Help! Is this seller for real?

[spidermanbeyond]

Hi Guys,

 

I need your help. I just pulled the trigger and bought the Amazing Spider-Man 14 CGC 9.4 for $9,000. Is this seller essoilman(263) on the up and up. He just bought the Amazing Spider-Man 14 CGC 9.6 for $20 K. I think I got took with a shill bidder with new ID and feedback of 1. I have been burned so many times pre CGC that this ticks me off. Is there any honest people left? The people on this board have been awesome in terms of policing the comic market. The cgc id number is

0028245001. Why am I the only one who bid? Did I mess up. Should I use the Ebay Escrow service on this book. Thanks.

 

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=75&item=739016077&rd=1

[supapimp]

marc schreuder is a legit seller, he does not have a shill id. he is one of the best sellers on eBay hands down, he came to the city and visited me in july. please read the ASM 14 CGC NM 9.4 thread. http://boards.collectors-society.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=comicgen&Number=71460&Forum=All_Forums&Words=&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Old=1day&Main=71357&Search=true#Post71460

[notch_top]

Hmmm.....

 

Interesting perception Supa.

 

Was he buying books from you?

 

Those in the know, might have a completely different view.

 

 

 

 

[supapimp]

no i was buying books from him, why you got a beef with essoilman? he even sent me books on credit and i paid him later, what more can you ask for from a seller. only two sellers have ever done that with me on eBay, marc schreuder and dr. keith contarino.

[delekkerste]

According to Notch_Top, the book has a stamp on the back cover and the label used to have a comment that noted as much...the book was apparently reholdered and given CGC's new "no grader's notes" policy, the comment was removed.

 

I think you can see the stamp on the back cover image. However, you can't supersize the image (guess the seller didn't want anyone to notice it).

 

Were you aware of this before you bid? Personally, I find this to be highly, highly deceptive.

 

Gene

[fantastic_four]

I've bought a few things from him on E-Bay, and I've also bought a few thousand bucks worth of comics from him directly. I know very little about him personally except that he and/or Tom Brulato probably have the two highest-grade Spidey and Fantastic Four runs on the planet. I'm really curious as to which of them have the better runs! I'm assuming essoilman has a few upgrades to go before he catches Brulato, but I dunno.

 

I also know that I've never seen him lose an auction...I really hate it when he's bidding on something I want. He doesn't seem to have any upper limit to what he'll pay! Saw him drop over $4000 on a Fantastic Four 27 CGC 9.6 earlier this year; INSANE! Everything he buys on E-Bay now is probably an upgrade, because the week after he wins a new CGC 9.4 or 9.6 copy of something he usually lists another comic that's 1/4 to 1/2 grade lower than the new purchase.

 

 

[spidermanbeyond]

I don't know what to think. I just sent him an email about the suspicous underbidder. It looks suspicous any way you cut it. I am having serious concerns about this deal and whether to go through with the purchase. How would it look if I refuse to go through this transaction?

[spidermanbeyond]

I did see the stamp and got a high resolution scan from him. The stamp doesn't bother me as I know it does some people and thought I would get the book cheaper because of the stamp ($8 K and no other bidders except mr new private mysterious eyes).

[delekkerste]

Post deleted by delekkerste

[delekkerste]

Well, in that case, I do think it would reflect poorly on you to back out of the sale unless you can establish a link between the underbidder and the seller.

 

Gene

[supapimp]

i understand your apprehension, best thing to do is to track the other bidders bids on eBay. but i put my own reputation on the line to back him up.

[blowout]

if it helps you at all, i have also received a book or two from this seller with no problems.

not in the dollar range we are talking about here though, but from my experience he is an honest seller.

[PovertyRow]

I just sent him an email about the suspicous underbidder. It looks suspicous any way you cut it.

 

If it helps, this new bidder seems to be bidding on a lot of ASM from a variety of sellers.

 

That Bidder's Bids

[delekkerste]

SpidermanBeyond,

 

Was just curious what your motivations were about buying this book. As Notch_Top says, resale could be tough with the stamp on the back cover if you bought it from an investment perspective. If you're a longtime collector trying to fill a Spidey run, I wouldn't have thought you would act so quickly to potentially annul the transaction despite the private feedback bidder shenanigans. Would love to hear the backstory if you feel so inclined to tell it. I think a lot of us are genuinely curious as to what goes through someone's head when they buy a big ticket book like this.

 

Gene

[spidermanbeyond]

I don't understand this supposed thrill bidder. Isn't that comic-keys defense for keeping his auctions private. The way I see it the only one who stands to benefit is the seller.

[delekkerste]

Yes, that is Comic-Keys defense for keeping his auctions private...even though this bidder has private feedback, this auction was not private, and maybe he is one of those bidders who gets off on bidding high on these auctions, seeing his name attached to high-profile auctions, and then stiffing the seller.

 

But this is all speculation...he could be a shill bidder, he could be a thrill bidder or he could be on the up-and-up for all we know. If it were a reserve auction, you might be able to piece together some more clues to see if he was working with the seller, but in this case, there's really no way to tell and the seller has an excellent case for plausible denial.

 

Gene

[supapimp]

no, methuselah/comic-keys keeps his auctions private, so no one who feels he is selling restored books that he advertise as unrestored, can't email the potential buyer to warn him.

[spidermanbeyond]

I am a collector and bought the book because of its significance (1st Green Goblin) and because I am a big Spider-Man fan. It is that simple. If I wanted to make money, there are a lot of other easier ways. I have no intention of buying the book and reselling anything soon. I bought some big books 9 years ago and left the hobby after finding out some of the books were restored. The lying and cheating made me sick to my stomach. I started buying big books again because of CGC. I bought another big book last year and guess what it had a shill bidder. I was stupid and did not realize this until after I looked at this sellers auctions and this same bidder would bid over and over again and never win. This recent auction has made rethink about the hobby again with all its ugly faces. I would not mind going through transaction if there was another legitimate buyer. If it is a shill bidder, that is just not right. People have been very helpful on this post. Thank you. What I am finding out about this seller is not all good and not all bad.

[supapimp]

who was the seller for the auction that had the shill bidder? please let us in the community know. this is what you can do to check if it's a shill, check all of essoilmans completed auctions. or you can email the private feedback bidder and see if he replies to your email, then you can check the name. just a few tips to ease your mind, sounds like to me that marc has not try to decieve you at all. just posters trying to be the devils advocate and poison your mind, im honestly sort of upset at the slinging without knowing the facts or situation. but to each his own, what goes around comes around.

[blowout]

"I am a collector and bought the book because of its significance (1st Green Goblin) and because I am a big Spider-Man fan. It is that simple. If I wanted to make money, there are a lot of other easier ways. "

 

just out of curiosity, if you bought the book for the reasons you say, why wouldn't you have bought the book in cgc 9.2 and saved yourself around $5-6000?

not passing judgement at all, just wonder about a collectors motivation to pay all that extra cash for a .2 grade difference.