Valiants on eBay

[Valiant One]

Well,

My book was shipped the same way. In cardboard that did not cover the corners. One layer of bubble wrap with the book floating in the box.

I did get a full refund from Ying today, and he told me to keep the book due to its late shipping.

So, in his defense, he did make good on the transaction. But, that bindery tear was not from shipping, and the packing was terrible, and the lack of communication and delays are pretty bad.

Hope everyone else can be compensated to their satisfaction.

Ed

[Nairbe]

I received my books, shipped in the same way, "floating in the box". But the books themselves are in good condition. I'd say at least a 9.4/9.6. I'll probably end up keeping them.

[CongoBill]

Mine were packed well enough, well protected between two pieces of cardboard in a USPS Priority Mail Medium box. There was sufficient padding in the box to keep the books from moving around. Maybe he learned from some of the complaints he got. Or maybe he was having somebody else package up his stuff for him if he really was in the hospital for an extended period. Whatever, though. I'm not trying to make excuses for the guy. I'm glad my deal with him worked out OK and sorry to hear others had problems.

[BloodShot]

I received my books, shipped in the same way, "floating in the box". But the books themselves are in good condition. I'd say at least a 9.4/9.6. I'll probably end up keeping them.

FWIW, I did receive the 12 books I purchased...even after I told him since it'd already been two weeks since payment to NOT send them and just refund my money back. He REFUSED, and sent them anyway .

Lo and behold, I did receive them...and 10 out of 12 had multiple conditional issues, keeping them all at primarily 9.4 or lower; most at 9.2. Given that I paid 9.6/9.8 money for every single one of those books, I demanded a refund, which he is still vehemently denying to provide. Even with pictures for the proof, he directly accused me of purposely damaging the books for the sole reason of securing my refund. Uh-huh, yep; that's EXACTLY what I did .

I'm glad to hear that at least a couple of you came out smellin' like a rose, and if anyone else here thinks they got scammed by Shao, I hope that was NOT the case, and you ended up not only getting something, but getting something you were satisfied with.

Needless to say, I was not; am not; and will not be until my refund goes through.

And there IS a whole big back story to all of this, but I just flat-out have no desire what-so-ever to post those Messages in their entirety for the crap that went on with me and him on here. But, to sum up, just so the rest of you are aware of what a "stand up seller" he is:

1. He accused me of being "rude" (because I demanded to know where my $1300 worth of books were after almost two WEEKS with NO word from him and NO books). Yep, then I guess I must be rude. Check.

2. He said I did NOT "qualify" for a refund, and was shipping the books anyway. Yep, he did that. Check.

3. When I got the books, and said that 10/12 arrived with multiple conditional issues, even supplying pics for each one, he had the sack to accuse me (ME !!!) of purposely inflicting damage to those books just so I could get a refund. So, there were TWO insults in there, not just one, right? Check.

4. He also accused me of "name calling", but the only name calling I did was to call him an "idiot"; see item #3. Check.

5. He then sent me a direct threat telling me I'm a "terrible person", and that I have "LOTS of bad karma headed my way" because I want a refund for the sh!tty books he sent. Guess I am and I guess I do. Check.

I do need to add out that after all that finger-pointing from him, he finalized the next Message he sent with "Lets be professionals going forward."

Dude, what ?!!

Again, I am not (and was never) speaking for ANYone else except my own personal experience with ying2288. I don't think I have to tell you I will NEVER deal with that little turd again. I never would've to begin with had he not had Dinesh's personal recommendation. In fact, that is the ONLY reason I was a willing to give this guy the time of day to begin with. To be clear, absolutely NONE of my dealings with Shao fall back on Dinesh in ANY way (Really, how could they ). And he actually may well be a "legit" seller as far as some of you are concerned; but from where I sit, his "Customer Service" is for total sh!t .

OFF...

[nycjadie]

FWIW, I did get a full refund from jbr for my books, and he offered to let me keep them. I'm sending them back anyway. Nice offer, though.

[BloodShot]

FWIW, I did get a full refund from jbr for my books, and he offered to let me keep them. I'm sending them back anyway. Nice offer, though.

Different seller, obviously, but EXACTLY the way that should be handled. Good seller there.

Glad things worked out for you, Steve.

[BloodShot]

The problem with Ying's books is that he just sold several cgc 9.8's in December for top dollar. If any of these were close enough to being a 9.8, I feel he would have submitted them.
Either way, I won 2 of his books, but my bidding was based on them being a 9.2 or maybe a 9.4
I am just happy some of the rare variants that I couldn't find at my local shop are finally come up on eBay.

As much as I didn't want to give in to what you stated above, looks like that was the case after all (at least with the 12 books I won) FAR more than I could've realized.

My whole thing (see BIG "rant" post above) is if you sell someone legit 9.8 books that you specifically describe as "This book looks flawless; it is a very good 9.8 candidate", you'd better know what you're talking about. Selling 9.6/9.8 copies, then sending buyers 9.4 (or lower) copies is NOT selling what you've advertised. No ifs, no how, no way .

I have personally sold FAR more 9.6/9.8 copies on these boards alone (not to mention eBay, as well as the Collectors Society, of all places) than I could possibly count, and more than a fair number of boardies subbed those raws and got not only solid 9.6's, but several even got 9.8's. NOne EVER complained about getting 9.4's. Or 9.2's. Because that's NOT what I advertised them to be.

Sorry, looks like rant mode wasn't shut off after my last post ...

[greg]

My whole thing (see BIG "rant" post above) is if you sell someone legit 9.8 books that you specifically describe as "This book looks flawless; it is a very good 9.8 candidate", you'd better know what you're talking about. Selling 9.6/9.8 copies, then sending buyers 9.4 (or lower) copies is NOT selling what you've advertised. No ifs, no how, no way .

First of all, I have no experience with the sellers being discussed. (As far I can remember.)

However, the whole section I've quoted is the exact reason I starting buying CGC graded books over 10 years ago.

I have boxes and boxes of seller-described "perfect", "near mint plus", "flawless" raw books that would be (and have already been) graded CGC 9.2 and lower.
I bought them on eBay. Some were packaged perfectly, so the flaws were already there when they were described as "perfect".
Some were possibly perfect and then packaged like a letter to your grandma. (Loose envelope, maybe some paper on each side.)

As a result, I buy two kinds of books now.
Raw - which I assume are VF/NM and for which I only pay VF/NM prices.
Graded - which are CGC or CBCS, the only two legitimate grading company grades.

There's a third type of book that I don't buy... raw flawless.
They are needles in a haystack.

Buying raw "perfect" books might be possible, but it isn't probable.
I gave up a long time ago. Next year will be my 20th year on Ebay.

[nycjadie]

I just bought 20 books from Midtown Comics, and after inspection, none of them are 9.6 candidates. I'm done with Midtown. Problem with these books are there are no slabs for them.

[Dr Noel]

This entire thread is why I gave up buying raw copies from ebay. I was disappointed more often than not. They way I see it, why spend $40 for a NM+ raw comic from a seller you don't know when you can put that money into buying a 9.8 slab that definitely meets the NM+ criteria you were seeking. Of course, you still have to deal with the occasional crappy packing job.

[nycjadie]

I finally looked over my Ying book. It might be an 8.5. Maybe. Probably less given the stress cracks on the corners. He was nice enough to include a free EW White (condition about 8.5 or less as well).

[Aram]

I have personally sold FAR more 9.6/9.8 copies on these boards alone (not to mention eBay, as well as the Collectors Society, of all places) than I could possibly count, and more than a fair number of boardies subbed those raws and got not only solid 9.6's, but several even got 9.8's. NOne EVER complained about getting 9.4's. Or 9.2's. Because that's NOT what I advertised them to be.

Sorry, looks like rant mode wasn't shut off after my last post ...

I'll be the judge of that! I've still got the nice "what you thought were 9.8 candidates" that you sold me from WAY back in the day before you ever started submitting.

One of these days soon I plan on submitting them. It'll be fun to see what they come back as.

[BloodShot]

One of these days soon I plan on submitting them. It'll be fun to see what they come back as.

9.2's if you're lucky.

[rmull]

Hey Guys,

I was, MAYBE?, the original winner of the $95 bid for XO #25 that day and paid for the book immediately, waited patiently, and never heard from him or received the book. He did reply once I put in a claim with EBAY but that was a week ago. He also used the same excuse with me that he was in the hospital and was sorry and would send an extra book to make up for it.

Sorry? This is nothing but a complete scam by this clown. I've never had a problem with other sellers but this one surely took many of us as fools.

I finally put in for a refund and have received that but I'm really *SQUEE* I didn't get that last book needed to complete my XO collection.

Thanks for all your info on here and I hope everything gets resolved for all of you.

[CongoBill]

This entire thread is why I gave up buying raw copies from ebay. I was disappointed more often than not. They way I see it, why spend $40 for a NM+ raw comic from a seller you don't know when you can put that money into buying a 9.8 slab that definitely meets the NM+ criteria you were seeking. Of course, you still have to deal with the occasional crappy packing job.

I absolutely agree with this. Blindly buying raw copies online in hopes of getting a copy you can submit to CGC and get a 9.8 is a complete gamble with the odds decidedly NOT in your favor. The copies I bought from Ying I'm not planning on submitting to CGC. The 4+ month wait at CGC I went through last time is not really worth it if you ask me. I just wanted them since I sold my slabbed copies when I was recently out of work and wanted to have those books in my collection again. If I want slabbed CGC 9.8 copies then I'll pay the premium for slabbed CGC 9.8 copies and remove the uncertainty and potential disappointment from the equation.

The ONLY exception to this rule I know of when ordering raw copies that may grade in the 9.6 - 9.8 range is to buy from Bloodshot (Jay) here on the boards. He clearly has taken the time to understand how CGC determines their grades and when he tells you something is a probable 9.8 candidate, he means it. I don't know any other dealers who take that sort of care in grading new NM books, so we have a source here on the valiantfan boards that you can rely on in that regard. And, no, Jay did not ask me to post this!

[BloodShot]

If I want slabbed CGC 9.8 copies then I'll pay the premium for slabbed CGC 9.8 copies and remove the uncertainty and potential disappointment from the equation.

The ONLY exception to this rule I know of when ordering raw copies that may grade in the 9.6 - 9.8 range is to buy from Bloodshot (Jay) here on the boards. He clearly has taken the time to understand how CGC determines their grades and when he tells you something is a probable 9.8 candidate, he means it. I don't know any other dealers who take that sort of care in grading new NM books, so we have a source here on the valiantfan boards that you can rely on in that regard.

Damn, Andy; that is one hell of an endorsement !! Thanks, brother; that really means a lot .

And he's absolutely right, kids: I didn't ask him to say any of that .

But, Andy, if you EVER make your way down here, just know the first pint (or three) is on the house .

[JCP]

If I want slabbed CGC 9.8 copies then I'll pay the premium for slabbed CGC 9.8 copies and remove the uncertainty and potential disappointment from the equation.

The ONLY exception to this rule I know of when ordering raw copies that may grade in the 9.6 - 9.8 range is to buy from Bloodshot (Jay) here on the boards. He clearly has taken the time to understand how CGC determines their grades and when he tells you something is a probable 9.8 candidate, he means it. I don't know any other dealers who take that sort of care in grading new NM books, so we have a source here on the valiantfan boards that you can rely on in that regard.

Damn, Andy; that is one hell of an endorsement !! Thanks, brother; that really means a lot .

And he's absolutely right, kids: I didn't ask him to say any of that .

But, Andy, if you EVER make your way down here, just know the first pint (or three) is on the house .

Whatcha have for sale? The endorsement sold me.

[BloodShot]

Whatcha have for sale? The endorsement sold me.

Oh, just a small stack of common raws, and a slab or two ...

Shot you a PM anyway .

Just LMK,

-B

[CongoBill]

If I want slabbed CGC 9.8 copies then I'll pay the premium for slabbed CGC 9.8 copies and remove the uncertainty and potential disappointment from the equation.

The ONLY exception to this rule I know of when ordering raw copies that may grade in the 9.6 - 9.8 range is to buy from Bloodshot (Jay) here on the boards. He clearly has taken the time to understand how CGC determines their grades and when he tells you something is a probable 9.8 candidate, he means it. I don't know any other dealers who take that sort of care in grading new NM books, so we have a source here on the valiantfan boards that you can rely on in that regard.

Damn, Andy; that is one hell of an endorsement !! Thanks, brother; that really means a lot .

And he's absolutely right, kids: I didn't ask him to say any of that .

But, Andy, if you EVER make your way down here, just know the first pint (or three) is on the house .

No problem, Jay. Most of those CGC 9.6 and 9.8 slabs I sold back in November I bought from you raw. I know you don't guarantee grades, but your grading system is pretty spot on. I know it can't be real easy to determine what differentiates a 9.4 from a 9.6 from a 9.8 but you seem to have it figured out about as much as anybody can. Kudos!