• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Help! Is this seller for real?

Started by spidermanbeyond,

182 posts in this topic

Rickdogg

Rickdogg

Posted
Posted

Okay, this thread got real ugly fast. shocked.gif

 

I've never dealt with this seller before so I can't verify whether or not he's a good seller, but from the looks of it he seems ok. To tell you the truth undisclosed date stamps scare the out of me and i'd probably never deal with a seller that practices this (ie. sheaman2000 which even had a freakin' attitude frown.gif ). I was pissed about a MTU #1 Annual imagine a $9,000 item heheheh.

 

Anyways, I did view the auction in question. The date stamp is not disclosed & the scan of the back cover sucks. It looks like a small mark, rather than a stamp. I also viewed a few of his completed auctions and I noticed that he always had a scan of the front cover and a zoom up scan of the CGC label. For some odd reason, on this auction he had a supersize scan of the front cover, a zoom up of the label, and a small pic of the back cover. I am not going to say that his listing style was intended to fool bidders, but i'll state my opinion. After viewing this auction and his completed items, it does seem like he slid in that small back cover picture w/o any note of it in the item description to cover his butt. If the winner emails him with a complaint, he could easily refer to that small scan and say, " well there it is. Sorry, but I don't know what to tell you."

 

The re-submitting bit for note removal is fishy as well (if it is true). smirk.gif I mean, I wouldn't submit a book for note removal if it was going to stay in my personal collection. Why? I know it's (the date stamp) there anyway so why pay to have CGC "fool" me in a sense? tongue.gif The only reason why a seller would want note removal is to re-sell for a premium.

 

Remember, i'm just stating an opinion and I can't say or do I want to prove that he did this on purpose since we will never know what he was actually thinking while he was listing it. tongue.gif

 

Back to studying frown.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites
supapimp

supapimp

Posted
Posted

to my knowledge the "reholdering" is hearsay, yes, i understand it came from notch top. but it was never mentioned on this thread by a post that he made, this copy was in his personal collection. essoilman is selling it after he upgraded to a CGC NM+ 9.6, so im going to ask again, what's the problem? if you just upgraded a book, your not going to want to get as much as you can for your other book? murph0 stated that if your going to spend a certain big dollar amount on a purchase, your going to research the item. a pic of the back of the book was provided, yes, i understand it wasn't a supersize scan, but it's there. if i was going to buy this book, i would natrually ask for a HI RES scan of the book front and back. ask about shipping methods, etc. i actually won an CGC NM- 9.2 ASM 54 from him before and he called me to notify me that there was a date stamp written on the cover in ink, since he didn't list it in the item description. does that sound like he's trying to be deceitful? so i ask again, what's the problem? if you haven't dealt with him personally, then you don't know what the hell your talking about. not directed towards you dogg, im just stating the facts

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rickdogg

Rickdogg

Posted
Posted

I know laugh.gif heheh

 

I was just stating my opinion based on my observation. Since I came to that conclusion just by looking at the auction and his completed items, I guess I could understand if someone else would make the same assumption of the seller trying to hide the stamp.

 

The argument of it being the buyer's responsibility to find out about date stamps bothers me since I'd probably have to ask 100 questions weekly about a freakin date stamp. tongue.gif A seller should always note it. If he made a mistake and missed it. Ebay allows you to add to your item description at anytime (except 12 hours or less b4 auction end). For example, I listed a Hulk CGC a month ago and didn't notice that the case had a few small hairline cracks in it. It already had bids, but I just went ahead and added to the item description disclosing the cracks I found and emailed all of the bidders.

 

Like I said, I don't know the seller and was just stating my opinion based on what I could see. tongue.gif After hearing about a direct phone call concerning a Date stamp, i'd gladly give his auctions a try (asking about date stamps of course). wink.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites
notch_top

notch_top

Posted
Posted

"Hearsay???"

 

Hmm...Well I have several slobodian pedigrees in my collection with the same DN stamp and they were all graded during the same time period nearly 2 years ago.

 

This is the info for this book. Looks like a very recent sub. How much do you want to bet this was for note removal?????? Any takers?

 

Grade Date 10/01/2002

Title Amazing Spider-Man

Issue 14

Issue Date 7/64

Publisher Marvel Comics

Country

Variant

Pedigree

Category Universal

Grade 9.4

PageQuality OFF-WHITE TO WHITE

GradeText

ArtComment Steve Ditko cover and art

KeyCommentA First appearance of the Green Goblin

KeyCommentB (Norman Osborn). Hulk appearance.

Issue Year 1964

 

A phone call from him for your date stamp Supa? I am really surprised he did not show up in person with it for delivery.

 

And as far as the burning in hell part, trust me this guy will do his time, Oh wait he already did some time.

 

You guys are so naive sometimes.

 

But I still love ya!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
OldGuy

OldGuy

Posted
Posted

"You guys are so naive sometimes.

 

But I still love ya!

 

Oh, that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. mooned.gif

 

Have any of you invited essoilman to this board to talk to him about this issue? Oh, what am I thinking? Who would want to hear what he has to say, that would take all the fun out of the hunt. Never mind, my bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
spidermanbeyond

spidermanbeyond

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I have been shilled and seen quite a bit of shilling. The shill bidder might not even have zero feedback (may be a friend with good high feedback). The shill bid can often occur at the last 6 seconds when everyone is putting their bids at the same time. This guarantees the item will get a good price. If the shill wins, he just does not pay and no negative is feedback is left. The FMV is refunded. One book I bid on had a shill winner and I was the underbidder. The seller had a good feedback. The seller emailed within the hour after auction to say that the winner back out and offered the book to me at my bid. I said "are you kidding. It looks like a shill bidder." No email back. I emailed the bidder under me to tell him about not buying the book if offered to him. The seller relists the book with a BIN at my bid price. The bidder under me buys it right away at the BIN price (insufficiently_thoughtful_person). So the shilling pays off again.

 

Joanna, I don't know what you sell and you are right most new buyers with zero feedback are legit on low price items but when you get to very expensive items, the shillers are there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
spidermanbeyond

spidermanbeyond

Posted
  • Author
Posted

"It's my opinion that someone on the level he's playing would probably not risk his reputation on something so insignificant as the schilling is in this case."

 

I agree that people with lots of money are even more petty and corrupt. Even when you have a lot, you want even more. Wall street has proven this over and over again. Sadly, the comic industry is no different. This seller has lots of money I have no doubt.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted

Supa, don't me off. So the book was won by another buyer and the details were disclosed after he made further inquiry. But I'm making this point as a matter of principle: SELLERS NEED TO DISCLOSE IMPORTANT DETAILS LIKE DATE STAMPS.
You're reminding me of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode II when he slaughtered those Tusken Raider sandpeople who slaughtered his mother. Did they deserve it? Yep. Should he have overreacted like he did? Nope.

 

Just a warning...don't travel too far down the path of self-righteousness, or you'll end up on the Dark Side of the force tongue.gif like this guy: http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=testomanlives!

 

I bet ol' Testy would cuss out and negative a little old lady selling her late husband's comics as VF when they were really more of a F/VF or VF- ! shocked.gif He's the Dark Knight vigilante of full grading disclosure. tongue.gif He jumps all over the auctions that the rest of us can smell the BS on a mile away!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
spidermanbeyond

spidermanbeyond

Posted
  • Author
Posted

As a sidebar, I am curious why do some people hate the date stamp so much? I know Rickdogg was upset about his Western Penn MTU #1 with date stamp. I used to hate it too because I thought the comic was defaced and not in the original condition and no longer near mint, etc. But then I heard about how so many pedigrees have markings on them such as writing/stamps. Look at the White Mountain (it has pen/ink writing). The Betheleham pedigree has date stamps. After seeing so many how grade books with date stamps, I stopped hating him (they even give some history) to the book. I asked Steve Borock about the date stamp and he said it depends on where the stamp is. If it is on the cover in prominent place they would grade it down. If it is on the back, less of a factor and downgrade.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

I don't mind unobtrusive date stamps at all. Back cover? Doesn't bother me at all. Some people it does, of course. Just not me.

 

Some Bethlehem books, by the way, have a store stamp. Which is like a super-date stamp of doom.

 

As for the topic at hand: Disclosure = good. Hiding date stamps = not full disclosure. Taking items like that off the label = really lame call on CGCs part.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
spidermanbeyond

spidermanbeyond

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Are you kidding me? This seller has a zero bidder win three of his auctions and what do you know and the sales did not go through and is relisting the books. Does this look suspicious to anyone else?

 

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewListedItems&userid=essoilman&include=0&since=30&sort=3&rows=25

Link to comment
Share on other sites
delekkerste

delekkerste

Posted
Posted

As a sidebar, I am curious why do some people hate the date stamp so much?

 

As one who collects books primarily from 1973-present, the date stamp and its evil big brother the store stamp is something akin to smallpox - an ugly disease that was eradicated years and years ago, sometime back in the Silver Age. To me, it's an unnatural aberration, a reminder of when people wantonly defaced books, like a cowboy branding his cattle.

 

As for the pedigrees you mention, putting the resale value aside, from a purely aesthetic perspective I would much rather own a 9.4 copy without a date stamp than a pedigree 9.4 with a date stamp. Heck, in most cases, I would rather own a 9.2 without a date stamp than a 9.4 with one.

 

In a similar fashion, I would much rather date a girl without any tattoos than one with tattoos. Again, tattoos might not matter to someone else and might even turn on others (that "I Love Snake" tattoo could be considered part of a girl's "unique history", much like a store stamp on a comic), but, ceteris paribus, I would take the pure and un-inked girl any day of the week. In fact, I would most likely take a 9.2 rated girl over a 9.4 rated girl that had tattoos. And I would take a girl with natural breasts over implants any day of the week. But that's just me - not a big fan of unnatural additions to either my comics or my women.

 

Gene

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Go to topic listing