Jaylam Posted January 14, 2023 Share Posted January 14, 2023 After going through my records of buying from both Metropolis and ComicConnect, they have been very close, usually a half grade plus/minus or equal to that of the CGC grade 90% of the time. I am also very discerning and have either not bought the book to start with based on the images provided or sent back books or requested an adjustment on books I thought were over-graded once I had them in hand, so those misses never got sent to CGC in the first place. I mean, seriously, if you can tell a book is a Fine that is listed as a Very Fine just by the images, why would you proceed to buy it as in the Tales to Astonish #98 as shown above that has at least a 2" color breaking crease (which is really too bad because that book looks amazing otherwise). Here are some examples, all books cleaned and pressed after purchase. Amazing Spider-Man #28, Metro/CC grade 7.5, CGC grade 7.5 Amazing Spider-Man #50, Metro/CC grade 7.0, CGC grade 7.5 Fantastic Four #39, Metro/CC grade, 9.0, CGC grade 8.5 Fantastic Four #49 Metro/CC grade, 5.5, CGC grade 6.5 Justice League of America #43, Metro/CC grade 9.2, CGC grade 9.6 X-Men #64, Metro/CC grade, 9.2, CGC grade 9.2 FoggyNelson, jimjum12 and mysterymachine 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tec-Tac-Toe Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 On 1/14/2023 at 4:57 PM, Jaylam said: After going through my records of buying from both Metropolis and ComicConnect, they have been very close, usually a half grade plus/minus or equal to that of the CGC grade 90% of the time. I am also very discerning and have either not bought the book to start with based on the images provided or sent back books or requested an adjustment on books I thought were over-graded once I had them in hand, so those misses never got sent to CGC in the first place. I mean, seriously, if you can tell a book is a Fine that is listed as a Very Fine just by the images, why would you proceed to buy it as in the Tales to Astonish #98 as shown above that has at least a 2" color breaking crease (which is really too bad because that book looks amazing otherwise). Here are some examples, all books cleaned and pressed after purchase. Amazing Spider-Man #28, Metro/CC grade 7.5, CGC grade 7.5 Amazing Spider-Man #50, Metro/CC grade 7.0, CGC grade 7.5 Fantastic Four #39, Metro/CC grade, 9.0, CGC grade 8.5 Fantastic Four #49 Metro/CC grade, 5.5, CGC grade 6.5 Justice League of America #43, Metro/CC grade 9.2, CGC grade 9.6 X-Men #64, Metro/CC grade, 9.2, CGC grade 9.2 After reading your post I did not recall any of the raw comic books I purchased from MC having scans. To verify I checked an old flash drive on which I would have saved such scans and they did not. I may have (very likely did) requested scans but been informed, as I recall for other raw comic books I was interested in that MC had for sale, that they were not available perhaps since the comic books were priced at about $2,000 or significantly less and not worth MC's time to scan. Of course, as I note in my earlier post in this thread the last raw comic books I purchased from MC was many years ago and, if I recall correctly without checking my grade log, my grade is typically .5 lower than MC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoggyNelson Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 On 1/14/2023 at 4:57 PM, Jaylam said: After going through my records of buying from both Metropolis and ComicConnect, they have been very close, usually a half grade plus/minus or equal to that of the CGC grade 90% of the time. I am also very discerning and have either not bought the book to start with based on the images provided or sent back books or requested an adjustment on books I thought were over-graded once I had them in hand, so those misses never got sent to CGC in the first place. I mean, seriously, if you can tell a book is a Fine that is listed as a Very Fine just by the images, why would you proceed to buy it as in the Tales to Astonish #98 as shown above that has at least a 2" color breaking crease (which is really too bad because that book looks amazing otherwise). Here are some examples, all books cleaned and pressed after purchase. Amazing Spider-Man #28, Metro/CC grade 7.5, CGC grade 7.5 Amazing Spider-Man #50, Metro/CC grade 7.0, CGC grade 7.5 Fantastic Four #39, Metro/CC grade, 9.0, CGC grade 8.5 Fantastic Four #49 Metro/CC grade, 5.5, CGC grade 6.5 Justice League of America #43, Metro/CC grade 9.2, CGC grade 9.6 X-Men #64, Metro/CC grade, 9.2, CGC grade 9.2 You did very well with your purchases ‼️👍 Jaylam and 1950's war comics 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tec-Tac-Toe Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 On 1/13/2023 at 6:36 PM, Larryw7 said: The consigned books are mainly on the Comic Connect site, the regular Metro site is mostly their inventory. I agree with this as to my knowledge (take that for what it is worth) and experience prior to CC most of the comic books that MC had for sale were owned by MC since I almost always (99.9% of the time) received a discount on the asking price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post shadroch Posted January 15, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted January 15, 2023 Paying to have a book cleaned and pressed only to have it grade at or below the sellers original grade is not a win, in my book. Others obviously have different standards. Artboy99, Tec-Tac-Toe, WolverineX and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post blazingbob Posted January 15, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted January 15, 2023 On 1/15/2023 at 12:40 PM, shadroch said: Paying to have a book cleaned and pressed only to have it grade at or below the sellers original grade is not a win, in my book. Others obviously have different standards. The true cost of a book that is graded Cost of book The part that I don't see discussed enough Everybody making money except you on it Shipping company sending Pressing company Grading company Shipping company return Unless you have you own website the selling company Payment company - CC or paypal Tax on profit Yup, I see that $$$$ rolling in greggy, jimjum12, BEAUMONTS and 5 others 6 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadroch Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 On 1/15/2023 at 12:45 PM, blazingbob said: The true cost of a book that is graded Cost of book The part that I don't see discussed enough Everybody making money except you on it Shipping company sending Pressing company Grading company Shipping company return Unless you have you own website the selling company Payment company - CC or paypal Tax on profit Yup, I see that $$$$ rolling in You make it up with volume. Timmay, batman_fan and Larryw7 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaylam Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 On 1/15/2023 at 12:40 PM, shadroch said: Paying to have a book cleaned and pressed only to have it grade at or below the sellers original grade is not a win, in my book. Others obviously have different standards. jimjum12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Cat Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 I'll play along.. bought this as a metropolis 6.5 I think its a stretch but maybe I'm being too critical Artboy99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southern cross Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 On 1/14/2023 at 11:57 AM, Jaylam said: After going through my records of buying from both Metropolis and ComicConnect, they have been very close, usually a half grade plus/minus or equal to that of the CGC grade 90% of the time. I am also very discerning and have either not bought the book to start with based on the images provided or sent back books or requested an adjustment on books I thought were over-graded once I had them in hand, so those misses never got sent to CGC in the first place. I mean, seriously, if you can tell a book is a Fine that is listed as a Very Fine just by the images, why would you proceed to buy it as in the Tales to Astonish #98 as shown above that has at least a 2" color breaking crease (which is really too bad because that book looks amazing otherwise). Here are some examples, all books cleaned and pressed after purchase. Amazing Spider-Man #28, Metro/CC grade 7.5, CGC grade 7.5 Amazing Spider-Man #50, Metro/CC grade 7.0, CGC grade 7.5 Fantastic Four #39, Metro/CC grade, 9.0, CGC grade 8.5 Fantastic Four #49 Metro/CC grade, 5.5, CGC grade 6.5 Justice League of America #43, Metro/CC grade 9.2, CGC grade 9.6 X-Men #64, Metro/CC grade, 9.2, CGC grade 9.2 The reason I bought the TTA 98 as a vf with the crease was not from a image. That book and the raw Big Apple pedigree TTA was bought from their last big catalogue that Metro sent out. No pictures except for the big books so it was bought sight unseen. jimjum12 and Larryw7 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaylam Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 On 1/19/2023 at 2:04 PM, southern cross said: The reason I bought the TTA 98 as a vf with the crease was not from a image. That book and the raw Big Apple pedigree TTA was bought from their last big catalogue that Metro sent out. No pictures except for the big books so it was bought sight unseen. I have never bought a book from them that didn't have images of the book. It is rare that the books they have for sale don't have images. When was it you bought that book? taro90 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southern cross Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 (edited) On 1/19/2023 at 10:08 AM, Jaylam said: I have never bought a book from them that didn't have images of the book. It is rare that the books they have for sale don't have images. When was it you bought that book? I'm on vacation atm. I did keep the receipts but they're back home. Could of been 2004-2007 time frame. It was the last big catalogue that they sent out. From the catalogue I rang them to place my order. I was back in Australia at the time. Hence the $10 credit for the TTA 98 as it would of been more expensive to send one book back to New York. The Big Apple copies I wasn't too worried about as I needed them for my TTA pedigree run and that's why they got graded. The TTA 98 is still raw and has nice white pages with a glossy cover at least. Edited January 19, 2023 by southern cross More info jimjum12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBFan Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 On 1/19/2023 at 2:08 PM, Jaylam said: I have never bought a book from them that didn't have images of the book. It is rare that the books they have for sale don't have images. When was it you bought that book? When it comes to "New Items", Metropolis rarely posts images these days. At this moment, of the first 100 New Items, only 16 have scans, and 2 of those are stock photos. I was considering purchasing a Metropolis book with no scan, graded as a 5.0. The description said "glossy!" I emailed Metropolis, "There are no scans online. How can I be sure it's a 5.0?" Metro replied, "We have not seen the book as it is currently held by its consignor." Metropolis would probably get a lot more of my money if they conducted business like mycomicshop. Consignors' books are always pictured, and mycomicshop does the grading and stands behind it. Apparently, if they misgrade a book and it ends up being returned, mycomicshop simply resells the book. The consignor is never bothered about it, because they got paid within days of the original sale. taro90, thehumantorch and Point Five 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvelcollector Posted January 22, 2023 Share Posted January 22, 2023 I would not trust them with raw books. Once a coupon was clipped, and they insisted it was the high grade they assigned it. They claimed it was noted in their cryptic notes. I didn't see it; not sure it was there. Nevertheless, it shows they know nothing about grading and are...sketchy in that area. taro90 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWO Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 I contacted ComicConnect/Metropolis and they responded positively offering to work something out. I figure it's only fair that if I'm going to criticize their grading, I'll also post and give them credit where it's due. I'll update when it's sorted out Point Five and jimjum12 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaylam Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 On 1/23/2023 at 7:31 PM, GWO said: I contacted ComicConnect/Metropolis and they responded positively offering to work something out. I figure it's only fair that if I'm going to criticize their grading, I'll also post and give them credit where it's due. I'll update when it's sorted out I agree, if the grades were off that much, they should be notified of a difference that large, (that is if your are talking about the House of Secrets #100 and 110 you mentioned earlier in the thread). Hopefully they will work something out with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWO Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Update: Metropolis got back in touch with me to offer full credit for House of Secrets 100 (that was the big one), but felt HoS 110 was graded too harshly by CGC, which I can agree with. They also offered to personally inspect any raw books that I would like to purchase to make sure their grade is bang on with what it should be at CGC. And to offset the cost I incurred from pressing, they also offered to clean and press any of those books they feel could benefit from it for a grade bump (I thought this was an especially nice gesture as they really aren't responsible for what I do with a comicbook after I purchase from them). I gotta say, that is fantastic customer service. I'm still bummed I couldn't get that high grade HoS 100 into my collection, but I'm left feeling that Comic Connect value me as a customer and the interaction with them was very positive. Their Customer Service reps are good people. Point Five 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
