Just how bad does Mile High Grade?!??!?

[joecgcmaniac]

But if Chuck just sold all the older comics for the F/VF that they are, then he wouldn't be able to jack up the prices to multiples of guide like he does by calling them NM........ and it would appear that quite a few e-bay sellers have taken grading lessons from chuck

[Bugaboo-migration]

Hey......don't put the beat down on me........I'm not saying I like it.

 

He probably assigns a grade because people expect a grade on a comic before they buy it. Obviously, quite a few people are happy with their purchase and continue to buy from them. Whether out of ignorance.....or just because they don't know any better.....I really couldn't say.

 

But......if people order from them.....see the condition of the comics......and then choose to order from them again.......then who's fault is it???

 

I'm a firm believer in the "McDonalds" coffee theory..........If you spill hot coffee on your crotch and burn yourself......then it's your fault......regardless of whether McDonalds had "hot" written on the frigging cup or not.

[blowout]

Frankly Lighthouse, your justification for Chuck's overgrading just doesn't wash and if Chuck ever said the things you have stated he would be out of business within a week.

 

The MH website plainly states a particular grade for a book, that

grade is what should be supplied (or VERY close). Otherwise it is, plain and simple, ripping collectors off. If the grades cannot be guaranteed ('grading books is not part of my business plan') then this should be clearly stated in the terms of sale.

 

So now Chuck is in business to sell modern books and screw the gold/silver/bronze collectors? Why charge a PREMIUM over guide for these books then? This is a company that has built its reputation on selling the highest quality golden age collection ever. Now they only care about modern books?

Give me a break.........

 

You say his grading is about right for modern books but is clearly way off on older stuff. And this is OK by you?

Tell me this, what books does Chuck stand to make serious money on by overgrading them?

It sure as hell ain't modern books.

[Bugaboo-migration]

I don't want anyone to get me wrong......I think it sucks bigtime that their older books are over graded. I personally haven't ordered from them for about 20 years now. But....from what I read.....his grades ARE guaranteed......right?

 

If you are not satisified with the grades.....can't you return them for a refund?

 

I'm seriously asking.......I personally don't know the answer.

 

However.....should this guarantee be a "get out of jail free" card to be used to screw the unsuspecting comsumer? I don't believe so. But....the old adage sometimes rings true..........buyer beware.

[joecgcmaniac]

The only problem with the whole situation is that Chuck has stated a few times in his little colums that whenever he is with a group of other comic shop owners and they do "test grading", that his grading is always so much stricter than anyone elses grading. And from what i have personally seen, and have read about, that is simply hogwash. Sure, Chuck may be a strict grader, but how many comics does Chuck personally grade anymore. Probably 5 or less in a month. Sure, it would be unrealistic for him to personally grade every comic that comes through his warehouses, but if he is continually going to tout just how great HIS grading skills are, than shouldn't his employees grading skills be up to his standards? He is employing younger college kids, but does that mean that they can't be made to learn how to properly grade? Does that mean that just because someone is making minimum wage that they shouldn't be made to learn the job? He is running one of the biggest online comic stores, yet he cannot find qualified people that know how to properly grade comics. That is just pathetic.....

[Bugaboo-migration]

I agree. One thing I think that Chuck needs to do is to keep his big mouth shut on some of these issues. He goes off on how lousy someone else grades and then get's caught seriously overgrading books.

 

It's bad enough to overgrade.......but to stick your foot in your mouth at the same time.......just makes it that much worse.

[JLA_ALL_THE_WAY]

LH, your posts are intelligent and well-thought out...logical...

 

but-

 

Your comparison of "carrrying one item to supplement the main product" (Yugioh) is like "having older books along with the bulk of newer ones" to explain sub-par grading doesn't make sense.

 

It all comes down to consistency. And he is not. Nor is his company. And the 'employee' statement is not justification, it's an excuse. I viable one, a flimsy one, a ridiculous-but-believable-in-business one. It's an excuse.

 

It sounds like people here are not so much upset at his lousy grading-which no one has denied- as they are his refusal to own up to it. He gives valuable, high-dollar books in lesser condition the same grades as newer, cheaper ones. Fine, it's his business. We can all just avoid him. But that's not it. Chuck's crying that everyone else is on the same page...but it's not HIS page that we're on! He's right and we're wrong? As long as he takes a 1998 fresh book, places it next to a 1968 beat up book, and grades them equally, he's dog food.

 

Guess it's not so much a matter of 'why' he grades like he does (which you tried admirably to explain) but rather 'how' he thinks it makes his grades correct.

 

Oh yeah, and ethical business standards may have a place here, too.

 

Rick

[joecgcmaniac]

I will say that one good thing has come from my ordering from Mile High..... thanks to their sub-par grading, i have come to know the true joy of owning a cgc graded comic..... you know, one where you actually get the grade that you think you are getting.......

[FlyingDonut]

I don't know how bad they grade, but they have a CGC 3.5 Amazing Fantasy on their site for $4.276.80. Metropolis just sold a 4.0 for $1531. Curious, that.

[drbanner]

A 4.0 Fantasy 15 for $1531??? They got any more?

[chrisco37]

A 4.0 Fantasy 15 for $1531??? They got any more?

 

That's what I was thinking.

 

But, on the subject, my biggest problem is that Chuck goes around acting as the "friend of the collector". Yet, he continually tries to sell over-graded garbage, and then writes columns blasting CGC and others for tightening up grading practices.

 

He whines and cries about CGC's grading, but has no problems selling even Fine (6.0) books for multiples of guide. He's a hypocrite.

 

Chris

[FlyingDonut]

the 1531 AF 15 was on sale, but original price was $1800.

[chromium]

I think Lighthouse raises an important point... Milehigh isn't really in the high grade business at all, not even in the Golden/Silver/Bronze age backissue business...

 

His inventory is probably the biggest one online and there are deals to be had, not killer deals and no deals for high grade collectors but deals nonetheless.

 

During one of his 40% off deals combined with free shipping I bought Daredevil visionaries Frank Miller TPBs #1 and #2. Cover for both was $45.00. I could have gotten them at my local shop for $62.00 (+ 3 weeks wait). I found another online store that gave me 20% off cover ($36.00) but wanted $22.00 to ship them to me.

While I was ordering the TPBs I took a few hours to compare my want list to his sales and managed to find 24 mid-80's books that I still needed at a buck a piece for NM....

This way I got the TPBs for $27.00 + paid $24.00 for the comics. Total was $51.00 which meant I got free shipping to Belgium as well.

There is no way on earth I would have been able to swing such a deal anywhere else...

Granted the issues weren't NM (but they were VF) and they weren't rare or keys, but I still needed them...

 

I'm guessing this makes up a typical every sale for Milehigh, of course they count on a number of customers to shop for a few more expensive books while they are on-site...

 

Does he take advantage off the unsuspecting collector by selling them overgraded Bronze and Silver ? Probably yes... If I had bought say a NM Silver Age Spidey while I was buying the rest, I would have received (probably) a FINE to FINE+ at double the NM price...

[fantastic_four]

Milehigh isn't really in the high grade business at all, not even in the Golden/Silver/Bronze age backissue business...

Yes, but you have to figure this out on your own or via word of mouth. Just going by their presentation of books as NM with jacked-up prices from "the world's largest comics dealer," you'd think they might have a clue and grade halfway decently. But they don't, and we've got a right to be pissed about that.

[Peter_Parker59]

I just agree with you guys about ol' Chuck.

 

I was happy to buy unexpensive 70's and 80's comics from him back in the 80's, because I was after mid-grades, and his grading was ok BACK THEN, and REGARDING THIS KIND OF BOOKS.

 

But when I began to chase silver age ones, I just didn't take a chance.

 

Maybe his policy has changed over time, but his grading sure is [!@#%^&^], now.

I still acknowledge the man has a vision about the market, reading his 'tales from the database".

Maybe this is why he knows so well how to screw unexperienced fans ?