Weird situation on Comic Connect 0

[Cushing Fan]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to vent here and get any thoughts on my situation. I had been looking for a particular graded  9.0 book and found it on both Comic Connect and Comic Link. As Comic Link has the book listed in an upcoming auction I checked out Comic Connect which had the book for sale on their exchange. I made an offer, and was offered a counteroffer which I accepted and filled out the information to complete the sale. The next day I get a call from someone at Comic Connect telling me that the book had actually sold a few minutes before on eBay and so I could not get the book. Here's where I get annoyed - I know for a fact that the book did not sell on eBay because I had been checking the listings there for that particular book and even checked the sold listings. I told this to the Comic Connect guy who just repeated the book was already sold. Very frustrating and I don't think I would try and do business with Comic Connect again.

Chris

[Bomber-Bob]

16 minutes ago, Cushing Fan said:

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to vent here and get any thoughts on my situation. I had been looking for a particular graded  9.0 book and found it on both Comic Connect and Comic Link. As Comic Link has the book listed in an upcoming auction I checked out Comic Connect which had the book for sale on their exchange. I made an offer, and was offered a counteroffer which I accepted and filled out the information to complete the sale. The next day I get a call from someone at Comic Connect telling me that the book had actually sold a few minutes before on eBay and so I could not get the book. Here's where I get annoyed - I know for a fact that the book did not sell on eBay because I had been checking the listings there for that particular book and even checked the sold listings. I told this to the Comic Connect guy who just repeated the book was already sold. Very frustrating and I don't think I would try and do business with Comic Connect again.

Chris

That's actually not a reflection on CC, it's a reflection on the seller. I never sold anything on CC but I believe it works just like Comiclink where a Seller lists a book and CC does not have physical possession. This is a situation where the Seller simply backed out of the deal.  SInce CC does not have possession there's not much they can do. 

[Yorick]

That is unfortunate.  I think all collectors have a similar story.

I won a very rare book on ebay many years ago for $175.  After the auction closed, I was informed by the seller that they could not find the book in their inventory and they cancelled the sale.  It took me four years to find another copy and I had to shell out over $600 to obtain it.

On Heritage, I was outbid by $1 on a sale over $200 in total value.  When the prices reach a certain point, the incremental bid amount was supposed to increase (for example, if the bid price is between $0-50, bids can be made in $1 amounts.  When the bid price is $51-100, bids can only be made in $5 increments, etc.).  I had the high bid prior to the auction closing, so for my max bid to be over-taken there should have been a $10 difference over my max bid.  There was not, and HA would not rectify the problem.

In your situation, it is not ComicConnect's fault.  The third party seller ruined the deal for you.  My problem with ComicConnect is how long it takes them to ship books.

[Cushing Fan]

Thanks guys for the input and I understand that Comic Connect didn't have the book on their possession and it was seller's responsibility. Now I look back on Comic Connect and they list the book as sold for $40 more than the counteroffer I accepted. Of well, at least I didn't send in the check immeadiately and there is still another copy coming up in CL's auction.

[1950's war comics]

hope good luck and good fortune comes your way this time

[Bomber-Bob]

1 hour ago, Cushing Fan said:

Thanks guys for the input and I understand that Comic Connect didn't have the book on their possession and it was seller's responsibility. Now I look back on Comic Connect and they list the book as sold for $40 more than the counteroffer I accepted. Of well, at least I didn't send in the check immeadiately and there is still another copy coming up in CL's auction.

Now this new bit of information does reflect bad on Comic Connect. They should not have allowed the +40.00 sale to happen. I would call them again on this. An accepted counteroffer should be legally binding ? Hoping they care about their image, tell them you are taking this to the Internet.

[Bomber-Bob]

1 hour ago, Yorick said:

On Heritage, I was outbid by $1 on a sale over $200 in total value.  When the prices reach a certain point, the incremental bid amount was supposed to increase (for example, if the bid price is between $0-50, bids can be made in $1 amounts.  When the bid price is $51-100, bids can only be made in $5 increments, etc.).  I had the high bid prior to the auction closing, so for my max bid to be over-taken there should have been a $10 difference over my max bid.  There was not, and HA would not rectify the problem.

 

I had something similar happen to me in a HA auction and here is what happens. Assuming the 200.00 bid was your MAX bid, you probably hit that mark at the end of the auction and it never was the actual high bid. Someone else's high bid of 201.00 surpassed yours. Had your bid  been the actual highest and someone had to put in a new bid, it would have needed to be 210.00 . Make sense ?

[Cushing Fan]

Here is both my email confirmation from Comic Connect and the update on the book being sold at the higher price. Sorry that the book is not CGC graded but the other copy I am looking at is :-)

[Yorick]

2 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

I had something similar happen to me in a HA auction and here is what happens. Assuming the 200.00 bid was your MAX bid, you probably hit that mark at the end of the auction and it never was the actual high bid. Someone else's high bid of 201.00 surpassed yours. Had your bid  been the actual highest and someone had to put in a new bid, it would have needed to be 210.00 . Make sense ?

I agree with what you have written, but that is not my situation.  That was how HA framed the problem when I brought it to their attention.

I had the high bid at $160 (that high bid amount stood for a few days prior to auction close) and my max bid was $200.  Someone else came along a threw down a bid higher than $200, and the resulting "win" was $201.  It should have been $210.  I boycotted buying from HA for almost six months, but then something too good to pass on came up for sale.

[Bomber-Bob]

10 hours ago, Yorick said:

I agree with what you have written, but that is not my situation.  That was how HA framed the problem when I brought it to their attention.

I had the high bid at $160 (that high bid amount stood for a few days prior to auction close) and my max bid was $200.  Someone else came along a threw down a bid higher than $200, and the resulting "win" was $201.  It should have been $210.  I boycotted buying from HA for almost six months, but then something too good to pass on came up for sale.

Sorry but what you described is perfectly legitimate.  Your high bid was 160.00, so someone else had to bid at least 165.00 (assuming at that point a 5.00 increment was needed). He did, in fact he bid 201.00 , which nudged out your max bid of 200.00 .  Your bid of 200.00 was never the high bid. This happens all the time, with all the auction houses. Happened to me personally dozens of times. What you were expecting was for your max bid of 200.00 to 'own' the range of 200 - 210. Unless your max bid is established as the highest bid, that's not how it works. Look at it this way, if you had won with 200.00, the other guy would have been mad because his max bid was higher than yours. I don't know how else to explain it but this is the way auctions work. 

[Bomber-Bob]

12 hours ago, Cushing Fan said:

Here is both my email confirmation from Comic Connect and the update on the book being sold at the higher price. Sorry that the book is not CGC graded but the other copy I am looking at is :-)

I think you have a legitimate complaint. After the seller offered you a counter offer, he probably got a better offer. Before he had a chance to cancel his counter offer, you accepted it. Now if the book was sold on another venue, there's nothing CC can do. However, if it sold on CC, you have a legitimate complaint here. Your acceptance of the counter offer should have been accepted. I think you should call CC again. They should at least offer you some store credit or something. You were definitely wronged.

[Cushing Fan]

1 hour ago, Bomber-Bob said:

I think you have a legitimate complaint. After the seller offered you a counter offer, he probably got a better offer. Before he had a chance to cancel his counter offer, you accepted it. Now if the book was sold on another venue, there's nothing CC can do. However, if it sold on CC, you have a legitimate complaint here. Your acceptance of the counter offer should have been accepted. I think you should call CC again. They should at least offer you some store credit or something. You were definitely wronged.

Thanks Bomber-Bob, I think that I will call CC today about this.

[Cushing Fan]

Well, I sent CC an email yesterday with the screenshots and asked what exactly happened. I got a response back today stating that the book did not sell on eBay (which I knew) but that the seller no longer had the book in their possession - which I would have believed except that the seller sent me two counteroffers, the second which I accepted immediately. Anyway, not really CC's fault but the seller is certainly shady. 

[Yorick]

8 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

Your bid of 200.00 was never the high bid.

My high bid of $200 had me WINNING at the $160 price point.  If someone comes in later throwing down a bid of $201, and then HA lets that $1 surpass my $200 max, THAT is where I have a problem.

[Bomber-Bob]

2 hours ago, Yorick said:

My high bid of $200 had me WINNING at the $160 price point.  If someone comes in later throwing down a bid of $201, and then HA lets that $1 surpass my $200 max, THAT is where I have a problem.

When you were winning at the 160 price point, the new bidder does not know your max bid. As long as he bids at least one increment higher than your 160.00 he can bid anything he wants, even an amount between increments. So he bid 201, which is incrementally higher than 160 = it's a legitimate bid and beats your 200.00 . This is how it works on HA, Clink, all of them.  I realize you don't like it but that's how it works. You can bid between increments and win for as little as 1.00 over the previous bid. In fact, once you get the hang of it, it's fun and challenging to make the proper strategic bid and save yourself money.  The smart play is to NEVER place a max bid that is exactly on increment, always go a little over the increment, never a full increment. 

[Yorick]

Just now, Bomber-Bob said:

When you were winning at the 160 price point, the new bidder does not know your max bid. As long as he bids at least one increment higher than your 160.00 he can bid anything he wants, even an amount between increments. So he bid 201, which is incrementally higher than 160 = it's a legitimate bid and beats your 200.00 . This is how it works on HA, Clink, all of them.  I realize you don't like it but that's how it works. You can bid between increments and win for as little as 1.00 over the previous bid. In fact, once you get the hang of it, it's fun and challenging to make the proper strategic bid and save yourself money.  The smart play is to NEVER place a max bid that is exactly on increment, always go a little over the increment, never a full increment. 

That must be what happened then - despite their incremental bid policy.  When their auctions go "live", it rounds up bids to be exactly on increment.

[Bomber-Bob]

1 hour ago, Yorick said:

That must be what happened then - despite their incremental bid policy.  When their auctions go "live", it rounds up bids to be exactly on increment.

Yes, you are correct. My comments were strictly for the internet bidding.