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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Nov 8, 2016 10:37:40 GMT -5
This news of Lone Star is surprising. Granted it's been 8 years since the last time I sold about $300 worth of comics for my kid's Christmas gifts (and considering doing so again this year) and overall I was very pleased. I never graded anything NM and several of the comics they upgraded and I ended up with more money that I expected. But that was probably 20 actual comics at the time. I've never sold a large amount of comics to them.
And as far as buying, if it's something older than modern age I usually buy FN or lower so I am not really concerned with double checking their grading. But modern stuff I've bought graded NM looks NM to me.
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Post by Kan-Man on Nov 8, 2016 14:20:15 GMT -5
When I looked into it in the past, I decided I was going to donate to the Boys and Girls Clubs. That's a good suggestion. I also found out today Goodwill accepts comics and there's a mechanism in place so that you don't have to deliver them if you're not able. The whole issue of getting a tax write-off for the donation is another conversation but it's helpful to at least first identify the charities that will accept comics. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2016 15:26:33 GMT -5
When I looked into it in the past, I decided I was going to donate to the Boys and Girls Clubs. That's a good suggestion. I also found out today Goodwill accepts comics and there's a mechanism in place so that you don't have to deliver them if you're not able. The whole issue of getting a tax write-off for the donation is another conversation but it's helpful to at least first identify the charities that will accept comics. Goodwill does indeed accept comics & they now have in store employees who go through them and if they are worth money they do not get sold in their stores for reasonable nickle & dime prices, instead they are placed on shopgoodwill.com, their version of an ebay auction site. So in other words your donated collection will be bought by collectors/people with cash & probably not enjoyed by young boys & girls on a budget. Goodwill has an entire department in the back of their store now & they go through all incoming merchandise, looking for anything of value & it all goes up on their auction site. |
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Post by Kan-Man on Nov 8, 2016 16:23:48 GMT -5
That's a good suggestion. I also found out today Goodwill accepts comics and there's a mechanism in place so that you don't have to deliver them if you're not able. The whole issue of getting a tax write-off for the donation is another conversation but it's helpful to at least first identify the charities that will accept comics. Goodwill does indeed accept comics & they now have in store employees who go through them and if they are worth money they do not get sold in their stores for reasonable nickle & dime prices, instead they are placed on shopgoodwill.com, their version of an ebay auction site. So in other words your donated collection will be bought by collectors/people with cash & probably not enjoyed by young boys & girls on a budget. Goodwill has an entire department in the back of their store now & they go through all incoming merchandise, looking for anything of value & it all goes up on their auction site. Gotcha - but the money from the auctions go to Goodwill, correct? |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2016 17:07:46 GMT -5
Goodwill does indeed accept comics & they now have in store employees who go through them and if they are worth money they do not get sold in their stores for reasonable nickle & dime prices, instead they are placed on shopgoodwill.com, their version of an ebay auction site. So in other words your donated collection will be bought by collectors/people with cash & probably not enjoyed by young boys & girls on a budget. Goodwill has an entire department in the back of their store now & they go through all incoming merchandise, looking for anything of value & it all goes up on their auction site. Gotcha - but the money from the auctions go to Goodwill, correct? The point I was trying to make was that if you want to donate your comics with the expectations of them to be enjoyed by younger kids then donating to Goodwill will not put them in their hands. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2016 17:17:21 GMT -5
I had only graded 2 books in NM condition and there was no doubt about the condition, 1 book they even downgraded to a VF- which was absolutely ridiculous! Others I graded in VF were actually closer to NM but were downgraded to F/F+ & had just a few VG comics that they downgraded to a G+. I have collected comics for decades and grade conservatively, even the tiniest flaw I will knock down the grade accordingly. I take blame for not investigating Lone Star practices before dealing with them. After the fact I have come across so many people online with similar complaints & the complaints far outweigh the good experiences. I have had no experience with purchasing back issues from them but have heard they are not so picky about condition of comics when they are selling to customers! Not pointing fingers but...dealers tend to undergrade when buying books and will turn any miniscule flaw into a deal changer where price is concerned...then overlook it when grading the same book to resell it. A VF- equates to a 7.5, that would have a pretty noticeable ding or two to keep it well out of the NM range. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Nov 8, 2016 20:54:19 GMT -5
I donated to comics for soliders last year when someone else here recommended it, I definitely got a good vibe from it. |
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on Nov 9, 2016 1:29:06 GMT -5
I had only graded 2 books in NM condition and there was no doubt about the condition, 1 book they even downgraded to a VF- which was absolutely ridiculous! Others I graded in VF were actually closer to NM but were downgraded to F/F+ & had just a few VG comics that they downgraded to a G+. I have collected comics for decades and grade conservatively, even the tiniest flaw I will knock down the grade accordingly. I take blame for not investigating Lone Star practices before dealing with them. After the fact I have come across so many people online with similar complaints & the complaints far outweigh the good experiences. I have had no experience with purchasing back issues from them but have heard they are not so picky about condition of comics when they are selling to customers! Like I said, if they grade it VF-, they sell it at VF-. They aren't perfect, and do make mistakes, but all you have to do is pick up the phone if you really disagree with a grade. And remember that you're not 100% consistent in your grading, even if that's what you strive for. Books also get damaged sometimes in transit. Or they could have legitimately fucked up. You never know until you actually discuss it with them. Others on this site have bought and sold to Lone Star, and I think you'll find that they have been mostly happy with the results. That's the feedback I usually hear about them, so it surprises me that you've found a whole group of dissatisfied customers. You might be the first person I've seen that had a real gripe with them and accused them of being thieves. |
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Post by Kan-Man on Nov 9, 2016 13:46:29 GMT -5
Gotcha - but the money from the auctions go to Goodwill, correct? The point I was trying to make was that if you want to donate your comics with the expectations of them to be enjoyed by younger kids then donating to Goodwill will not put them in their hands. Understood - I just wanted to clarify where the money went. I've actually found very few charities that will even accept comics, let alone get them in the hands of children. I know our local Big Brothers Big Sisters won't take them and I need to call our local Boys and Girls Club but their website suggests they're looking for cash donations, understandably. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2016 16:24:34 GMT -5
I had only graded 2 books in NM condition and there was no doubt about the condition, 1 book they even downgraded to a VF- which was absolutely ridiculous! Others I graded in VF were actually closer to NM but were downgraded to F/F+ & had just a few VG comics that they downgraded to a G+. I have collected comics for decades and grade conservatively, even the tiniest flaw I will knock down the grade accordingly. I take blame for not investigating Lone Star practices before dealing with them. After the fact I have come across so many people online with similar complaints & the complaints far outweigh the good experiences. I have had no experience with purchasing back issues from them but have heard they are not so picky about condition of comics when they are selling to customers! Like I said, if they grade it VF-, they sell it at VF-. They aren't perfect, and do make mistakes, but all you have to do is pick up the phone if you really disagree with a grade. And remember that you're not 100% consistent in your grading, even if that's what you strive for. Books also get damaged sometimes in transit. Or they could have legitimately fucked up. You never know until you actually discuss it with them. Others on this site have bought and sold to Lone Star, and I think you'll find that they have been mostly happy with the results. That's the feedback I usually hear about them, so it surprises me that you've found a whole group of dissatisfied customers. You might be the first person I've seen that had a real gripe with them and accused them of being thieves. I did not accuse MCS of being thieves. I stand by my statement based on my personal experience. I am glad you have had good experiences with MCS. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2016 11:48:46 GMT -5
Hoping you're the same Kan-Man who used to be a regular here. If so, welcome back! If you're not, and you're half as nice a guy as the Earth-1 Kan-Man was, we've lucked out.  PS: Why doesn't your story surprise me? Sorry for that experience. As my grandmother used to say, "is it I." I'm sorry it's been so long since I stopped by - this was always one of the most welcoming places around. By the way, my wife and I took the kids to Cooperstown a couple of weeks back and had a great time. It was their first trip up there and I hadn't been since the Expos were still around. Hope you're doing well and thanks for the kind words. Apropos of not much, a couple of days ago I received a used copy of Jonah Keri's Up, Up & Away: The Kid, The Hawk, Rock, Vladi, Pedro, Le Grand Orange,Youppi!, the Crazy Business of Baseball, & the Ill-Fated but Unforgettable Montreal Expos, having kept an eye out for a cheap copy ever since I learned of its existence. I'm about 20 percent of the way into it & am enjoying it, though I've already been a bit taken aback to see from the index that, say, Ron Hunt is mentioned only once, & at that a couple of hundred pages after he was an active player. Such a book is going to be shaped by the author's personal experience of the team, though, & Keri (I just checked) is 3 days short of being 14 years younger than me, so that explains that. For the most jejune of reasons, as is common with kids who don't live in areas with big-league teams, the Expos were a team I really liked during my early years of following baseball (along with the Twins, Phils & Royals, also because of trivial factors). In Montreal's case it was mainly because I shared a surname with 3B Bob Bailey, who had a helluva year the season I started paying attention to the sport (1970), & a first named with Rusty Staub (Daniel Joseph Staub on his birth certificate) ... & beyond that, Staub was known for making one-hand catches in the OF, rather than the two-hand catch mandated by orthodoxy. (Same was true of KC's Amos Otis, which was one reason I liked them.) I never did manage to pick up the two-handed approach myself, to the near-despair of my little league coach, who hit me fly after fly in an attempt to reshape my fielding method, but even so I was probably the best ballhawk we had -- not saying much, of course. |
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