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Busting comic thieves! Share your story.

Started by whetteon,

133 posts in this topic

TheShadowKnows

TheShadowKnows

Posted
Posted
I have a comic book story about a thief getting paid back and then

some for ripping off about 20 e-bay buyers. It's sort of a long story.

 

I had been collecting for only about six months exclusively buying

mid-grade books off e-bay and decided to buy a nicer grade book

and I loved it. I was so naive back then and knew very little about

grading or proper scans and a seller from Comox on Vancouver

Island with perfect feedback was selling his comic collection. The

three books I bought were listed as 3 VF/NM TOS 78, 82 + 86 that

I won for just over 35.00. He sold about 20 lots of books and all the

photos were just far enough away to not be able to spot any flaws.

 

My books arrived with small chunks missing off the covers and loose

pages, stains and several creases. He wouldn't return any of my

e-mails and just hung up on me and the NEGS started rolling in

from other buyers and some of them bought whole runs of SS

described as NM and a few other titles. The buyer that bought his

other TOS run was even missing three books that this lowlife sold

to me.

 

At our work at the time we despatched Longshoremen up to

Vancouver Island to work on different lumber off loading facilities.

My Husband is a longshoreman and I made arrangements for him

and his five man gang or crew to work a ship on the Island for five days.

After work and after the bar these filthy liquored up Longshoremen

needed some entertainment and had an address to look up. They

found this weasel and laid a beating on him and even recovered a

portion of the funds for a buyer in California I had been in touch with

who paid 365.00 for 23 NM TOS books. He only received 20 books

and they were in worse shape than mine.

 

I sometimes feel guilty about it and other times I'm proud to have

taught one puke a lesson about proper e-bay etiquette. (shrug)

 

Did I do a terrible thing or hand out some street justice for the comic

book collectors of the world. :makepoint:

fay

I knew there was something I liked about you.Thats what you call laying the smackdown on him.

D

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TheShadowKnows

TheShadowKnows

Posted
Posted
May I just be the voice of reason and say, "WTF?" You had a group of guys whip some scammer's who know how badly? And for $35 worth of books on your end? That is pretty crappy IMO. What would you do if it had been the $365 the other person lost? Have him whacked? Oh I know. It's all different because it was a girl who got scammed.

 

 

Disgusting.

Everytime I see that I laugh.

How you doing Shonuff?

Hope all is well.

Your friend.

D

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TheShadowKnows

TheShadowKnows

Posted
Posted
May I just be the voice of reason and say, "WTF?" You had a group of guys whip some scammer's who know how badly? And for $35 worth of books on your end? That is pretty crappy IMO. What would you do if it had been the $365 the other person lost? Have him whacked? Oh I know. It's all different because it was a girl who got scammed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disgusting.

 

I know it was a very crappy thing I did and it wasn't over the money

and any money this stand-up e-bay citizen forked over I sent down

to the buyer who lost the 365.00. I wish they could have gotten every

penny this puke stole off innocent collectors like you.

 

As far as wacking him. (shrug) Going rate for a bone is a grand. :angel:

 

You may want to point that out to all your cheerleaders who think it was a wonderful idea. Thanks but no thanks to collecting any money owed to me that way.

Im sorry if you are ,shall we say ,sensitive.Maybe we need more people with backbone in this country.The POS got what he deserved.If ebay wont stop them then Fays solution is ok with me.

D

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walkingdeadite2-migration

walkingdeadite2-migration

Posted
Posted

One that comes to mind......

 

About 10 (or so) years ago I was set up at a convention in OH and a kid (late teens) came up to my tables with some nice SA Fantastic Four....it was a run with all the same price tag. Sticker price was well over $1000. The kid said he wanted $50 'cause he just needed to sell them quick.

 

Well....before the show opened I did my usual browsing around the room and I remember going through one dealers boxes who had the same type price tag on his comics that this kid was trying to sell me.....so I give the comics to my wife to hold.....tell the kid I really have to go to the bathroom but I am very interested in the comics and will be right back......then I go to the dealer who had the same type price tags and ask him if he has any early FF's.....of course he thought he did but they were gone. I told him about the comics at my table and after we got the guy who ran the show we came back and nailed the kid!

 

They called the police & kids parents but I don't think the guy who had his stuff stolen was going to prosecute so hopefully it was a lesson learned for the kid.

 

The look on that kid's face was priceless when he knew he was caught!

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Fazybones

Fazybones

Posted
Posted
May I just be the voice of reason and say, "WTF?" You had a group of guys whip some scammer's who know how badly? And for $35 worth of books on your end? That is pretty crappy IMO. What would you do if it had been the $365 the other person lost? Have him whacked? Oh I know. It's all different because it was a girl who got scammed.

 

Yes, I would throw a beatin' on someone who stole $35 from me. Hell, I'd do it if someone stole $5 from me. Theft is theft... it's not the amount it's the act.

 

Thanks for your words of support. It wasn't something I took lightly and this

seller actually laughed over the phone at the buyer from California and told

him to come on up and sue him.

 

E-bay or paypal couldn't help any of us and being the only Canadian I had

the means to give out a little pay back. I would much rather have had 3 VF/NM

TOS books in my collection.

 

 

While I don't have much sympathy for crooks, you should realize that you took a HUGE risk (not only for yourself, but for your husband and his coworkers) if that person had died or was permanently injured. (Especially after the group had been to a bar.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be totally honest I'm not proud I let this get so out of hand that it lead

to violence and you are right that we took a huge risk and I was a nervous

wreck the whole time they were on the Island.

 

My Husband promised me he was the only one throwing any punches and

it wasn't much of a beating and the seller or weasel was so scared he

coughed up 150.00 $ right away. We sent those funds back to the buyer

in California who I had been corresponding with about our lack of e-bay

and paypal rights.

 

I would not recommend solving e-bay disputes in this manner although

the buyer from Califrornia was sure happy even asking for pictures. doh!

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Duffman_Comics

Duffman_Comics

Posted
Posted

Good for you Fay (thumbs u (thumbs u

 

Someone learned that actions have consequences. A lesson learned early in life, but as the Net gets a hold and the cloak of anonymity (sorry) descends villains are emboldened (sorry again).

 

If anyone has a deal go south in the wide brown land let me know. I have friends.......

 

 

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joe_collector

joe_collector

Posted
Posted
While I don't have much sympathy for crooks, you should realize that you took a HUGE risk (not only for yourself, but for your husband and his coworkers) if that person had died or was permanently injured.

 

Not to mention that you might be able to pull that :censored: in tree-hugging BC, but if you did it in gun-crazy Northern Ontario, your husband and his cronies would be leaving in duffel bags, headed for the nearest quarry.

 

This kind of stuff is just stupid, as the perp could have shot them all, and been totally in the right. Big or small, we all bleed out just the same.

 

Not to mention that he essentially has you admission of guilt if he ever wants to launch a civil suit or get the police involved.

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greggy

greggy

Posted
Posted
While I don't have much sympathy for crooks, you should realize that you took a HUGE risk (not only for yourself, but for your husband and his coworkers) if that person had died or was permanently injured.

 

Not to mention that you might be able to pull that :censored: in tree-hugging BC, but if you did it in gun-crazy Northern Ontario, your husband and his cronies would be leaving in duffel bags, headed for the nearest quarry.

 

This kind of stuff is just stupid, as the perp could have shot them all, and been totally in the right. Big or small, we all bleed out just the same.

 

Not to mention that he essentially has you admission of guilt if he ever wants to launch a civil suit or get the police involved.

janefinch_streetsign.jpg
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lizards2

lizards2

Posted
Posted
Not a comic story, but I'm in Montreal at a conference and just got back from a downtown liquor store and saw a pair of thug security guards giving the business to a loser trying to steal a bottle of JD.

 

"Hey, :censored:, I just bought that!!" lol

 

They were doing that because JD sucks and everyone should know that.. dumb spoons. They should have bought Chivas

 

Yeah - JD doesn't do nearly as good a job at cleaning bugs off the windshield than Chivas does.

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ShoNuff-migration

ShoNuff-migration

Posted
Posted
May I just be the voice of reason and say, "WTF?" You had a group of guys whip some scammer's who know how badly? And for $35 worth of books on your end? That is pretty crappy IMO. What would you do if it had been the $365 the other person lost? Have him whacked? Oh I know. It's all different because it was a girl who got scammed.

 

 

Disgusting.

Everytime I see that I laugh.

How you doing Shonuff?

Hope all is well.

Your friend.

D

 

And speaking of thieving scammers...

 

 

 

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TheShadowKnows

TheShadowKnows

Posted
Posted
May I just be the voice of reason and say, "WTF?" You had a group of guys whip some scammer's who know how badly? And for $35 worth of books on your end? That is pretty crappy IMO. What would you do if it had been the $365 the other person lost? Have him whacked? Oh I know. It's all different because it was a girl who got scammed.

 

 

Disgusting.

Everytime I see that I laugh.

How you doing Shonuff?

Hope all is well.

Your friend.

D

 

And speaking of thieving scammers...

 

 

Maybe you should post some evidence or STFU...

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The Black Hand ®

The Black Hand ®

Posted
Posted
Just looking for good, wholesome stories about thieves getting busted with collections they stole and/or tried to sell. Hopefully all the stories have a happy ending. :wishluck:

 

I've been looking at this thread for a while and it's made me realise that my take on comic book collectors had been all wrong.

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goldust40

goldust40

Posted
Posted
Just looking for good, wholesome stories about thieves getting busted with collections they stole and/or tried to sell. Hopefully all the stories have a happy ending. :wishluck:

 

I've been looking at this thread for a while and it's made me realise that my take on comic book collectors had been all wrong.

 

Yep, it's been an eye-opener for me too.

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