Raw Books on Ebay....I'm done!!!

[Calamerica]

Not all Sellers are going to be perfect with their grading of ALL raw comic books. It is the CONSTANT overgrading and false advertizing of raw books that get me wired up.

 

Neatstuff had a perfect track record with me until I got hosed on that ASM 10. I told this to Michael Carbonaro and he gave me a $50.00 credit. So he single-handedly kept them on my buy list.

 

More later.

 

CAL

[Zanarkand]

I can honestly say that I have never bought a slabbed comic off Ebay. For my comic dollar, I would rather buy two (or ten, or twenty) raw comics, thank you very much.

 

I have been satisfied probably 98% of the time. I'll give anyone two steps in grade, and I bid accordingly, so if a book is claimed to be VF+ and arrives VF-, I have no problem.

 

I have found that most everyone is two steps off is all, or at least grades two steps higher than I do. Occasionally a seller is only one step off, or is actually right, and then I am very happy. Very rarely I get an undergraded comic.

 

I try to keep in mind that most people, even professional dealers, do not own an Overstreet Grading Guide. I know this seems bizarre and incredible, but it's true. Most people grade according to the brief descriptions in the OPG, which say vague things like "shows minimal wear", and "looks like it was read once or twice".

[kryptonitecomics]

This year has really been the worst in terms of overgraded books. I have gotten many great books over the years on Ebay and a lot of them were even undergraded. I also bid accordingly as others have pointed out and I do expect that the grading standard used will difer, which is why I stated that I do not grade as strictly as CGC.

 

The purpose of the thread was to point out some extreme cases of overgrading and the fact that I got 4 different books from 4 different sellers, and the grading was consistenly sub par says a lot about the conditions on Ebay right now.

 

I don't want to fork out the extra dough for CGC grading on a lot of the Bronze Age Key's I am buying because it does make it a lot more expensive to complete a set of the important issues.

[sfilosa]

As more and more books are graded by CGC, the chances of getting good deals and accurately graded books will most likely be less and less.

 

Also, there is the cherry picker theory. That means a collection of books are sold. The new owner picks out the best of the bunch, then sells the rest. The next owner does the same thing, etc. Eventually, the group of books that are being sold are not high quality. Some may look nice, but have significant flaws (like long non-color breaking creases, or in many cases, poor page quality). Yet, when the lot is sold (and pictures are shown of the best books), these books look nice, but are really only mid-grade.

[sterlingcomics]

As more and more books are graded by CGC, the chances of getting good deals and accurately graded books will most likely be less and less.

 

Also, there is the cherry picker theory. That means a collection of books are sold. The new owner picks out the best of the bunch, then sells the rest. The next owner does the same thing, etc. Eventually, the group of books that are being sold are not high quality. Some may look nice, but have significant flaws (like long non-color breaking creases, or in many cases, poor page quality). Yet, when the lot is sold (and pictures are shown of the best books), these books look nice, but are really only mid-grade.

 

great observation, and one I subscribe to

[Calamerica]

As more and more books are graded by CGC, the chances of getting good deals and accurately graded books will most likely be less and less.

 

Also, there is the cherry picker theory. That means a collection of books are sold. The new owner picks out the best of the bunch, then sells the rest. The next owner does the same thing, etc. Eventually, the group of books that are being sold are not high quality. Some may look nice, but have significant flaws (like long non-color breaking creases, or in many cases, poor page quality). Yet, when the lot is sold (and pictures are shown of the best books), these books look nice, but are really only mid-grade.

 

So I was right on - and the other Forum Members were quick to notice this recent trend as well! The folks here are far more business savvy than we are given credit for!

 

CAL

[Guest]

In over 800 transactions, I have yet to be "ripped -ff". Now I have had MANY, MANY disagreements and asked for a lot of money back. Most of the time i have gotten it. In my opinion the cost of shipping is worth the look many times.

 

Even in some cases where others might have considered themselves ripped off, I have worked out deals that were in my favor.

 

This is a big caveat: I ALWAYS use my credit card and have recently established established a second and third screen name to buy ungraded stuff. At the first hint of trouble I drop the notion of going back to the credit card company if we can't work it out.

 

Two examples of what chas worked for me, maybe it work for you.

 

First: About three years ago I bought a "deal" copy of ASM 10 in CGC 8.0 fropm a Hawaiian seller with zero feedback. I got a tracking number and all the next day. Almost two weeks later still no comic. I called MasterCard and they got to work, telling me they would reverse the charges if something didn't show up soon. Either these folks had the most imaginative minds or were truly amatuers. They claimed the book was mis-sent to another Californmia address and they needed to retrieve it, etc...In the meantime the money was to be used for the birth of their first baby (Some of you may remember this one). Anyway about two weeks later the book suddenly arrived on my doorstep. Just days before the credit was to be issued.

 

Second: I bought a slew of mid, low grade ASM books from a guy that has no scanner. He does have a terrific return policy however. As part of the deal to buy the books, about $5000 worth, the seller agreed to give me 20-25% off. Upon receipt of the books I could tell I'd made a mistake. I told him I'd send them into be graded just to take subjectivity off the table. About 1/3 to 1/2 came back restored.

 

Basically, he agreed to give me about 60% of the money back in the form of a credit. Also he agreed to give me a lifetime 25% discount on any closing bids. Lastly he agreed to provide lifetime free shipping.

 

Even at 60% refund, I felt I had overpaid as as ASM 1 was included in the total package. He calle dit F/VF. It did come back unrestored at 5.0 unrestored, but I paid 3000 after discounts (it was not part of the 60% since it was not as far off or restored. That gives you an idea how far off the opther books were.)

 

Lucky for me, patience paid off. I bought most of the issues from 1 to 30. Before I began my recent countdown, I sold all the restored books. At the time I bought them, most would have sold at 25-30% of guide. As it turned out these all went for about 65% of normal guide, even restored. As it turns out, I got back more for selling them, before I got the discounts, two and a half years later.

 

Now, I have a lifetime 25% discount locked in as well.

 

So what is the point of all this rambling???

 

Sometimes, all you need to do is do a little communication with the seller and you will be surprised what you might work out. If you want to avoid problems, use a CREDIT CARD!!! This way al least you enter all your battles prepared. (Yes, sadly for the pre-historic crowd, this means using Paypal).

 

In almost 5 years I have actually only received 2-3 credits out of hundreds of transactions. The bark must simply be bigger than the bite so that if necassary you can intimidate unscrupulous sellers with legitimate retaliation tactics.

 

Despiet all of this, I have locked in some great deals and have 100% positive feedback.

 

My only regret is that I should have left more negative feedback..but that is part of the deal with the devil in getting your money back sometinmes. Oh, and by the way, the seller of the ASM issues-His grading went through the roof afterwards. I now get 25% of stellar quality books in many, many cases.

[Calamerica]

I never had a problem w/ PayPal and they have always sided with me during any disputes. But remember PayPal is NOT a bank, and things can go wrong with the PayPal attempting to "retrieve" funds for a comic paid for but never received. Can get VERY sticky there.

 

I am convinced that some Sellers just cannot grade close to what they sell their comic books at. Let the buyer beware!!!

 

CAL

[nik]

I hear you, thats why I usually stick to sellers that I had good luck with. Otherwise its a 50/50 chance.

[maggy]

This my worst burn on ebay, He had good feedback too. Can't believe what i paid for this POS. http://boards.collectors-society.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=373518&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

[divad]

I can't believe you bought it!

[uclapeterg]

Did you get your money back? Did you leave them a negative?

[kryptonitecomics]

Yet another horro story here. I bought a complete set of Crisis on nfinite Earths #1-12, listed in NM condition. All of the books were in the VF range due to multiple stress lines on the spines and some minor corner blunting. Issue #7 had all of the above and 2 holes in the cover

 

 

When the box arrived it was crused and the side was blown open like an M-80 had gone off so I was hesitant to open it anyway. The comics were wrapped securely in bubble wrap and were bagged, but....not boards

 

I know right off the bat when I see no boards that I have little to no chance of pulling out NM books and this purchase was no exception to that rule. I have already e-mailed the seller for a refund so let's see what happen.

 

This is really getting old.............I think I will burn all of my comics in protest, even the CGC'd copies

 

[duncan36]

I really wish the government would step in and say 'we're not going to take away your status as a venue, but you've got to start doing something about the rampant fraud and thievery on your auctions'.