books for several hundred when they should go for under $100 Sterling, I understand what you're saying and I knew someone would eventually say that GPA/Overstreet are tools but honestly the person who pays 200-300% of guide on a reasonably common book is the tool!

No, but I know a lot of people who frequently sell slabbed books at least KNOW about GPA

I see books listed on there that aren't even the highest graded copies and yet the asking price is more than double of the highest graded copy on GPA! Why is that? I mean, honestly, do you guys that list on Comiclink even care about GPA. Not to mention, the books that I look for aren't necessarily that expensive anyway. ESPECIALLY raw! Most of the books I'm looking for could be picked up in NM for under $25 yet I see CGC graded ones with a GPA of about $60 in 9.6 and people are wanting over $250 on Comiclink whereas the GPA for 9.8's is around $125

The following is James Warren's response to an interview question done almost ten years ago which asked, "How did you find out about the counterfeiting?" This is the kind of story that put excitement into my otherwise dull life as a comic book publisher. One day my secretary, Liz, walks into my office and says, "There are two gentleman from the FBI here to see you." I knew from the tone in her voice this was no joke. (Actually I thought she said, "They are here to arrest you.") I said, "Before you send them in, offer them coffee and give them whatever they want but get on the phone and call my attorney." The two field agents came into my office. They were very cordial—not friendly but polite. We shook hands and I asked for their identification, which appeared to be okay. I asked, "Are you here because I took a towel out of that hotel room last week?" And one of them said, "Mr. Warren, do you recognize this?" and he whips out the ashcan edition of Eerie #1. I said, "Of course I do." They said, "Would you tell us the history behind this?" So I did, and they said, "Now we'll tell you why we're here: These are being counterfeited and sold across state lines. Because you copyrighted it in Washington, it becomes a federal matter under our jurisdiction." I sighed and laughed, saying, "I thought you were going to take me downtown!" However, it was a serious matter because the counterfeit copies were being sold for some outlandish figure. They asked if I had any indication who might be doing this. I told them I had a hunch, because it seemed to be someone close to the company. They had nothing else to go on and I said, "This is just a hunch, so I need your assurance that you're not going to accuse him without any real proof; but if you can prove it, will you tell me?" They gave me their assurance and said they would let me know if the counterfeiter was caught. At this point, I had to resist a wild thought that had just come into my head: I was going to give them the name of "Stan Lee." However, sanity returned to me and I told them the legitimate name of the person I suspected. I never heard from them again. If someone were apprehended and brought to trial I would have probably been called to testify so I assume they never found the perpetrator... ...The untrained eye couldn't tell. Only when it hit the Overstreet Price Guide, years later, did collectors find out about the blue staples and printing differences. It became a cause célèbre with the result that many fans and collectors were saved from the counterfeited copies. Still, I think J. Edgar Hoover should have worked harder on this. I wish he would have explained more about this! As a collector of Warrens I'd love to find out how to honestly tell the difference. Not to mention that I don't believe there to be a single web site anywhere that states the differences between the two. Side by side comparisons would be great! There is a legitimate second printing to this issue though to further confuse what's real and what's not!