Mile High Comics' "NM" DareDevil 43 (Captain America Kirby cover)

[comicparadox]

I purchased my first mail order book from the esteemed Mile High Comics purveyors last week. It arrived today. Free shipping and 20% off - I should have known it was too good to be true.

 

The book arrived well packaged and by USPS Priority - great, I thought. I carefully opened it up, saw the spine - perfect, I thought! Staples every bit as good as those described by comic-keys - perfect entry and registration. No restoration or color touch. I was so pleased.

 

A bit of tanning, but I'd accept that. THEN I looked at the right-hand cover margin. About a one-inch by 1/8 inch torn cover, with the torn piece missing...What a shame. Truly, without that (significant) defect, the book was beautiful.

 

Now my dilemma - should I chalk it up to experience and keep the book or should I return the rag? (I don't have a way to uplink the image yet, but hopefully the description conveys the problem).

 

I've always liked that cover...What to do???

[Aces]

[#@$%!!!] and moan and return it.

You already did the first part by posting here.

 

Do not buy high grade books without a scan.

Unless it's from someone you trust.

[Aman619]

return it for a full refund.... but its too late to shut up since you went public about it. So be prepared for friction from MH. Though, with a piece missing they should accept it as an oversight.

[the blob]

i would suspect that is a situation of an employee plucking a daredevil 43 off the top of the stack of DD 43s they have (probably 300 high) without carefully looking at it, not intentional evil doing

 

but yes, get your refund/new book. believe me, they probably have 50 more "NM" copies without big rips. shipping you another one isn't going to kill them.

[awe4one]

i would suspect that is a situation of an employee plucking a daredevil 43 off the top of the stack of DD 43s they have (probably 300 high) without carefully looking at it, not intentional evil doing

 

Maybe...but this happens far too often to just disregard as a minor oversight. I should post my NM Thor Annual #3 with the chunk missing on the front cover...

 

Jim

[BachelorOfComix]

Maybe...but this happens far too often to just disregard as a minor oversight. I should post my NM Thor Annual #3 with the chunk missing on the front cover...

 

Jim

Are you sure it ain't just a "bindery chunk"?

[awe4one]

Maybe...but this happens far too often to just disregard as a minor oversight. I should post my NM Thor Annual #3 with the chunk missing on the front cover...

 

Jim

Are you sure it ain't just a "bindery chunk"?

 

You're right...I should submit it to CGC ASAP...

 

Jim

[BachelorOfComix]

Maybe...but this happens far too often to just disregard as a minor oversight. I should post my NM Thor Annual #3 with the chunk missing on the front cover...

 

Jim

Are you sure it ain't just a "bindery chunk"?

 

You're right...I should submit it to CGC ASAP...

 

Jim

[awe4one]

 

You know...you just gave me a great idea for a new CGC promotion to boost submissions...

 

Miss 'em Days...

 

Submit your comics during the campaigns and CGC guarantees certain defects will be overlooked. Bindery chucks? No problem...submit on Tuesdays. Tanning pages...we're color blind on Wednesdays. Non-color breaking creases...Thursdays the lights are dimmed to save on the electric bill. And Fridays? Freisen's day off...

 

Jim

[BachelorOfComix]

 

You know...you just gave me a great idea for a new CGC promotion to boost submissions...

 

Miss 'em Days...

 

Submit your comics during the campaigns and CGC guarantees certain defects will be overlooked. Bindery chucks? No problem...submit on Tuesdays. Tanning pages...we're color blind on Wednesdays. Non-color breaking creases...Thursdays the lights are dimmed to save on the electric bill. And Fridays? Freisen's day off...

 

Jim

[the blob]

and then you hear stories here about Vfs bought from them that came back 9.6ses, etc.

 

seems like they really do have a stack/long box of each issue and they randomly take the first one off the top no matter what grade you've ordered.

[jimm94]

Mile High "guarantees" that their NM comics will come back as at least 8.5's from CGC, so I think a person who receives a book in lesser condition than that truly has a legitimate complaint.

 

I wonder if they have ever banned anyone from future purchases who expressed dissatisfaction about books that far off the mark...

[rob_react]

and then you hear stories here about Vfs bought from them that came back 9.6ses, etc.

 

From Mile High? Point me to one such story. I must have missed those stories somehow.

[Aman619]

Mile High "guarantees" that their NM comics will come back as at least 8.5's from CGC, so I think a person who receives a book in lesser condition than that truly has a legitimate complaint.

 

I wonder if they have ever banned anyone from future purchases who expressed dissatisfaction about books that far off the mark...

 

 

some of my "NM's" had tape and folds and large cover tears, as well multiple spine wounds.

 

As for some 'NMs" coming back as 9.6s and 9.8s, well, Im sure a few have. Remember they grade all books into 5 wide groupings from Fair to NM/M. So to them, all books above VF are NM/M (I forget if they even have a VF category...) Basically, Chuck buys thousands of books at a clip at conventions. and ships them to the warehouse where they are mass-graded as quickly as possible to save money and time (most of these books are only worth a few bucks if that).... Most books arent even rebagged - - they just slap a sticker on the old crappy bags they were bought in.

 

So anything that at first glance looks "real nice" goes down as a NM/M. They miss a lot of defects that way. And obviously, some of these mass-accumulated books WILL be 9.6s and 9.8s wont they? So every now and then a sweet book will get shipped to your door.

 

However, its obvious to me that Chuck could easily and profitably shake up his grading MO a bit. Since 9.4s thru 9.8s sell for massive premiums in todays market, mining these gems and marketing them at true retail would be a lot of found money, rather than blowing them out the door with the swill at 80% off. So, he should take EVERY book in the NM/M pile and RE-GRADE them to select the highest true NM/M copies. The extra income they will bring from collectors who order from the ONLY wanting such copies will make up for the extra effort.

 

---- And, serve to attract the "mint freaks" as he lovingly and respectfully refers to them who avoid MHC like the plague now. WIN/WIn for all!

[chrisco37]

Do you want to buy from them again?

 

If so, keep the book.

 

Return it and you may get banned like a few of us already are.

[jimm94]

Aman,

 

I agree that MH could bring in some extra business by carrying a small inventory that caters specifically to the high grade crowd. They could also potentially be a great source to buy key issues from in any grade if there were more specific grading tiers for those books. However, your comment about them charging a premium for ultra high grade books would not work, since they are already ask more than top dollar for many of their "better" comics. I still believe that there are plenty of good deals to be had on low dollar bronze, copper and moderns on their site. However, the pricing for many of their golden and silver age books is borderline insulting, even with their constant sales.

[awe4one]

I find the deals are less and less frequent in favor of overinflated, and in some cases downright absurd, prices even with the discounts. Chuck has effectively priced his comics to similar levels that they were before the "discount everyday" promotions. So to compensate, he's increasing the discounts. A couple of years ago, 30-50% were the max you'd see on the site and that was only a couple times a year. Now he has discounted, and increase his retail prices, to the point where 60% and higher, all the time, is required to move any comics. And he's essentially overused the free shipping option to the point where it's expected and not seen as a benefit. This was clearly evident in how quickly it was re-instituted when he tried to cut back on the shipping recently. Chuck has put himself in quite the pickle with nowhere to go but the continued downward spiral. Some call him a great businessman...but the more I see what he's been doing the last couple of years makes me question that assessment.

 

Jim

[the blob]

"From Mile High? Point me to one such story. I must have missed those stories somehow."

 

Somewhere in these threads. It may have been on one of his warehouse thors he has millions of.

[rob_react]

"From Mile High? Point me to one such story. I must have missed those stories somehow."

 

Somewhere in these threads. It may have been on one of his warehouse thors he has millions of.

 

I wonder how many of those he's ever listed at VF.

If you ever run across where the reference to a Mile High VF coming back 9.6 from CGC is, let me know.

[fable]

I've bought a lot of modern books from MH and they are generally spot on "nm" with a few exceptions - i will continue to do this, particularly with the free shipping to the UK (tends to take 10 days - quicker than almost all my ebay purchases).

 

Of the pre '75 books i have bought all have been badly overgraded.

 

Conclusion - for books over the last 20 years buy (the discounts are great) - anything older only buy slabbed (from MH).