• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

General discussion thread - keep the other threads clean
29 29

Started by Transplant,

35,153 posts in this topic

CBT

CBT

Posted
Posted (edited)

has he sold anything to someone on the boards overstating the grade? It's hard to follow this conversation and see what happened in what order.

 

But, 5 negs out of over 2000 sales on ebay and no bad behavior on the actual forums, seems like a lot of hearsay and conjecture.

 

What if the ebay listing was just a re-list from a time when he had it graded higher before getting others opinions. If you have hundreds of listings, i dont know.

Edited by CBT
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dr. Balls

Dr. Balls

Posted
Posted
But taking PGM comments and then posting another grade, I don't believe that's necessarily shady or scamy. Just means you don't agree.

 

But what if he DID agree with the PGM opinions??

 

What if he agreed with them in the PGM thread and when asked about a grade of a book here, gave the same opinion - but that same book was listed higher on eBay?

 

He could be getting grades in PGM and then saying something like "Well, they say it's a 8.0, but it looks really nice in-hand - I think it's a 9.0" *changes mind*.

 

I mean, the explanations could go either way on something like this. As much as I like the Board Detectives getting on things, I don't like the idea of insinuating wrong-doing based on heresay and observation.

 

I am all for putting the spotlight on scammers and sellers who don't honor refunds or rip you off. I think this whole line of conversation (whether wrong or right) has really gone down the wrong path. No one has been bilked, no one has lost money and most importantly, no one here has had a problem with buying a 5.5 that is really a 4.0 from Chip.

 

As cliche´as it sounds, we really should be sticking to innocent until proven guilty. There is nothing here but comments on what people think has happened, without anyone even having evidence of anything in-hand. Yes, there's plenty of conversations where he admits it looks like a 4.0, but until you have that book in your hand to say, 'yes, it's a 4.0' or 'no, it's a 5.5' - it's just speculation on someone else's mindset on a subjective topic.

 

But, you can't put the genie back in the bottle. I just hope that things mellow out a bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
divad

divad

Posted
Posted
THIS will answer all of your questions

 

Negative

 

Neutral

 

To me all this shows for the negative feedback is people not using the return feature. Or asking for part of a refund back. Also that if I bid on his books, that I will grade them down 2 full grades, and bid accordingly.

 

 

-Kystix

 

The prices of those books from his Neg/Neutral feedback are like $1-$6 books, with a couple $10+ books. I imagine no one even wants to deal with returning a 99¢ item - so the only recourse is to leave appropriate feedback. This is a great reason not to sell drek on Ebay. A neg from a 99¢ item isn't ever worth the hit to your reputation.

 

Chip doesn't seem to have a "business model" . . . He just throws 'em up there and sees if they sell. lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites
HarveySwick

HarveySwick

Posted
Posted

(1) Start a PGM thread asking for opinions.

(2) Receive opinions of a grade range of 3.5/4.0.

(3) Agree with this grade range.

(4) List the book on eBay as 5.5 anyway.

(5) Respond to inquiries here re: the grade that it's a 4.0.

 

Repeat several other times with other books.

 

I guess this is about as concise as you can get. If he agrees that a book is a 4.0... why list it as a 5.5 on eBay? (shrug)

 

Does it not matter to anyone because - "eh, it's on eBay" and not here? Even if he is advertising his eBay auctions here?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
seanfingh

seanfingh

Posted
Posted (edited)
Divad changed his avatar to... James Franco? I can't tell who that is...

 

It's Crumb.

 

Sorry for the double tap. I was just scandalized that Crumb went unrecognized.

Edited by seanfingh
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dr. Balls

Dr. Balls

Posted
Posted
Divad changed his avatar to... James Franco? I can't tell who that is...

 

It's Crumb.

 

Sorry for the double tap. I was just scandalized that Crumb went unrecognized.

 

He'll be recognized now - he looks like James Franco in a sweater!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
divad

divad

Posted
Posted
In the Giving Tree thread, Chip Cataldo posted a Strange Tales #115 that he graded 4.0. Another boardie pointed out to me that he had this same book listed on ebay as a 5.5.

 

So I did a little bit of digging. Huge grade bumps from PGM to eBay and there are a LOT of examples. Here are some:

 

PGM: DD 7 3.5 and he said "that's about what I had it pegged at". --------------------- ebay 5.0

 

PGM: Avengers 55 5.5/6.0 ------------------- ebay 7.5

 

PGM: Captain Marvel 1 4.0 ------------------ ebay 5.0

 

PGM: Captain Marvel 26 8.5 --------------- ebay 9.2

 

PGM: Iron Man 30 6.0 ------------------- ebay 8.0

 

PGM: Iron Man 76 8.0 ------------------- ebay 9.2

 

PGM: TOS 31 4.5 ----------------- ebay 6.0

 

PGM: FF 74 4.5 ------------------ ebay 7.0

 

PGM: ASM 33 4.5 ------------------- ebay 6.0

 

Look at any of his other PGM and you'll almost certainly see a hefty grade bump when placed on ebay.

 

To me, it looks like purposefully overgrading for a higher wining bid. What makes it worse is that's he advertises directly through this site.

 

I had a thought that maybe the grade disparity was due to undergrading in the PGM sub-forum. Not so. Why list the ST115 here as a 4.0 and on ebay as a 5.5? Or the DD 7, where he agrees with the 3.5 average but posts it on ebay as a 5.0? It reeks of serial overgrading.

 

Thoughts?

 

I don't think it's a marketplace issue truthfully, outing him as knowingly overstating grades on e-bay doesn't look good at all ...I don't think there's anything actionable other than sharing what you found to warn others.

 

You did that & Chip obviously is doing some things wrong, his only defense is that he starts his auctions at a low price. On e-bay grade/price go hand in hand, I usually ignore what a seller quotes & look at scans anyways. That still doesn't make him right.

 

I personally think this is just TGT butthurt carrying over to here. There seems to have been a pattern of judging Chip and Chip's offers harshly, one or more people over there have been continuing to take a keen interest in his participation in that thread since the beginning.

 

I'm sure people are busy cleaning up their e-bay history, post history, squaring up charitable history, photobuckets, facebooks, etc...so that they can come over to participate The Giving Tree thread, give away a book (as per PGM results) only to have it get researched enough to blow up in their faces like this has for Chip.

 

Surely with all of this disclosure at Chip's expense we'll learn who did the "pointing" shortly.

 

:whistle:

Another boardie ____________ pointed out to me that he had this same book listed on ebay as a 5.5.

 

No disrespect to those that are honestly invested in trying to make the trading threads work, but it really does seem like it's the same 10-15 people who are in a constant state of butthurt over them. I'm a little tired of seeing these silly PIF/TGT/Trading thread vendettas spill over into the other areas around here.

 

So you don't think the point Boboset raised is legitimate, leaving aside what may have motivated him or the person who brought the issue to his attention?

I think he raised a legitimate point, and glad he did. I will wait for Chip to chime in before jumping to any conclusions, in case there's something I have missed.

 

Just so anyone new to the conversation doesn't have to spend 10 minutes finding it . . . :whistle:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CBT

CBT

Posted
Posted

(4) List the book on eBay as 5.5 anyway.

 

this is the only actual issue. Which, if its true as present, warrants a beware of this seller post on comics general at most, but no really an issue for the Forum Sales area until it were done on the boards.

 

I would not defend this behaviour if it occurs at all, but there are so many unknowns. I listed two, when was the listing made, was it just a re-list of a past listing.

Others have said:

-more than one copy?

-disagrees with the grade?

etc etc

 

 

Even if he messaged a boardie on here saying 4.0, is he being conservative on here just in case. Maybe he thinks its a 5.0, but offer it here as 4.0 to cover his bases.

 

I mean, I generally grade .2 lower on the boards then I do on ebay when I run sales threads (on 9.0+ books). I actually grade 0.2 lower on ebay from what i really think it is as well.

 

If I think a book is 9.6 at best, I would listed "NM (9.4)" on ebay, and "9.2-9.4" on the boards. Being more conservative when selling on the boards can be ensuring everyone is happy no matter what, not necessarily scamming people on ebay.

 

I mean, it would be a lot worse if he listed it something on ebay as a 4.0 and tried to pawn it off on the boards as 5.5. Then I'd be the first one questioning it in this thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CBT

CBT

Posted
Posted

Just so anyone new to the conversation doesn't have to spend 10 minutes finding it . . . :whistle:

 

that's a lot of big grade jumps, and I think very warranted to bring to peoples attention. It's interesting that he has 1000s of positive feedbacks, so 99.7% of his customers are happy.

 

Still not a "sales thread" discussion until there is something untoward here though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CBT

CBT

Posted
Posted
The grade is the grade is the grade. Personally, I believe in grading accurately. I don't customize the grade for the particular forum. ;)

 

The grade is dependent on the grader, I grade more conservatively than everyone else, because it ensures happy customers and no complaints. Plus people always feel good buying a book they do not question the grade on.

 

Happy customers = return customers.

 

People that grade close to the edge, and get it wrong even once, can wipe out more money then the small differences that come from grading ultra conservatively. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jsilverjanet

jsilverjanet

Posted
Posted (edited)
The grade is the grade is the grade. Personally, I believe in grading accurately. I don't customize the grade for the particular forum. ;)

 

isn't that because most of your books are NM or better?

 

let me rephrase this, it helps when most of your books are NM or better

Edited by jsilverjanet
Link to comment
Share on other sites
CBT

CBT

Posted
Posted (edited)
The grade is the grade is the grade. Personally, I believe in grading accurately. I don't customize the grade for the particular forum. ;)

 

isn't that because most of your books are NM or better?

 

let me rephrase this, it helps when most of your books are NM or better

 

his implication of "inaccuracy" is spurious. Grading will always be subjective. If I grade a book as 9.2, and its actually a 9.9, that's not grading "inaccurately". It's grading conservatively. Grading is ultimately a tolerance level, I grade at Space Shuttle level tolerances :) If others want to grade with lower margins of error, best of luck to them.

Edited by CBT
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
29 29
Go to topic listing