eBay grab bags????

[gsy971-migration]

Checking out some auctions where the seller will send you 4 "random" comics from a large collection. Seller lists and shows pictures of many key silver through modern age books but it's just to show you what you "could" get. Key issues look good and it sounds like fun for a relatively cheap price. Seller claims the comic grab bag is totally random and is done with high integrity

 

What do you guys think? anyone ever got a grail comic in these grab bags? other experiences??

 

[sufunk]

Oh yeah, you'll probably get two grails in yours! (thumbs u

[miraclemet]

nope its a ripoff, and actually against ebay rules.

 

save your money.

[gsy971-migration]

sufunk....thanks for your informative and generous input

 

miraclemet....is this your opinion or do you have any multiple 1st hand knowledge

just asking

as for "ebay rules" not sure what this falls under..lottery? read something in the post on how the auction is worded not be considered a lottery, but i see no hurt in this. the seller makes no claims and in fact goes out of their way to make sure buyers know what they are getting into

 

ebay is many times the vessel for many illegal (not ebay illegal, but federal/state illegal) and sometime international treaty illegal

 

just looking for any interesting stories, good or bad or neutral.

[Bills Comics]

You are talking about Ebay. Where a person can hide behind their computer and tell you how honest they are . If you choose to believe that , thats fine .

This could actually be one of those rare instances where it is legit and there are good comics to be had .

History goes against that though .

 

[Crimebuster]

I tired one of these on a lark once. The big prize was supposedly a Journey Into Mystery #83. The entry fee was $40.

 

Now, I was pretty sure it was a scam, especially because I did the math on how many lots he was offering and the cost of all of them was less than he would have gotten just by selling the JiM alone, much less with all the other random prizes included. But I wanted to see what happened.

 

What happened was I received a Thor #153 in about 6.5 condition. Nice colors, nice gloss. Worth $40? Well, not to me, no. But it was an upgrade anyway.

 

Bottom line: Don't bother, it's a scam.

[miraclemet]

eBay's "chance listing" policy even uses comic books as it's example:

 

"The listing doesn't single out anything that "may" be contained in the grab bag that has particular monetary or obvious collectible value. For example, grab bag listings for collectible comic books can't allude to the possibility that a specific rare, high value comic book "may" be included in the grab bag. This type of listing is considered a lottery, which is not allowed on eBay."

 

so the listings that single out big winner books (grails) are not allowed.

 

Now if you offer 20 random 90s comics for $10 (essentially a grab bag), that is a grab bag that is allowed within the rules. (since I didnt tempt with a high value books like X-Force #1)

 

 

 

read more here

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-bonus-prize-giveaway-raffle.html

 

despite some posts most people here are smart enough to pass on these rip offs.

[gsy971-migration]

thanks a lot all for the great answers with no back up. the seller seems to have a decent feedback and is not hiding anything. just thought it would be interesting to bring up and not too much harm done as i only spent $20. if they are , i know my 6 yr old will appreciate them.

 

yo bill, isn't the whole internet based on honesty? even this forum is based on trust is it not? I mean in a way this is just like Vegas. I go to Vegas with the attitude that i will loose money but the whole point is to have some fun at it....its all about the slim chance that maybe, just maybe I will hit the big one or maybe a medium one would be good...heck even hitting the small one is okay

[DiceX]

This thread reminded me to grab my bag.

 

 

[gsy971-migration]

not you crime buster

thanks for a little education miracle met

[miraclemet]

I do remember someone who listed 10 offerings, one of which had a high grade book. I offered to buy all 10 at his asking price (since the high grade book was worth more than the cost of buying all 10 lots), and he said no.

 

if it smells, its probably rotten.

 

Sometimes this is run as a scam where the buyer who "won" the big ticket item is the sellers friend (who will verify they won the book) but it never existed in the first place....

[gsy971-migration]

the bag between your legs? i never forget to grab that bag!

[Jiminy_Cricket-migration]

This thread reminded me to grab my bag.

 

 

[Jiminy_Cricket-migration]

the bag between your legs? i never forget to grab that bag!

 

[thunsicker]

You'll have to excuse people here. That's just one of those questions that comes up on the board every couple of months. Had you been someone who had been around a while all the comments would have been about how you should have used the search function instead. As many have said these tend to be scams where people want to be able to clear out their junk comics for good money. There are examples where some people actually do these in a more legitimate way but they seem few and far between. Good luck with your purchase though. Let us know what you get.

 

Last Grab Bag Thread

[Bills Comics]

thanks a lot all for the great answers with no back up. the seller seems to have a decent feedback and is not hiding anything. just thought it would be interesting to bring up and not too much harm done as i only spent $20. if they are , i know my 6 yr old will appreciate them.

 

yo bill, isn't the whole internet based on honesty? even this forum is based on trust is it not? I mean in a way this is just like Vegas. I go to Vegas with the attitude that i will loose money but the whole point is to have some fun at it....its all about the slim chance that maybe, just maybe I will hit the big one or maybe a medium one would be good...heck even hitting the small one is okay

 

It may have been once, for like half a second. But today its about fleecing suckers .

Are you familiar with the saying " If it sounds to good to be true it probably is ?"

If you want to spend 20 bucks and give it a shot. I wish you nothing but luck . I just suggest you spend $20 and get exactly what you expect to get .

I dont like to see people get ripped off . If you give this guy $20 and he is a scammer, it just empowers him . It might even sour you to buy from other people on Ebay. Or from buying comics at all . Then that effects the rest of us .

Heck go to the for sale section on the boards here and deal with someone who has a verifiable reputation . Like i said I wish you luck whichever route you choose .

[shadroch]

Grab bags are great- for sellers.

Back around 1985, Topps used to make what they called a Tiffany Set. Limited to 5,000 the cards were slightly glossier than the normal cards. A regular set sold for about $25 and a Tiffany might go as high as $200. My partner and I went out and bought 1500 of those yellow pay envelopes and broke up two sets of these. There were around 700 cards in a set, so two sets were 1400 cards.

Went to a show and sold the cards via grab bag for $1 an envelope. Some of the cards were going for as high as $50 and several dozen were worth about $5-10. Sold them all out in a few hours.

The next show, there were four other dealers doing the exact same thing.

Sell a set for $200 or break it up and sell it for $700. Easy choice.

[The Less Blob]

I would not trust an auction/grab bag like this. There is just no incentive for them to ever give you anything decent. They can pepper their feedback with stuff from their dummy accounts and friends to make it appear like they sell some winning lottery lots.

 

Honestly, your $20 is probably better spent here.

 

 

I actually sell grab bag lots on ebay, but I am very clear that they ARE NOT a lottery and I am not putting a mint Hulk 181 in there or whatever. I base it on OPG "value" and era (silver, bronze, whatever) -- and, of course, the ultimate sale price is a pretty big discount off that. Sure, especially on the bigger lots, I have to put in some "big" books, but I am not making promises as to what they are (for example, I had 4 copies of ASM 28, so I figured I could spare one). Was doing pretty well on them except the last guy who bought 3 of them ($3750 in OPG) got ticked off that the delivery was slow and then whined about not getting enough keys and CGC worthy books. Then after leaving my only negative feedback ever and a string of nasty e-mails and stiffing me $100 on the purchase price (he claimed non-receipt, ebay refunded his money, but acknowledged receipt to me and paid me a discounted price)....anyway..a few weeks later he's e-mailing me basically saying "you know what, the lot wasn't so bad afterall once I took a good look at all the books, can I buy another one from you?"...some people have chutzpah.

[The Less Blob]

Grab bags are great- for sellers.

Back around 1985, Topps used to make what they called a Tiffany Set. Limited to 5,000 the cards were slightly glossier than the normal cards. A regular set sold for about $25 and a Tiffany might go as high as $200. My partner and I went out and bought 1500 of those yellow pay envelopes and broke up two sets of these. There were around 700 cards in a set, so two sets were 1400 cards.

Went to a show and sold the cards via grab bag for $1 an envelope. Some of the cards were going for as high as $50 and several dozen were worth about $5-10. Sold them all out in a few hours.

The next show, there were four other dealers doing the exact same thing.

Sell a set for $200 or break it up and sell it for $700. Easy choice.

 

The baseball card market in 1985-1990 was about 20X as irrational as the comics market ever got. I just remember opening up various packs of cards that cost 35 or 50 cents or whatever and, supposedly, I'd have all these $5-$10 cards in there (not that I had anyone to sell them to) especially with any Yankee (or Met) who was half decent getting a big local premium.

[jaxcomics]

Grab bags are great- for sellers.

Back around 1985, Topps used to make what they called a Tiffany Set. Limited to 5,000 the cards were slightly glossier than the normal cards. A regular set sold for about $25 and a Tiffany might go as high as $200. My partner and I went out and bought 1500 of those yellow pay envelopes and broke up two sets of these. There were around 700 cards in a set, so two sets were 1400 cards.

Went to a show and sold the cards via grab bag for $1 an envelope. Some of the cards were going for as high as $50 and several dozen were worth about $5-10. Sold them all out in a few hours.

The next show, there were four other dealers doing the exact same thing.

Sell a set for $200 or break it up and sell it for $700. Easy choice.

 

The baseball card market in 1985-1990 was about 20X as irrational as the comics market ever got. I just remember opening up various packs of cards that cost 35 or 50 cents or whatever and, supposedly, I'd have all these $5-$10 cards in there (not that I had anyone to sell them to) especially with any Yankee (or Met) who was half decent getting a big local premium.

 

Back then, I could bring insert cards of players like Frank Thomas, Sammy Sosa, Griffey Jr, etc directly into my local dealer and he'd pay me 1/2 of high Beckett, because those cards would be gone by the end of the day at FULL Beckett. Crazy times, you'd be lucky to find buyers at .25 for most of those same cards now.