Done With Metro

[jimbo_707]

Many of the Church books sold for remarkably strong prices in the past couple of Metro auctions. A cynical person might think Metro associates had bid those books up in order to create a Church-book bubble so they could cash out of their existing inventory in a future auction, before reality set in and that bubble burst.

 

Of course, I don't think that because I'm not that cynical.

[innocuous]

I foresee free shipping in your future.

[Flex Mentallo]

OK, I'll put my two cents in on this one. I agree completely with Cheetah. Metro lists the book for sale with no price (only a link to inquire), then you call to ask for a price and they take a week to tell you the book is going into an auction and is not for sale. Now, I have no problem with them selling their books only in an auction( they own them, they can sell them however they want). My issue is: why list them for sale if they have no intention of selling them? It's like going to a restaurant and trying to order the lobster and they tell you, " Sorry, those are for display only". It's a tease and it tends to upset the customer. I assume they are trying to increase interest on the site. But if they are previewing the books for a future auction, why not put them in a future auction preview? From my experience with them, I get the feeling that they don't care whether you buy from them or not. That's too bad for them, because that type of business model only works for so long.

 

Welcome to the boards Brian!

 

You never told me you had a unicorn!

[Designer Toast]

I don't get the part of them not doing a 100% refund including grading fees when a book comes back restored.

[JollyComics]

Purely for information, as of now an advanced search of Metro's web site yields 11 hits for Edgar Church.

 

ComicConnect? Zero.

 

The two that I had in my watch list have been "removed by the seller."

 

They had steadily moved very near the top of my "to buy" books (though admittedly I wasn't really close to being ready). Now they are not.

 

However I'm a minnow by their standards, whereas Jeff is relatively speaking a collecting leviathan who has done tons and tons of business with them.

 

I find their approach to this somewhat baffling. Essentially they've lost a great customer.

 

 

Whaaat?? OMG! I had one slight overgraged book from them after it was graded. One grade off. That was the only one incident but many trimmed books of Church collection? Shocked!!!

[telerites]

I have had mixed results in dealing with them as well. From nondisclosed defects to ridiculous prices I can't blame you at all.

 

Not trying to dump anymore on them but I certainly won't buy raw any longer. Bought a GA book listed as unrestored and it came back as trimmed after having it graded. For me, that is the hardest restoration to detect. The book cost $375 not inclusive of shipping/insurance.

 

 

I agree with most of the sentiments here. I also bought two larger dollar GA books from Metro and to my dismay they were both trimmed (per CGC). Metro made it right, but as you can imagine there was quite a bit of frustration on my part. They should still offer Church books on their site. To not do so just smacks of greed.

I wonder how many of these Church books have been coming back trimmed? Maybe that`s the reason why they decided to remove them?

I'm not sure I've ever seen A trimmed mh?

 

The book I mentioned was not a MH. Didn't mean to imply that if I did.

[ComicConnoisseur]

I have had mixed results in dealing with them as well. From nondisclosed defects to ridiculous prices I can't blame you at all.

 

Not trying to dump anymore on them but I certainly won't buy raw any longer. Bought a GA book listed as unrestored and it came back as trimmed after having it graded. For me, that is the hardest restoration to detect. The book cost $375 not inclusive of shipping/insurance.

 

 

I agree with most of the sentiments here. I also bought two larger dollar GA books from Metro and to my dismay they were both trimmed (per CGC). Metro made it right, but as you can imagine there was quite a bit of frustration on my part. They should still offer Church books on their site. To not do so just smacks of greed.

I wonder how many of these Church books have been coming back trimmed? Maybe that`s the reason why they decided to remove them?

I'm not sure I've ever seen A trimmed mh?

 

The book I mentioned was not a MH. Didn't mean to imply that if I did.

Thanks for clarifying. (thumbs u

[G.A.tor]

I have had mixed results in dealing with them as well. From nondisclosed defects to ridiculous prices I can't blame you at all.

 

Not trying to dump anymore on them but I certainly won't buy raw any longer. Bought a GA book listed as unrestored and it came back as trimmed after having it graded. For me, that is the hardest restoration to detect. The book cost $375 not inclusive of shipping/insurance.

 

 

I agree with most of the sentiments here. I also bought two larger dollar GA books from Metro and to my dismay they were both trimmed (per CGC). Metro made it right, but as you can imagine there was quite a bit of frustration on my part. They should still offer Church books on their site. To not do so just smacks of greed.

I wonder how many of these Church books have been coming back trimmed? Maybe that`s the reason why they decided to remove them?

I'm not sure I've ever seen A trimmed mh?

 

The book I mentioned was not a MH. Didn't mean to imply that if I did.

Thanks for clarifying. (thumbs u

 

I was going to reiterate that I've never seen or heard of a trimmed mh. Not saying they are not out there just never seen

[mrmyst]

Purely for information, as of now an advanced search of Metro's web site yields 11 hits for Edgar Church.

 

ComicConnect? Zero.

 

The two that I had in my watch list have been "removed by the seller."

 

They had steadily moved very near the top of my "to buy" books (though admittedly I wasn't really close to being ready). Now they are not.

 

However I'm a minnow by their standards, whereas Jeff is relatively speaking a collecting leviathan who has done tons and tons of business with them.

 

I find their approach to this somewhat baffling. Essentially they've lost a great customer.

 

 

 

 

Whaaat?? OMG! I had one slight overgraged book from them after it was graded. One grade off. That was the only one incident but many trimmed books of Church collection? Shocked!!!

 

I don't believe anyone ever said that.

 

 

[Cat-Man_America]

I have had mixed results in dealing with them as well. From nondisclosed defects to ridiculous prices I can't blame you at all.

 

Not trying to dump anymore on them but I certainly won't buy raw any longer. Bought a GA book listed as unrestored and it came back as trimmed after having it graded. For me, that is the hardest restoration to detect. The book cost $375 not inclusive of shipping/insurance.

 

 

I agree with most of the sentiments here. I also bought two larger dollar GA books from Metro and to my dismay they were both trimmed (per CGC). Metro made it right, but as you can imagine there was quite a bit of frustration on my part. They should still offer Church books on their site. To not do so just smacks of greed.

I wonder how many of these Church books have been coming back trimmed? Maybe that`s the reason why they decided to remove them?

I'm not sure I've ever seen A trimmed mh?

 

The book I mentioned was not a MH. Didn't mean to imply that if I did.

Thanks for clarifying. (thumbs u

 

I was going to reiterate that I've never seen or heard of a trimmed mh. Not saying they are not out there just never seen

 

[font:Times New Roman]I'm sure that trim can cost as much as MH, but I've never seen it either.[/font]

[comicjack]

Had some good and some bad dealings just to much money to be made not to play games bad for the hobby in the end!

[Sqeggs]

I'm completely sure what the objection is. I just looked on Comicconnect and they have 30+ Church books up for auction, only three have a reserve. They also still have about 10-12 available as BINs -- consignment books, maybe? Other books no longer appear -- being held for later auctions, maybe?

 

At any rate, I'm not sure why putting those 30+ Church books up for auction is such a bad thing.

[Point Five]

I'm completely sure what the objection is. I just looked on Comicconnect and they have 30+ Church books up for auction, only three have a reserve. They also still have about 10-12 available as BINs -- consignment books, maybe? Other books no longer appear -- being held for later auctions, maybe?

 

At any rate, I'm not sure why putting those 30+ Church books up for auction is such a bad thing.

I had the same reaction at first. If I'm reading him right, I think the OP is objecting to asking Metro the prices of specific books on their site, and suddenly seeing those same books pop up as Comicconnect auctions when there was a clear expression of interest on his part.

 

 

[Columbia Comics]

I think it's funny that I just finish reading this thread...and this pops up as a "new listing":

 

Metro thank you sale

 

[cheetah]

I will try to give you a more dispassionate overview.

 

I buy a LOT of stuff from Metro and ComiConnect.

 

I bid very strongly in their auctions.

 

I don't really like to lose but there is a guy with bigger pockets than me who wins nearly everything I bid on.

 

I am petty enough to punish him by bidding him up to ridiculous amounts, falsely hoping I might actually burst his budget. This seems to almost never work.

 

The biggest beneficiaries of this are Fishler and Zurzolo as they are making a fortune off this guy and my ego.

 

I content myself with buying a lot of their books that are listed as BINs. This includes some Mile High copies.

 

There were some Mile High copies that had been sitting on their site for anywhere from four months to a year that I had been interested in but they had no prices.

 

I finally asked for prices in the same email I said I wanted to buy some five Mile Highs I had been eying for more than a year.

 

I was told they would sell me the five books but that they would no longer sell me any other Mile Highs as they were taking them off of their sites and would be putting them in future auctions.

 

My interpretation was that they were more than happy to make money off me beating someone else's wallet up but that they thought they could make more money in an auction, largely in part due to me bidding the eventual winner up to a ridiculous level.

 

I found this to be insulting and said I would no longer bid in their auctions and cancelled my remaining order with them. Metro can do the math and determine if they make more money by selling me books directly or by selling them in an auction in which I do not participate. They can also look at revenue lost by me not buying non-Church books from them, too.

 

They terminated my account.

 

Fishler called me to talk but I was on the phone.

 

When I returned his call he was not in the office.

 

 

[mrmitchgro]

Terminated your account? Wow...

[jimbo_707]

I will try to give you a more dispassionate overview.

 

I buy a LOT of stuff from Metro and ComiConnect.

 

I bid very strongly in their auctions.

 

I don't really like to lose but there is a guy with bigger pockets than me who wins nearly everything I bid on.

 

I am petty enough to punish him by bidding him up to ridiculous amounts, falsely hoping I might actually burst his budget.

 

All that does is cause inflation of book values, which is bad for the hobby. I can honestly say I've never tried to bid anyone up beyond what I was willing to pay for a book.

 

Aside from that,I know how hard I have to work to save up even a few hundred dollars, and I know that even some buyers of the biggest-ticket books have limited means like I do, so I would not do that to somebody else.

[HRCostigan]

The wheels are in motion.

[Bronty]

[nearmint]

I will try to give you a more dispassionate overview.

 

I buy a LOT of stuff from Metro and ComiConnect.

 

I bid very strongly in their auctions.

 

I don't really like to lose but there is a guy with bigger pockets than me who wins nearly everything I bid on.

 

I am petty enough to punish him by bidding him up to ridiculous amounts, falsely hoping I might actually burst his budget.

 

All that does is cause inflation of book values, which is bad for the hobby. I can honestly say I've never tried to bid anyone up beyond what I was willing to pay for a book.

 

Aside from that,I know how hard I have to work to save up even a few hundred dollars, and I know that even some buyers of the biggest-ticket books have limited means like I do, so I would not do that to somebody else.

 

I'm sure Jeff never bid someone up beyond what he was willing to pay for the book.