Shock horror! When you bought a book and discovered an unexpected defect 4 4

[goldust40]

On 7/15/2024 at 12:50 PM, jimbo_7071 said:

I bought Fight #21 raw from Worldwide in 2013 as a VF/VF+. I didn't even make an offer; I just paid the asking price of $450 in order to eliminate the (low) risk of anyone else buying it.  It looked nice in the scans; it even looked nice in the Mylar. I didn't take it out of the Mylar until I was getting ready to send it to CGC several months later. I found that it had a full-length subscription crease that doesn't break color that was not disclosed. It did not come back as an 8.0 or 8.5.

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Shame. Great colors on that book.

[rjpb]

If you buy raw GA on ebay, you will see it all in terms of unexpected surprises; missing pages, coupons clipped, mold, brittleness, incorrect interior, etc. 

The good thing is I've never had an issue making a return, and more than once been told to keep the book while being refunded in full (including once when I told the seller I'd still pay $50 for an incomplete book, but they didn't want anything.) 

But you do have to check your books when you buy them, not months later.

[whisp]

Bought this book off Ebay and thought I was getting a decent book.  Book ended up having water damage which was hard to see on the front cover and didn't realize till I looked at the back of book and then inside which it went all the way thru the bottom.  Did get a partial refund but I felt ripped off.  Since then I have stayed clear of Ebay.  I still need a decent copy for my complete collection since this one is damaged.  Pain in the butt to find in the wild.

[southern cross]

On 7/14/2024 at 3:30 PM, MattrixAlien said:

Share an experience, including photos, of a comic you thought was ok, but when you took a closer look there was a nasty defect.

Here's my example. On the weekend I went to a closing down sale of a store over here in Brisbane, Australia. The shop was packed with people. As a Jim Lee fan I was happy to find an Alpha Flight 51, Jim Lee's 1st art for Marvel, while digging through the bins. It looked solid and for $4 I didn't bother pulling it out of the bag & board to inspect it.



When I got it home I found this on the back cover.



It looks a combined mould food stain. A shock twist 

 

 

What shop was closing down in Brisbane?

I'm from there and I live in the States the last ten years, heading back to Brisbane for a vacation to visit relatives next month.

[MattrixAlien]

On 7/17/2024 at 1:25 PM, southern cross said:

 

What shop was closing down in Brisbane?

I'm from there and I live in the States the last ten years, heading back to Brisbane for a vacation to visit relatives next month.

Hi Southern Cross. The shop is Fat's Comics Annerley. Pretty sad. The issue with the Alpha Flight 51 aside, it was the best place in the state for back issues. Customer service was great too. They gave me some magazine size bags for free for my old school TMNTs, for example. All is not lost as they will still be selling online.

Edited July 17 by MattrixAlien

[southern cross]

On 7/17/2024 at 3:45 PM, MattrixAlien said:

Hi Southern Cross. The shop is Fat's Comics Annerley. Pretty sad. The issue with the Alpha Flight 51 aside, it was the best place in the state for back issues. Customer service was great too. They gave me some magazine size bags for free for my old school TMNTs, for example. All is not lost as they will still be selling online.

Fats comics rocked when Grant had the store. I didn't meet the new owner and popped into the store during my last visit in 2019 and picked up a giant size X-Men 1.

The shop had changed since Grant owned it. When he did us regulars use to meet up at the store on Saturday afternoons and pick up cool books.

I bought my Avengers 1, Flash 105, Marvel Mystery 82, Crimesupsense stories 22, Fantastic Four 6 and 9 and that's the books off the top of my head.

Vintage comic book stores that don't do new issues are the best places to buy vintage and back issue comics.

When you mentioned a comic store had closed I thought you were talking about the shop down the road from Fats. That store looked like it was on its last legs to me in 2019.

[MR SigS]

This eBay buy (iirc) 12 years ago is my lesson to check my purchases cover to cover within a timely manner. Even though the excess paper is a defect, there's no way to confirm when the 2nd and 3rd tears actually took place. It likely happened in manufacturing, but it could have happened 1 week before it was listed (with undisclosed damage).

Ultimately, it's my fault for not looking until months later. 

 

  

Edited July 18 by MR SigS

[MR SigS]

I purchased these for $3 each, so I was very surprised to find these inside.

 

 

 

[B2D327]

On 7/14/2024 at 9:29 PM, Ken Aldred said:

Only memorable one for me is an issue of Marvel Presents featuring the GOTG, which had a hole created by a large insect inside it. Dead by the time I opened the book, not that that made it much better.  

You were robbed of your revenge 

[Ken Aldred]

On 7/18/2024 at 4:53 AM, B2D327 said:

You were robbed of your revenge 

Bad enough just to find an empty husk.

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

@Bookery care to share your hulk 180 again?

[CGC Mike]

Action Comics #94 cover and Detective Comics #109 interior.

[marvelmaniac]

On 7/14/2024 at 6:47 PM, grendelbo said:

I bought this as a kid in the late '80s and got it home and discovered some tape repair and missing pieces. 

It is still an F.F. 1!!! 

[marvelmaniac]

Back in 82/83 this was given to me as a Christmas gift.

For all of you youngsters who are too young to remember what it was like before the internet...Back then my family/friends had to make the rounds to any/all of the LCS's that were around trying to find the books on my list and having the LCS perform a "search service" (if offered, Thank You Comic Crypt)) to attempt to find these books, this process had to start month's before Christmas since they may have to go to the same LCS's multiple times, hoping a book on the list showed up, anyway...

It turns out that chapter 1 was bound in the book twice, no part 2,   obviously I did not say anything other than Wow and Thanks, I did not want to upset anyone after all of the trouble they went through.

I still have the book and if I want to read the story I break out my F.F. Annual 8.

[grendel013]

On 7/15/2024 at 10:41 AM, dbcn said:

Me and my trigger finger thought we were getting a steal on a mid-grade+ ASM 194 off of ebay - looked good in the pictures and didn't give it a second thought to sending it in for a signing... aaand...:

 

Lesson learned. I now ask the seller about restoration before buying.

Marv could have signed over the color touch had you known.

[grendelbo]

On 7/19/2024 at 3:17 PM, grendel013 said:

Marv could have signed over the color touch had you known.

My LCS told me they once had a Hulk 1 with color touch. They had Stan Lee sign over the color touch at a witnessed event and the book came back as a pure yellow label. 

Edited July 19 by grendelbo

[grendel013]

On 7/19/2024 at 5:46 PM, grendelbo said:

My LCS told me they once had a Hulk 1 with color touch. They had Stan Lee sign over the color touch at a witnessed event and the book came back as a pure yellow label. 

Thank you for sharing that! I don't see this as cheating either. That's an awesome solution.

[southern cross]

On 7/19/2024 at 6:09 AM, CGC Mike said:

Action Comics #94 cover and Detective Comics #109 interior.

What a shame whoever did this didn't put a Batman 1 interior instead. 

On 7/19/2024 at 8:45 AM, marvelmaniac said:

Back in 82/83 this was given to me as a Christmas gift.

For all of you youngsters who are too young to remember what it was like before the internet...Back then my family/friends had to make the rounds to any/all of the LCS's that were around trying to find the books on my list and having the LCS perform a "search service" (if offered, Thank You Comic Crypt)) to attempt to find these books, this process had to start month's before Christmas since they may have to go to the same LCS's multiple times, hoping a book on the list showed up, anyway...

It turns out that chapter 1 was bound in the book twice, no part 2,   obviously I did not say anything other than Wow and Thanks, I did not want to upset anyone after all of the trouble they went through.

I still have the book and if I want to read the story I break out my F.F. Annual 8.

That's actually pretty cool, being a square bound book it is definitely a manufacturing error and there are collectors that like that stuff.

[southern cross]

Mine was roughly 20 years ago, a prominent dealer from the states who was a over street advisor had a booth in Brisbane Australia.

Where I bought a TTA 93 for my run. Only to find out when I got home and looked at it. The book had a full advertisement page removed from the book.

Though annoyed at the time, the years have passed and I finally got a complete copy of TTA 93 from the susha news pedigree.

[CGC Mike]

On 7/19/2024 at 7:48 PM, southern cross said:

On 7/19/2024 at 9:09 AM, CGC Mike said:

Action Comics #94 cover and Detective Comics #109 interior.

Expand  

What a shame whoever did this didn't put a Batman 1 interior instead. 

It was a manufacturing defect.  I was not amused seems it was not disclosed.  I started a thread in 2011 I believe about verified grades from a large dealer.