PROBATION DISCUSSIONS 21 21

[comicseekers-migration]

I shipped out all boxes last week via media mail and I have heard that members are receiving them. I stated that all books were VG - VF/NM and not more than 5 of an issue. All books were Marvel and DC unless a handful got missed and if so I apologize ( I had to ship 18 boxes).

All books were Bronze from the 1970's and fillings from 1969.

 

Ken asked me not to send any beaters, I told him to read the description that clearly stated what he was receiving. Before I even had the chance to contact him regarding the return of the books he filed a PAYPAL claim which paypal denied him!

 

I tried to be diplomatic and fair, but it seems he was hellbent on filing a paypal claim before communicating with me to resolve this issue.

 

Sergio

 

Hi Everyone,

 

I just got in and cannot believe that KEN (POE) is trying to ruin my rep. This is exactly what I told him via pm after I received threatening pm's from him:

 

 

Thanks Ken,

 

I really appreciate how nice a person your are! I told you to return it for a refund, less shipping, what is your problem! However if there is any missing comics and they are the NOT the same ones I sent or damaged, I will not refund.

 

Also for your name calling me of a rip off artist! I have been here for years and members know how fair I am, it seems to me that you are the con artist my friend! How am I to know that you did not pick through the items you want and now want to return the box. Also, filing a paypal claim and then notifying me about it after the fact! RED FLAG!

 

I will make sure that the board members read all these notes!

 

Sergio

 

I don't think I would have proudly posted this.

 

By the way, just out of curiosity, were there 300 Marvel and DC books in the lot? Were there any VF/NM books in the lot? Did some of the books have water damage? Were there more than 5 books of one issue in the lot?

[comicseekers-migration]

This was my first response to him! Ken is CLEARLY misrepresenting the facts:

 

Ken please read the description the heroes inc were stuffers there are 300 marvel and dc comics

 

If you return the box I am only refunding the cost of the comics and NOT the shipping..it is exactly as I described.

 

Sergio

 

 

My first post contained the following sentence.

 

"Wouldn't issue a full refund."

 

I tried to get my money back. I wouldn't have posted anything here without having contacted the seller first.

[DiceX]

Since you're now shipping out longboxes of guaranteed 300-350 Marvel/DC from the '70s with no beaters for $150 shipped, please put me down for the rest of them.

 

 

[MyNameIsLegion]

Sergio,

 

ummmm, on second thought, maybe I need to cool off a bit.....

Edited June 24, 2009 by MYNAMEISLEGION

[HouseofComics.Com]

Let me try to chime in here in a second. Apparently I was at my warehouse space going through my first box when all these posts started happening but I think I'm caught up now. (Oddly, the second box is now at least two days behind the first box. I assume it's showing up soon.) I was waiting for it to arrive before PM'ing Sergio.

 

 

[A-DONIS]

I don't buy long boxes from here, e-bay, or anywhere for that matter because of this.

[MyNameIsLegion]

Let me try to chime in here in a second. Apparently I was at my warehouse space going through my first box when all these posts started happening but I think I'm caught up now. (Oddly, the second box is now at least two days behind the first box. I assume it's showing up soon.) I was waiting for it to arrive before PM'ing Sergio.

 

I got 3 of my 4 today. hoping the 4th is lost in the mail.

[RockMyAmadeus]

Before I even had the chance to contact him regarding the return of the books he filed a PAYPAL claim which paypal denied him!

 

I am not taking sides.

 

However, you need to understand that Paypal denied the claim because they automatically deny any and all "Significantly Not As Described" claims (as opposed to "Item Not Received" claims) when items are not purchased through eBay.

 

That's the way they do it and they state it up front.

 

They do not even CONSIDER the merits of the case...any not as described case...that didn't go through eBay.

 

Therefore, it would be inappropriate to assume that Paypal "sided with the seller" and the buyer is "wrong" or "lost" an adjudication. That is not the case.

 

Hope that helps.

[HouseofComics.Com]

First, I think we need to cut Sergio some slack here. He said he got them from Filter and it would not be surprising if when they arrived they were too overwhelming to deal with, especially when spot checks showed a lot of duplication and a lot of low-grade books. So I don't think for a second Sergio knowingly tried ripping anyone off. For all I know, he might've used the exact same description from Filter. I don't know.

 

1) My box had maybe 260 comics from the 70s. It was 249 with cover prices 20-cents to 35-cents (mostly 30 and 35) and another 20-ish with 40-cent covers. Some of those are 70s, some are 1980. So the count is low by about 10%. Yeah, people may have thought that the 300 advertised was shorthand for a full box, and we may have been hoping it was, but unbagged it would be more like 330 or 350 in a box. So it sounds like most boxes are 10% less than advertised.

 

2) I don't count the Heroes Inc. and I don't think they are meant to be counted. They are filler and worthless and I'm going to give them away at my next show. I'm sure Adam sent them to Sergio exactly this way.

 

3) Mix in my first box was almost entirely Marvel, which doesn't surprise me. I would've preferred DCs because they are harder to get, but again, as advertised.

 

4) I had three issues with more than five copies. Nine copies of a Marvel Premiere with 3-D Man, maybe eight Marvel Tales 78s (at least it's a Goblin issue), and six Conan 51s. So maybe not as bad as other people's boxes.

 

5) My expectations for grades was pretty reasonable, I thought. There were a lot of people excited about these boxes but I even PM'd someone ahead of time saying FN- is about the best you can hope for, strictly speaking on these. I expected a bunch of unread copies that had been stored wrong at the original warehouse. They'd look good in the bag but generally have a wave or a big crease or a smaller but deep ding. However, the usual warehouse lots like this do have a few higher grade books. You get some VFs, some FN/VFs etc. Not a lot, but they help make the duplication and the time sink more palatable. Unfortunately the books in my first book are probably the weakest warehouse stuff I've seen. I set aside a few issues with the heavier duplication that might grade out higher than VG/FNs so I may find a VF or two in there. But that's about it.

 

6) Grades on the earlier issues or the better titles or the single issue books are surprisingly bad. Lots of water damage, writing, etc. Not warehouse books. Many are only in GD. I'm guessing I got 30 that are 1.8 to 3.0. Again, I don't expect Sergio to have looked these over. But we were also told VG or better. These are really dime books not books to pay fifty cents for.

 

7) Someone posted in the thread that we should expect 50 cent to $2 books. I disagree. Based on the parameters that they'd be 70s books in VG to VF/NM, I was expecting them to guide at $2 to $5 on average with maybe 2-3 that might guide at $7. Sure, one might still try to sell them for $1 but $1 books that would sell well because they guide at $4.

 

8) I guess to summarize, I'm posting this here to try to tone things down a bit. I think partial refunds are due because the # of books is low as are the grades, plus there's a more duplication than expected. (Some boxes apparently much worse than others on the duplication front.) But I don't think Sergio really knew what was in the boxes. Otherwise he probably would've charged $75 plus shipping.

 

Marc

[HouseofComics.Com]

However, you need to understand that Paypal denied the claim because they automatically deny any and all "Significantly Not As Described" claims (as opposed to "Item Not Received" claims) when items are not purchased through eBay.

 

That's interesting. Thanks for posting that.

[HouseofComics.Com]

And I'm also not saying that I think $50 refunds are appropriate. Just that if people knew what was in the boxes and that there was no chance of a big score, he probably would have had to price them at $75 to get people to buy. Refunds should probably just be based on # of comics short plus # that grade under VG plus perhaps every comic over five of an issue. These are the only issues here IMO.

[MyNameIsLegion]

Marc,

 

I pretty much agree with you, I was just hoping my 4 boxes being identical was a fluke or poor planning, but I got pretty much the same as you. It would have been helpful to know that so many were reprint titles : Marvel Tales, Marvel's Greatest, Marvel spectacular, Super-heroes, Adventures, etc. 10% of all books are Heroes Inc, and I have some god-awful 15 copies of the History of Electronics, just from 2 boxes. I have about 40 copies of the 3-part 3-D man Marvel Premiere epic, and I still have one box that hasn't arrived yet. $75 a box is the max any of this is worth, but no one in there right mind would buy multiple boxes which is what I did.

[MyNameIsLegion]

also....based on the pics that were posted in the sales thread, I assumed this was Marvel and DC.Out of 900 so far I got maybe 75 DC's, mostly Star Hunters and Black Lightening. Certainly not Supergirl or SHAZAM or titles of that caliber. Virtually no 20 centers.

[sckao]

also....based on the pics that were posted in the sales thread, I assumed this was Marvel and DC.Out of 900 so far I got maybe 75 DC's, mostly Star Hunters and Black Lightening. Certainly not Supergirl or SHAZAM or titles of that caliber. Virtually no 20 centers.

 

Someone clearly assembled these boxes. In the Photos from the original sales thread, Skull, Supergirl, Kobra, Champions, Shazam, Captain America, and Conan comics are shown.

 

I got at least one (sometimes more) of those titles (except for the Skull) in my box. The 25 DCs per box seems about right.

 

 

 

 

[A-DONIS]

So let me get this right. Someone advertises boxes for sale. They post a picture assuming that you'll get something similar, and then you get junk?

 

 

That's not right. I smell a dead rat.

[sckao]

So let me get this right. Someone advertises boxes for sale. They post a picture assuming that you'll get something similar, and then you get junk?

 

 

That's not right. I smell a dead rat.

 

Well, I didn't get all junk. My box was what I expected actually. The photos may have shown more DCs than what was actually in the boxes... but that seems to just be a bad "pull for example" exercise when he was taking the photos.

 

 

 

 

[HouseofComics.Com]

I do feel these boxes have been sliced and diced, maybe multiple times.

 

Comparing my box to Shin's, I didn't get any of those titles pictures except Conan and Captain America. The pic is mostly 20-25 centers but I think I only got maybe 10 20-centers (5 Tarzans) and 30 25-centers? Five of which are Kazar 15s.

 

I think I did get 25 DCs, maybe 20. Many of them were below VG actually.

[MyNameIsLegion]

I got 10 of those Kazar #15's. Of the titles pictured, I got 5 Cap and 10 of the Conan. I culled 50 comics that will go straight to the trash. It would appear that we ALL got the same crappy cherry picekd warehouse titles along with some random issue of low grade bagged (in the most wretched bags sticky old bags) items thrown in to break it up. It wold have been wiser of him to sell only one box per person. the more boxes you got, the more screwed you are. I wouldn't blink at shipping it all back at my expense for a refund.

 

as stated in the sales thread:

 

"Each box contains at least 300 MARVEL/DC of nearly every title from that era. All from the 1970's.

 

There are multiples but I will guarantee not more of 5 of the same issue per box.

 

Conditions range from VG-VF/NM, mostly all unread but these are from a warehouse."

 

Every title of that era my . One token beat up copy of a fraction of the titles maybe. No DC's to speak of, and major gaps in the Marvel titles. Where's the 2nd tier books like Champions, Son of Satan, Marvel Presents, Man-thing, Ghost Rider, Nova , Ms. Marvel, Namor, Warlock, Inhumans, Doc Savage, Devil Dino,Dare-devil,Monsters on the prowl, Chamber of Chills, What If,Werewolf, Weird Wonder Tales, Marvel Chillers, etc. Huh?

 

I got one Iron Man comic, x5. 3 beat up FF's 4 ragged out Avengers, the more I think about it, the madder I get!

Edited June 24, 2009 by MYNAMEISLEGION

[A-DONIS]

There's no doubt in my mind that the seller went thru the boxes before he sold them. He picked out all of his keepers, and then sold you guy a lie.

[MyNameIsLegion]

Well, I've sent Sergio a couple of options on how I'd like for him to address this situation. I won't pass judgment until I get a response. Neither one of use is going to be completely happy with either option, which means it's probably fair!