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I'm at my wits end

Started by techvoodoo,

115 posts in this topic

Sqeggs

Sqeggs

Posted
Posted
I know I'm wasting my time, but...

 

We see dozens and dozens of these kinds of posts here, and there is a very simple solution. Stick with safe, dependable dealers. Period.

 

Go to shows and find out who grades and prices the way you like... when you're traveling check out shops you know sell on eBay or other venues. If you can't check out dealers personally, get recommendations from friends or other posters whom you trust.

 

If you choose only to buy from the top 20-30 (most dependable... not necessarily biggest) dealers in the country, and add to that the safety of the big auction houses, you will have access to hundreds of thousands of comics per year... more than you can possibly ever look through. These people will know how to pack, and will take returns if there are problems.

 

You may pay a bit more... but as is always true, you get what you pay for. And in the long run, you'll actually pay less... less in actual wasted dollars, less in time and effort returning items and arguing with sellers, and far far less in frustration.

 

If collectors care about their comics and their hobby, why treat it as a big casino just in the hopes of getting a "great deal"? Not only that, you keep in business hundreds of eBay and Craigs' List scumbags who are either outright crooks or impossibly incompetent, and who compete with legitimate dealers who are trying to treat you right.

 

Rant off.

 

Yep. There's a reason Sparkle City does such a land office business on eBay: Large scans, fasting shipping, and great packaging. Like a lot of other people, I'm willing to pay a premium for that approach.

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techvoodoo

techvoodoo

Posted
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Posted
Ouch at that reply.

 

What is the ebay name of this seller?

 

The ebay seller is dollntony, whom I've never delt with but has 185 feedback, 100% member since 1999... Didn't see this coming.

 

I called ebay, they read his last message to me where you refuses to deal with me anymore, but I still have to wait until Oct. 14th to escalate the case. Yeah it was only a total of 51$ once you include shipping but I'm still pretty upset about this and more so the rash of bad to terrible transactions I've been having.

 

another pic of the book and the envelope it was packed in.

 

1zoyknk.jpg

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brendanb438

brendanb438

Posted
Posted

OP. Stop all communication with the seller. Go to PayPal, not eBay and open a case as significantly not as described (SNAD).

 

Once you start the case then go ahead and escalate the case. State clearly the seller shipped the item in nothing but an envelope causing the case to be badly damaged.

 

Do not send the comic back to the seller yet. Wait for PayPal to rule in your favor. Then make sure to ship to the address PayPal tells you to and use delivery confirmation under $250 and signature confirmation over $250. Hell use signature confirmation anyway because it sounds like this clown is the type who will try and deny the return delivery on you. When he does this and the tracking shows this the comic will be sent back to you and PayPal will issue you a full refund. The insufficiently_thoughtful_person will then be out the comic because he was a and the money.

 

PayPal will rule in your favor on this everytime. Then please proceed to give the seller a negative all 1 stars and also out the seller here.

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Sqeggs

Sqeggs

Posted
Posted

Another suggestion: After the case is resolved, leave negative feedback. Too many buyers skip leaving fb or even leave positive fb after an awful experience with a seller so long as their money was refunded. You are doing a service to other buyers when you neg a seller like this one.

 

Notice how many sellers are outraged if they receive negative fb after they have given the buyer a refund even if they have done a horrible job.

 

Buyer: Neg: Advertised 9.8, actually 1.8 with missing centerfold.

 

Seller replies: Refunded money. Why the bad feedback?

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bruce21wayne21

bruce21wayne21

Posted
Posted
Ouch at that reply.

 

What is the ebay name of this seller?

 

+1

:popcorn:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Superman-204-CGC-9-8-/300784729220?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item46082abc84

The ebay seller is dollntony, whom I've never delt with but has 185 feedback, 100% member since 1999... Didn't see this coming.

 

Thanks.

 

Brendans idea sounds like a good one if that's how that would work.

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techvoodoo

techvoodoo

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You know it's funny, the intention of this thread wasn't to focus on any single transaction I've had issues with. My last transaction with the cracked CGC case, which this thread has become about, happened to be the reason I started the thread and that case had been unfolding over the course of the life of this thread.

 

But really this was supposed to be a more generalized thread. I've only been back into comic collecting for 6 or 8 months after taking a very long hiatus from the hobby. The last time I collected comics there wasn't really much online sales going on. Ebay was still realatively young, CGC I think existed but getting 9.8's and 9.9's of the newest modern books wasn't even a thought to me or the small collector community in my area that I interacted with.

 

In those few short months I've had, what I feel is, an unreasonable number of bad experiences with buying online. I think at the start of this thread I mentioned 10 to 20 of my 300 or so transactions have been bad. Those are transactions where things came damaged, the seller graded them very wrong, and similar issues. In those cases I had to ship back the item to get my refund and lost the return shipping fees. That doesn't include the times where I was made whole, the seller gave a full refund and said keep the item, or sent me another copy of the item. But even having to deal with those cases are a pain.

 

Is it reasonable to expect 10-20% of the time you buy something in this hobby you are going to have to deal with some sort of headache?

 

It's been suggested to buy from better dealers, go to conventions, things of that nature. Unfortanately being new, I don't know who those dealers are, no one gave me that memo. Traveling all over to conventions and large brick and mortar stores aren't an option for me. So I try to make the best decisions I can, buying from people on ebay who have good feedback, and recently buying from folks on these forums. But even doing that I've had a lot of strike outs.

 

Fortunately I'm not in to deep. I don't have 10's of thousands of dollars (or more) invested in books. I really just feel like walking away from the hobby sometimes. I don't know if it's worth all the aggervation. It tough, I really do enjoy the books.

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vaillant

vaillant

Posted
Posted

Hi tech, sorry about this, but why, very simply, you did not make sure the seller was going to ship the book with enough protection?

I used to skip that, too, but as I got some raw books in a padded envelope and the comics weren’t so well secured between the two cardboards and risked corners bumps, I always check with the seller before he ships. Often it’s sufficient to put the content well-secured between cardboard, and then you can even use padded envelopes.

 

Recently I shipped a Hulk #181 to a US boardie, and I packed it as lightly as possible, but with a lot of care: bagged/boarded in a mylar + wrapped in paper + secured between two stiff (but light in weight) cardboard pieces larger than the book + put into a padded envelope. Book arrived wonderfully.

It‘s not the big boxes which necessarily protect books, but just the care you take in making sure any kind of bump or accidental cut doesn’t get to it.

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Dick Pontoon

Dick Pontoon

Posted
Posted
Ouch at that reply.

 

What is the ebay name of this seller?

 

The ebay seller is dollntony, whom I've never delt with but has 185 feedback, 100% member since 1999... Didn't see this coming.

 

He has 185 feedback, most of which is as a buyer. He has seller feedback for 3 items this year, 2 in 2006 and 1 in 2004. That's not much of a track record.

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DWL

DWL

Posted
Posted

Bookery's suggestion is indeed a good one. In the end, of course, it always come down to "caveat emptor" (buyer beware).

 

But don't give up on the hobby just yet. This forum is often helpful in highlighting sellers who should be avoided.

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bruce21wayne21

bruce21wayne21

Posted
Posted
You know it's funny, the intention of this thread wasn't to focus on any single transaction I've had issues with. My last transaction with the cracked CGC case, which this thread has become about, happened to be the reason I started the thread and that case had been unfolding over the course of the life of this thread.

 

But really this was supposed to be a more generalized thread. I've only been back into comic collecting for 6 or 8 months after taking a very long hiatus from the hobby. The last time I collected comics there wasn't really much online sales going on. Ebay was still realatively young, CGC I think existed but getting 9.8's and 9.9's of the newest modern books wasn't even a thought to me or the small collector community in my area that I interacted with.

 

In those few short months I've had, what I feel is, an unreasonable number of bad experiences with buying online. I think at the start of this thread I mentioned 10 to 20 of my 300 or so transactions have been bad. Those are transactions where things came damaged, the seller graded them very wrong, and similar issues. In those cases I had to ship back the item to get my refund and lost the return shipping fees. That doesn't include the times where I was made whole, the seller gave a full refund and said keep the item, or sent me another copy of the item. But even having to deal with those cases are a pain.

 

Is it reasonable to expect 10-20% of the time you buy something in this hobby you are going to have to deal with some sort of headache?

 

It's been suggested to buy from better dealers, go to conventions, things of that nature. Unfortanately being new, I don't know who those dealers are, no one gave me that memo. Traveling all over to conventions and large brick and mortar stores aren't an option for me. So I try to make the best decisions I can, buying from people on ebay who have good feedback, and recently buying from folks on these forums. But even doing that I've had a lot of strike outs.

 

Fortunately I'm not in to deep. I don't have 10's of thousands of dollars (or more) invested in books. I really just feel like walking away from the hobby sometimes. I don't know if it's worth all the aggervation. It tough, I really do enjoy the books.

As far as damaged stuff goes, finding someone with good rep and asking how they ship, then making things clear to them how you want it shipped, if you wanna pay extra or what is a must. Don't be vague and say pack securely in a box or something, or you could have it just dropped inside a box with no padding. If they are not willing to work with you on how it should be shipped then you go elsewhere. That's from any new seller you buy from here or elsewhere.

 

As for wrongly graded things, not as much you could do about that. I mean here looking in a kudos thread, or seeing sales threads and how people grade here and how buyers say someone grades will cut down on that stuff a lot. As for ebay that's much harder to deal with. That's why I think so many sellers don't wanna sell raw on ebay (I'm one) and why some buyers wont buy raw on ebay. Sellers may have to deal with refunds off a buyer who doesn't agree with the grading and for both parties that sucks.

 

I have so many open threads here with SA raw comics mostly VG to FN that are getting 0 attention. I really don't want to try to sell them on ebay, not only because of the fees, waiting longer on money, but because I can think I grade ok all day, but I would hate to deal with some guy who argues over if a comic is VG+ or VG and the comic is only worth 4 bucks and not only do I have to refund, I have to consider the fact when they send the comics back they don't pack as well as I do and now I have comics even more banged up.

 

My advice on incorrect grading and poor shipping can be cut a lot if you only buy stuff from here. Check the kudos if they have it and get others opinions on their grading and shipping and ask them how they will ship things. I started taking pictures of how I ship I will show anyone who asks. I basically follow what I learned from the shipping thread here.

 

Ouch at that reply.

 

What is the ebay name of this seller?

 

The ebay seller is dollntony, whom I've never delt with but has 185 feedback, 100% member since 1999... Didn't see this coming.

 

He has 185 feedback, most of which is as a buyer. He has seller feedback for 3 items this year, 2 in 2006 and 1 in 2004. That's not much of a track record.

 

Oh right, yeah checking how much of it is buyer feedback against seller is a big deal. Another reason selling on ebay for me wouldn't go well. Sold plenty here, but very very little there. People may not buy cause I had no seller rep, but I can't gain it if no1 buys. Kinda like trying to find a job and they all ask for experience and you don't have much or any, but can't get any because no1 will hire you without it.

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Kahnadah

Kahnadah

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Posted
Sorry but im not buying the idea that the customer has to ask the seller to make sure the item is shipped safely.

That onus is on the seller to make sure things are done correctly not the customer.

+1

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bruce21wayne21

bruce21wayne21

Posted
Posted
Sorry but im not buying the idea that the customer has to ask the seller to make sure the item is shipped safely.

That onus is on the seller to make sure things are done correctly not the customer.

 

It def should not be the responsibility of the buyer, but when things like this happen its what has to be done to help avoid further issues.

Nobody here or anywhere should have to, but sellers like this make it a dam good idea to do it anyway.

 

You either ask or run the risk because you feel you shouldn't have to. All the stuff I have read here I will put no faith or trust in anyone unless I see a lot of others say they ship right, and/or ask the seller anyway. It sucks the buyer would have to make sure things are done correctly, but that's just how it is unless you just wanna run the risk and end up with an issue that is described in dozens and dozens of threads here. Esp when you are talking about doing deals with the average joe and not a straight business or dealer that has the reputation that comes with owning a real business on or offline. You have to do more due diligence when it comes to average joe seller.

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oakman29

oakman29

Posted
Posted

I don't have hundreds of ebay purchases like most of you.I have never had a problem with anyone on Ebay,but I always went to the same few sellers that did well by me.I now do the same here,buying from sellers on the boards that take good care of me.I will probably never buy anything on ebay again,because the boardies that I have bought comics from are stellar.Moral of this story.......Only buy from trusted board members! (thumbs u

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bruce21wayne21

bruce21wayne21

Posted
Posted
Moral of this story.......Only buy from trusted board members! (thumbs u

Would prob be cheaper too since prices may be lower because we don't have to deal with any fees. Except the 3% from paypal if applicable.

 

Just start some want to buy threads for stuff you want that u don't already see listed.

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