Shill?

[comicdonna]

A few comments:

 

If anybody ever has any doubts about the legitimacy of the bids in an auction, you're welcome to PM me or call me at 512-240-2802. I'll be happy to take a look and provide whatever feedback I can, short of actually revealing bidder identities. And if it does appear to be shill activity, we will deal with it.

 

Our goal is to be a leader in terms of the transparency and integrity of our auctions. For example, our bid history pages show more info than some other auctions do, with each bidder identified with a unique (though anonymous) bidder code. All our auction results, both the strong prices we're proud of and the disappointing ones, are permanently accessible (auction archive) rather than disappearing once the auction ends. All our CGC sales, both fixed price and auction, are reported to GPA.

 

We also try to be pretty open with our consignors about results from the auction. In previous months we've reported to consignors not just the median auction price as a percentage of GPA average, but given a distribution (10th percentile, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th, all as a percentage of the GPA average). I don't think anybody else self-reports on their auction performance in that manner.

 

If anybody has any additional ideas about how we can further improve our auctions so as to increase bidder confidence, I'm open to suggestions.

 

We (mycomicshop.com) do not bid in our own auctions, either for items belonging to us or for items belonging to consignors. We don't have a company account that bids in our auctions, nor do I, Buddy, or anyone else in any kind of an admin or authority role over our auctions place bids under a personal, individual account. A few months ago one of our warehouse employees saw something he wanted in the auction and asked if he could bid, and we allowed that. He had no privileged knowledge of other bidders' bids and was bidding with an intent to win rather to raise the price. Something like that's the most we would allow.

 

We also don't allow our consignors to bid on their own auctions. We can't guarantee it never happens, but there are signs we watch for. It's hard for consignors to shill without running the risk of actually winning the item, since they don't know what the other bidder's proxy bid is. In the ~2 years we've been doing auctions now, we've had to confront consignors about shilling twice. Depending on the situation (strong proof vs circumstantial evidence) and how that conversation goes, the consignor suspected of shilling will either be given a warning, temporarily suspended from listing items in the auction, or blocked from listing in the auction.

 

In each auction, around 2-4% of auction listings are not paid for by the winning bidder (bidders have one week after the last day of the auction to get their payment in). When that happens, the non-paying bidder will be blocked from bidding in the future. And, depending on the circumstances and how strong the bidding was, we will do one of the following:

 

a) Cancel the auction so the consignor can relist the item in a future auction or switch to fixed price.

 

b) Offer the item to the underbidder, either at their highest bid, or at some reduced amount, like what the winning bid would have been if the top bid from the non-paying bidder had never been made. We'll do this only if in our judgment the second chance offer is fair to the underbidder, and also is offered at a price that the consignor would be happy with. Ie, if the auction ended at a disappointing price, we'd usually cancel the auction rather than make a second chance offer to the underbidder. Also, if there are signs the auction was shilled, we won't make a second chance offer, as that's not fair to the underbidder and would rescue the consignor from being burned by the suspected shill activity. This is a little bit of a balancing act, because we want to achieve high sell-through for consignors and protect them from non-paying bidders, but we also don't want underbidders to receive too many second chance offers, because that can make them suspicious they're being shilled even when (with the knowledge we have) we know that's not the case. For that reason, we try not to make second chance offers very frequently, and generally only if it appears to be a win-win for the underbidder and the consignor (underbidder happy to get the item at the offered price, consignor happy to have the sale).

 

c) As shadroch mentioned, we can also buy the item ourselves at the amount of the winning bid. Generally we'd do this if the winning bid was high enough that the consignor might prefer to have the sale completed than have to relist it, but also low enough that we have room to relist the item as a fixed price item at a small markup.

 

Basically, we do our best to minimize the impact of non-paying bidders while trying to be fair to both consignors and underbidders. I don't know how other auctions handle it, but I'm sure they have their share of non-paying bidders too.

Professional, as always. Commendable.

+1 I feel that the higher prices are a result of hard work, tight grading and good customer service.

[Gotham Kid]

He just likes to fart in the elevator and then get off at the next stop.

 

[Gotham Kid]

One thing I have noticed that MCS does not do is to require a CC before bidding.

I imagine other auction houses use the CC on file to check out non-payers, but MCS can't do the same.

 

Pedigree and CL don't require CC info to bid either ...

[Gotham Kid]

Professional, as always. Commendable.

 

+1

[sufunk]

I'll say this about mycomicshop. I've been buying from them for a few years now. Their selection is fantastic, their auctions improve each month with a wide selection, and their shipping is first-rate. Kudos!

 

I've never bid in any of their auctions but the last couple months i've bought about 10 slabs from them. Their shipping might be the best of anyone out there. Those little white boxes that they send slabs in are freaking AWESOME!!!

 

Anyone know where you can buy some of those?

[Dr. Balls]

Those things are accidents and they can happen.

 

A bad customer service experience doesn't cause bodily harm. A poor comic book deal is not really like swallowing glass.

 

And yes, I would go back, depending on how it was handled.

 

What was the bad experience that you had that was so poorly handled that you couldn't go back? Was it an expensive item? Did you guys have a misunderstanding? Is there more than one side to the story?

 

You're entitled to your opinion and allowed to spend your money wherever you like but if you are going to defend your position then you'll need more than just a "take my word for it".

 

Online places that I buy from are like doing business with banks. It takes a lot for me to get plssed and never do business again. Amazon has screwed up my orders. Mile High has screwed up my orders. I try to take it with a grain of salt. It's not like they screwed up the transmission in my car.

 

I have learned that sometimes getting so angry and worked up over a delayed or screwed up $20 order is not worth the stress it produces.Yeah, there's the "principal" of the matter, and I understand sometimes you have to stand up for it - but I really try to keep things mellow with comic purchases - because this is my hobby. I love it and I never want to be so tight about things that I ruin the fun I have collecting, buying and selling.

[gyro-1]

The title of this thread is Inflammatory and unfair

[spideyfan76]

I'll say this about mycomicshop. I've been buying from them for a few years now. Their selection is fantastic, their auctions improve each month with a wide selection, and their shipping is first-rate. Kudos!

 

I've never bid in any of their auctions but the last couple months i've bought about 10 slabs from them. Their shipping might be the best of anyone out there. Those little white boxes that they send slabs in are freaking AWESOME!!!

 

Anyone know where you can buy some of those?

I'm pretty sure Conan said that you could buy the boxes from MYCS, but I can't remember where exactly. You might want to shoot him a PM.

[lizards2]

I have learned that sometimes getting so angry and worked up over a delayed or screwed up $20 order is not worth the stress it produces.Yeah, there's the "principal" of the matter, and I understand sometimes you have to stand up for it - but I really try to keep things mellow with comic purchases - because this is my hobby. I love it and I never want to be so tight about things that I ruin the fun I have collecting, buying and selling.

I'm amazed how many people live their lives looking/searching/trolling for something to get pizzed off at....., over and over again. Heck of a way to live your life :: definitely not for me :thumbsup:

[shadroch]

He did, in a thread about a month ago. Search his post history, he is not a complusive poster so it should pop up pretty easy.

 

They are 25 for $50 or 100 for $180. I don't think that includes shipping, but I'm not certain. as per his May 1st post.

[mycomicshop]

Here are the links to the CGC storage boxes:

 

25 pack

 

50 pack

 

100 pack

[ddrew5000]

I order directly from MCS about once a week, and I've only ever had one problem, and when it happened, I called customer service, and Skylar instantly took care of it for me.

 

 

 

 

 

[Underground44]

Online places that I buy from are like doing business with banks. It takes a lot for me to get plssed and never do business again. Amazon has screwed up my orders. Mile High has screwed up my orders. I try to take it with a grain of salt. It's not like they screwed up the transmission in my car.

 

I have learned that sometimes getting so angry and worked up over a delayed or screwed up $20 order is not worth the stress it produces.Yeah, there's the "principal" of the matter, and I understand sometimes you have to stand up for it - but I really try to keep things mellow with comic purchases - because this is my hobby. I love it and I never want to be so tight about things that I ruin the fun I have collecting, buying and selling.

 

This is spot-on.

[JollyComics]

http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?ItemID=22953613

 

Amazing Spider-man #1 VG+ -- Click on Zoom Front Cover and Zoom Back Cover. It looked like 5.5 or 6.0 to me. It was sold for $6550!

 

It's hard to believe that price is more than any of those CGC 4.0, 4.5, 5.0 or 5.5 even 6.0 copy!

 

Conan gave his permissions to his employees to bid the books. It is illegal. Only customers. He didn't write about the policy on shill on the website.

 

It was near $2400 for Hulk #1 Fair/Good! Check the enlarged images. It looks like 1.8 to 2.0 no higher than that. GPA showed all 2.0 or lower --- no higher than $2000.

 

Check it out at http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?ItemID=22899447

 

Any comments about this?

[comicdonna]

http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?ItemID=22953613

 

Amazing Spider-man #1 VG+ -- Click on Zoom Front Cover and Zoom Back Cover. It looked like 5.5 or 6.0 to me. It was sold for $6550!

 

It's hard to believe that price is more than any of those CGC 4.0, 4.5, 5.0 or 5.5 even 6.0 copy!

 

Conan gave his permissions to his employees to bid the books. It is illegal. Only customers. He didn't write about the policy on shill on the website.

 

It was near $2400 for Hulk #1 Fair/Good! Check the enlarged images. It looks like 1.8 to 2.0 no higher than that. GPA showed all 2.0 or lower --- no higher than $2000.

 

Check it out at http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?ItemID=22899447

 

Any comments about this?

Why is it illegal for employees to bid? Heritage allows their employees to bid on items. They are both from Texas.

[dscott]

http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?ItemID=22953613

 

Amazing Spider-man #1 VG+ -- Click on Zoom Front Cover and Zoom Back Cover. It looked like 5.5 or 6.0 to me. It was sold for $6550!

 

It's hard to believe that price is more than any of those CGC 4.0, 4.5, 5.0 or 5.5 even 6.0 copy!

 

Conan gave his permissions to his employees to bid the books. It is illegal. Only customers. He didn't write about the policy on shill on the website.

 

It was near $2400 for Hulk #1 Fair/Good! Check the enlarged images. It looks like 1.8 to 2.0 no higher than that. GPA showed all 2.0 or lower --- no higher than $2000.

 

Check it out at http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?ItemID=22899447

 

Any comments about this?

 

if only that GPA data wasn't a year old you might have a point. Hulk 1 is on the rise it's a hot book I sold my 2.5 for close to 3000$ here on the boards a 3.5 recently sold for 4400$ on eBay so the price seems fine for that book.

[comicdonna]

http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?ItemID=22953613

 

Amazing Spider-man #1 VG+ -- Click on Zoom Front Cover and Zoom Back Cover. It looked like 5.5 or 6.0 to me. It was sold for $6550!

 

It's hard to believe that price is more than any of those CGC 4.0, 4.5, 5.0 or 5.5 even 6.0 copy!

 

Conan gave his permissions to his employees to bid the books. It is illegal. Only customers. He didn't write about the policy on shill on the website.

 

It was near $2400 for Hulk #1 Fair/Good! Check the enlarged images. It looks like 1.8 to 2.0 no higher than that. GPA showed all 2.0 or lower --- no higher than $2000.

 

Check it out at http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?ItemID=22899447

 

Any comments about this?

 

if only that GPA data wasn't a year old you might have a point. Hulk 1 is on the rise it's a hot book I sold my 2.5 for close to 3000$ here on the boards a 3.5 recently sold for 4400$ on eBay so the price seems fine for that book.

He's just upset because mycomicshop gave his consigned books a lower grade than he wanted. That's what this thread is really about.

[RockMyAmadeus]

Shill may occur in Mycomicshop.com auction,

 

There are too many record breakings for the raw grade key issues. Few months ago, Mycomicshop reported 30% or better above GPA. It's hard to believe them.

 

I tried to do my best to keep the prices little under 12 months average in GPA but I was outbid too many times. Do you think they shill on the raw grade books?

 

It's just a hunch.

 

Did you talk to mycomicshop about this before posting it on a chat forum as a courtesy? They're members here and pretty well regarded as sellers.

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

[

 

Did you talk to mycomicshop about this before posting it on a chat forum as a courtesy? They're members here and pretty well regarded as sellers.

 

 

 

 

I agree about the courtesy aspect but with 633 Negs and 333 neutrals (at time of writing) on ebay currently, there are those who might disagree with the second part of your statement

 

I actually did not look at their eBay store, but I have interacted with Conan personally and read many positive things here so my opinion was based on experiences I had read about here.

 

And to be fair, you forgot to mention that they did 213,714 transactions in 12 months and have a 99.7% positive rating. Not 2000, not 20,000...nearly 1/4 of a million transactions in the past 12 months.

 

No, it's not 100% but with a large volume operation I can understand how mistakes can happen once in a while. They do with me.

 

 

Yes I agree mistakes do happen.

What I don't accept is however many positives they have, a neg is a neg, and with that many negs something is wrong.

I have read here posts by members who would not touch any ebayer with any form of negative feedback, but if people want to cut MCS a pass, so be it.

 

To be fair I do have a horse in the race. They have let me down in the past, I do now buy elsewhere. It was their ebay model that failed.

To summarise;

Their inventory and shipping security are first rate.

Despite my repeat business and dollars spent, I found their customer service to be rank.

I chose not to leave a negative, even though they deserved one.

I just never spent a penny with them again.

It cost them thousands of future dollars, but I guess they don't care, so its all good.

 

[youfoundjake]

Shill may occur in Mycomicshop.com auction,

 

There are too many record breakings for the raw grade key issues. Few months ago, Mycomicshop reported 30% or better above GPA. It's hard to believe them.

 

I tried to do my best to keep the prices little under 12 months average in GPA but I was outbid too many times. Do you think they shill on the raw grade books?

 

It's just a hunch.

 

Did you talk to mycomicshop about this before posting it on a chat forum as a courtesy? They're members here and pretty well regarded as sellers.