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Kevlar

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Posts posted by Kevlar

    Seemingly legit Ebay store sold and then relisted items using same pictures.

    in Newbie Comic Collecting Questions

    Posted

    21 hours ago, Poekaymon said:

    With Sideshow and Target or whatever, you're talking about stores that have hundreds or thousands of copies of the same item, which item does not gain or lose value for nearly imperceptible flaws.  And no one expects to get the exact item that had the picture taken--in fact, Sideshow puts right on the pic that it's a prototype, and you don't know the sideshow serial number ahead of time, either. And many of the big stores will put in a single sentence in that says something like 'Actual product not pictured' or the like.  Not remotely a fair analogy, in my opinion.  I can maybe understand in the comic book realm, if you are doing serious volume, and you are willing to issue refunds when your method of not giving them they thought they were buying backfires.  I also don't really care if they are under a hundred bucks or so.  But as I said earlier in this thread, before like 2 pages of nonsense:

    1.  This seller is not high volume.  I've looked a few times and he never has more than 40-50 up at once. 

    2.  These books are in the $500-1k range

    3.  There aren't many of these particular books even out there, so I would be extremely surprised if he has more than 2-3 of each.

    Now let's look at "mycomicshop."  At the time of this post, they have 581,390 books up.  And yet, I just looked at a couple of their identical books, and they still managed to get unique scans for each.  I really don't think this is a high bar.  

    Look, call it laziness or efficiency or whatever, if you need to use a stock photo or want to reuse photos from your past auctions, and you don't think it matters, fine.  But at least disclose that fact to your customers.  Not hard to put in a single sentence to avoid any confusion.  Not sure how this is a controversial proposition. 

     

    Target may be a bad example, but I don't think sideshow is. What's the difference between doing 10 vs 100? Personally I don't see any. My Comic Shop is a different animal than most CGC dealers because of their size. They either list the individual cert number or put stock image so they are covering both bases and I totally agree with you that putting "actual product not pictured" is a good idea. Like I mentioned, personally we do that...per my original post "we clearly state in the details of every listing that we normally have multiple items and that the certification number can be different and that signature color and/or placement may be different in the case of Signature Series books."

    But I stand by my original notion: a brand new modern CGC 9.8 is a brand new modern CGC 9.8 regardless of cert number or what it looks like and having a book come in damaged is different.

    Send me a PM with the details of this seller and I'll let you know if it's someone we personally know.

    Variants from artist shops

    in Comics General

    Posted

    21 hours ago, Poekaymon said:

    If a 9.8 is more like 25% of these variant shop raws, then I would expect 9.8s to be 4x the price plus $30 or whatever for CGC's services.  But that definitely isn't the case.  So I'm not sure what the disconnect is.

    Anyway, I just preordered some cheap raws from Mr. Campbell. Will send them in and see how we do.

    Not exactly how it works. It's still supply and demand so it's different for each individual book based on supply (how many are submitted, how well the print run prints, etc) and demand (title, first appearance, quality of art, etc). 

    Variants from artist shops

    in Comics General

    Posted

    On 1/23/2020 at 6:19 PM, Poekaymon said:

    True though I think at better than 50% it’s a winning gamble. Thanks for your input. 

    No way...I'd say that directly off the printer you might have a 50/50 shot at a 9.8. But then they get touched and put into boxes. Then they get shipped to Campbell (or any other shop doing a variant). Then they are pulled out of the boxes. At that point I would say less than 25% of books a 9.8 at best unless they are cardstock covers. And that's which a good print run. With Marvel, the amount of ink loss on back covers is staggering and once you put a new book into a bag and board and pull it out, you see enough ink loss to drop a book in grade. I have seen some print runs where I have looked through hundreds of books to find just a couple 9.8 candidates due to printing issues that are not sever enough to be considered "damaged"...they just aren't 9.8s. Publishers don't care about the grade of books that get sent out....even if the best that a whole print run would grade would be a 9.6. If they are all NM- or better they did their job.

     

    Typically anything "NEW" whether bought from a shop or bought online would be 9.2 or better and most online retailers wouldn't ship out anything less than a 9.2 unless they made note of condition. If someone complains that they got a book that was only a 9.2, I'd immediately block them from ever buying from me because they are going to be more trouble than the sale is worth (and believe me...I've done it).

     

    I tell customers that if you want ONLY 9.8s, don't buy sight unseen and just buy already graded copies even if that means you pay a premium (which you should) because of the grade.

    Seemingly legit Ebay store sold and then relisted items using same pictures.

    in Newbie Comic Collecting Questions

    Posted

    On 1/29/2020 at 7:04 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

    Yeah, I've seen/experienced this before, too. They just use the same image. Laziness, I guess.

    I don't think it's laziness as my previous post says. It's simply how much time should be put into multiple copies of the same item. Like I said...Target doesn't list individual pictures for anything they sell. People might say that collectibles are different, but when they are new copies I disagree. Individually hand-painted statues from Sideshow are collectibles...they don't put up multiple listings when they sell their items...that's the way I look at it.

    Seemingly legit Ebay store sold and then relisted items using same pictures.

    in Newbie Comic Collecting Questions

    Posted

    On 1/28/2020 at 7:01 PM, Poekaymon said:

    What do you guys make of this?  So a seemingly reputable store had a lot of reasonably limited 9.8 graded stuff up (like 20-100 "graded at" on the census).  I bid on and/or bought several items.  He did deliver.  Later I did a search for one of the ones I didn't win and noticed it was back up.  Looked pretty familiar, so I compared it to the one I bid on, and lost, and sure enough it's the same picture and CGC number.  Then I searched and found several other relisted items that he had put back up--identical CGC numbers.  Now I guess you could think well maybe the buyer backed out or something, but: one of the items he has relisted is sitting right here in my hand--same CGC number.

    I guess the least sinister explanation is that he actually has multiples of each item and just did a bunch of relists and it automatically used the same pictures?  I don't sell on Ebay so I have no idea how that works.  But even if that's true, the ones that are up right now for bid are not the actual ones that the people will be getting when they win.  That's an issue, isn't it?

    Not sure what board policy is but I'm pretty curious about what is going on here.  Can message out some links if anyone is interested.


    So this thread got derailed big time...time to get back on track.  As a CGC dealer myself, when we do a book, we RARELY do just one copy. We have done 20+ of some books. So lets say that we have 5 copies of Amazing Spider-Man #14 JSC cover A (which we did). We put a listing up showing 5 copies. We don't do 5 individual listings with 5 pictures of 5 different books. So easy enough...buyer knows we have 5 copies. We clearly state in the details of every listing that we normally have multiple items and that the certification number can be different and that signature color and/or placement may be different in the case of Signature Series books. Hell...this original post might be about some of our items. So here's some things to think about.

     

    When we have a listing with multiple items and the first book sells, we don't pull that individual book and then change the picture. Hell sometimes 5 copies sell in 24 hours...it's logistically impossible to do that.

     

    As for auctions, when you have 5 book that are buy it now and you decide to throw one up on auction, ebay makes a duplicate listing just in auction form, removes one from your buy-it-now listing, and now you have two listings with the same picture. The following week we might send another to auction...that's a third listing with the same image. Sometimes if we get 5 copies of a book (like we just did with Uncanny X-Men #1 campbell variants, we don't list them as a buy-it now at all. We do an auction that starts today. We click on "sell a similar item" and make another posting that starts next Sunday, then do that two more times till we have 4 listings. All the exact same with the same picture.

     

    When dealing with modern 9.8s there is no need to do multiple listings showing each individual book in my opinion. To say that a 9.8 isn't a 9.8 or that some 9.8s look better than another, that's fine but I dont agree to that. As a dealer, I don't have time for that and I may lose a sale as that person may decide to deal with someone else that only has one copy and it's the exact book. I have to weigh the time I put into something like that and determine if it's worth it or not...and for modern 9.8s I don't think it is. When dealing with older books or lower graded books I get it. I do think some 6.0s look better than other 6.0s but I don't think the difference between two 9.8s makes a difference.  That's just my opinion of course and to each their own.

     

    As for getting a book back that looks like it is damaged in shipping with the cover almost coming off...that's either A) a shipping damage issue and no problem, send it back or B) an unethical seller. Personally I believe it's much more likely option A. Especially if the seller has a bunch of listings that are duplicates (unless they have LOTS of damages and are trying to pawn them off but I thinks thats HIGHLY unlikely).


    So all that being said...if you don't like a dealer that sells multiple copies of a book, don't buy from that dealer. But that's like going to Target.com and buying a t-shirt (you know you aren't going to get the exact t-shirt in the photo). When dealing with larger comic dealers with multiple copies of books you have to look at it that way.

    Twin Cities Comics Convention and Private Signing Schedule - 2020

    in SigSeries Event Central

    Posted · Edited by Kevlar

    TWIN CITIES COMICS CONVENTION AND PRIVATE SIGNING SCHEDULE - 2020

    This schedule will be updated as we add conventions and private signings.

    For Questions please contact: sales@twincitiescomics.com

     

    • Late August: Chadwick Boseman - Private signing
    • Late October: Margot Robbie - Private signing
    • TBD: Adam Driver - Private Signing
    • TBD: Daisy Ridley - Private Signing
    • MORE TO COME

     

    ADDRESS TO SUBMIT ITEMS:

    Twin Cities Comics

    PO Box 378

    Zimmerman, MN 55398

    New Marvel Labels

    in Comics General

    Posted · Edited by Kevlar

    21 hours ago, CanadianGothic said:

    Your scenario could happen if the contract between CGC and Marvel expires and is not renewed.

    That's what happened to the Stan Lee contract. That's why they can't use his name or likeness on the labels currently. There is still a chance this will change.

    I think CGC should offer a $5 credit for any book that can't be given the same label upon reholdering. 

    -----------

    I like the option of the label because you don't have to get it if you don't want it. However, if used properly I think the label adds more than $5 value to the slab. Slabs with Stan Lee labels carry a premium right now. 

    It was a great idea by CGC. Imagine how many Hulk 181s will be reholdered to get a Wolverine label. 

    Shouldn't matter. I can understand about labels going forward, but if I've already purchased the custom label I should be able to have that label on that book in perpetuity IMO.

    Celebrity Signed Books

    in The Signature Room

    Posted

    On 6/29/2019 at 10:01 AM, punksdropdirtysrh said:

    Wasn’t Emilia Clarke cheaper than that? I wouldn’t think his would be that much more valuable than hers. I really doubt this will be his only appearance. He loves GoT and I suspect he’ll want to stick around in the scene for awhile, even once a year. Who knows. Is the price dictated by the celeb and his/her management or the convention? 

    No...after taxes and fees Clarke was $225 so she was $250 even on comics after a $25 facilitator fee.

     

    They have a guarantee. The guarantee is dictacted by the celebs and their management. Then they work with the convention to determine an appropriate price for photo ops and autographs...they base this on stuff like other guest's costs, average attendees they anticipate, how many people they can get through the photo op and autograph lines per hour etc. If the convention doesn't sell enough to hit the guarantee, they have to pony up the rest and pay the celeb the different. If they sell more it depends on the contract. It could all go to the celeb, it could be a split, or if they just paid a flat "appearance fee" the extra would go to the show.

    Newton Rings

    in CGC Announcements

    Posted

    As promised...a new video on a way to eliminate Newton Rings using compressed air. Using the cardboard insert was fine for most books but some were SOOO tight that they were leaving the micro scratches.

     

    This seems to help quite a bit..as you can see I had a LOT of NR on the book I used in the video. Since doing the video I've done a few more and the NR are completely gone on some of them. The tighter the slab the more you have to use...and you do need to angle the blast a bit on the sides.

    PSA - DO NOT SPRAY THE AIR IN UPSIDE DOWN - As we all know when you turn a can of compressed air upside down you do get super-cooled air that has moisture in it.

    Hope this helps some of you!!

     

     

    Celebrity Signed Books

    in The Signature Room

    Posted

    On ‎5‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 12:05 PM, punksdropdirtysrh said:

    My top 5 most wanted(must be an in person autograph): 

    1. Anna Paquin

    2. Emilia Clarke

    3. Neve Campbell

     4. Stephen Moyer

    5. Ryan Reynolds 

    Could have gotten the top 4 for you in the last 8 months. Saw 1 and 4 at keystone, 3 at Alamo, and  2 at Comicpalooza (should have a signing with her late this year as well).

    Newton Rings

    in CGC Announcements

    Posted

    On ‎5‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 2:18 AM, Cat-Man_America said:

    Alas, ...are we actually seeing the beginnings of an after-after market NR removal service?  :ohnoez:

    Hell no....we aren't doing it. Just giving people the knowledge on how to do it themselves.

    Newton Rings

    in CGC Announcements

    Posted

    On ‎5‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 1:41 PM, MGsimba77 said:

    Hey @Kevlar thanks for the backing board solution to address Newtown rings. Just curious would there be any way to avoid the scratch marks on the inside of the slab being reported by people trying this method?

    Also how could we avoid the rings coming back like I think a couple of people reported?

    We actually are doing a new video and yes...we found a way to remove NR without scratches. Waiting for a book with a decent amount of NR to do the video on.

    Facilitator for “Celebrity Fan Fest” in San antonio

    in SigSeries Event Central

    Posted · Edited by Kevlar

    On ‎3‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 8:50 AM, Daukar said:

    New to all this, but looking at this event myself.

    Is it possible with the facilitators mentioned by Antyreal to have CGC Signature Series, or is the OP referring only to those individuals facilitating the actual signatures (send them item to be signed in the mail to be returned after signature, for example) without CGC Signature Series verification?

    Thank you!

    We are a facilitator.

     

    Please email us at: sales@twincitiescomics.com

     

    We can help you get anything there. Thanks