Is sneaky marketing ok as long as it brings in the comic buyers?

[wombat]

Even if that was the seller's intent, it just doesn't seem like a huge deal to me.

[jsilverjanet]

via Imgflip Meme Maker

 

[rodan57]

It would be naïve to think he didn't know what he was doing. He covered up the logo on the book. He repeatedly did not answer questions about the price of the book. His prices were dead on FMV. I'm comfortable saying he knew what he was doing. The question is was it right.

 

I asked him to let me out of buying his book and he agreed so we are good but I'm most concerned about the idea that it's ok to blatantly be sneaky to draw in customers. Maybe its common practice and I just do not notice it.

 

Some people get a kick out of screwing with people.

[RockMyAmadeus]

Come on, 1Cool...the book is obviously and clearly not the original variant you were looking for....

 

here's the original:

 

 

and here's the Mexican:

 

 

There was plenty of information available in that picture to clearly determine this wasn't the valuable one.

 

Due diligence, my friend. Due diligence.

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

Speaking of clearly...

 

[jaeldubyoo]

What the seller did was cover up the most obvious difference, the lettering on the left side. What he didn't do was cover up the bar code completely. My guess is because he didn't want to cover up too much of the cover (arousing suspicion). If he didn't want to block the sig on the comic next to it as somebody suggested, he still could have arranged it to show more of the comic in question. Yes, with due diligence, you could have deduced it was the Mexican variant. I'm assuming he thought enough people would be not be able to tell immediately. Again, why was he so evasive regarding the questions? Looks to me like he was stringing people along. Was it a big scam? No. But I would certainly be put off.

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

What the seller did was cover up the most obvious difference, the lettering on the left side. What he didn't do was cover up the bar code completely. My guess is because he didn't want to cover up too much of the cover (arousing suspicion). If he didn't want to block the sig on the comic next to it as somebody suggested, he still could have arranged it to show more of the comic in question. Yes, with due diligence, you could have deduced it was the Mexican variant. I'm assuming he thought enough people would be not be able to tell immediately. Again, why was he so evasive regarding the questions? Looks to me like he was stringing people along. Was it a big scam? No. But I would certainly be put off.

 

The words "The New 52!" are missing on the Mexican version. That's the most obvious difference.

[1Cool]

What the seller did was cover up the most obvious difference, the lettering on the left side. What he didn't do was cover up the bar code completely. My guess is because he didn't want to cover up too much of the cover (arousing suspicion). If he didn't want to block the sig on the comic next to it as somebody suggested, he still could have arranged it to show more of the comic in question. Yes, with due diligence, you could have deduced it was the Mexican variant. I'm assuming he thought enough people would be not be able to tell immediately. Again, why was he so evasive regarding the questions? Looks to me like he was stringing people along. Was it a big scam? No. But I would certainly be put off.

 

The words "The New 52!" are missing on the Mexican version. That's the most obvious difference.

 

Great info and I'll definitely be less likely to be tricked in the future.

[vaillant]

I wonder why some people are annoyed by Andrew's thread – you know he likes to think out loud and he was just honestly asking for an opinion as he is convinced the seller was purposely misrepresenting the book in the group picture.

 

It’s not like he just starts a thread "to whine because he lost a great flipping deal". Even if he clearly wanted to buy the book to resell it, the purpose of this thread was just to ask which impression such a situation or "sale strategy" makes on other people.

 

And why some of you have always to be so "smart" and sarcastic when one is just asking for an opinion?

[vaillant]

As a side note, I am surprised to see how these Mexican books more or less match the American originals, both in format and graphic layout.

[1Cool]

I wonder why some people are annoyed by Andrew's thread – you know he likes to think out loud and he was just honestly asking for an opinion as he is convinced the seller was purposely misrepresenting the book in the group picture.

 

It’s not like he just starts a thread "to whine because he lost a great flipping deal". Even if he clearly wanted to buy the book to resell it, the purpose of this thread was just to ask which impression such a situation or "sale strategy" makes on other people.

 

And why some of you have always to be so "smart" and sarcastic when one is just asking for an opinion?

 

I think the fact that I wanted to buy the book for resale soured the discussion from the get go. Some people do not like resellers . . flipper or whatever title you want to put on it and they would rather attack the person rather then discuss the issue.

 

It sounds like half the group did not think the guy did anything wrong and the other half would have taken offense to the tactic - sounds like a good topic to me.

[vaillant]

More than "taken offense" which sounds pretty strong, I would say he’s been moderately dishonest (if he did it on purpose) but still dishonest.

 

I mean that he was not trying to sell you the Mexican at the price of the American, but just trying to "pimp his sales", like americans say, right?

[1Cool]

More than "taken offense" which sounds pretty strong, I would say he’s been moderately dishonest (if he did it on purpose) but still dishonest.

 

I mean that he was not trying to sell you the Mexican at the price of the American, but just trying to "pimp his sales", like americans say, right?

 

You are correct. I didn't feel cheated - I felt tricked. Way lesser of an offense for sure but still a sales tactic that rubbed me the wrong way.

[raybowles]

I don't think anyone's agreeing with the seller. They aren't seeing enough to divine his intent.

 

Did you notice the book before the Hughes appears to be signed? And that one of the sigs would be covered if he put the Hughes in front?

 

While it's possible he was hiding what the book was, it's also possible he was trying NOT to hide the sigs on the other book.

 

Without some more affirmative act or statement from the seller it's guessing.

 

No one's agreeing with the seller, but no one seems to know for sure what he meant one way or the other

 

 

This makes sense since nobody knows for sure the intentions of the seller. IMO he was trying to deceive people but who knows for sure. I can also understand why the OP was upset about his time being wasted. What I don't understand is how some of the members who posted here can state that nobody knows for sure the intentions of the seller but automatically assume the OP was only upset because he could not flip a comic for a fast profit. So I guess we should not assume any bad intentions from the seller but we should assume bad intentions from the OP?

 

IMO the OP is upset for the reasons he stated and therefore there is no reason not to believe him. I don't think he has an agenda. He is just giving his opinion on a comic topic which is one of the purposes of this message board.

 

 

[FineCollector]

I think we're addressing several issues at once.

 

1 - did the seller intend to obscure the book to drum up attention? Probably. If he was up to date on FMV, he knew what kind of attention it would get.

 

2 - is the OP right to be upset that it wasn't a high end US copy? Not really. If it looked shifty, and you stuck around, that's on you.

 

3 - was the OP right to back out of a deal because he was expecting a different book? No, 100% wrong. You make a deal, you man up to it.

 

Does that about cover it?

[AmazingComics413]

All this talk about being sneaky made me think of Mr, Deeds, a timeless cinematic classic.

 

[EC ed]

I think we're addressing several issues at once.

 

1 - did the seller intend to obscure the book to drum up attention? Probably. If he was up to date on FMV, he knew what kind of attention it would get.

 

2 - is the OP right to be upset that it wasn't a high end US copy? Not really. If it looked shifty, and you stuck around, that's on you.

 

3 - was the OP right to back out of a deal because he was expecting a different book? No, 100% wrong. You make a deal, you man up to it.

 

Does that about cover it?

 

Nice delineation.

 

#1 is the only one I disagree with...specifically, I think the word 'Probably' is too strong...if for no other reason, because of RMA's point that one of the most glaring differences between the books is in an area that is clearly visible in the picture.

[RockMyAmadeus]

I think we're addressing several issues at once.

 

1 - did the seller intend to obscure the book to drum up attention? Probably. If he was up to date on FMV, he knew what kind of attention it would get.

 

2 - is the OP right to be upset that it wasn't a high end US copy? Not really. If it looked shifty, and you stuck around, that's on you.

 

3 - was the OP right to back out of a deal because he was expecting a different book? No, 100% wrong. You make a deal, you man up to it.

 

Does that about cover it?

 

Nice delineation.

 

#1 is the only one I disagree with...specifically, I think the word 'Probably' is too strong...if for no other reason, because of RMA's point that one of the most glaring differences between the books is in an area that is clearly visible in the picture.

 

Yes, there's no question about it. If you know what the book is, you know that it is clearly and obviously not "the valuable one"...there's no question, if you know what you're looking at.

 

I've seen that variant before, but not the Mexican one, so it took me all of 5 minutes to find the two with Google, and see if there were any obvious differences, and there are, glaringly so.

 

You have to know your books. Was the seller purposely hiding something? Maybe. But an informed buyer would have been able to tell immediately, and simply asked for confirmation.

 

[rodan57]

Come on, 1Cool...the book is obviously and clearly not the original variant you were looking for....

 

here's the original:

 

 

and here's the Mexican:

 

 

There was plenty of information available in that picture to clearly determine this wasn't the valuable one.

 

Due diligence, my friend. Due diligence.

 

I agree. The Mexican book is clearly a lot bigger.

[That Ron Dude]

The world is full of sneaks, and many, many other kinds of people that I would describe by words I can't use on the board.

 

So....

 

Keep your guard up but don't get cynical.

 

If there is a next time know you are dealing with someone who can't be trusted.