YouTube video about MyComicShop and ComicLink 9 9

[Motor City Rob]

 

Has anyone else seen this? I've always had good results with MCS and CLink but I found this video interesting. Hope it's not true but he makes some great points. 

 

[SpineTic]

On 11/23/2022 at 8:57 AM, Motor City Rob said:

 

Has anyone else seen this? I've always had good results with MCS and CLink but I found this video interesting. Hope it's not true but he makes some great points. 

 

[Gotham Kid]

Oh boy...

This hobby is ripe with flippers who rush pay for a book and have it immediately shipped somewhere else in the hopes of a quick flip. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it slaps them in the face.

C'mon, collusion ? Really !? What a waste of time watching this video.

 

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by Gotham Kid

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 11/23/2022 at 8:57 AM, Motor City Rob said:

 

Has anyone else seen this? I've always had good results with MCS and CLink but I found this video interesting. Hope it's not true but he makes some great points. 

 

I made it 3 minutes in.  Does he ever eventually make a point?

[Gotham Kid]

ok let's play

HighGradeComics Tec 33 sold for

 

here is the same book shortly after on Heritage ( for a massive LOSS )

Edited November 23, 2022 by Gotham Kid

[Gotham Kid]

The only thing the guy got right is calling these "speculator flippers" m0r0ns.

I can post examples such as the Tec33 all day...

Edited November 23, 2022 by Gotham Kid

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

On 11/23/2022 at 9:14 AM, Gotham Kid said:

ok let's play

HighGradeComics Tec 33 sold for

 

here is the same book shortly after on Heritage ( for a massive LOSS )

I hope the individual could absorb the loss ... ... ... without kicking themselves too hard on their keister.

[ThothAmon]

Assumptions are definitely made to conclude collusion. Would agree the history raises some question about GPAs accuracy. Possibly using a mid grade AF 15 as a “loss leader“ to draw eyeballs to your other auctions. We can all speculate who the owner is?  Let’s see how it ends. 

[Axelrod]

I mean, it's only a loss if the first sale is real.  That's the entire point of the speculation.  Basically a fake sale to juice the price and then an immediate re-list.    

If you don't think that happens in this industry I think you are just being naïve.  

But sure, could also be a complete insufficiently_thoughtful_person who bought a book for $114,000 when he could have bought one for $70,000, and then somehow got MyComicShop to expedite shipping directly to ComicLink, who immediately put it in their next auction (with no previewing or advertising of the book?), and where it needs to be a record-breaking sale to just break even on this investment.

That could also be it?

[Motor City Rob]

On 11/23/2022 at 9:45 AM, Axelrod said:

I mean, it's only a loss if the first sale is real.  That's the entire point of the speculation.  Basically a fake sale to juice the price and then an immediate re-list.    

If you don't think that happens in this industry I think you are just being naïve.  

But sure, could also be a complete insufficiently_thoughtful_person who bought a book for $114,000 when he could have bought one for $70,000, and then somehow got MyComicShop to expedite shipping directly to ComicLink, who immediately put it in their next auction (with no previewing or advertising of the book?), and where it needs to be a record-breaking sale to just break even on this investment.

That could also be it?

Exactly. None of it adds up. That being said, I'm always open minded to there being an explanation that makes sense, but I don't think we're going to get that. 

[Ryan.]

@mycomicshop

[Gotham Kid]

On 11/23/2022 at 3:10 PM, Ryan. said:

@mycomicshop

I sent Conan an email minutes after watching the video.

[comicjack]

Mark Wilson's son if not mistaken 

[D84]

Personally,  I believe to never expect a conspiracy when stupidity answers the question.

[Stefan_W]

It just looks to me like someone bought their own book from MCS and took the hit on commission to try to juice up the price enough to make some extra cash. Pretty basic math.

Using made up numbers, say there is a 10% commission on $114k which works out to $11,400. If the value of the book was 80k and it goes for $110k at the next auction because of an "OMG the book is spiking in GPA" kind of thing the person makes an extra $30k minus the $11,400, so $18,600. Note the process only works if the first sale is recorded in GPA (MCS sales are, CL sales are not) so the auction houses cannot be reversed. Anyway, if the person did buy their own book back to try to spike the prices they gambled and lost. 

The thing about shipping times in nonsense. MCS ships fast, and I have had books that arrived at CL the same day as the start of the auction show up in that auction. All they have to do is scan the book and slot it in. All that stuff about auction previews is garbage - books that are there are previewed, books that arrive under the wire are not. 

Edited November 23, 2022 by Stefan_W

[theCapraAegagrus]

This guy calls himself a "detective"?

[Gotham Kid]

On 11/23/2022 at 3:56 PM, theCapraAegagrus said:

This guy calls himself a "detective"?

MUCH better ones on the boards

[mycomicshop]

Hahaha, think this is the first time we've been the subject of a Youtube sleuth.

This is all wrong in terms of there being a scam involved, or us being involved in anything other than selling an expensive comic.

First, basic facts are wrong. The guy says more than once that we take multiple weeks to ship, which makes me wonder if he actually orders from us, because our orders go out same or next business day the vast majority of the time. From an internal dashboard. This shows by month what percentage of orders shipped the same business day (if received by 11 am Central), next business day, or the day after that. The times reported here count from when an order has been paid for to when we ship it. So for credit card and Paypal orders, it's from when the order is placed. For offline payment methods like check or bank transfer, this doesn't start til we get that payment in and it has cleared.

 

We report sales to GPA when a book ships, not when it is ordered. And a book doesn't ship until it's fully paid for. The Nov 4 date showing in GPA means we shipped it Nov 4, it doesn't mean it was ordered Nov 4. Many buyers who purchase 5 and 6 figure books make use of time payments. Our standard window for time payments is 6 months, occasionally longer than that but to get longer than 6 months depends on the circumstances and requires approval from us before the purchase.

I can see how it could be confusing for a sale price to be reported at the end of the time payment period, rather than the beginning, when a book is both high profile and has seen big price movement. Prices have dropped over the past 6 months so this sale looks high.

I can check with GPA and see if they'd prefer we report the purchase date rather than the ship date for time payment orders. If we did so, we still wouldn't report the sale to GPA until the book actually shipped (because we don't report anything to GPA unless the sale is 100% paid and final and definitely went through), so then you'd have a different kind of confusion--a sale showing up for the first time in GPA 6+ months after the date listed on the sale.

If you look back at where prices were for AF 15 in 5.0, 5.5, and 7.0 around May 2022 rather than Nov 2022, a $114K sale price is not unreasonable. And we paid $103K for the book ourselves when we acquired it from a Goldin auction Feb 2022.

 

Other stuff... the guy wonders how a book could possibly be ordered from us Nov 4 and be in CLink's hands in time for their auction. Next day shipping--it's not that hard. We got our final payment Nov 3, book shipped Nov 4, in buyer's hands Nov 5. A buyer of a six figure book doesn't have to request expedited shipping, anything $2000-5000+ is pretty much always going next day shipping, much less a $114K sale.

 

I can't speak for anything after we shipped the book, how/how quickly the buyer got it to ComicLink, or what the buyer's motivations are for reselling it so soon after receiving it. There are a million reasons that would motivate a buyer to get out of a recently acquired expensive book even though it likely means losing money on it.

 

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by mycomicshop

[Motor City Rob]

On 11/23/2022 at 11:04 AM, mycomicshop said:

Hahaha, think this is the first time we've been the subject of a Youtube sleuth.

This is all wrong in terms of there being a scam involved, or us being involved in anything other than selling an expensive comic.

First, basic facts are wrong. The guy says more than once that we take multiple weeks to ship, which makes me wonder if he actually orders from us, because our orders go out same or next business day the vast majority of the time. From an internal dashboard. This shows by month what percentage of orders shipped the same business day (if received by 11 am Central), next business day, or the day after that. The times reported here count from when an order has been paid for to when we ship it. So for credit card and Paypal orders, it's from when the order is placed. For offline payment methods like check or bank transfer, this doesn't start til we get that payment in and it has cleared.

 

We report sales to GPA when a book ships, not when it is ordered. And a book doesn't ship until it's fully paid for. The Nov 4 date showing in GPA means we shipped it Nov 4, it doesn't mean it was ordered Nov 4. Many buyers who purchase 5 and 6 figure books make use of time payments. Our standard window for time payments is 6 months, occasionally longer than that but to get longer than 6 months depends on the circumstances and requires approval from us before the purchase.

I can see how it could be confusing for a sale price to be reported at the end of the time payment period, rather than the beginning, when a book is both high profile and has seen big price movement. Prices have dropped over the past 6 months so this sale looks high.

I can check with GPA and see if they'd prefer we report the purchase date rather than the ship date for time payment orders. If we did so, we still wouldn't report the sale to GPA until the book actually shipped (because we don't report anything to GPA unless the sale is 100% paid and final and definitely went through), so then you'd have a different kind of confusion--a sale showing up for the first time in GPA 6+ months after the date listed on the sale.

If you look back at where prices were for AF 15 in 5.0, 5.5, and 7.0 around May 2022 rather than Nov 2022, a $114K sale price is not unreasonable. And we paid $103K for the book ourselves when we acquired it from a Goldin auction Feb 2022.

 

Other stuff... the guy wonders how a book could possibly be ordered from us Nov 4 and be in CLink's hands in time for their auction. Next day shipping--it's not that hard. We got our final payment Nov 3, book shipped Nov 4, in buyer's hands Nov 5. A buyer of a six figure book doesn't have to request expedited shipping, anything $2000-5000+ is pretty much always going next day shipping, much less a $114K sale.

 

I can't speak for anything after we shipped the book, how/how quickly the buyer got it to ComicLink, or what the buyer's motivations are for reselling it so soon after receiving it. There are a million reasons that would motivate a buyer to get out of a recently acquired expensive book even though it likely means losing money on it.

 

 

I think the explanation of this being a 6+ month payment plan makes perfect sense. Agree that it makes the GPA data look misleading though. I'm sure you and GPA can find find a way to input the sale price on the original date of sale, even if it doesn't get put in their system until 6 months later. Thanks for the quick reply.

[Dr. Balls]

The idea that someone bought a $100+k book, pays a commission on it's future sale for the outside chance of making less than 1-2% based on previous sales after the amount risked does not seem believable to me - the person buying this book is not a collector, but an investor, who has a different mindset. Sure, there are dummies out there left and right, but I am wary to think someone with $100k to blow wouldn't do some sales research to at least give him some idea that he's buying near the top and his flip margin is razor thin, even worse since he's not holding for awhile.

I think something else is going on - what that is, I have no clue. I'm not going to elaborate or speculate.

  

On 11/23/2022 at 9:04 AM, mycomicshop said:

There are a million reasons that would motivate a buyer to get out of a recently acquired expensive book even though it likely means losing money on it.

This seems the most likely story.

Edited November 23, 2022 by Dr. Balls