Another batch of Overgraded books from a major dealer... RANT!!!

[the blob]

See a lot of people advertise 9.0-9.2-9.4 books with blunted corners, creases and dirty back covers.

-----------------------------------------------

Not so much creases, but CGC also seems to let 2 out of 3 of those slide in some instances in the 9.0 - 9.4 range

[sacentaur]

The simple psychology of it ...

 

Great post, Dan.

[Monstro]

The problem is 80% probably buy the overgraded books and don't know any better (the mile high effect). The 20% (most of these boards) don't mess around and return stuff. I bet overall his returns are very small. As more and more people become grade sensitive, more and more of these dealers will either have to step up or step out.

 

i know i am probably in that 80%

 

i guess cause i don't slab books or sell very much so i'm not as worried about making a good

return on every book i buy.

 

 

Well they love people like you, MH has made a fortune doing this. It's not all about a good return, but being able to make an informed buying decision based on expertise and not just taking the word of someone else.

 

they are always good buying decisions to me.

[cd4ever]

Couple things....

 

1) I think it's important to know who you're dealing with and what their standards are. I've bought a lot from Ted and I think I know how he grades. His NM- might be more a cgc 8.5-9.0. I know that going in and will pay accordingly. He recently had a 1/2 off sale and I bought a ton. And was very happy with what I acquired for the price. Last year I bought a few books at regular price and was less than happy. In retrospect I probably should have returned them.

 

2) We all know grading standards have changed but we really don't know how. Lots of folks say we should all grade like CGC. Well, that's fine except we have no clue what the CGC grading criteria is. It's all educated guessing and going by 'feel' at the end of the day. And we're all not going to agree.

 

3) How long ago was the book graded? This is a big one for me. Perhaps a book was NM- when it was graded but it has since changed boxes several times, been dragged back and forth to 15 cons, been handled by multiple bread-stick armed, M & M eating, drooling comic dorks wearing Deadpool t-shirts and who knows what the grade is now. But the website still says NM-.

 

Now where's that crack pipe......

 

[kidcolt]

Then what is the point of this thread

 

Warning us is great but it seems kind of pointless if we don't know who the warning is about.

 

1. You feel ripped off

2. You warn us that a big deal over graded and ripped you off.

3. We don't know who the dealer is

4. We buy from the same dealer and feel ripped off.

 

The reason I'm not "naming" him is that most on here have done business with him and have made up their own minds on what they are willing to accept from him, which is obviously overgraded books. It's not like this is some new dealer out there that I feel I need to warn everyone about. This is an established dealer who does not need to be "outed". Plus it's not like this is the only dealer out there that overgrades. Matter of fact, how many don't?

[Silver]

Didn't read the whole thread, but if this is about Ted, he is a soft grader. That being said, I have bought from him many times, in person and via mail. Obviously if your at a show you can see for yourself what the grade is. He is very reasonable about bargaining price, I have made trades with him that were better than anyone else would do. Via the mail I have gottem some awesome books from him, and ones I have returned for a full refund.

 

He might not be the world's best grader, but he is a great guy, and I have gotten some sweet stuff from him. I wish more dealers were like him.

 

Did your full refund include your cost of repackaging and mailing the books?

 

No. I don't know any dealers who do that, so why should he be expected to?

[sterlingcomics]

Didn't read the whole thread, but if this is about Ted, he is a soft grader. That being said, I have bought from him many times, in person and via mail. Obviously if your at a show you can see for yourself what the grade is. He is very reasonable about bargaining price, I have made trades with him that were better than anyone else would do. Via the mail I have gottem some awesome books from him, and ones I have returned for a full refund.

 

He might not be the world's best grader, but he is a great guy, and I have gotten some sweet stuff from him. I wish more dealers were like him.

 

Did your full refund include your cost of repackaging and mailing the books?

 

No. I don't know any dealers who do that, so why should he be expected to?

 

Did your refund also include a hand job car wash and wax, dinner for two at The Palm, and a year's subscription to Sports Illustrated?

[Aces]

Didn't read the whole thread, but if this is about Ted, he is a soft grader. That being said, I have bought from him many times, in person and via mail. Obviously if your at a show you can see for yourself what the grade is. He is very reasonable about bargaining price, I have made trades with him that were better than anyone else would do. Via the mail I have gottem some awesome books from him, and ones I have returned for a full refund.

 

He might not be the world's best grader, but he is a great guy, and I have gotten some sweet stuff from him. I wish more dealers were like him.

 

Did your full refund include your cost of repackaging and mailing the books?

 

No. I don't know any dealers who do that, so why should he be expected to?

 

Did your refund also include a hand job

[jkrk]

Can anyone prepare a chart based on the following survey?

 

One choice only:

 

My favorite dealer -

 

A) Is a great guy but overgrades.

 

B) Is a "bad guy" and overgrades.

 

c)Is a "bad guy", overgrades, but is a family member so What can I do?

 

d)Is a great guy and grades nearly perfectly based on the grading system he devised. (thumbs u

 

e)Is a great guy but only sells overgraded slabs.

 

f)Almost always undergrades but charges me double for everything I buy.

 

g)Is a "bad guy", overgrades, but is the only dealer that can put up with me.

[joe_collector]

I hope to have a big package from him waiting for me when I get home today.

 

Hey, go for it big guy.

 

I spent a while trying to word that appropriately. I really would have had to write a long sentence to remove all the innuendo.

 

Plus, your user name is "buttock".

[DrWatson]

I hope to have a big package from him waiting for me when I get home today.

 

Hey, go for it big guy.

 

I spent a while trying to word that appropriately. I really would have had to write a long sentence to remove all the innuendo.

 

Plus, your user name is "buttock".

If my thread hadn't got yanked, yours would now be Grumpy.

[rodan57]

Didn't read the whole thread, but if this is about Ted, he is a soft grader. That being said, I have bought from him many times, in person and via mail. Obviously if your at a show you can see for yourself what the grade is. He is very reasonable about bargaining price, I have made trades with him that were better than anyone else would do. Via the mail I have gottem some awesome books from him, and ones I have returned for a full refund.

 

He might not be the world's best grader, but he is a great guy, and I have gotten some sweet stuff from him. I wish more dealers were like him.

 

Did your full refund include your cost of repackaging and mailing the books?

 

No. I don't know any dealers who do that, so why should he be expected to?

 

I guess, my point was that if he was a tighter grader, you wouldn't be out any money and happy with the books.

 

I cannot, of course, put any price on friendship and this, by itself, may have a value that outweighs any financial transactions.

 

p.s.

ComicLink sent me a cracked slab. Offered to have the book reslabbed and provided free shipping on my next order. Seemed very professional and perhaps, indeed, uncommon. I was fortunate when compared to the industry standard.

[Silver]

Didn't read the whole thread, but if this is about Ted, he is a soft grader. That being said, I have bought from him many times, in person and via mail. Obviously if your at a show you can see for yourself what the grade is. He is very reasonable about bargaining price, I have made trades with him that were better than anyone else would do. Via the mail I have gottem some awesome books from him, and ones I have returned for a full refund.

 

He might not be the world's best grader, but he is a great guy, and I have gotten some sweet stuff from him. I wish more dealers were like him.

 

Did your full refund include your cost of repackaging and mailing the books?

 

No. I don't know any dealers who do that, so why should he be expected to?

 

Did your refund also include a hand job

 

This thread just seems mean spirited. Grading is still subjective, unless CGC has actually published it's grading standards?

[Pirate]

Didn't read the whole thread, but if this is about Ted, he is a soft grader. That being said, I have bought from him many times, in person and via mail. Obviously if your at a show you can see for yourself what the grade is. He is very reasonable about bargaining price, I have made trades with him that were better than anyone else would do. Via the mail I have gottem some awesome books from him, and ones I have returned for a full refund.

 

He might not be the world's best grader, but he is a great guy, and I have gotten some sweet stuff from him. I wish more dealers were like him.

 

Did your full refund include your cost of repackaging and mailing the books?

 

No. I don't know any dealers who do that, so why should he be expected to?

 

I guess, my point was that if he was a tighter grader, you wouldn't be out any money and happy with the books.

 

I cannot, of course, put any price on friendship and this, by itself, may have a value that outweighs any financial transactions.

 

p.s.

ComicLink sent me a cracked slab. Offered to have the book reslabbed and provided free shipping on my next order. Seemed very professional and perhaps, indeed, uncommon. I was fortunate when compared to the industry standard.

 

wow when comiclink sent me three cracked slabs in the mail, they called me a liar and closed my account even after providing photo proof. I haven't bought a thing from them in 3 years now.

[Timmay]

wow when comiclink sent me three cracked slabs in the mail, they called me a liar and closed my account even after providing photo proof. I haven't bought a thing from them in 3 years now.

 

How is it possible to buy something from them if your account is closed??

 

[Sardo Numspar]

I recently purchased three comics off of comiclink. One arrived in the mail with a reference on the invoice that the slabs were cracked on the other two and they were being re-sent to CGC. I recently received these two comics. I was impressed that comiclink took it upon themselves to take care of this issue before I even received the comics.

[jkrk]

I recently purchased three comics off of comiclink. One arrived in the mail with a reference on the invoice that the slabs were cracked on the other two and they were being re-sent to CGC. I recently received these two comics. I was impressed that comiclink took it upon themselves to take care of this issue before I even received the comics.

 

Bravo to CL for the service. (thumbs u

 

With that said, I've seen a number of posters praise CL for doing the right thing. It's kind of sad that our expectations of sellers are so low we need to raise them up when they do their job properly

[Ze-man]

I will probably regret asking this, but are cliff notes out on this thread yet? Because I have not had a chance to read it all.

 

Is Ted the devil, or just a savy overgrader waiting to be called out on it?

 

 

[gilbertotorres]

second one.

[TheWatcher]

I will probably regret asking this, but are cliff notes out on this thread yet? Because I have not had a chance to read it all.

 

Is Ted the devil, or just a savy overgrader waiting to be called out on it?

 

 

Yes