Puppies and Bunnies A story about being careful what you bring home.

[EastEnd]

I give up. Are there ANY dealers out there that are trustworthy?

 

Frankly, I think it's pathetic to earn a living by manipulating comic books and/or the collectors that buy them. If deception is a cornerstone of your comic book business strategy, you need to find another job.

[SuperBird]

I give up. Are there ANY dealers out there that are trustworthy?

 

Frankly, I think it's pathetic to earn a living by manipulating comic books and/or the collectors that buy them. If deception is a cornerstone of your comic book business strategy, you need to find another job.

 

Selling comics is a business, just like any other. Deception and manipulation are cornerstones of pretty much any large successful business. It would be naive to expect otherwise, just because it happens to involve comic books.

[thedude]

I give up. Are there ANY dealers out there that are trustworthy?

 

Frankly, I think it's pathetic to earn a living by manipulating comic books and/or the collectors that buy them. If deception is a cornerstone of your comic book business strategy, you need to find another job.

 

Selling comics is a business, just like any other. Deception and manipulation are cornerstones of pretty much any large successful business. It would be naive to expect otherwise, just because it happens to involve comic books.

 

 

Matt, I love ya, but I gotta disagree, I mean you don't go to Best Buy and purchase a 50 inch Plasma T.V. and when you get it home, you find out that it's only a 27 inch CRT T.V. , do ya ??

 

besides didn't you say that Metro gave you alot of attitude when you tried to return that $1k book ??

 

like it or not, CGC has become the standard,... just try selling a CGC 7.0 to someone by telling them "hey no, it's really an 8.0, it's undergraded..",

 

we've all seen what we feel are overgraded or undergraded books by CGC, but that number on the label DOES make a difference to alot of people no matter how much we say " buy the book, not the grade"..

 

if I was running a large comic selling company, or any other company for that matter, I would be embarrased by what has been said about Metro, and would want to do the right thing, and satisfy my customers..

[Pirate]

amazing if someone farts about metro doing something nice, they are on here like stink on jonjesper tooting their horns, but when they are called out on a terrible customer service issue, nowhere to be found.

 

Did they do anything illegal? NO.

 

Did they do anything unethical? to some no, majority probably yes

 

Did they get a black eye? No, they could care less who buys from them here, they will wait until it all blows over and gets to the second page and forgotten.

[Norrin_Radd]

Selling comics is a business, just like any other. Deception and manipulation are cornerstones of pretty much any large successful business. It would be naive to expect otherwise, just because it happens to involve comic books.

 

You have an interesting point of view, Matt. Terrible, but interesting.

[nik]

IMHO

 

He buys a book from a big dealer, book is graded VF++. : All good.

 

He does not examine the book, but sends it to CGC. Okay maybe he doesnt feel comfortable grading GA books, alot of collectors are like this

 

Book comes back graded 3 grades lower then advertized. A little extreme but hey it happens.

 

Metro ends up buying book back from his auction at a reduced price. Once again, stuff like these happens

 

They crack the book out and advertize it as a VF on their site knowing it was sitting in a 7.0 slab. This is the part that bugs me the most, and forms my opinion about them

[metropoliscomics]

I have read through this thread and would like to state for the record that I have an opinion.

 

To be clear, we have an immense inventory and there are some things that we do not catch. We are only human and we do make errors in grading. Having said that, if a customer has a problem or a question regarding a book they have bought, we are very, very easy to get a hold of. We have a toll-free phone number and a dozen email addresses strategically placed on our site so that customers can get in touch with us immediately. There are lots of ways to effectively communicate with us but sending a message through the cgc message board is not one of them. However, we do respond to PM as best we can. I can find no record of this PM regarding this book. I am not saying the PM was not sent. I just don't see it. Let me add that my company offers a very good return policy. Surfer could have returned this to us with no problem at all within 10 days of receipt. If you are spending your hard earned money you should be happy with what you are buying. We do not look for the quick kill- chump a customer once and never hear from them again. We value building long term customer relationships , it is the cornerstone of our business.

 

We buys lots and lots and lots and lots of books on ebay. Unless an auction states in big bold letter across the scan bought from metropolis we have no way of knowing that it is a book that came from us.

 

We made an offer for the item on ebay that was accepted. The offer came from Metropolis. During this process the owner had many opportunities to clearly communicate "hey I bought this book from you guys and I would like to talk to you about it” but he did not. In fact the same customer (whose business we value) is currently buying a Cap America using time payment. At no point during this transaction has the customer relayed his experience to any Metropolis employee.

 

We received the book and felt the 7.0 was too harsh and cracked it out. People assume that if CGC calls a book 7.0 it must be a 7.0. Not true. But then again for the people who are reading this you already know that. You are paying for an opinion not the end all, be all LAW of comic grading. Call CGC and ask them what their service is and they will tell you that they are selling their opinion. I am not trying to put down CGC by writing this, simply stating the facts.

 

We recently purchased a Showcase 34 in a CGC 9.0 holder. When we received this book, we immediately realized that the book was no better than a 7.5. Unfortunately the seller refused to take it back. CGC is not perfect- they simply missed it. If someone were to believe that the Sub-Mariner was a F/VF then you would also have to assume that the showcase 34 was a 9.0. But at the end of the day all you have are two incorrectly graded books. One book graded way too strict and one book graded way too loose. I have included a scan of the back cover in order to illustrate the “horrific rat chew.” You be the judge.

 

I don’t appreciate the title Ze-Man used on this Post one bit. It intones that Metropolis is guilty. People should be very careful about what they put down in writing, sooner or later we will take legal action. This is our lively hood you are messing with and it does not sit well with us at all. Just imagine if I posted something like “Am I missing something or did our own Silver Surfer get chumped by Ze-Man?” I don’t think Ze-Man would be very happy.

 

 

 

Steve

[shadroch]

I don't really have a big problem with people cracking out a 7.0 and calling it an 8.0.CGC treats certain defects much more harshly then most dealers.

While Metro isn't going to win any points for their behavior,neither is SS.

He doesn't inspect the book carefully,he doesn't notice the winning bidder is Metro.It remains to be seen how hard he tried to get in touch with Metro.

 

With different people handling Metros buying and selling,it may even be the case that Metro was unaware they were buying a book they had just sold.

[metropoliscomics]

Here is the back cover scan

[Sal]

no offense, but we'll prolly need a bigger picture than this;

 

 

[arexcrooke]

I have read through this thread and would like to state for the record that I have an opinion.

 

To be clear, we have an immense inventory and there are some things that we do not catch. We are only human and we do make errors in grading. Having said that, if a customer has a problem or a question regarding a book they have bought, we are very, very easy to get a hold of. We have a toll-free phone number and a dozen email addresses strategically placed on our site so that customers can get in touch with us immediately. There are lots of ways to effectively communicate with us but sending a message through the cgc message board is not one of them. However, we do respond to PM as best we can. I can find no record of this PM regarding this book. I am not saying the PM was not sent. I just don't see it. Let me add that my company offers a very good return policy. Surfer could have returned this to us with no problem at all within 10 days of receipt. If you are spending your hard earned money you should be happy with what you are buying. We do not look for the quick kill- chump a customer once and never hear from them again. We value building long term customer relationships , it is the cornerstone of our business.

 

We buys lots and lots and lots and lots of books on ebay. Unless an auction states in big bold letter across the scan bought from metropolis we have no way of knowing that it is a book that came from us.

 

We made an offer for the item on ebay that was accepted. The offer came from Metropolis. During this process the owner had many opportunities to clearly communicate "hey I bought this book from you guys and I would like to talk to you about it” but he did not. In fact the same customer (whose business we value) is currently buying a Cap America using time payment. At no point during this transaction has the customer relayed his experience to any Metropolis employee.

 

We received the book and felt the 7.0 was too harsh and cracked it out. People assume that if CGC calls a book 7.0 it must be a 7.0. Not true. But then again for the people who are reading this you already know that. You are paying for an opinion not the end all, be all LAW of comic grading. Call CGC and ask them what their service is and they will tell you that they are selling their opinion. I am not trying to put down CGC by writing this, simply stating the facts.

 

We recently purchased a Showcase 34 in a CGC 9.0 holder. When we received this book, we immediately realized that the book was no better than a 7.5. Unfortunately the seller refused to take it back. CGC is not perfect- they simply missed it. If someone were to believe that the Sub-Mariner was a F/VF then you would also have to assume that the showcase 34 was a 9.0. But at the end of the day all you have are two incorrectly graded books. One book graded way too strict and one book graded way too loose. I have included a scan of the back cover in order to illustrate the “horrific rat chew.” You be the judge.

 

I don’t appreciate the title Ze-Man used on this Post one bit. It intones that Metropolis is guilty. People should be very careful about what they put down in writing, sooner or later we will take legal action. This is our lively hood you are messing with and it does not sit well with us at all. Just imagine if I posted something like “Am I missing something or did our own Silver Surfer get chumped by Ze-Man?” I don’t think Ze-Man would be very happy.

 

 

 

Steve

So, why dont you just relist it at the VF+++ 8.7 you originally sold the book to Pete at?

Also, since you disagree with the grade on the Showcase 34, do you plan on cracking it out and selling it at what you think the "correct" grade is. Obviously not.

[Silver Surfer]

Scott I'm not surprised by your position but once again you don't know what you talking about. I bought this book knowing that it was not an 8.888+++ as it initially was listed and hoped at best that it would be an 8.0. I felt in my heart that even that would be a stretch (just look at my comments in the grading section) and if it came back a 7.5 I would have still been happy with it. Was I surprised when it came back a 7.0, yes. I PM'd Stephen just to get his feedback on some of the grading notes because there were items like rat chew, etc that I didn't see and were not disclosed. However, lets be totally clear that I was not looking for a refund just wanted some feedback. My message was read and ignored so at that point I just wanted to get rid of the book.

 

You can come on here with your lawyer hat on and take the opposite view like you always do but its strikes me as odd how someone like you with such a high sense of justice and moral standards cannot even take the time to comment on what happened after the book was sold on EBay.

 

Now I know this thread will probably result in me being banned from Metro but I still have time payments with Metro on another book that I intend to honor.

[metropoliscomics]

Agreed. Here is a bigger scan. It looks like a rat went to town oin this book. Pretty horrific to look at.

 

Steve

 

subbie back with the rat chew

[Silver Surfer]

Steve just for the record I could live with the grade, I even stated that I understood the refund policy and was happy to keep the book in my PM but it was read and not responded to. If you want I can post the message here with your permission. I don't know who read it but at this point it doesn't really matter.

[nik]

Then why not just state that leaving the book in its slab? Let the buyer decide whose opinion of a grade they want to go with?

 

 

What if the next buyer misses something on the book, sends it in and comes back again 7.0 how is he going to feel about their grading?

 

 

Its a viscious circle

[metropoliscomics]

I have no problem with Peter. He has always been an upstanding guy in my book. And I will do my best to make up his loss on some future deal.

 

Steve

[Silver Surfer]

Steve I appreciate the comment, lets just leave this thread on that note.

[sterlingcomics]

Then why not just state that leaving the book in its slab? Let the buyer decide whose opinion of a grade they want to go with?

 

 

What if the next buyer misses something on the book, sends it in and comes back again 7.0 how is he going to feel about their grading?

 

 

Its a viscious circle

 

I agree. And I'm not bashing Metro here, but my raw purchases from them have left me unsatisfied (GA to BA). There were tons of Big Apple books that I'd buy but I'm a bit gun shy at this point--even with my better grading knowledge and return policy. I'll always buy a lower grade CGC book as opposed to a higher grade raw book. A number of big purchases were made from Metro before I had a good handle on grading (my fault)... take for example the following:

 

BTW, if anyone thinks this is a 7.5....please buy it from me.

 

[infinite_comics-migration]

 

I don’t appreciate the title Ze-Man used on this Post one bit. It intones that Metropolis is guilty. People should be very careful about what they put down in writing, sooner or later we will take legal action. This is our lively hood you are messing with and it does not sit well with us at all.

 

[shadroch]

Agreed. Here is a bigger scan. It looks like a rat went to town oin this book. Pretty horrific to look at.

 

Steve

 

subbie back with the rat chew

 

 

I would have burned the book.Who knows what diseases a rat that can do that sort of damage might have.

Seriously,Steve, why not play nice and take a few bucks off the book SS has on lay-away with you.Just because you can.