What would you do? 2 2

[ninanina]

Someone buys a restored Silver Age key from a trusted source and pays $1000.00 for it 12 years ago. 12 years later, he finds out the cover is a photo copy when examined. Staples checked and its a married cover. Had the comic been a restored copy it would now be worth roughly $1500.00. (Justice League of America 1). Not sure what I should have paid and what it would be worth now as is. If anyone has any ideas on the value, I'd be interested in their opinion. 

Option A: Let the trusted source know about it to work something out

Option B: Lesson learned. Leave well enough alone. It wouldn't be fair to expect the seller to do anything 12 years after it was sold. 

[The Lions Den]

On 7/22/2021 at 6:03 PM, ninanina said:

Someone buys a restored Silver Age key from a trusted source and pays $1000.00 for it 12 years ago. 12 years later, he finds out the cover is a photo copy when examined. Staples checked and its a married cover. Had the comic been a restored copy it would now be worth roughly $1500.00. (Justice League of America 1). Not sure what I should have paid and what it would be worth now as is. If anyone has any ideas on the value, I'd be interested in their opinion. 

Option A: Let the trusted source know about it to work something out

Option B: Lesson learned. Leave well enough alone. It wouldn't be fair to expect the seller to do anything 12 years after it was sold. 

12 years..?  

[boomtown]

I would go with
Option C: Let the trusted source know about it. Mention you realize it's been 12 years, but wanted him to know. Step back and see if he is truly a trusted source.

[Asmodean]

Realistically Option B... 12 years is a along time to then come back and claim something like that.

As for your trusted source, I would suspect every book you purchased from them over the last 12 years. If your other books check out then it might just be a one off, nothing more you can do, but I would be highly skeptical of future buys going forward from this person.

As for the book itself it would get a NG without the original cover, But the way things are going, and assuming all the rest of the pages are there, you might be able to recoup your original investment.

Edited July 22, 2021 by Asmodean

[Funnybooks]

Option B: It's been too long

[Gaard]

I know what I'd say if I were the seller.

[grendelbo]

Seriously though, I might mention it to the seller but too much time has passed for recourse.

[zzutak]

On 7/22/2021 at 3:03 PM, ninanina said:

12 years later, he finds out the cover is a photo copy.  Staples checked and its a married cover.

Not sure what ... it would be worth now as is. If anyone has any ideas on the value, I'd be interested in their opinion. 

Which is it -- (a) a photocopy cover or (b) a married cover (a real cover that was taken off another copy)?  If your answer is (a), then your book has the value of a coverless-but-otherwise-complete JLA #1 (around $200~250 according to GPA).  Add $5~10 for the apparently nice reproduction cover (which is what such covers typically go for on eBay these days).

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 7/22/2021 at 6:20 PM, boomtown said:

I would go with
Option C: Let the trusted source know about it. Mention you realize it's been 12 years, but wanted him to know. Step back and see if he is truly a trusted source.

[James J Johnson]

On 7/22/2021 at 3:03 PM, ninanina said:

Someone buys a restored Silver Age key from a trusted source and pays $1000.00 for it 12 years ago. 12 years later, he finds out the cover is a photo copy when examined. Staples checked and its a married cover. Had the comic been a restored copy it would now be worth roughly $1500.00. (Justice League of America 1). Not sure what I should have paid and what it would be worth now as is. If anyone has any ideas on the value, I'd be interested in their opinion. 

Option A: Let the trusted source know about it to work something out

Option B: Lesson learned. Leave well enough alone. It wouldn't be fair to expect the seller to do anything 12 years after it was sold. 

Your seller should still be on the hook for this, and here's why.

Recently, a CGC 1.8 blue sold for about $400 on ebay. That's about the average going rate. Coverless #1s in rough shape usually bring about $50 to $75, so if your interior (we're not counting the reprint cover for now) is in nice shape, and useful to a collector as a reader, or the pages useful to someone as a donor, I can see it arguably being worth $200. So let's put that as an estimated value for a nice off white paged complete coverless copy, no tears , rips, etc. 

You paid $1000 for it thinking you had an investment piece that would accrue value with time and the main reason it didn't was because it was misrepresented. Once explained to him, he shouldn't even have to be asked to do do something to make it right, at least split the loss with you because the blame is 50/50 resting squarely with you both, him for not providing what he should have and you for not catching it much, much sooner.

That's what I'd do. You're in for $1000, it's worth $200, will never be worth much more than that, you're out $800, ask him to remedy with $400. It's fair. 

[James J Johnson]

On 7/23/2021 at 4:04 PM, Count D. Monet said:

Totally disagree. How do you buy a expensive comic and not even take it out of the bag when it arrives? No checking for resto? No counting the pages? No reading it?

This one's on the buyer.

Well, technically, they're both equally to blame, which is why I suggested splitting the difference would be the equitable solution. If the buyer had gotten what he paid for, there wouldn't be any blame to assess by either party. Too bad he didn't get what he paid for, right? The egg came first, and in this case, no chickens. Just a rotten egg.  

[djzombi]

On 7/23/2021 at 6:58 PM, James J Johnson said:

Your seller should still be on the hook for this, and here's why.

Recently, a CGC 1.8 blue sold for about $400 on ebay. That's about the average going rate. Coverless #1s in rough shape usually bring about $50 to $75, so if your interior (we're not counting the reprint cover for now) is in nice shape, and useful to a collector as a reader, or the pages useful to someone as a donor, I can see it arguably being worth $200. So let's put that as an estimated value for a nice off white paged complete coverless copy, no tears , rips, etc. 

You paid $1000 for it thinking you had an investment piece that would accrue value with time and the main reason it didn't was because it was misrepresented. Once explained to him, he shouldn't even have to be asked to do do something to make it right, at least split the loss with you because the blame is 50/50 resting squarely with you both, him for not providing what he should have and you for not catching it much, much sooner.

That's what I'd do. You're in for $1000, it's worth $200, will never be worth much more than that, you're out $800, ask him to remedy with $400. It's fair. 

It's TWELVE YEARS LATER.  A child born when he bought it would be in 7th grade now.  Let it go.  Caveat emptor in general, but to bring up something that wasn't noticed more than a decade ago?  GTFO.  

[Randall Ries]

On 7/23/2021 at 9:32 PM, djzombi said:

It's TWELVE YEARS LATER.  A child born when he bought it would be in 7th grade now.  Let it go.  Caveat emptor in general, but to bring up something that wasn't noticed more than a decade ago?  GTFO.  

'Fraid so. Comic couldn't have meant much in the first place. Notice the flaws now but not 12 years ago? Plus, there's likely a statute of limitation on the transaction. Buyer beware.

[ninanina]

Hey, I appreciate all the feed back guys. It just shows how much everyone on this forum cares about the hobby and doesn't like to see this kind of thing happening. I contacted the seller on the basis right or wrong that he wasn't aware it was a photo copy either. Whether he did or not isn't important. What was/is important is what he's willing to do about it. 

He simply said that he recalled having several restored comics for sale in and around that time and he's taking me on my word that I purchased it from him. He asked me to send him a scan so he could take a look at it. After that was done, he looked after it....like the pro he his.

He offered me $800.00 in trade for anything he's got available. That includes all the CGC stuff he has for sale and anything/everything raw. I thought the offer was generous under the circumstances because some of the comments did go somewhere along the lines of hey, it's been 12 years. I'm going to take a long look at what he's got and either upgrade some of the stuff I have in my collection or fill in some holes in some of the runs. So "boomtown" option "C" obviously was the right move. 

Thanks again one and all. 

[James J Johnson]

On 7/23/2021 at 6:32 PM, djzombi said:

It's TWELVE YEARS LATER.  A child born when he bought it would be in 7th grade now.  Let it go.  Caveat emptor in general, but to bring up something that wasn't noticed more than a decade ago?  GTFO.  

Well let me ask before I GTFO, as you strongly suggested. 

If the seller is still in retail and accessible, who would be slighted by the OP contacting his seller, other than you? And if that may be the case, what if the OP asks you first, for your blessings before doing that? Then might it be OK; one, two, three, six, or maybe even as many as twelve years after the fact? 

[speople]

How can you not notice immediately that the cover was a photocopy ?

Even a laser printed cover would be as obvious as hell. 

[jeffreyk]

On 7/23/2021 at 11:06 PM, ninanina said:

Hey, I appreciate all the feed back guys. It just shows how much everyone on this forum cares about the hobby and doesn't like to see this kind of thing happening. I contacted the seller on the basis right or wrong that he wasn't aware it was a photo copy either. Whether he did or not isn't important. What was/is important is what he's willing to do about it. 

He simply said that he recalled having several restored comics for sale in and around that time and he's taking me on my word that I purchased it from him. He asked me to send him a scan so he could take a look at it. After that was done, he looked after it....like the pro he his.

He offered me $800.00 in trade for anything he's got available. That includes all the CGC stuff he has for sale and anything/everything raw. I thought the offer was generous under the circumstances because some of the comments did go somewhere along the lines of hey, it's been 12 years. I'm going to take a long look at what he's got and either upgrade some of the stuff I have in my collection or fill in some holes in some of the runs. So "boomtown" option "C" obviously was the right move. 

Thanks again one and all. 

The fact that any seller would do that after 12-years is amazing, that was very nice of him.

[shadroch]

If it was a one time deal 12 years ago, I don't think many sellers would do much. If, however, the buyer still had a relationship with me and had continued to be a customer over the years, I'd work something out. 

I think the $800 credit is exceedingly generous.  I was thinking along the lines of a 50% off  offer up to $1,000.

In 1988, I helped a customer to obtain a Marvel comics #1.   I obtained it from a dealer in Manhattan who had a good relationship with Fantasia.  Ten years later that shop was exposed for selling undisclosed restoration.  I now assume the book I got for him was worked on and not worth what was paid. I wonder if the book is still sitting in a safety deposit box somewhere. 

[djzombi]

Congratulations on the extremely generous outcome!  As my prior comment indicated, I didn't think you'd have a chance in hell of getting anything close to this.  Just goes to show you never actually know until you ask!    
Again, congrats.  Though the original dilemma sucked.  

[ninanina]

On 7/24/2021 at 12:55 AM, James J Johnson said:

Well let me ask before I GTFO, as you strongly suggested. 

If the seller is still in retail and accessible, who would be slighted by the OP contacting his seller, other than you? And if that may be the case, what if the OP asks you first, for your blessings before doing that? Then might it be OK; one, two, three, six, or maybe even as many as twelve years after the fact? 

James...so sorry. I've read your question and I would answer it ... if I understood it. The only thing I can comment is I don't remember suggested you GTFO. Whatever that means. How about a private exchange. I'd very much like to hear from. Your point of view is interesting...I think.