A response from a CGC IT! ebay seller!

[miraclemet]

So my pet peeve is the people who use CGC in their listings when the books aren't CGCed. I know I can come up with a filter (-it,worthy, etc) that gets rid of some of them (though woe is the seller with "buy it now" or " IT, The Living Collosus" or "Leave it to Binky" etc)... but I guess my problem with the practice is more philosophical...

 

Every person who uses the CGC search manipulation takes eyes away from real CGC listings. They also benefit from the name w/o paying for the service (ina very small way)...

 

And honestly the onesie-twosie listings by non-volume sellers dont bother me as much as the high volume listers who, as a standard practice include the CGC tag in their listings when they throw up 50 silver age FN books (that no one would slab) with CGC Worthy! or something. Flooding the search results and adding alot of noise to the REAL listings.

 

I used to email these people asking them why, never getting responses... then I just started reporting them under the Report>Listing Practices>Search & Browse Manipulation>Misusing a Brand Name sub-catagory since they are using CGC's name w/o paying for their service.

 

I decided to tell a resent list that I was reporting him with my rationale:

 

Report>Listing Practices>Search & Browse Manipulation>Misusing a Brand Name.

 

People who sell CGCed books, list them as CGC to show up in search results. Cluttering your raw books in the CGC market is a misuse of CGC's brand name, since you have not paid for CGC service for the book.

 

I'm not criticizing your books (I buy plenty of raw online, and yours are nice and well priced), I just don't think its right to use the CGC tag on books that have not been CGC certified. I'm curious if your response will be defensive ("mind your own business, I can do what I want") or receptive to my perspective as an ebay buyer of both CGC and raw...

 

good luck with the sales, and your ebay retailing.

 

I tried to keep a fair tone, and not criticize his books. I cut a line in the email about the fact that no one would slab the common mid-grade $10 comics he was listing, so saying CGC IT! didn't even make fiscal sense.

 

I actually got a mature response (even if I disagree with the logic and the practice and the rationalization I appreciate the level headed reply versus some abusive rant).

 

I thought seeing the rationale for a "CGC IT" seller would be interesting:

 

Hi, I have reevaluated how I list these raw books as well as I have sold many actual CGC'd books as well. I chose not to put to have any items which grade out under Fine 6.0 CGC'd as you can see if you look back far enough. Any book under that minimum grade I don't feel I would send out to be graded so I don't put it after those books. I see your point but then you would have to really say the same thing to the many people who sell here on ebay who put Mint or NM after a book which clearly is not either just from the pictures. You would be acurrate in your assessment if I were putting it on every comic auction I list which I don't and I do sell graded books as well which are clearly marked as CGC or PGX graded. As for the auctions which listed last night they were all put up in error and were taken down as soon as I saw they went up without being adjusted to reflect each book's individual grades. I buy a lot of CGC books as well and also look for books to grade for my collection so as a collector I have never minded the suggestion to Grade an item but everyone has their preference. Thanks- ####

 

To his point he does have some listings that dont use the CGC IT in all of his listings ("just" 270 of 340 listings have CGC IT in the title, the ones that dont are all low grade Good/VG condition books)

 

I'll disagree with his point that the use of CGC is no different than people that use NM or MINT in their listings for books that arent that condition. The difference being that CGC is a trademarked property being misused not a subjective condition assessment (if I made the argument about what should and shouldnt be CGCed it gets into the subjective, the fact that a non-CGCed book is benefiting from a CGC search manipulation is not subjective).

 

Anyway, I just thought it was interesting to see an actual response, with an actual rationale (whether real or just talk) from one of the "CGC IT" flooders...

 

 

[jimjum12]

So my pet peeve is the people who use CGC in their listings when the books aren't CGCed. I know I can come up with a filter (-it,worthy, etc) that gets rid of some of them (though woe is the seller with "buy it now" or " IT, The Living Collosus" or "Leave it to Binky" etc)... but I guess my problem with the practice is more philosophical...

 

Every person who uses the CGC search manipulation takes eyes away from real CGC listings. They also benefit from the name w/o paying for the service (ina very small way)...

 

And honestly the onesie-twosie listings by non-volume sellers dont bother me as much as the high volume listers who, as a standard practice include the CGC tag in their listings when they throw up 50 silver age FN books (that no one would slab) with CGC Worthy! or something. Flooding the search results and adding alot of noise to the REAL listings.

 

I used to email these people asking them why, never getting responses... then I just started reporting them under the Report>Listing Practices>Search & Browse Manipulation>Misusing a Brand Name sub-catagory since they are using CGC's name w/o paying for their service.

 

I decided to tell a resent list that I was reporting him with my rationale:

 

Report>Listing Practices>Search & Browse Manipulation>Misusing a Brand Name.

 

People who sell CGCed books, list them as CGC to show up in search results. Cluttering your raw books in the CGC market is a misuse of CGC's brand name, since you have not paid for CGC service for the book.

 

I'm not criticizing your books (I buy plenty of raw online, and yours are nice and well priced), I just don't think its right to use the CGC tag on books that have not been CGC certified. I'm curious if your response will be defensive ("mind your own business, I can do what I want") or receptive to my perspective as an ebay buyer of both CGC and raw...

 

good luck with the sales, and your ebay retailing.

 

I tried to keep a fair tone, and not criticize his books. I cut a line in the email about the fact that no one would slab the common mid-grade $10 comics he was listing, so saying CGC IT! didn't even make fiscal sense.

 

I actually got a mature response (even if I disagree with the logic and the practice and the rationalization I appreciate the level headed reply versus some abusive rant).

 

I thought seeing the rationale for a "CGC IT" seller would be interesting:

 

Hi, I have reevaluated how I list these raw books as well as I have sold many actual CGC'd books as well. I chose not to put to have any items which grade out under Fine 6.0 CGC'd as you can see if you look back far enough. Any book under that minimum grade I don't feel I would send out to be graded so I don't put it after those books. I see your point but then you would have to really say the same thing to the many people who sell here on ebay who put Mint or NM after a book which clearly is not either just from the pictures. You would be acurrate in your assessment if I were putting it on every comic auction I list which I don't and I do sell graded books as well which are clearly marked as CGC or PGX graded. As for the auctions which listed last night they were all put up in error and were taken down as soon as I saw they went up without being adjusted to reflect each book's individual grades. I buy a lot of CGC books as well and also look for books to grade for my collection so as a collector I have never minded the suggestion to Grade an item but everyone has their preference. Thanks- ####

 

To his point he does have some listings that dont use the CGC IT in all of his listings ("just" 270 of 340 listings have CGC IT in the title, the ones that dont are all low grade Good/VG condition books)

 

I'll disagree with his point that the use of CGC is no different than people that use NM or MINT in their listings for books that arent that condition. The difference being that CGC is a trademarked property being misused not a subjective condition assessment (if I made the argument about what should and shouldnt be CGCed it gets into the subjective, the fact that a non-CGCed book is benefiting from a CGC search manipulation is not subjective).

 

Anyway, I just thought it was interesting to see an actual response, with an actual rationale (whether real or just talk) from one of the "CGC IT" flooders...

 

 

.....what bugs me are the 8 out of 10 books in the SA section that aren't even SA......GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[Ditch Fahrenheit]

I wish you luck and applaud your efforts. (thumbs u

 

I share your frustration, but I don't think the majority of these sellers will change because of the additional visibility they receive on their listings from this tactic, real/useful or otherwise.

[Gotham Kid]

 

.....what bugs me are the 8 out of 10 books in the SA section that aren't even SA......GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

+1

[Chip Cataldo]

I've only listed CGC in my auction titles when the book was de-slabbed and I still had the label. In the end, if eBay won't do anything about it then people will continue to put that in the title because it will draw eyes to their auctions.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

[paperheart]

"- it" goodbye kingofmonsters, silversurpher, etc.

[Phicks]

 

.....what bugs me are the 8 out of 10 books in the SA section that aren't even SA......GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

+1

 

+1000!!!! Stop listing Jim Lee X-Men in Silver Age!

[miraclemet]

not that CGC has free time to start engaging ebay on this (get back to grading! but I would think contact from the brand name that is being misused might lead to ebay actually acting on the reported search manipulation.

 

If ebay got the top 10 "CGC IT" and "CGC Worthy" to stop their practice we would have

 

there are 43,154 listings with CGC in the title within that search there are...

681+ CGC IT

50 CGC Worthy

40+ CGC ready

20+ CGC Them

300+ Not CGC

plus all the ones that just say CGC and no qualifier (found a dealer with 400 listings like that)

 

a drop in the bucket but it dilutes/clouds the CGC market.

 

 

 

 

[miraclemet]

 

.....what bugs me are the 8 out of 10 books in the SA section that aren't even SA......GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

+1

 

+1000!!!! Stop listing Jim Lee X-Men in Silver Age!

 

and all the "millennium editions" of books. just cause it reprints material from the silver age, does not make it a silver (or golden) age comic!

[miraclemet]

I've only listed CGC in my auction titles when the book was de-slabbed and I still had the label.

 

I dont see that as an infringement of CGCs name. Since you used their service, and are referencing the results of that service.

[stock_rotation]

then I just started reporting them under the Report>Listing Practices>Search & Browse Manipulation>Misusing a Brand Name sub-catagory since they are using CGC's name w/o paying for their service.

Imagine how more fulfilling your life might be if you directed this expended energy towards something substantial and/or positive.

[miraclemet]

then I just started reporting them under the Report>Listing Practices>Search & Browse Manipulation>Misusing a Brand Name sub-catagory since they are using CGC's name w/o paying for their service.

Imagine how more fulfilling your life might be if you directed this expended energy towards something substantial and/or positive.

 

I'm not here to do something substantial and/or positive.

 

I'm on the internet. By default I'm here to complain, waste time, and generally not contribute to society. Oh and buy/sell & talk about comic books.

 

[Sal]

would seem pretty easy for ebay to have an internal db of all published comics that contained a column with their respective age(s) and have their system automatically put them in the correct era when the listing is created, but i really doubt they would do that

[synch]

I love his Two wrongs make a right logic!

[Heresy]

That's not a rational it's just a lame excuse; he's doing it for one reason only, to get more people to look at his auction.

[Heresy]

then I just started reporting them under the Report>Listing Practices>Search & Browse Manipulation>Misusing a Brand Name sub-catagory since they are using CGC's name w/o paying for their service.

Imagine how more fulfilling your life might be if you directed this expended energy towards something substantial and/or positive.

 

Imagine how fulfilling it would be to do a search on Ebay and actually get a list of what you are looking for instead of a bunch of unrelated because the sellers spam every imaginable word slightly related to what they are trying to sell.

[Doohickamabob]

So my pet peeve is the people who use CGC in their listings when the books aren't CGCed. I know I can come up with a filter (-it,worthy, etc) that gets rid of some of them (though woe is the seller with "buy it now" or " IT, The Living Collosus" or "Leave it to Binky" etc)... but I guess my problem with the practice is more philosophical...

 

Did you know you can use phrases in quotation marks as part of your filter?

 

That is, did you know you can do a search on -"cgc it" and that will remove every listing that has CGC IT in the title, but leave other listings with the word "it" in your search results?

 

Of course, you'd have to search using the following terms:

 

-"cgc it" -"cgc worthy" -"cgc ready" -"cgc them" -"not cgc"

 

Or... -("cgc it","cgc worthy","cgc ready","cgc them","not cgc")

 

Just copy-and-paste that into your eBay search (in the comics category of your choice). Then bookmark the result so you don' t have to keep copy-and-pasting it every time you search.

 

Yeah, it sucks that you have to do that. But it also sucks that I have to add -"cd-rom" -"dvd-rom" -dvd -dvds -"on cd" -"on usb" to every search I do.

 

[Doohickamabob]

then I just started reporting them under the Report>Listing Practices>Search & Browse Manipulation>Misusing a Brand Name sub-catagory since they are using CGC's name w/o paying for their service.

Imagine how more fulfilling your life might be if you directed this expended energy towards something substantial and/or positive.

Hey, look, it's a freshly minted troll.

[FullHulkSmash]

not that CGC has free time to start engaging ebay on this (get back to grading! but I would think contact from the brand name that is being misused might lead to ebay actually acting on the reported search manipulation.

 

If ebay got the top 10 "CGC IT" and "CGC Worthy" to stop their practice we would have

 

there are 43,154 listings with CGC in the title within that search there are...

681+ CGC IT

50 CGC Worthy

40+ CGC ready

20+ CGC Them

300+ Not CGC

plus all the ones that just say CGC and no qualifier (found a dealer with 400 listings like that)

 

a drop in the bucket but it dilutes/clouds the CGC market.

 

 

 

 

I think the reason it seems like there is so many more people using "CGC it" is because they do it on all the hot books for obvious reasons. Before reading your post I would have thought it was a much worse problem but then I realized I search for books like TWD and ToT.

 

FHS

[FlyingDonut]

then I just started reporting them under the Report>Listing Practices>Search & Browse Manipulation>Misusing a Brand Name sub-catagory since they are using CGC's name w/o paying for their service.

Imagine how more fulfilling your life might be if you directed this expended energy towards something substantial and/or positive.

Hey, look, it's a freshly minted troll.

 

Not fresh.