Ebay Ethics Question

[rjpb]

I've only sold a few cracked out books myself. Generally I've agreed with the grade, and sold them at the same, including the CGC label for the most part. I did sell a cracked out CGC 4.0 ( old label) as a VG+ years ago, as I thought it was actually closer to a 5.0.

 

When I buy books to flip I leave them encased, even if they look a little nicer than graded, as you never really know until you crack it out, and I figure a nice looking CGC x.x will do as well or better than a rjpb x.x+.5. I have bought a couple I thought were overgraded a couple grades, and it bothered me a bit to even list the CGC grade, but the flaws were evident.

 

I did once buy a PGX 4.0 to flip, and cracked it out, grading it a VG- for the sale.

 

A single grade downward discrepancy and I'd probably sell a cracked out book at the CGC grade, as it's all in the range of reasonable subjectivity, but beyond that I don't think I could list a book at say 6.0, if I honestly couldn't see calling it no better than 5.0. I wouldn't do it for a dealer's grade, so why do it for CGC's? The other direction would be tougher, as I'd feel bad about a book I honestly feel to be two grades or more higher disappointing the buyer if they got it slabbed, but then the same could happen with any raw book, or it could bring the higher grade on resub.

 

I will admit to once getting a book back I felt was a solid 7.5 ( 7.0 at worst), as a 6.0, and it crossed my mind to sell it raw, but the dollar difference wasn't significant enough to really entertain the idea.

[Santos208]

This is why I don really like buying from eBay. No idea if book has been cracked and listed as a higher grade, I buy if theres plenty of photos provided giving me an idea of the actual grade. Ive seen many listings that say "NM/NM+" but only one photo is provided, i mean like WTF!

[Conan_Aficionado]

The question of ethics is not in the act, but the intent.