EBay return rate...

[tth2]

You consider me, collecting 8.5/9.0 late silver and bronze, a high grade collector? Haven't you repeatedly said in the past that only 9.4s for SA on 9.6s for BA are high grade?

 

 

I don't think I ever said HG is 9.4 for SA or 9.6's for BA. I consider 8.0 HG in SA, but as the book gets newer I raise it a bit.

 

Regardless of what I consider HG, I'm just saying buying CGC 8.0's will not cost you more then 10-20% more then SUPPOSED 9.0 or higher raw books on eBay. And you won't waste money returning books. Nothing to me is worse then spend $10 in shipping (both ways) and having nothing in my collection to show for it.

 

BTW, Most NM books on eBay are barely VF.

 

Maybe you are right. From now on I will keep my eyes open for slabbed 7.5-8.5s. I will see how I do when compared with buying raw.

Andy, it all depends on what your tolerance level is and how much time you have to muck around with sellers who can't grade. If you're collecting late SA and BA in the 7.5-8.5 range, my guess is slabbed books will generally run from full guide to 30% below guide, sometimes even less. If you buy books in those kinds of grades raw, you should be able to get many of them for 50% of guide. The issue is, is it worth your time to deal with the extra hassle factor to achieve that extra 20-50% in savings?

 

Personally, for me it was not worth the hassle, which is why I so wholeheartedly jumped on the CGC bandwagon. I think even if I weren't focused on HG, I would've done this, because what you're going through is deja vu to 1997-1999 for many of us. There's a reason why CGC resonated with so many collectors when it came into existence. I've done my fair share of criticizing CGC lately, but there is not a doubt in my mind that they were manna from heaven when they first came around.

[october]

You consider me, collecting 8.5/9.0 late silver and bronze, a high grade collector? Haven't you repeatedly said in the past that only 9.4s for SA on 9.6s for BA are high grade?

 

 

I don't think I ever said HG is 9.4 for SA or 9.6's for BA. I consider 8.0 HG in SA, but as the book gets newer I raise it a bit.

 

Regardless of what I consider HG, I'm just saying buying CGC 8.0's will not cost you more then 10-20% more then SUPPOSED 9.0 or higher raw books on eBay. And you won't waste money returning books. Nothing to me is worse then spend $10 in shipping (both ways) and having nothing in my collection to show for it.

 

BTW, Most NM books on eBay are barely VF.

 

Maybe you are right. From now on I will keep my eyes open for slabbed 7.5-8.5s. I will see how I do when compared with buying raw.

Andy, it all depends on what your tolerance level is and how much time you have to muck around with sellers who can't grade. If you're collecting late SA and BA in the 7.5-8.5 range, my guess is slabbed books will generally run from full guide to 30% below guide, sometimes even less. If you buy books in those kinds of grades raw, you should be able to get many of them for 50% of guide. The issue is, is it worth your time to deal with the extra hassle factor to achieve that extra 20-50% in savings?

 

Personally, for me it was not worth the hassle, which is why I so wholeheartedly jumped on the CGC bandwagon. I think even if I weren't focused on HG, I would've done this, because what you're going through is deja vu to 1997-1999 for many of us. There's a reason why CGC resonated with so many collectors when it came into existence. I've done my fair share of criticizing CGC lately, but there is not a doubt in my mind that they were manna from heaven when they first came around.

 

That's a pretty accurate analysis. I would put my average raw 7.5-9.0 purchases off eBay at 20-50% of guide. I would be willing to go up to 80% of guide on slabbed books, higher for keys. I will give it a shot. If the slabs I pick up in the future in the VF range are nice, then I will keep buying. I actually just bought Niko's Ghost Rider 1 in 8.5, so I am not at all against the idea. It really does come down to a balancing test, as you said. On one hand, I have to deal with the hassle of returning every fourth or fifth book I buy in exchange for the great raw prices I get; and on the other I have the more expensive slabbed books. Maybe I will just cut back my raw buying to established sellers and pick up the occasional cheap slab that flies under the radar.

[BassGMan]

Maybe I will just cut back my raw buying to established sellers and pick up the occasional cheap slab that flies under the radar.

 

Yeah, that is pretty much what I do too, 'cept I use a few small dealers as well that I know really well through many auctions. But, don't forget the occasional gamble from an unknown small timer that has poor scans and bad descriptions (but still looks legit). These are the auctions that I have received the best and the worst deals. But with these, just bid low enough that if you get less than expected, you won't feel too bad, and if you get better - jackpot!

[Norrin_Radd]

I've been doing alright with my eBay raw purchases.

 

 

 

 

[tth2]

Maybe I will just cut back my raw buying to established sellers and pick up the occasional cheap slab that flies under the radar.

 

Yeah, that is pretty much what I do too, 'cept I use a few small dealers as well that I know really well through many auctions. But, don't forget the occasional gamble from an unknown small timer that has poor scans and bad descriptions (but still looks legit). These are the auctions that I have received the best and the worst deals. But with these, just bid low enough that if you get less than expected, you won't feel too bad, and if you get better - jackpot!

Sid raises a good point. Identifying a few reliable sellers and giving them all my business was critical to keeping my sanity during the pre-CGC days. Unlike Sid, I became a lot less willing to experiment with unknowns, but buying a few cheap raw test copies from an unknown isn't a bad idea because it doesn't involve much risk, and who knows, maybe you'll uncover the next Pacific Coast collection (some early issues of which were sold over eBay by the OO ).

[october]

Are you getting that graded?

[The Less Blob]

"Andy, it all depends on what your tolerance level is and how much time you have to muck around with sellers who can't grade. If you're collecting late SA and BA in the 7.5-8.5 range, my guess is slabbed books will generally run from full guide to 30% below guide, sometimes even less. If you buy books in those kinds of grades raw, you should be able to get many of them for 50% of guide. The issue is, is it worth your time to deal with the extra hassle factor to achieve that extra 20-50% in savings?"

 

The point October made is that there really aren't that many slabbed 8.0s of these $30-$50 books floating around on ebay or wherever (especially particular ones he is looking for), it's something you could be waiting a while for. An X-Men 94, Hulk 181, that's something else. At any given time there are probably a few up for sale. With this Hulk Annual yes, there was a nice 8.0 up that sold for $50 (of course, if October had been in on the bidding, who knows where it would have gone?), but it was listed a week after October bought this one. Who knows when the next one pops up? Nothing similar in the last month, although I don't know what's going on at c-link.

 

All I'm saying is that finding these books in slabs in those conditions is easier said than done. I look for them too and throw out bids on various VF slabs, although I usually don't win them.

[october]

"Andy, it all depends on what your tolerance level is and how much time you have to muck around with sellers who can't grade. If you're collecting late SA and BA in the 7.5-8.5 range, my guess is slabbed books will generally run from full guide to 30% below guide, sometimes even less. If you buy books in those kinds of grades raw, you should be able to get many of them for 50% of guide. The issue is, is it worth your time to deal with the extra hassle factor to achieve that extra 20-50% in savings?"

 

The point October made is that there really aren't that many slabbed 8.0s of these $30-$50 books floating around on ebay or wherever (especially particular ones he is looking for), it's something you could be waiting a while for. An X-Men 94, Hulk 181, that's something else. At any given time there are probably a few up for sale. With this Hulk Annual yes, there was a nice 8.0 up that sold for $50 (of course, if October had been in on the bidding, who knows where it would have gone?), but it was listed a week after October bought this one. Who knows when the next one pops up? Nothing similar in the last month, although I don't know what's going on at c-link.

 

All I'm saying is that finding these books in slabs in those conditions is easier said than done. I look for them too and throw out bids on various VF slabs, although I usually don't win them.

 

I didn't even see that 8.0! I always search for "Hulk King 1" not "Hulk Annual 1".

[The Less Blob]

well, if that's the feeble sort of search you run I'll go get the salt to pour in your wound

[Weird]

 

I used to be frustrated by buying raw on ebay, but now I just press and trim all of my 4.0s and 6.0s up to 9.0s and I'm happy.

 

Not a bad idea. Now all my books can be NM...

 

What are you saying? Hope I can still cancel that check....

[october]

well, if that's the feeble sort of search you run I'll go get the salt to pour in your wound

 

[Aces]

well, if that's the feeble sort of search you run I'll go get the salt to pour in your wound

 

 

Just search for "Hulk 1"

[Norrin_Radd]

Are you getting that graded?

 

At some point. Keep hoping to there will be one more up for sale.

 

 

How fast is magazine grading?

 

Standard Grading is listed as "On-Time" (15 business days) on cgccomics.com.