General discussion thread - keep the other threads clean 29 29

[bababooey]

Aren't all the mystery box sales threads breaking rule #6 from the usage guidelines ?

 

Rule #6

It must list specific books with purchase prices. It is acceptable to bulk price, and/or to note that package discounts may be available, but you must list a starting price that you WILL sell for.

 

Isn't a mystery box a bulk price?

I don't think so because you're not selling a "specific book" for a specific price, you're selling a chance to acquire specific books.

 

I think some of the guys who do this sort of thing well (clearing out stock/giving decent value) are still breaking the same rule but I think the mods just look the other way - because some guys are just unloading stuff that people do want.

 

 

[Mayor006]

My

 

I think a better model for this type of sale would look like this (involves less money): $50 would buy you 20-25 desirable raw books (that would equal the value of $50). Ten boxes with 1-2 winning nice slabs. I don't see an issue with this type of sale, because the buyer is getting value.

 

I think the issue with the other sale is (1) the high price, (2) almost all participants are losing, and (3) it's hard to not have hard feelings in the end.

 

R

 

and of most of the mystery box sales I've seen and the one I even ran myself, this is pretty much the setup. You get value paramount to what you put in, you have the opportunity to score nicely, but in the end the seller unloads a lot of books, both raw and slabbed.

[seanfingh]

Aren't all the mystery box sales threads breaking rule #6 from the usage guidelines ?

 

Rule #6

It must list specific books with purchase prices. It is acceptable to bulk price, and/or to note that package discounts may be available, but you must list a starting price that you WILL sell for.

 

Isn't a mystery box a bulk price?

I don't think so because you're not selling a "specific book" for a specific price, you're selling a chance to acquire specific books.

 

I think some of the guys who do this sort of thing well (clearing out stock/giving decent value) are still breaking the same rule but I think the mods just look the other way - because some guys are just unloading stuff that people do want.

 

 

I suppose reading the plain language you are right. If the person showed all the books that were in the mix and said you are going to get x number of these books in a random fashion based upon your purchase price, the aggregation of the purchase prices for the books would technically be a bulk sale, but even then, that would be splitting a lot of hairs just to be technically acceptable.

[Speedy-D]

Here's a new idea. How about a Mystery Packaging sale.

 

I'll sell 10 copies of the same book... say, Walking Dead 108 in raw 9.8. The winner will get their copy shipped Priority Mail, carefully packed in bubblewrap and a Mylar and double-boxed. The losers will all get the same book, but shipped Media Mail in yellow envelopes with no cardboard.

 

Takers?

 

the good one please

[Speedy-D]

I think all this discussion adds too much validity to the sale in question. They guy is trying to make a quick $4K and get rid of his drek in the process, without putting in any work.

[miraclemet]

on a different note, someone is trying to sell a book right now saying theirs is the ONLY one with WHITE PQ... and thats not true.

 

(I've come across 3 others just looking at GPA data)

 

lesson is, don't believe everyone's sales pitch, and do your own research.

 

 

[seanfingh]

[sakaridis]

on a different note, someone is trying to sell a book right now saying theirs is the ONLY one with WHITE PQ... and thats not true.

 

(I've come across 3 others just looking at GPA data)

 

lesson is, don't believe everyone's sales pitch, and do your own research.

 

I'm not saying this is necessarily the case here (since I don't know which book or sales thread you're referring to), but it might simply be a situation where the seller doesn't know about there being other WP copies, or him/her being misinformed, for some reason.

 

I think that a polite email to the seller explaining the mistake might be a good idea in this case.

[miraclemet]

I've PMed him to no response.

[joecgcmaniac]

on a different note, someone is trying to sell a book right now saying theirs is the ONLY one with WHITE PQ... and thats not true.

 

(I've come across 3 others just looking at GPA data)

 

lesson is, don't believe everyone's sales pitch, and do your own research.

 

 

Kind of like the sales thread for the WD #1 9.8 that said it was the most perfect example out there, even though it was a 9.8, and stating that only 20% were black labeled, not 50/50.

[mschmidt]

Yeah, there seems to be an awful lot of carnival barking in the sales threads these days ...

[joecgcmaniac]

Yeah, there seems to be an awful lot of carnival barking in the sales threads these days ...

 

I'm going to start a mystery box sales thread.

 

Forty boxes available. $150 a box. One box will have $2000 cash in it. The other 39 will have $30 cash each.

 

It would be a better bargain than the other sales thread.

 

 

[I like pie]

[joecgcmaniac]

At least the cash would make sure that there was a concrete dollar amount.

 

A seller could say $100 worth of books, but if that is just guide value and not real-world value, the buyer might end up with books that they would only get $5 out of.

 

 

[AJD]

Here's a new idea. How about a Mystery Packaging sale.

 

I'll sell 10 copies of the same book... say, Walking Dead 108 in raw 9.8. The winner will get their copy shipped Priority Mail, carefully packed in bubblewrap and a Mylar and double-boxed. The losers will all get the same book, but shipped Media Mail in yellow envelopes with no cardboard.

 

Takers?

 

 

Genius.

[A.Romeo]

in response to all the speculation going on here in this thread over the mystery boxes.

 

My goal for a mystery box thread was to have a huge prize and have a lot of people get the chance to win the prize. Many times I've seen mystery box threads on here and people will respond that they wish they were on earlier in the day so they could participate, spots filling up quickly, etc. So I put a high cap on it.

 

Secondly nobody has done a huge prize as part of the mystery boxes threads that I have seen. I personally like games of chance where there is a big prize awarded so I tried to incorporate it into a mystery box thread.

 

Unfortunately it didn't pan out and many felt odds were to far apart and content wasn't good enough for the asking price. There were however, a few people who were interested in getting the big prize in the end. I think I uncovered a style of mystery box thread that hasn't been tried before, it just needs to be revised. I think there are many people out there that like the idea of winning a big prize for a significantly smaller entry fee.

 

Miraclemet has been very insightful through PM's and we have been discussing various ideas on how to make something like this work.

 

1. Boxes will have to be more even across the board. Some will have more value in them (because of the big winner) some will have less value but it needs to not be such a variance based upon the buy in fee.

 

2. Participants need to be limited. Ive tried to figure out a way to make it so everyone could partake if they wanted to but I'm having trouble making the numbers work. (raffle?)

 

Anyway whether its good or bad at least I gave a few of you some good discussion for the past few days even if it was at my expense

[miraclemet]

I'll say this about Romeo, he's been receptive to feedback (in the sales thread, in this thread, and via PMs) and hasn't run off.

 

Different topic....

 

know what's awesome? When someone says "GPA is all over on this book" and then prices it at $$$ and cites what a similar copy is listed for on ebay... and then you go look at the GPA on the book and its relatively level, and average sale price is about 40% less than the asking price in the thread....

 

reminds me of another sales thread that didnt mention GPA on any of his books except one when he pointed out "last recorded GPA sale" as a reference point. Went and checked. It was a 220% outlier vs all other sales in the last two years (and there has since been a "normal price" sale on ebay, so I guess it wasnt some big market swing)

 

statistics are great, you can use them to say anything...

 

 

[Sqeggs]

I'll say this about Romeo, he's been receptive to feedback (in the sales thread, in this thread, and via PMs) and hasn't run off.

 

Different topic....

 

know what's awesome? When someone says "GPA is all over on this book" and then prices it at $$$ and cites what a similar copy is listed for on ebay... and then you go look at the GPA on the book and its relatively level, and average sale price is about 40% less than the asking price in the thread....

 

reminds me of another sales thread that didnt mention GPA on any of his books except one when he pointed out "last recorded GPA sale" as a reference point. Went and checked. It was a 220% outlier vs all other sales in the last two years (and there has since been a "normal price" sale on ebay, so I guess it wasnt some big market swing)

 

statistics are great, you can use them to say anything...

 

 

Yeah, you see a lot of abuse of GPA even by some long-time sellers who clearly know better. It seems to me that if you quote GPA, you have to go with full disclosure and not cherry pick high values.

 

The sales threads seem to be deteriorating into a buyer beware zone.

[A.Romeo]

Are the sales of rock magazines allowed in the mixed thread. (circus, creem, rock scene, etc?) They aren't comic related so I'm not sure. Same thing for MAD magazine?

[Bio-Rupp]

Are the sales of rock magazines allowed in the mixed thread. (circus, creem, rock scene, etc?) They aren't comic related so I'm not sure. Same thing for MAD magazine?

 

 

Scooby Doo was just banned today sir