Heritage/ CGC Fraud?!

[blowout]

I've never even put my token on the game board. They've had a couple of books that I wanted, but I refuse to play by those rules.

 

Me too. I don't care if they have all the books I am looking for up for sale. I WILL NOT endorse the kind of buisness practices under which Heritage operate.

[joe_collector]

>>You don't like rules that HEAVILY favor the "house", don't play the game.

 

I totally agree, and have never bid on a Heritage book, especially knowing that if Heritage and their employees don't want it, I'll end up winning an overgraded POS.

 

I can't imagine any of the good stuff ever making it's way out of Heritage.

[blowout]

I can't imagine any of the good stuff ever making it's way out of Heritage.

 

I'm sure it does, but just at hugely (artificially) inflated prices. Anything that escapes below guide is, to Heritage, presumably not worth having.

[Aman619]

The image itself needs to be manipulated to achieve these results.

 

 

Youre getting into what I call the Trilateral Commission zone here. Theres a conspiracy that runs things so well we heve no idea we are being manipulated..except for the conspiracy buffs who see clues EVERYWHERE!!!

 

You state that they must have retouched this area in photoshop to get these results, and use this statement as PROOF that expert techniques were used to dupe us. BUT, clearly, they cannot be using expert techniques since its (as you say) SO OBVIOUS!!!

 

The whole point of retouching a scan is to make it impossible to notice the work....To someone skilled its very easy. To me the fact that from catalog to catalog the lightness of the scans chnages suggests a lackadaisical approach to this mind-numbing process of rushing a catalog out all the time, rather than a team of experts on th ebooks spending time to digitally restore books in their scans, thereby risking returns from buyers who have been duped.

 

Dont get me wrong however...I definitely think Heritage has to answer for this.....but--on this book, frankly, I had assumed that the same restorer that removed the number also got rid of the stain way before Joe ($11/hour) Scanboy took a picture of it.

[Aman619]

And I dont think they retouched anything on the book

 

When I said 'retouched' I was referring only "to retouch an image in the traditional sense" in Photoshop. I can understand how you thought I meant "restore" a book by "retouching" it with paints etc.

 

I remember the whole "un-restoring" business CGC thought about getting into and am glad they backed away from it.

[Kevin Boyd]

Alas, I do not. But yes. I would try to be fair an impartial.

 

I don't spend my days analyzing Heritage's auctions so i don't really have any say on whether or not they are impartial. I'm not really collecting books at this point and time that would be eligible for the auctions anyway. I look thru the catalogs mostly for the original art.

 

And having a relationship with a restoration expert doesn't mean that he's there to do it on the books that are owned by Heritage employees - it means that Heritage can offer an additional layer of service for the seller (a check and a service if it turns out that the books being consigned are restored), the auction house (more purple labels means less profits) and the buyer (who has some assurances that a raw book sold at Heritage is not restored).

 

And you guys seem to be under the impression that the Heritage employees are cracking the cases and resubmitting. I have no idea if they are or not, but I don't think it's unheard of for buyers to do that. I've had people buy CGC books from me on e-bay and say that they planned to crack the case and resubmit in the hopes of getting a higher grade.

 

Unless they plan to publish everyone's names involved (seller and buyer) then claims about ownership and employees fudging around are heresay and rumor-mongering. Seems to me the answer is clear, if you don't like or trust the service they provide - don't deal with them.

 

Kev

[comicwiz]

You state that they must have retouched this area in photoshop to get these results, and use this statement as PROOF that expert techniques were used to dupe us. BUT, clearly, they cannot be using expert techniques since its (as you say) SO OBVIOUS!!!

 

A comparison between the 8.0 scan and the 8.5 is what makes the scan enhancement on the 8.5 so noticeable, or as you have said, SO OBVIOUS!!! Unless of course, those enhancement were actually performed on the book (which I haven't totally eliminated as a possibility).

[joe_collector]

>>Unless they plan to publish everyone's names involved (seller and buyer) then claims about ownership and employees fudging around are heresay and rumor-mongering. Seems to me the answer is clear, if you don't like or trust the service they provide - don't deal with them.

 

Heritage admits freely that they and their employees are freely able to bid, and do so. One of their employees even posted on here that he buys and resells books.

 

I agree that if the policy is known, then buyers should already know that they're dealing with a stacked deck.