Anyone buy from samco1 on ebay?

[*Bronze age fan*]

hi. i just wanted to know if any other board members have bought any comics from ebay user samco1. i have bought books in the past from them and continue to buy from them. the last few time i have bought books i have felt like some of the books had some kind of restoration. i dont really know alot about spotting it. i think some of the books have been trimmed. a think i saw a tear seal on a book i just got. maybe even pressed. is being pressed restoration? just wanted to know if other board members have dealt with this seller. thanks.

[mar-vell]

i bought a couple overgraded books from him but i don't think he's a scammer- he might have missed the resto himself!

[supapimp]

i bought a FF 50 that had really bad colour touch to cover up a sub crease, it was never disclosed in the auction. contacted the seller and he said that he would give me a discount the next time i won from him. like i would ever even bid on his auctions after that.

[goldust40]

Tear seals are easy to spot, trimming and pressing if done well, considerably harder.

 

I bought about thirty books once from samco1 in one ebay order - the service was friendly and professional, it has to be said.

 

The grading was at least a full grade off on every book, however. I sent all but one of the books back, but again, he was very professional about it, and none had any trimming, tear seals or color touches IIRC.

[drbanner]

Bought from them once - books were overgraded, one had quite obvious color touch that was not disclosed. End of that story.

[dc360]

His customer service is excellent, but that's only because it has to be. All of his books are overgraded.

 

But, so long as you're okay with that, it's easy to return your books to him, and he'll usually give you a discount on future orders/refund/etc.

[october]

Bought from them once, book was overgraded. Never again.

[alecholland]

I bought a few TTA books from him a couple years ago. All the books were overgraded by at least 2 full grades. Most of the books listed as VF were closer to F-, one was F. Never bought from him again. Any time I see his familiar ~WOW!~ in the title I move right on past that auction. I can almost guarantee you will be disappointed.

[Fan4Fan]

Years ago, I bought a Tales To Astonish 49 and Thor 134.

 

Both were substantially overgraded, and I had a bit (tho' certainly not as much as some) of trouble getting a refund back.

[dopy02]

last night he had a FF 70 thru 119 run and people were paying through the nose for his WAY overgraded junk

[Inhuman Fiend]

Bought once from him 2 years ago and the book was quite overgraded. They have a great selection but as you can tell from the scans (and everyone elses replies to this thread) EVERYTHING is overgraded...but what I can't figure out is how they continue to get such premium prices on overgraded books???!!!

[*Bronze age fan*]

he always seems to come up with runs. amazing f f thor strange tale, all the major titles. his feedback is pretty good. very few negs. like i said i just have felt some of the books i have seen from him have been altered in some way...to make them seem nicer.

[Mr. Zipper]

Search the archives for SAMCO.

 

I have written about him numerous times. Several years ago he sold me some books that had "dry rub" type color touches. I suspect he rubs graphite or some sort of powdered paint into the creases. It's fairly deceptive because there is no bleedthrough and the powder only sticks to the area where the ink is broken (the crease)... so it can be a razor thin touch up.

 

Look at the suspect areas in a raking light... if the reflectivity is different rub it gently with a finger. If black comes off on your finger, it's been "dry rub" color touched.

[Mr. Zipper]

he always seems to come up with runs. amazing f f thor strange tale, all the major titles. his feedback is pretty good. very few negs. like i said i just have felt some of the books i have seen from him have been altered in some way...to make them seem nicer.

 

He also uses scans with maximum jpg compression so they are horribly pixellated. Even if the scans are big, almost any flaw will be totally hidden. With his scans it could be a 6.0 or a 10.0...

 

I suspect this is no accident.

[alecholland]

but what I can't figure out is how they continue to get such premium prices on overgraded books???!!!

 

It's because he writes ~WOW!~ in the title. Makes some people think they are really getting something.

 

In reality his title should say something like:

 

AMAZING SPIDERMAN #122 ~WOW IS THIS BOOK OVERGRADED!!~

 

Doesn't sound quite as good as just ~WOW!~ though.

[infinite_comics-migration]

he always seems to come up with runs. amazing f f thor strange tale, all the major titles. his feedback is pretty good. very few negs.

 

http://www.toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=samco1&Dirn=Received+by&Many=ON

 

Love the Venom avatar!

[*Bronze age fan*]

he always seems to come up with runs. amazing f f thor strange tale, all the major titles. his feedback is pretty good. very few negs.

 

http://www.toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=samco1&Dirn=Received+by&Many=ON

 

Love the Venom avatar!

 

 

Thanks! Keeping the metal alive!

[Filter81]

I bought a "high grade" FF 7 from him a couple years ago. I think he graded it a Fine+ or Fine/VF. The auction had a front cover scan but not a back cover scan. When I got it, the front cover looked ok, but the back cover was covered from top to bottom w/ water stains. It couldn't have been higher than a good. I brought it to his attention and he said he would give me a partial refund if I agreed to keep the book. The refund never showed up. After that I never heard from him again. I must've E-mailed him close to 10 times before I finally gave up.

[infinite_comics-migration]

he always seems to come up with runs. amazing f f thor strange tale, all the major titles. his feedback is pretty good. very few negs.

 

http://www.toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=samco1&Dirn=Received+by&Many=ON

 

Love the Venom avatar!

 

 

Thanks! Keeping the metal alive!

 

I saw them in 1984 at The Living Room in Providence, RI. Whoa! Friggin' crazy...

[nik]

So I guess its pretty safe at this point to avoid this seller