PROBATION DISCUSSIONS 21 21

[paperheart]

Some you "win" and some you "lose". I'm sorry you didn't get the golden ticket. Maybe Mr. Wonka will refund your money?

Wow

 

i agree. i don't understand your defense. we've got multiple boardies saying they've received nothing or are less than thrilled with their purchase. i'm waiting for Jason's side of the story but this doesn't smell good.

[comicalgems]

I think like I have stated before END the mystery boxes and this problem is solved. This type of problem is why.

 

How long are the MODS going to allow this continue in any form. I don't care about how great a deal one guy got. You are just lucky you didn't get hosed.

 

I know the seller is sincere and it sounds like he bit off more then he can chew finally. I think he tried to do the best he could.

 

Mods just end the Mystery boxes completely before it gets worse. Its only a matter of time. This is just a light blemish of a problem. End them before it gets worse. (Currently only a blemish apparently it might get worse.)

 

 

 

Maybe...but we'll circle back around.

[comicalgems]

I bought a mystery box before from Jason and I was happy. Did I expect to get a huge windfall from it - no. I figured most of the books, as it ended up being, would be filler. But I did get several great books I normally wouldn't have purchased on my own and it was well worth the cost of admission. I had 1) the excitement of opening the box and seeing what was inside and 2) the contents which were worth more than I paid. Some you "win" and some you "lose". I'm sorry you didn't get the golden ticket. Maybe Mr. Wonka will refund your money?

 

This is the general concept. Except there's really not supposed to be a losing situation.

[comicalgems]

Just so all is clear.

 

The PM started by Jason was to the original few boardies who purchased first.

 

It's intent was for information purposes and possibly a few promotions due to our early purchases.

 

Group PM was meant for exactly informational purposes and promotions. Example, I gave a discount offer in the PM approximately 12 hours before I posted it on the thread.

[comicalgems]

I am one of the PM group and although this round of mystery boxes is not Probation List worthy it appears several if not most of the people involved have contact Jason about the quality of the mystery boxes. I have contact Jason about my box and we will hopefully work something out because I am not pleased.

 

Yes sir.

[comicalgems]

Not sure if you're talking to me Justin but I wasn't looking for a golden ticket.

 

Believe me the books I received didn't come close to what I paid.

 

If you would of been a part of the private group PM you would understand what we are saying about broken promises.

 

But your entitled to your own opinion.

Not at all. I replied before I saw your post. I was speaking in general.

 

I was saying a Mystery Box is just that - a Box...and the contents are a mystery!

 

In the end some will hit a homerun and get an ASM300 or NM98 or whatever else is thrown in but many will get decent, not amazingly great boxes, worth around the purchase price.

 

Do people that purchase mystery boxes believe that the are guaranteed an ASM300? Do you think Jason would be able to sell at a profit or even break even if that was th case?

 

Basically anticipate breaking even and nothing more and maybe you'll be presently surprised. I think the problem is when people place unrealistic expectations on a mystery box purchase that they WILL hit a homerun and not may.

When I bought my MB, Jason had listed the contents of what each box contained. Mine included a $25 itunes card, Asm 252, and the rest of the stuff would equal all up to $150. I feel that it didn't, was a lot of bronze drek. I am not mad at him, 1) It was fun to see what I got 2) I was content with the MB cause there were comics in them and I like comics. His new MB thread, doesn't really show what may be in each MB.

 

I think I've posted before that non-key issues I generally treat as a $2-$3 book because that's typically what a LCS would charge or what someone would pay with shipping online.

[comicalgems]

Not sure if you're talking to me Justin but I wasn't looking for a golden ticket.

 

Believe me the books I received didn't come close to what I paid.

 

If you would of been a part of the private group PM you would understand what we are saying about broken promises.

 

But your entitled to your own opinion.

Not at all. I replied before I saw your post. I was speaking in general.

 

I was saying a Mystery Box is just that - a Box...and the contents are a mystery!

 

In the end some will hit a homerun and get an ASM300 or NM98 or whatever else is thrown in but many will get decent, not amazingly great boxes, worth around the purchase price.

 

Do people that purchase mystery boxes believe that the are guaranteed an ASM300? Do you think Jason would be able to sell at a profit or even break even if that was th case?

 

Basically anticipate breaking even and nothing more and maybe you'll be presently surprised. I think the problem is when people place unrealistic expectations on a mystery box purchase that they WILL hit a homerun and not may.

 

It just gives the board itself the wrong reputation in general I think. I will freely admit I am biased and I never wanted this on our board at all. Let them go back to Facebook and Ebay where they belong. Id like to think as a board we have a higher reputation to maintain.

 

I've done a lot in this community over the last couple of years, I don't generally get into a bragging match about who did what, or why I have the reputation that I do. My high school football coach told me to never toot my own horn and just allow others to do it for you. Which is just another way of saying your actions outweigh your words. Up until now I've never had someone nominate me for the Probation List.

[comicalgems]

I bought three MBs from comicalgems in a prior thread. They were not shipped in a timely manner and one of them was dinged severely in shipping. I ended up keeping one that arrived in good shape, sent back the dinged one for a refund and canceled the one that had not even shipped yet. I considered it a lesson learned and have stayed away since. But the one box I did keep (because a deal is a deal) was not up to snuff either. But since that complaint was about the contents I stayed quiet lest I be accused of returning the other 2 boxes for the content and not for the damage and failure to ship.

 

So long story short (a bit late for that) there seems to be a pattern of trouble here. I do not think you can fault buyers for buying from a thread that was revised and deleted multiple times as no one knows for sure why those threads got deleted. I assumed it was due to wording and not the concept, or else why was the final thread allowed to remain?

 

So lesson here should be mystery boxes=butt hurt. Can the whole idea, I agree with that for sure.

 

I was experimenting at the time with using these and bubble wrap

 

 

Because they hold more comics than

 

 

However, these were not as good for the Mystery Boxes because they were/are more apt to be damaged. I've gone back to the shirt boxes. I thought this issue was also resolved.

[comicalgems]

I was one and done buyer of MB, the shipping is EXTREMELY slow, few months after paid. Even with the FMV, the total is not come close to what paid for. What I feel is that none of these MB are packaged/bought at the time of the MB running. If they are pre-packed, boxed up, why so long to drop off at the PO or even have them come and pick them up? Feel more like, collect money up front, go buy some random/key books then send out these boxes.

 

I generally do not pack and ship a box until it has sold. For one, packaging 15-20 boxes takes up a decent amount of space. I've got a home office and when I do shipping I convert the room into a shipping room, fold up table, shipping boxes, tape, bubble wrap, peanuts and of course comics all come out from their various storage areas.

 

I've done pre-packaged boxes before. The first time I did them I ended up having to repackage so many of them because I was adding content to help sales that I decided it wasn't worth it to pre-package unsold boxes. Another time I did pre-packaged boxes, I had some left over after a thread and lost my list of contents so I had to re-open them so again...not worth the time to pre-package.

 

Also if someone says "Hey I'm going to buy this Mystery Box but I want Batman books", it's hard to say "Okay I'll do that for you" if all your boxes for sale are pre-packaged. Say MB 35 with Batman books. If MB 35 is already pre-packaged then I've got to shelve that one and replace it with a Batman box, so again not worth the time to pre-package.

[comicalgems]

in general the most damaging aspect is that board members go into the mystery box threads (not just comicalgems ones) and give support/kudos from previous purchases that it encourages new buyers to jump in

 

I fell victim to that in another mystery box thead and I stopped buying them all together since that purchase

 

Every time I see a new one come up I just shake my head especially when folks chime in on how great their last one was

 

You liked the Moebius box though right?

[skypinkblu]

I was one and done buyer of MB, the shipping is EXTREMELY slow, few months after paid. Even with the FMV, the total is not come close to what paid for. What I feel is that none of these MB are packaged/bought at the time of the MB running. If they are pre-packed, boxed up, why so long to drop off at the PO or even have them come and pick them up? Feel more like, collect money up front, go buy some random/key books then send out these boxes.

 

I generally do not pack and ship a box until it has sold. For one, packaging 15-20 boxes takes up a decent amount of space. I've got a home office and when I do shipping I convert the room into a shipping room, fold up table, shipping boxes, tape, bubble wrap, peanuts and of course comics all come out from their various storage areas.

 

I've done pre-packaged boxes before. The first time I did them I ended up having to repackage so many of them because I was adding content to help sales that I decided it wasn't worth it to pre-package unsold boxes. Another time I did pre-packaged boxes, I had some left over after a thread and lost my list of contents so I had to re-open them so again...not worth the time to pre-package.

 

Also if someone says "Hey I'm going to buy this Mystery Box but I want Batman books", it's hard to say "Okay I'll do that for you" if all your boxes for sale are pre-packaged. Say MB 35 with Batman books. If MB 35 is already pre-packaged then I've got to shelve that one and replace it with a Batman box, so again not worth the time to pre-package.

 

If they are not preset and you tailor them for individuals, how are they random? I'm confused.

[miraclemet]

can you explain how you valued this box at $150 or more?

 

 

 

[comicalgems]

I was saying a Mystery Box is just that - a Box...and the contents are a mystery!

 

In the end some will hit a homerun and get an ASM300 or NM98 or whatever else is thrown in but many will get decent, not amazingly great boxes, worth around the purchase price.

 

Do people that purchase mystery boxes believe that the are guaranteed an ASM300? Do you think Jason would be able to sell at a profit or even break even if that was th case?

 

Basically anticipate breaking even and nothing more and maybe you'll be presently surprised. I think the problem is when people place unrealistic expectations on a mystery box purchase that they WILL hit a homerun and not may.

 

I don't understand how this is viable long term. If everyone pays $150 and is "guaranteed" a minimum $150 value, but there are a few winners who get $200-300 value, how is that tenable from a business standpoint? Unless we are talking "Retail" values? In which case, there would be a lot of butthurt....

 

I base values off fair market value, TPBs when included are 1/2 off cover price. Random non-key issue books I value at $2-$3. Key issues I go with recent ebay sales and try to do an average. The profit margin as I've stated is not huge. I've done a lot of sales on these, but at the same time I'm still working a full time job so it's not like I'm knocking down huge earnings.

[comicalgems]

So long story short (a bit late for that) there seems to be a pattern of trouble here. I do not think you can fault buyers for buying from a thread that was revised and deleted multiple times as no one knows for sure why those threads got deleted. I assumed it was due to wording and not the concept, or else why was the final thread allowed to remain?

 

The part in bold is what I'm still not clear on. Can anyone shed light on how or on what terms this thread was permitted to go forward? I am not making judgment, I am just curious and a little bit confused.

 

When advertised as a bulk lot of books in a box with a price then you are allowed to sell on the boards. No lottos or prizes are allowed as a buying incentive. As mentioned elsewhere in this thread I used to include a "Includes New Mutants 98" notation but because I was getting my thread deleted over and over for offering Amazing Spider-Man 300 at a $1.50 (or basically free), I decided better to not run with labeled boxes as not to keep getting deleted.

 

And to the question about the $1500 boxes, I do sell quite a few of those actually and most of the time they sell via PM so I leave it up to the buyers on those whether or not they want to reveal themselves. It's not hard to sell something for a high dollar amount if the buyer believes and trusts you to treat them right. That's basic customer service and salesmanship 101.

[comicalgems]

I don't understand how this is viable long term. If everyone pays $150 and is "guaranteed" a minimum $150 value, but there are a few winners who get $200-300 value, how is that tenable from a business standpoint? Unless we are talking "Retail" values? In which case, there would be a lot of butthurt....

 

well if you have a business that is inventory heavy and cash light, and need an influx of $$ its a very low effort way to move lots of content quickly with little effort.

 

Or you are working with a finite space and have decided its more feasible to clear inventory than rent more storage/retail space.

 

It's not viable as an ongoing business model, but as a one time event it can work depending on your goals...

 

OR if you buy a bunch of comics at a discounted rate or at cover price and one of them heats up a year later....for instance I bought a ton of X-Men 221s for cover price starting in 2012 and it got stupid hot last summer. FMV it's a $50 book easy at the time, but I paid like $1-$3 for them. So there's a little look behind the curtain.

[jsilverjanet]

in general the most damaging aspect is that board members go into the mystery box threads (not just comicalgems ones) and give support/kudos from previous purchases that it encourages new buyers to jump in

 

I fell victim to that in another mystery box thead and I stopped buying them all together since that purchase

 

Every time I see a new one come up I just shake my head especially when folks chime in on how great their last one was

 

You liked the Moebius box though right?

 

Yes I did however I thought I brought those separately and not part of the mystery box

 

And my comment if you read it was not about your mystery box threads but another seller

 

 

[comicalgems]

From talking to fellow bord members not all have received there MB or Myster envelops or there free MB. I feel a lot people who participated are not being vocal because they are afraid if they do get anything it will be sub par. I never personally bought a MB before but decided to take a chance because of all the positive remarks. I understand that not everyone can be winners but people should get at least value in the amount of the box they paid and get everything promised to them.

 

I'm sorry but I had to stand up because I felt people were to afraid to do so and hoped this would make people come forward. I'm happy I did and I agree MB need to be banned.

 

 

I'm pretty sure that you can't nominate someone for the Probation List on behalf of someone else who hasn't received their free item.

 

Obviously I've hurt you in some very deep and meaningful way and for that I do apologize, but I do not feel that I've warranted such animosity from you.

[comicalgems]

6900$ collected

 

Thank you for the total. But it's inaccurate.

[comicalgems]

That's not everyone either. I purchased one and he never put my name on that list. I've received an invoice and paid though. Received a shipping notification on July 8, but still haven't received anything and the tracking hasn't showed any updates. I hadn't thought much of it until I saw this update from everyone. I get life happens though, so not too worried.

 

Thank you.

[miraclemet]

That's not everyone either. I purchased one and he never put my name on that list. I've received an invoice and paid though. Received a shipping notification on July 8, but still haven't received anything and the tracking hasn't showed any updates. I hadn't thought much of it until I saw this update from everyone. I get life happens though, so not too worried.

 

Thank you.

 

 

July 8?

 

but if he's shipping priority like he says here:

 

 

I was experimenting at the time with using these and bubble wrap

 

 

Because they hold more comics than

 

.

 

isnt that 10+ days for a 2-3 day priority box to arrive? I'd be worried.