Need Advice on My Comic Shop Consignment 3 3

[Happy Noodle Boy]

On 12/5/2023 at 10:39 PM, Buzzetta said:

I am going to echo this.  

I put a EC Book that I was told might have been trimmed over in the "Please Grade Me" with the suspicion that it was trimmed.  

A lot of good eyes here assured me it was not.  I sent it off to CGC and it came back a Blue label 6.5

 

Check this out @Happy Noodle Boy as there was some useful information in here from other board members. 

 

Looking at your book, I'm starting to think there's a chance mine wasn't trimmed...? I'm no grader, and my eyes are old...we'll see. I'm definitely rethinking accepting an MCS offer now that I've realized my book was originally a blue label CGC slab...

It's a CGC vs. MCS Smackdown right now on my Haunt of Fear book!  

 

Edited December 6, 2023 by Happy Noodle Boy

[Heronext]

On 12/5/2023 at 11:26 PM, Nick Furious said:

Forgive me for playing Devil's Advocate but let me challenge that with an extreme example:  I buy a book from you and 2 years later it has dropped 50% in value.  I can just trim the edges, have the trimming verified by MCS and send it back to you for the original purchase price?  

I wouldn't advertise such a broad policy but if a buyer had the guts to approach me after 2 years about an issue like that (few would but I think in this hobby all honest buyers and sellers should be comfortable with it) I might take the book back and if I suspected shenanigans, never deal with them again. Ultimately it would be case-by-case and depend on many factors including value of the book.  I don't in general deal with a lot of raw vintage books worth more than a hundred bucks or so.  As OP has now pointed out this was originally CGC-slabbed so that adds a twist.

[Heronext]

On 12/6/2023 at 8:31 AM, Happy Noodle Boy said:

Well here's a game-changer, and I'm pretty freaking annoyed: your post inspired me to do some research to confirm where I purchased this book from. I had mixed up which EC books I purchased where, assuming this Haunt of Fear book was bought raw at a convention, but looking through my ebay history, it turns out that I bought it on ebay, SLABBED BY CGC, a blue label 6.0. I do crack out all my slabbed books, but didn't realize this was one of those. The trim looks obvious even to me now that I'm looking at it, but it obviously got by CGC.  The sale was long enough ago that ebay no longer has a good picture of the book, just a tiny postage stamp-size jpeg, but there it is in my purchase history.

Playing Devil's Advocate, even though it sure looks trimmed, is there any chance CGC could be right and MCS wrong?

 

First I'd ask MCS to have another look at it.  Your options then (1) try and recoup a significant portion (up to you) of what you have in it by selling as-is, (2) keep it, or (3) get it back from MCS and send to CGC for investigation.  Continuing option 3, since you cracked it out you may have to pay grading fees again, but try to get special treatment, like a free trim check / grade pre-screen.  If they then say it's not trimmed, you could keep, sell (not through MCS), or pay to put it back in a blue slab (then sell or keep).  If CGC thinks it's trimmed, that is the most complicated scenario and I'll end my post here.

[shadroch]

You can ask MCS to send it to CGC to get slabbed. If it comes back Blue, you made out.

  I'm unaware of CGC giving any book special consideration because someone claims it was previously slabbed. It would be a rather stupid policy to have, in a hobby full of scammers.

Edited December 6, 2023 by shadroch

[Happy Noodle Boy]

On 12/6/2023 at 10:08 AM, Heronext said:

First I'd ask MCS to have another look at it.  Your options then (1) try and recoup a significant portion (up to you) of what you have in it by selling as-is, (2) keep it, or (3) get it back from MCS and send to CGC for investigation.  Continuing option 3, since you cracked it out you may have to pay grading fees again, but try to get special treatment, like a free trim check / grade pre-screen.  If they then say it's not trimmed, you could keep, sell (not through MCS), or pay to put it back in a blue slab (then sell or keep).  If CGC thinks it's trimmed, that is the most complicated scenario and I'll end my post here.

Yes, I was wondering what My Comic Shop's position would be if I told them to send it to CGC and it came back with a blue label again--I would assume, that since MCS thinks it's trimmed, they wouldn't be willing to sell the book on their site as a universal grade. It would be an odd situation, certainly.

Right now my decision basically comes down  to time and money.  If I send it to CGC and it comes back restored that would be lousy, time-consuming, and it would mean being into the book for more money. Also I'm wondering how much the market has bottomed out on EC stuff. I've heard, here and in other places, that pre-code horror has been resilient in the face of the current bear market. And it's a great Ghastly cover. I'll see what MCS offers to buy it for and then take it from there, but I really do not want to sell on ebay, even if it's reslabbed univeral. Too many ebay horror stories of buyers scamming sellers and payments put on hold. 

[Black_Adam]

On 12/6/2023 at 7:26 AM, Happy Noodle Boy said:

Yes, I was wondering what My Comic Shop's position would be if I told them to send it to CGC and it came back with a blue label again--I would assume, that since MCS thinks it's trimmed, they wouldn't be willing to sell the book on their site as a universal grade. It would be an odd situation, certainly.

Right now my decision basically comes down  to time and money.  If I send it to CGC and it comes back restored that would be lousy, time-consuming, and it would mean being into the book for more money. Also I'm wondering how much the market has bottomed out on EC stuff. I've heard, here and in other places, that pre-code horror has been resilient in the face of the current bear market. And it's a great Ghastly cover. I'll see what MCS offers to buy it for and then take it from there, but I really do not want to sell on ebay, even if it's reslabbed univeral. Too many ebay horror stories of buyers scamming sellers and payments put on hold. 

I am sure MCS would have zero qualms in respect to any decision made by CGC regarding restoration or the lack of.

And though there may be grading fees involved with submitting to CGC (depending on the value you declare for the comic), you should be able to recover those via an increase in value for any higher grade, even if restored. The higher grade may also make it easier to move. 

Personally, I would not give up on this comic.

[mycomicshop]

Yes, if you'd like us to send it to CGC and it comes back blue label, we'd be fine with that. We won't reject a book from CGC unless we absolutely know there's something wrong with it--for example we wouldn't knowingly accept a book we knew was counterfeit that managed to slip past CGC. 

There's enough to question about that bottom edge that we're not comfortable selling it raw without the trimming notation, but if CGC says it's not that's good enough for us.

[Happy Noodle Boy]

On 12/6/2023 at 12:13 PM, mycomicshop said:

Yes, if you'd like us to send it to CGC and it comes back blue label, we'd be fine with that. We won't reject a book from CGC unless we absolutely know there's something wrong with it--for example we wouldn't knowingly accept a book we knew was counterfeit that managed to slip past CGC. 

There's enough to question about that bottom edge that we're not comfortable selling it raw without the trimming notation, but if CGC says it's not that's good enough for us.

Thanks for the clarification. I really don't want to sell on ebay on my own, and would really prefer to sell through you guys. So I might roll the dice and ask for you to send it to CGC. Right now it's been submitted for MCS to make an offer on it, so I'll wait and see what comes of that.

[Lightning55]

You had a 6.0 Blue CGC and cracked it out to become a raw with questionable trimming? Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. 

A big part of the value of grading is that it passes a restoration check, especially an older book. It's like the Good Houskeeping Seal of Approval. You don't want to mess with that.

I'd send it back in to CGC with its original label (if you kept it). You can't just get a reholder because it has been cracked out. You have to get it regraded. But sending it with the label might help it keep the blue label.

[Ryan.]

On 12/6/2023 at 12:22 PM, Lightning55 said:

But sending it with the label might help it keep the blue label.

CGC would just assume it was trimmed after it was cracked out.

[Happy Noodle Boy]

On 12/6/2023 at 12:22 PM, Lightning55 said:

You had a 6.0 Blue CGC and cracked it out to become a raw with questionable trimming? Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. 

A big part of the value of grading is that it passes a restoration check, especially an older book. It's like the Good Houskeeping Seal of Approval. You don't want to mess with that.

I'd send it back in to CGC with its original label (if you kept it). You can't just get a reholder because it has been cracked out. You have to get it regraded. But sending it with the label might help it keep the blue label.

I always crack out slabs. To me, collecting slabbed books is like being a car collector who doesn't have the keys to any of his cars. What's the point? I never thought I'd sell any of my books, but some recent financial problems have made me reevaluate collecting golden age books. So I'm getting out of golden age, and the trade credit I'll get from MCS will allow me to buy plenty of bronze stuff, which is what I really enjoy.

[Lightning55]

On 12/6/2023 at 12:45 PM, Ryan. said:

CGC would just assume it was trimmed after it was cracked out.

They might. But they would also have the scan from the original grading to compare, and likely see no change.

[Happy Noodle Boy]

The saga has ended. I've accepted MCS's offer. I'm not willing to roll the dice on sending it to CGC and possibly getting a purple label. The MCS offer was fair and I took it. Thanks to everyone who commented and gave me some much needed advice!

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 12/6/2023 at 1:12 PM, Happy Noodle Boy said:

The saga has ended. I've accepted MCS's offer. I'm not willing to roll the dice on sending it to CGC and possibly getting a purple label. The MCS offer was fair and I took it. Thanks to everyone who commented and gave me some much needed advice!

[ThothAmon]

MCS is the best. 

[Happy Noodle Boy]

On 12/6/2023 at 1:21 PM, ThothAmon said:

MCS is the best. 

They really are. They're a great resource, even just for researching obscure back issues. The consignment process has been a breeze. And it's nice buying from strict graders. 

[the blob]

Never crack anything out. Future problems solved.

 

[Buzzetta]

On 12/6/2023 at 5:38 PM, the blob said:

Never crack anything out. Future problems solved.

 

Never crack.  Crack bad. 

 

[AJD]

On 12/7/2023 at 9:38 AM, the blob said:

Never crack anything out. Future problems solved.

 

You can't stop me. I love a good crack party.

That said, I have a couple of slabbed books that I thought got generous grades, and those are staying entombed!

[Happy Noodle Boy]

On 12/6/2023 at 5:38 PM, the blob said:

Never crack anything out. Future problems solved.

 

I crack them all out. I want to see all of my book, not just the covers. Honest to God, if I ever win the lottery and pick up Whiz #2, I'll crack that one out too.