POLL: If you were a billionaire, would you drastically overpay for a slab?

[Subliminal]

Name one billionaire that that owns or made his billions buying comics

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

However...I always, always, always make a good faith effort to give the seller a chance to make it good.

 

When I began buying on ebay, I always made a good faith effort to work problems out. But, in every case, it was a total waste of time. The typical response of someone who is either dishonest or irresponsible is 1) they have done nothing wrong, no matter how blatant; 2) it's all your fault, never ever theirs; and/or 3) it's all lies and you are trying to run some sort of scam on them.

 

 

Believe me, I 100% unequivocally have had that exact same experience, HUNDREDS of times. The worst part is being accused of trying to run some scam on them. Makes me want to break their heads.

 

I have a list of about 100 different sellers who have done just that, including sellers like Harry Thomas, who is a decades long personal friend of Bob Overstreet.

 

For the sake of my conscience, however....not because I owe anything to the seller...I have to make a good faith effort with everyone. Usually, it turns out exactly as you have described. Sometimes, though, I get an apology, humility, and an appropriate compensation.

 

I'm just not as draconian as you.

 

I had to laugh....there was one seller, Muzzle1198, aka Matthew Chavez, who literally taped two pieces of cardboad to the slab, same size as the slab, addressed the cardboard, then sent it off.

 

Seller then blames ME for not buying insurance. USPS Insurance would NEVER, EVER have covered such a shoddy packing job, and it's still the seller's responsibility to make sure the item is packaged to withstand NORMAL handling.

 

Jackarse fought me every step of the way, too.

 

I also had the same experience with Wizard that you did, when buying their 1/2 overstock back in '07. They were a total joke, went through about 17 different shipping "managers", but I just kept after them and forced them to compensate me for screwing up so badly.

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

I notice there are several sellers on that list that I also had problems with...mmcomics (minor, but still), wizarduniverse, cal, demsrays (overgrading liar)...

 

BEWARE. Seller mailing cgc books unprotected. Buy if you want wrecked book.

 

Reply by calamerica-collectibles (Jun-06-07 05:14):

Buy Insurance next time. Listing did recommend Insurance for fragile CGC items!!

 

 

Cal didn't send me a CGC book....mine was wayyyy back in '00, or '01. I don't remember the particulars anymore, but he either sold me some overgraded junk or didn't protect the books and they got damaged in shipping.

 

Boy, was THAT a row.... (thumbs u

[RockMyAmadeus]

The tragedy is that these CGC cases can be so fragile that sometimes even with the most bulletproof packing, cases can still be cracked. Hell, I got 5 cracked or smashed cases direct from CGC in one of my recent 30 book submissions. It happens, but there is no excuse for poor packing.

 

I got a Bronze X-Men CGC 9.8 from England that was sent in a large envelope. It arrived cracked of course. Seller did however refund the reholder and shipping fees.

 

It's the effort that counts. Good effort is obvious.

 

So is bad.

 

I've shipped just about 100 slabs in the last 6 years...not a single one broken.

 

CGC is not a good example of "how to pack CGC slabs." My last big order had two cracked slabs in a 30-box. The cases are shipped with nothing in between them. This allows them to bang together during shipment. Banging together = cracking potential. I asked why they didn't put a thin sheet of styrofoam in between each slab, and was told it "wasn't cost effective."

 

 

[david20009]

No way would I spend more than what a comic is worth.I bet you would be surprised that most rich people are very frugal with their money,how do you think they got so rich?

 

Yup that is extremely true. I was at the bar a few months back with a fellow whom even in this environment is worth somewhere between a quarter to half a billion dollars. It was an event for some recent grads of the university we both went to and we were asked there to meet with someone who was over from the school so they needed some token gweilos. It was at one of these fancy smansy bars were beers were around 8-9 bucks. All the fresh grads were talking about how great the place was while he and I were complaining how expensive it was and we should just head a couple doors over and pay 4 bucks a beer. This is a guy who could have bought the bar if he wanted to drink there but wasn’t going to pay 8 bucks for a bottle of beer. We each did our duty, had a coke and then moved on.

 

Not all but most of the extremely wealthy people I know are very careful with their money. It is usually people who grew up where mom and dad had tons of money who are not careful with it, or people like MIke Tyson who made it too easily. How’s that old saying go. Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in 3 generations.

 

[TempusFugitivus]

H4N, I apologize for throwing you out there and I'm glad you're a member of the boards since I know you've been talked about before with all of the purchases of graded books you buy. No, I'm not obssesed over you personally, I'm just a collector trying to complete a graded run and I guess when you start getting beat out by the same person mulitple times; when you just need that one book, it makes you want to pull your hair out. Even when you put a very high bid down. But thats what makes the hobby fun. Regardless, I'm happy that you're happy

 

Hulktom

No problem. I get outbid for stuff all the time too and, if I really wanted it, my response isn't pretty either. Unfortunately, you and I were fated to conflict. I've never mentioned it, but the Green Guy is my favorite individual character (I also am a very large individual with somewhat short temper, for what that's worth).

 

The thing that has always cracked me up is that you have me blocked from bidding on your books. I am (unless you mail them in manila envelopes or something) the one guy you want bidding on your Hulks

 

In any case, we don't have much to conflict over now. My Hulk run is pretty complete and I usually am just laying down cost-basis bids now.

[TempusFugitivus]

 

I'm just not as draconian as you.

 

 

Part of my problem is simply quantity. Until finding alternate options (thanks Beachbum), I bought tons and tons of CGCs on ebay. Trying to be fair ended up with me having usually six or seven open paypal cases. It was simply too much time and aggravation. Unfortunately, for my peace of mind, I will probably end up being unfair to someone who is simply completely clueless rather than actively fraudulent.

 

But I really don't want to do business with the completely clueless either.

 

I just needed to draw a line in the sand for my own sanity. Basically, I'm not going to neg anybody who sends me a CGC in a box (though I'm not so sure about the occasional clown who sends a CGC completely loose in a priority box, i.e. no padding or anything, just the CGC).

 

I also would never neg anyone just because the CGC arrived cracked or broken. I've seen awesome packing jobs where the CGC was damaged anyways and I've had CGCs arrive undamaged despite absolutely no padding or protection at all. The Post Office and luck always have to be factored in.

 

I simply keep track of who packs well and who doesn't and factor it into my bids.

[HULKTOM]

"The thing that has always cracked me up is that you have me blocked from bidding on your books. I am (unless you mail them in manila envelopes or something) the one guy you want bidding on your Hulks"

 

The blocked part was not so much out of conflict with you outbidding me, it was more of your message you would send to the sellar about "proper packing for CGC books." It was a combination of that and then the list of negs you gave (I will say and I agree with you, most of them appear to be justified) but I took as that there was just no pleasing this guy. Anyway, consider yourself unblocked (even though it may be too late now) and hope we can do business in the future.

[TempusFugitivus]

 

I remember reading the original threads about me. I must admit that they made me sound like such a complete ******* that I might have blocked myself. But it was like something right out of that book "The Madness of Crowds." I was accused of stuff that was simply impossible (once again, I have never bought a Witchblade CGC in my life, much less had some horrible transaction over one ).

 

It always amazes me how many people get ticked off by my message (my disclaimer on virtually every ebay purchase) to pack well. They seem to consider it rude or uncalled for or something. I've always thought it was just bland common sense.

 

Anyone who packs well can simply ignore it. It was never meant to be a personal insult [However, it has always come in handy when filing a claim against some blockhead]. My son always says the same thing when someone gets bent out of shape over it: "I didn't know you were so....................sensitive."

 

One of my favorite quotes from "The Dirty Dozen."

Always makes me laugh like hell.

[TempusFugitivus]

And, of course, I hope we do some business someday so you can see I'm not all bad.

 

Hell, anyone who likes the Hulk has to be all right in my book

[hockey&comicsguy]

No way would I spend more than what a comic is worth.I bet you would be surprised that most rich people are very frugal with their money,how do you think they got so rich?

 

Yup that is extremely true. I was at the bar a few months back with a fellow whom even in this environment is worth somewhere between a quarter to half a billion dollars. It was an event for some recent grads of the university we both went to and we were asked there to meet with someone who was over from the school so they needed some token gweilos. It was at one of these fancy smansy bars were beers were around 8-9 bucks. All the fresh grads were talking about how great the place was while he and I were complaining how expensive it was and we should just head a couple doors over and pay 4 bucks a beer. This is a guy who could have bought the bar if he wanted to drink there but wasn’t going to pay 8 bucks for a bottle of beer. We each did our duty, had a coke and then moved on.

 

Not all but most of the extremely wealthy people I know are very careful with their money. It is usually people who grew up where mom and dad had tons of money who are not careful with it, or people like MIke Tyson who made it too easily. How’s that old saying go. Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in 3 generations.

 

 

My father-in-law is a millionaire, as are his 2 brothers. He's the middle brother.

 

Anyhoot, he's exceptionally frugal. When he needs a new car he goes to the same dealer he's gone to for 20 years and buys a nice, used car. Lemme tell you, he's bought some ugly POS. Nothing wrong with the cars per say, nice actually. But seriously, rolling in a used Saturn? C'mon dude, splurge a little bit. He clips coupons. He waits for Kroger's (grocery store) to have their buy one get one free packs of hot dogs and hot dog buns to do cookouts for our employees, stuff like that. Always pinching pennies.

 

Conversely, his two brothers spend money like they're growing it on trees.

 

Personally, if I had a million dollars I don't think my spending habits would alter much. I'd be able to afford nicer things but I doubt I would be able to rationalize overpaying for them..........Now if I had 100 million dollars, that line of thinking might not matter so much to me...............And if I had a billion dollars, I'm convinced I wouldn't really care what anything cost and would pretty much just buy whatever, overpriced or not. At least that's how I think I would be.

[DrWatson]

This is going to sound sexist, but if I were a billionaire, I would collect women, not comics.

[John A III]

This is going to sound sexist, but if I were a billionaire, I would collect women, not comics.

 

(thumbs u I'm sure you could get a large collection who would be willing to be around you, maybe not quality however

[TempusFugitivus]

This is going to sound sexist, but if I were a billionaire, I would collect women, not comics.

 

(thumbs u I'm sure you could get a large collection who would be willing to be around you, maybe not quality however

 

If you are a billionaire, women will come out of the woodwork looking for you and some will inevitably be of good quality. Choosing quality out of quantity is your problem, not theirs.

 

If you can't do this, you'll continuously lose half your stuff and not be a billionaire for long.

[John A III]

This is going to sound sexist, but if I were a billionaire, I would collect women, not comics.

 

(thumbs u I'm sure you could get a large collection who would be willing to be around you, maybe not quality however

 

If you are a billionaire, women will come out of the woodwork looking for you and some will inevitably be of good quality. Choosing quality out of quantity is your problem, not theirs.

 

If you can't do this, you'll continuously lose half your stuff and not be a billionaire for long.

 

well from the way some people talk on this board, a billion dollars means you have unlimited cash and never have to worry about the amount you spend

[COI]

This is going to sound sexist, but if I were a billionaire, I would collect women, not comics.

 

You don't need to be a billionaire for that, but it would certainly help.

[Icculus308win]

In a heart beat if it was one I truly wanted.

[VintageComics]

This is going to sound sexist, but if I were a billionaire, I would collect women, not comics.

 

You don't need to be a billionaire for that, but it would certainly help.

 

If you have money it's called a harem. If you don't have money you're a psycho.

 

[COI]

This is going to sound sexist, but if I were a billionaire, I would collect women, not comics.

 

You don't need to be a billionaire for that, but it would certainly help.

 

If you have money it's called a harem. If you don't have money you're a psycho.

 

I didn't actually mean physically collecting them. Who's the psycho now?

[John A III]

This is going to sound sexist, but if I were a billionaire, I would collect women, not comics.

 

You don't need to be a billionaire for that, but it would certainly help.

 

If you have money it's called a harem. If you don't have money you're a psycho.