Grading practices on E-bay

[1Cool]

I think everyone can relate to the general difficulty in having a uniform grade criteria or else we wouldn't need CGC. Selling books here on the boards appears to requires either grading extreemly harsh and get nearly guide for that grade or grade not so harsh and may get 50% guide for that grade. It all works out in the end.

 

Now - how about E-Bay grading. Ya, ya - I know that grading should be what the comic is no matter the venue but hear me out. I see some harsh graders selling on E-Bay and they may get 50% guide since most people will assume that the comic is over graded and only bid up to 50% of guide. Repeat buyers may push it up a bit but the 1st time buyers are the people who typically push up prices on books. Is it prudent to be extreamly harsh on grading a book on E-Bay?? I'm not talking about grading a VG book a FN/VF but would you go with a soft VG/FN even if it was a little bit of a stretch since most people would probably grade that book a FN.

 

A little long winded but any thoughts??

[OldGuy]

I'm not sure about "harsh" and "not so harsh". I think grading "accurately" is what people need to shoot for.

[Mac Man]

So the question then is "Do I overgrade a bit in order to raise the end price BECAUSE the end price still won't equal the ACTUAL value?"

 

I want to make sure I'm following you before responding to a question you didn't ask

[Flaming_Telepath]

So, what you're saying is, because other sellers can't grade on eBay, it might be OK to fudge your own grades a bit?

 

Personally, I've graded the same on eBay as I do here...always have and always will. A grade is a grade is a grade.

 

Having said that, I don't sell on eBay anymore, because too often my VF/NMs get bids based on the fact that they're FN-s.

[Rob]

I hear what he's saying. An accurate "CGC" Fine is what the average collector would consider VF. And what they think is Fine is really VG. So when you say your comic is Fine, Average Joe is picturing VG, and you undersell your comic.

 

I handle it by providing huge scans, and hopefully the buyer bases his bids on the actual condition shown in the pic, not my opinion of the grade. I always assume my buyer is a board member, and don't want to get a reputation of overgrading. Maybe an uneducated collector will say "VG my ! Look at that pic! That's a F+!" and bid more.

 

But yeah, I've seen some board members sell something as 6.5, and it's a book I wouldn't be upset owning if I paid VF price for it. So they lost out on potential profit.

[Mac Man]

I guess I'd either just keep your minimum sale price higher-- you pay more in fees, decrease chances of getting a sale, but you prevent yourself from selling lower than what you're willing to accept. I wouldn't sacrifice your grading integrity for a couple dollars on eBay. Besides, you might end up fuding a grade to someone who is a user here, and it'd suck to be one the receiving end of one of the many "eBay horror story" threads.

[1Cool]

So the question then is "Do I overgrade a bit in order to raise the end price BECAUSE the end price still won't equal the ACTUAL value?"

 

I want to make sure I'm following you before responding to a question you didn't ask

 

Yea - I guess that about my question. I would think its a matter of not getting out the magnifying glasses and giving a comic a VG/FN when a complete "CGC" type grading would probably be a VG. As a seller or a buyer - is it ok to give a liberal bump to a grade since people will mostly give it a bump down since its E-Bay. A lot of people won't look at an auction with a VG grade but plenty take a look at VG/FN. Is the seller shooting himself/herself in the foot by being extra strict?

[Flaming_Telepath]

You are paying the price for selling on eBay...but you are not being 'ultra-strict'. You are being honest and accurate.

[1Cool]

So, what you're saying is, because other sellers can't grade on eBay, it might be OK to fudge your own grades a bit?

 

Personally, I've graded the same on eBay as I do here...always have and always will. A grade is a grade is a grade.

 

Having said that, I don't sell on eBay anymore, because too often my VF/NMs get bids based on the fact that they're FN-s.

 

Excellent example. Do you have to bump grades to sell at a reasonable price on E-Bay?? Setting reserves at reasonable levels is a good solution except the general buying public appears to look at the high $$ amount or a reserve and goes to the next auction. A larger question may be - if everyone says that a VF is a VF even though CGC may grade it a FN/VF - is it ok to list it as a VF since its a raw grade??

[1Cool]

You are paying the price for selling on eBay...but you are not being 'ultra-strict'. You are being honest and accurate.

 

FT - you sell a lot a very nice books at (in my humble opinion) a very strict grading scale. Even harder on most books than CGC as indicated by multiple replies about your sales. I wouldn't expect you to take a marker and add one grade to each of your comics to make more money. You don't appear to be that sort of person. But I think there are plenty of people, even on these boards, that would grade your VF a VF/NM. Is it prudent for other who may agree with a VF/NM grade to sell a similar book at a strict VF grade (especially on e-bay)?

[Flaming_Telepath]

You are paying the price for selling on eBay...but you are not being 'ultra-strict'. You are being honest and accurate.

 

FT - you sell a lot a very nice books at (in my humble opinion) a very strict grading scale. Even harder on most books than CGC as indicated by multiple replies about your sales. I wouldn't expect you to take a marker and add one grade to each of your comics to make more money. You don't appear to be that sort of person. But I think there are plenty of people, even on these boards, that would grade your VF a VF/NM. Is it prudent for other who may agree with a VF/NM grade to sell a similar book at a strict VF grade (especially on e-bay)?

 

That made me laugh...that is the exact same thing that happened last week. Somebody flipped one of my books and a VF had suddenly become a VF/NM in the Marketplace.

 

I've got no problem with the slight shifts...another boarder was selling one of my VFs as a VF/VF+, and that's pretty cool as far as I'm concerned.

 

I think if you honestly believe the book is a certain grade...sell it at that grade and then take the consequences. Either you have overgraded and you lose a customer, or you've marked it bang-on and you've got a customer for life. (thumbs u

[FlyingDonut]

If you grade well and ship promptly, you will get a lot of repeat business.

[Flaming_Telepath]

If you grade well and ship promptly, you will get a lot of repeat business.

 

(thumbs u

 

And I think that you then reap the profits later, that make up for any potential initial losses.

[Mr. Zipper]

If you grade well and ship promptly, you will get a lot of repeat business.

 

True, but the catch is that you have to regularly and consistantly have auctions running. You need real inventory that people browse (as you do.)

 

A collector like myself who sells once in a while who doesn't have a regular following is pretty much screwed on ebay. I'm a very tight grader with large, clear scans and I still would get 6.0 prices for very strictly graded 8.5s.

[dopy02]

the ebay bump is a fact, not a myth. You can accept it or leave the money on the table. 95% of the sellers on ebay wouldn't know a true VF if it flew laps around their head and landed in their lap. imho.

[gaz973]

If you grade well and ship promptly, you will get a lot of repeat business.

 

(thumbs u

 

And I think that you then reap the profits later, that make up for any potential initial losses.

 

This is true. FT was the best grader I ever came across on feebay and I've now bought many hundreds of books from him over the last 3 years or so. I've bought from plenty of sellers who overgraded and either didn't buy from them again or only bid according to how close their grading was.

[1Cool]

I just think back to my TERRIBLE grading on my first batch of comics (before finding this site) and I got repeat buyers and 100% positive feedback. I remember calling a set of X-Men with obvious spine roll a VF/NM since the corners looked good and there was only a few spine marks. Not one return.

[Mac Man]

Well, if they were actually Fine condition books and the person bought them at the price of a VG - Fine, then despite poor grading, they didn't get hosed. They just didn't get any deal.

 

I DO agree that you probably don't have to go through the book with the same level of scrutiny that one probably should when selling here, it shouldn't be too far off. I'd look at it like this-- here, maybe a 0.5 margin of error, e-Bay can probably run a 1.0 maaaybe a 1.5 margin of error if dealing with books in lower grade. Anymore than that, however, and I don't think it's the right thing.

[kingofwhales]

When i`ve sold on ebay a book has to be a 9.4 to 9.6 for me to list it as a NM.

9.2`s i would list as VF/NM,8.5`s and 9.0`s and sometimes a 9.2 would be VF.

All close to true grade with a bit of room.

I`m 100% feedback so it`s been working for me when i`ve sold.

When i return to selling though i will send a bunch to CGC first and get only 9.8`s slabed to sell,raw individual books just don`t make it worth my time to sell anymore.

I don`t know what i`ll do with the twenty copys of cygor #1 and thirty copys of the Brotherhood #1.

I think a home with a fire place is in my future. (thumbs u

[skypinkblu]

I think everyone can relate to the general difficulty in having a uniform grade criteria or else we wouldn't need CGC. Selling books here on the boards appears to requires either grading extreemly harsh and get nearly guide for that grade or grade not so harsh and may get 50% guide for that grade. It all works out in the end.

 

Now - how about E-Bay grading. Ya, ya - I know that grading should be what the comic is no matter the venue but hear me out. I see some harsh graders selling on E-Bay and they may get 50% guide since most people will assume that the comic is over graded and only bid up to 50% of guide. Repeat buyers may push it up a bit but the 1st time buyers are the people who typically push up prices on books. Is it prudent to be extreamly harsh on grading a book on E-Bay?? I'm not talking about grading a VG book a FN/VF but would you go with a soft VG/FN even if it was a little bit of a stretch since most people would probably grade that book a FN.

 

A little long winded but any thoughts??

 

First off, I don't usually sell high grade books, but I do sell on Ebay, and I grade the same way everywhere, and a grade is a grade, whether it is NM or Fair...I get a little more paranoid on here...but that might also be, cause I'm just like that... (and I don't see too many other females, so I don't want to give the gender a bad rep..

 

 

I don't think you have to bump up the prices to get the right prices on Ebay, you have to understand that the PRICE guide, is just a guide and realize that on Ebay, you are not going to get what is considered retail...so with that in mind, I'm usually not terribly upset. ...

 

I just don't expect retail prices on there..I'd expect to pay more in a store, where someone is paying rent, or at a show, where someone is paying a ton of money for a 3 day booth.

 

My one question about some of the comments on here, is the mention of CGC grading...I've always gone by Overstreet, because that is the published guide...and although I am really beginning to really like this board (some very nice people here) ...and I actually own more CGC'd books than I admit... I'm often confused about the grading guidelines...have they been publisthed and I missed them ? If not, how does a "non CGC employed grader" grade by CGC standards on Ebay?