Feb CLink Auction

[Timmay]

Does anyone actually think Halperin would not allow another grading company's books into their auctions?

 

If there was another legitimate grading company out there you can bet every auction house would allow them in. Nobody out there is turning away free money.

 

 

Normally I would say, just like around here, if you have the right books it really doesn't matter what else is going on, but if a large auction house didn't want to promote another grading company by offering books certified by that company ( because they have a stake in the current leader in the business), then I suppose they could strongly suggest and arrange that the books be resubmitted before offered at auction.

 

But then they would have to wait 6 months to get them back before they could auction them.

[MCMiles]

Does anyone actually think Halperin would not allow another grading company's books into their auctions?

 

If there was another legitimate grading company out there you can bet every auction house would allow them in. Nobody out there is turning away free money.

 

 

Normally I would say, just like around here, if you have the right books it really doesn't matter what else is going on, but if a large auction house didn't want to promote another grading company by offering books certified by that company ( because they have a stake in the current leader in the business), then I suppose they could strongly suggest and arrange that the books be resubmitted before offered at auction.

 

But then they would have to wait 6 months to get them back before they could auction them.

yeah, that's true.

[tth2]

Nothing to do with nothing, but I just noticed comiclink is actively preventing ALL search engines from crawling the site. How odd.

 

Preventing people from scraping data?

 

Yeah, I suppose that's probably the gist of it, Though if someone in specific is trying to do that there'd be better ways to stop it than to prevent google from indexing the site!

 

Let new buyers who are googling to find out who's got an for sale find out that you have some or have sold some. There are numerous google results for HA and CC sales and offerings for GA or SA books. There's no doubt that's gaining them customers.

 

They're paying a pretty heavy price for holding their information that close, I'd think, but I know that argument has been made before from other angles.

 

Ah well.

Whoever advises Josh on IT issues is not very sophisticated, because he/she always seems to take a crude blunderbuss approach rather than a sophisticated surgical approach to solve problems.

 

Here, they seem to be blocking all search engines to prevent scraping of data, which as you say is not the best way to do it.

 

My previous experience with this approach was apparently CL was suffering hacker attacks that originated out of China. So instead of putting up better firewalls or whatever it is that every single other e-commerce website in the world does, they elect to simply block all ISPs from the Greater China region, including Hong Kong. So yes, I guess they`ve now protected themselves from hackers from China, but they`ve also prevented legitimate users from China accessing the website.

 

So I haven`t been able to access Comiclink for several years now. The good news is that I really haven`t missed it.

[nearmint]

Does anyone actually think Halperin would not allow another grading company's books into their auctions?

 

If there was another legitimate grading company out there you can bet every auction house would allow them in. Nobody out there is turning away free money.

 

 

Normally I would say, just like around here, if you have the right books it really doesn't matter what else is going on, but if a large auction house didn't want to promote another grading company by offering books certified by that company ( because they have a stake in the current leader in the business), then I suppose they could strongly suggest and arrange that the books be resubmitted before offered at auction.

 

But then they would have to wait 6 months to get them back before they could auction them.

yeah, that's true.

 

It does seem odd that Heritage has never auctioned a PGX slabbed book.

[tth2]

 

A new competitor would help CGC with their consistency. Personally, I think it's just a matter of time.

 

 

I don't. I think there was a window of opportunity before CGC brought over Matt Nelson. Now I think the barrier of opportunity is much higher.

 

I don't. If it happens and they do it right, they will take 50% of CGC's business from the first day.

I`m really surprised to see this post.

 

What exactly is causing such a huge degree of dissatisfaction with CGC? Their slow turnaround times? Their inconsistency?

[drbanner]

 

A new competitor would help CGC with their consistency. Personally, I think it's just a matter of time.

 

 

I don't. I think there was a window of opportunity before CGC brought over Matt Nelson. Now I think the barrier of opportunity is much higher.

 

I don't. If it happens and they do it right, they will take 50% of CGC's business from the first day.

I`m really surprised to see this post.

 

What exactly is causing such a huge degree of dissatisfaction with CGC? Their slow turnaround times? Their inconsistency?

People are unhappy that CGC decided to just say "*spoon* it, we're hiring Matt and we're just gonna go ahead and press books ourselves so as not to leave any morsel of money on the table as part of this racket." (thumbs u

 

Actually, people said...whatever, we have no choice, they're a monopoly and they can do what the hell ever they want and as long as I also get a piece of that action, count me in baby!

[Sqeggs]

A bit lower than I had thought: AF 15

 

That's right about where I thought it would end. It's about a $120-125K book in that grade.

 

I guess, but what with the white pages and no hint of chipping, I wouldn't have been surprised to see it go above $150K.

 

Hard to know what the future will bring, but if the AF 15 uber alles trend for SA books continues I think in a couple of years this purchase will seem like, not a steal exactly, but a solid bargain.

[ciorac]

Does anyone actually think Halperin would not allow another grading company's books into their auctions?

 

If there was another legitimate grading company out there you can bet every auction house would allow them in. Nobody out there is turning away free money.

 

 

Sometimes business doesn't quite work that way. It's not unheard of for the "big dogs" in an industry to try and muscle their business partners into not dealing with their competitors. I have no idea if this would happen here or not, but I do know that sometimes companies do turn away free money for fear of repercussions from their larger clients.

 

That happened in our neck of the woods in the automotive industry at the local Benz dealer I worked at. There was a mechanic looking for a job. He wasn't hired so he opened up his own shop. The local dealership then tried to freeze him out by not selling him any parts. He ended up sourcing parts from Toronto (or elsewhere) and eventually became the second largest game in town. Why? Because he was good at what he did.

 

Heritage would probably lose more trying to freeze out a competitor by not auctioning their books than they would just allowing them in the auctions.

 

Do you honestly think the PGX books would make or not make a significant impact on Heritage's revenue either way? I don't.

 

So if I were them and I owned a 25% stake in CGC, or CCG, I would absolutley not include PGX comics in my auctions

[nearmint]

 

A new competitor would help CGC with their consistency. Personally, I think it's just a matter of time.

 

 

I don't. I think there was a window of opportunity before CGC brought over Matt Nelson. Now I think the barrier of opportunity is much higher.

 

I don't. If it happens and they do it right, they will take 50% of CGC's business from the first day.

I`m really surprised to see this post.

 

What exactly is causing such a huge degree of dissatisfaction with CGC? Their slow turnaround times? Their inconsistency?

 

I have two problems with CGC these days. First, I don't know who's grading Golden Age books. I assume Litch is, but who else? It doesn't help that they've eliminated the "meet the graders" page from the website.

 

Second, I don't know how many people are reviewing each book. The website used to specify that every book would be viewed by 3 graders. Now the site states that every book is graded by "the hobby's most experienced and trusted team". For all I know, books might only be seen by one set of eyes.

 

That's a long way away from the days where I knew my books would be seen by Stephan, Haspel, and Borock.

[adamstrange]

For all I know, books might only be seen by one set of eyes.

 

They guarantee 3.

 

 

 

Also, last I knew Haspel was still working part-time at CGC.

[cheetah]

 

A new competitor would help CGC with their consistency. Personally, I think it's just a matter of time.

 

 

I don't. I think there was a window of opportunity before CGC brought over Matt Nelson. Now I think the barrier of opportunity is much higher.

 

I don't. If it happens and they do it right, they will take 50% of CGC's business from the first day.

I`m really surprised to see this post.

 

What exactly is causing such a huge degree of dissatisfaction with CGC? Their slow turnaround times? Their inconsistency?

 

I have two problems with CGC these days. First, I don't know who's grading Golden Age books. I assume Litch is, but who else? It doesn't help that they've eliminated the "meet the graders" page from the website.

 

Second, I don't know how many people are reviewing each book. The website used to specify that every book would be viewed by 3 graders. Now the site states that every book is graded by "the hobby's most experienced and trusted team". For all I know, books might only be seen by one set of eyes.

 

That's a long way away from the days where I knew my books would be seen by Stephan, Haspel, and Borock.

 

I'll add their abysmal efforts at customer service and QA/QC to the list. When a company begins to act like you should be happy they are willing to grade your books, it's time to look for someone else to do the work.

[thedude]

don't forget how they reward tape on a book.

 

 

[nearmint]

For all I know, books might only be seen by one set of eyes.

 

They guarantee 3.

 

 

 

Also, last I knew Haspel was still working part-time at CGC.

 

I don't know how old that book is, but here's the current "guarantee" on the website:

 

CGC guarantees that a comic book encapsulated in a CGC holder is authentic and has been inspected by at least two professionals.

 

Interesting that they use the term "professionals" rather than "graders". Is the employee who receives and unpackages books a professional? Is the employee who encapsulates the books a professional? I believe they have someone doing quality control. Is that person a professional?

 

I hope you're right about Mark. When I spoke to "those in the know" at SDCC last summer, they told me Mark wasn't coming back.

[tb]

Nothing to do with nothing, but I just noticed comiclink is actively preventing ALL search engines from crawling the site. How odd.

 

Preventing people from scraping data?

 

Yeah, I suppose that's probably the gist of it, Though if someone in specific is trying to do that there'd be better ways to stop it than to prevent google from indexing the site!

 

Let new buyers who are googling to find out who's got an for sale find out that you have some or have sold some. There are numerous google results for HA and CC sales and offerings for GA or SA books. There's no doubt that's gaining them customers.

 

They're paying a pretty heavy price for holding their information that close, I'd think, but I know that argument has been made before from other angles.

 

Ah well.

Whoever advises Josh on IT issues is not very sophisticated, because he/she always seems to take a crude blunderbuss approach rather than a sophisticated surgical approach to solve problems.

 

Here, they seem to be blocking all search engines to prevent scraping of data, which as you say is not the best way to do it.

 

My previous experience with this approach was apparently CL was suffering hacker attacks that originated out of China. So instead of putting up better firewalls or whatever it is that every single other e-commerce website in the world does, they elect to simply block all ISPs from the Greater China region, including Hong Kong. So yes, I guess they`ve now protected themselves from hackers from China, but they`ve also prevented legitimate users from China accessing the website.

 

So I haven`t been able to access Comiclink for several years now. The good news is that I really haven`t missed it.

 

My guess is that they also have e-mail filters that block out the San Francisco Bay and Las Vegas: I can't recall a single time in the last 13 years when I've received a reply to an e-mail I've sent them or an online order I've placed. Thankfully, they have competitors who reply to my mails, otherwise I wouldn't have a single book in my collection today.

[Wayne-Tec]

How much did the Green Lantern #1 CGC 9.0 sell for?

[Wrightson fan]

29.5 K

[Wrightson fan]

don't forget how they reward tape on a book.

 

 

That bugs me as well.

[Sqeggs]

I wonder how much higher these are going to go? Archie 50

 

Granted, it was a nice looking book for a 5.0 (although with CLink you always wonder about the bc) and a lot sharper than the 4.5 that went for half the price. Still, it makes you wonder what the 9.0 would bring.

[Wayne-Tec]

29.5 K

 

Isn't that well under guide value?

[adamstrange]

For all I know, books might only be seen by one set of eyes.

 

They guarantee 3.

 

 

 

Also, last I knew Haspel was still working part-time at CGC.

 

I don't know how old that book is, but here's the current "guarantee" on the website:

 

CGC guarantees that a comic book encapsulated in a CGC holder is authentic and has been inspected by at least two professionals.

 

Interesting that they use the term "professionals" rather than "graders". Is the employee who receives and unpackages books a professional? Is the employee who encapsulates the books a professional? I believe they have someone doing quality control. Is that person a professional?

 

I hope you're right about Mark. When I spoke to "those in the know" at SDCC last summer, they told me Mark wasn't coming back.

 

I talked with Haspel in Oct at the NY Con.

 

I don't have a current label but I'm sure someone can post what it now says.