CGC Reholder Scam! Two More Comics and a New Scam!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2024
- #cgc #mcu #ComicMarket
I've got an update on this recent CGC Reholder scam. Also what looks like a different scam from the reholder one we had seen before. We discuss two more books in this video.
Hope you enjoy and make sure to subscribe for more content in the future.
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This is 100% on CGC. If a customer sends in a slab to be re-holdered and states "hey this is a Mark Jeweler's, you missed that". Then CGC MUST remove the book from the inner well and re-evaluate it. The fact they have not and are not doing that completely destroys the authentication and certification portion of their business. And without that, what are they? NOTHING!
CORRECT! It's like going to the bank and getting a stack of $100 that are all counterfeit and the bank telling you "that's how they came to us, we just count them and put a new band on them." The "G" in CGC indicates responsibility. In fact, the clown sending these books in has MORE reasonable deniability than CGC. Another problem here is that CGC is not a recognized or guaranteed entity. Unless there is a written agreement of indemnity expressly signed by all parties involved, it's a non-starter. As far as I can tell the cases and the labels are the SOLE property of the book owner. eBay may get involved, but we have to see.
That's not exactly what he's saying. The suggestion is that they put an actual mark jeweler's raw book into a case with a non MJ label. He's not saying they put a regular non-MJ book into a regular non-MJ case/label and they sent it in stating it's MJ and got back a label saying so. Where they made money is the actual MJ book they slipped in is of a lower grade, so through the re-holder process it kept the higher grade on the label, but now also says MJ reflecting the book inside.
I don't think it's new that people generally have learned to expect to receive back re-holders in the same grade and suspect there's not as much grading scrutiny there unless there's something egregious. On paper CGC says there's no guarantee that the grade will hold and there's always risk when anyone breaks it out of the case. I can appreciate some credence to respecting the original grade and opinion though. If I send a book in to get the new updated case/label, it's pretty disappointing to get it back at a lower grade in that process.
I think CGC should make the scans a standard thing for all books and for any re-holder they could then go back and compare to the pictures. I think right now it's an optional additional charge for the high def scans? I'm sure they're cracking down on the re-holder quality control, always looking to make the cases more tamper proof, but not much you can do about the millions of books already out there.
You're sure of this QC improvement - why? IF ANY of these were reholdered, CGC owns all the blame. They certified a fraudulent book - wait "several hundred" fraudulent books. Sounds like someone might have an uncle Jerry at CGC.@@lburwell99
On a side note, I can’t fathom why anyone would want a comic with those intrusive, bulky inserts. I hated them. I recall gently taking them out of my comics. Thick Jewelry ads in a comic book that made it harde to flip through? Blech.
Here is some advice…QUIT using cgc!!!!
If CGC dosen't publicly address this and take steps to REINSPECT/GRADE books sent in for reholdering, they will lose TONS of credibility and users. Hopefully CBCS and other graders see whats happening as well.
Has the one who done this get punished for this?
I remember when the biggest news was CBCS got a new label, and so many TH-camrs made videos of the label. People in the comments only talked about how they didn’t like the label. To those people, “How you liking that label now?”
The time you're spending uncovering this evidence is a great help to the community. Thanks so much for making these videos. I hope CGC has some answers soon.
God I hate scammers. Not only do they directly screw over the people who bought from them, they potentially screw over ALL of us collectors who have a big part of the value of our collections wrapped up in trusting the grades.
Always felt like CGC was a scam. Now I’m glad I stayed clear
cgc is going to get crushed by all this, aint no coming back cuz you dont know how many books are legit. This can also lead to other greater scams happening if they tried to correct this major flaw. I see a lot of graded books going down in value cuz of this scam,to include making it tough for folks to sell slabs
I imagine the folks at CGC are running around with their hair on fire today. Meetings galore - combined with a buncha finger-pointing.
So crazy sad
True as unfortunate as this is
They should not allow reholdering. Just make all submissions have grading. Just like every company they start to grow and get greedy and want to get you through micro transactions and they start up a new cheaper reholdering service that leads to shenanigans
I’d be good with the money makers leaving completely, and only collectors be left here.
The problem is that the serial number is only on the paper strip with the grade on it. So once you crack the slab then the book is still in a holder just with no serial number on it.
Ive always wanted CGC to heat stamp or put some sort of magnetic reader strip on the inner plastic holder that actually encapsulates the comic book so that it is identifiable.
That way when a book gets sent back to cgc to get a new holder the serial number is on the inner case and will be treated accordingly.
The way things are now cgc has no way of knowing what sealed book is going into that new slab
What’s crazy is that they probably wouldn’t have gotten caught if they weren’t so greedy. Posting all of those 9.8 jewelers raises alarm bells.
Exactly. If they had spaced them out, listing one at a time only, they likely would never have been caught.
Yeah. That played a role I’m sure. It was crazy seeing those all pop up on Instagram. They were asking like 80-90k or something.
@@AutomaticComics who are the ebay/instagram sellers? Apologies if this has been addressed here already
@@AutomaticComicswho's the seller
That same scam seller just canceled an uncanny x-men 266 mark jewelers on ebay after all the heat on him. I had a bid on the book, so I got a message from ebay about the bid cancelation. He canceled all the bids with 2 days left
Earlier this year I got scammed locally by a guy as part of a trade. He had a super low grade book in a 9.6 slab, which I didn’t notice until long after the fact. The pessimist in me thinks this stuff is much more common than we resize…
If CGC wants to protect the integrity of their reputation then they should care a lot more about this happening and take the steps needed to ensure this doesn’t happen or else it puts every book they have graded into question. Even if it’s not necessarily their fault this is happening, it is still their name attached to these books and 1 bad apple can have the effect of destroying the entire bunch. They need to care and do better
They tossed their integrity out the window long ago when they told everyone that “three graders look at every book”. It’s been a sham from the start. Scam artists have simply found a way use their obvious shortcomings to take advantage of the brainwashed masses who have been convinced that CGC is the end all be all for collectibles.
The thing is, it is CGC's fault this is happening. If you design a case and system that can "easily" be beat and they can't even tell the difference on these books then they are 100% at fault. If you offer a service like this then you need a bullet proof system in place so this doesn't happen. Who knows how deep thos really goes. This is the one seller that got caught.
This is definitely a case of CGC not seeing the forest from the trees. Their job is to evaluate, authenticate and certify comic books. They are trained to look for fakes and signs of tampering. However, the whole time they were allowing scammers to go around their entire authentication process through a "back door" that THEY left wide open.
Not really a backdoor, it's just them being lazy and not doing what their literal job is to grade and inspect books for authenticity. If someone resubmits a book for reholdering and says oh you missed this and you as CGC just go oh okay random stranger and don't actually inspect the book for tampering that's just laziness. Like the video states alot of these are obvious and should have been caught because of the tampering and identical marks on the books.
This is a nightmare. I don't play with these big books, but who knows what this guys was doing with smaller books for "practice." Thanks for looking into this. Might start having to raw dog it lol.
Great work thanks for the continuing investigation - couple thoughts: Law enforcement involvement will be key to furthering investigation. If one of the buyers of a fraudulent book can be identified and they file a police report then the crime is classified as a felony due to the magnitude of the theft. Multiple felonies and mail fraud add up to a significant law enforcement investigation that mandates CGC cooperation. So we should try to contact any buyers to recommend they file police reports.
CBCS used to heat seal the inner well to the label. This way you can not seperate the book in the inner well from the label. I don't think they do this anymore with their new labels but they might want to re-introduce this and CGC should adopt something similar.
This is becoming crazy as it unfolds makes purchasing a book a gamble. I hope CGC fixes this quickly.
At this point, realistically all they could do to erase any doubt in your slab/book being legit, is to regrade every book out there into yet another new label slab, with added built in protections. FOR FREE, and we know that ain't happening. I'm sure they'll come up with a somewhat acceptable solution. I won't be holding my breath, while waiting for it.
I hate slabs
I think we are past due to receive an explanation from CGC. The whole community is talking about how bad this is for collecting and we haven't heard anything from them? The longer this goes with them being silent, the worse it looks for them. Now it looks as though there were a number of ways to slip books past CGC through resubmission, so clearly there are some shortcomings at CGC that need to be addressed. I know I will not be submitting any of my books for quite some time, as they need to update their entire process. Shame on them for allowing this to happen, as they definitely should have had precautionary measures in place for resubmissions.
This leads me to believe that these scams are coming from someone that’s been around comics for a very long time. Someone who knows the ins and outs of CGC AND knows how to choose the kinds of books that the grading company and people would overlook. An old, sketchy dealer…..that’s most of them…..
Ryan, this is crushing. What can the community do when there is fraud like this out there. I own maybe 30 slabs, and now I have to wonder if they were tampered with. This is terrible for the hobby.
All of your slabs were tampered with
All of your slabs are belong to us
Lol. 😆 cut it out.
@MicealHollen - I only own 16 slabs, and I don't intend on selling any of them. I'm a basic, old school collector, but , like all collectors, I rely on honest sellers to get my fix. This mess here, with cgc slabs is going to screw some of my favorite sellers eventually.
This is going to be a moment where CGC will either take control of the situation or try and brush it off as a few bad apples and completely destroy the trust of the community. Their corporate life literally hangs in the balance right now.
Good pick up! this needs to get fixed asap or else people will lose faith in this hobby. I suppose a quick fix for the reholder part is that CGC should fully re-grade every book even if it is just for a reholder...
You want to reholder a 9.8 and maybe they regrade it a 9.6 next time? Huge risk.
Reslab question in Ask CGC forums is now closed.
They posted the agreement you sign when you send in books to get reslabbed.
@@bat2275 It would stop the scammers
@bat2275 there should be a big review and documentation process to require regrading but also to address what happens if the grading needs to be changed up or down. Grading has an element of judgment so it is correct to expect some changes. Perhaps a high hurdle to grade up or down but a requirement of regrading.
Yeah, but if I send a book in and it comes back a 9.8 with a mistake and I immediately send it back to be fixed. If it comes back to me a 9.6 or a 9.4 I'm going to be passed off. Anyone would. The problem is they are supposed to be meticulously grading them by more than 1 person so there is no excuses for them to make these mistakes in the first place. If they can miss an insert how can I trust them to not miss a spine tic?
Man the depth of this thing is very unfortunate. Let’s see where we go from here. Thank you for a great video! And thank you for the love!!
Thank you for bringing this to everyone’s attention. Keep up the good work.
You know how Apple has that $1Million challenge/reward to any programmer that can break their iOS kernel code. It's a simple way to sell integrity AND find the perfect person for their team if a failure point is found ... This is that moment for CGC to reward you on some level. If not cash - a dream, well deserved, job!!!
I’m guessing they don’t like these videos lol. I don’t expect any kind of reward for them.
@@AutomaticComics If the right people are leading the company - the kind of people you want to trust your books/ratings with - they will love this video. Full stop. Without checks on failures grading means nothing.
@@randolm7698Unfortunately the corruption at CCG is deep and the people running the company are horrible. Which is why you haven't heard about any of this from them, even though CCG has known about this for months.
Looks like CGC went on the wrong crusade when they aggressively decided to go after cleaned comics mark them as restored.
People have been marrying in mark jewelers inserts for years. They buy tons of junk $2 mark jewelers, and unfold the staples.
I knew a guy that had a few hundred mark jeweler inserts, waiting to marry them into bigger key books.
Yes, I wouldn’t be surprised if this person was also doing that.
All mine are raw. I'm so glad I've never sent any in.
Oh damn, this is nuts. I thought these cases were tamper proof? This is nuts, and now I'm sure so many people are going to have doubts over what they have bought or have trouble selling some of what they have had graded. When I sent you that MSHSW8 the other day, I had no idea about this whole thing and that it was part of it. Great work once again, and for sure we wil have to hear from CGC as you say. They of course have all the records of their submissions, who graded or worked on them internally, all that detail they will have and will hopefully report back to us with some information to reassure the community. Dang.
Hope people understand that if the case is too damaged the book will get regraded and I would LOVE to see someone get a book out of a sonically welded case without destoying the case and/or the book. A label swap may be likely, and CGC isn't at fault for these scams. NOW that they know, they SHOULD implement the same rule with the label in that if the damaged case also could bring the legitimacy of the label into question then the book will also be regraded, and if a book is claiming to be a book with an internal error, or a MJ variant, then the book is automatically taken out of the inner well and at least examined.
Good video and great investigation! What a scumbag, I hate thieves so much. Hopefully eBay will get wind of this and at least shut down their seller page.
Will say though I submitted a GSX 1 to CGC for grading. Book I have had since early 90’s. Was missing a coupon or something on inside of book that had been cut out. Fully expected a green label. Received back from CGC a blue universal label. So I’m sure a mistake was made, but since I don’t plan on selling, I won’t bother with it.
CBCS used to heat seal the label to the inner well thereby eliminating the seperation of the label from the book. This was changed when they introduced their new labels. Maybe they should bring it back and CGC should adopt something similar.
Cbcs coming in hot
Great Video, appreciate keeping attention on this.
This will ruin CGC unless they act swiftly and comprehensively. Why the hell would anyone buy a slabbed book now?
You can imagine this hasn’t taken place in the average slab that is less than $1000 but CGC should be evaluating their system and it looks like there maybe a shift to CBCS
CGC'S been ruined a dozen times over at this point, between the massive QC issues, scams and questionable leadership, you would think people would have learned thier lesson by now, but no. people just keep on buying.
CGC needs to make a statement and honestly they either need to add another non-tampering ticker, safety measure or they need to completely get rid of their re-holder service.
Just thinking this through, it seems like this guy always has a reason to have the books reholdered - like getting a custom label or the notation is missing an insert or newstand.... BUT the person at cgc doesnt look at the books and simply complies. If the slabs were damaged the people might look at it twice but don't...
I think that this guy is able to encapsulate his own books and sends in a perfectly encapsulated book and used the reholdering process to legitmize the scam.
If they sent in broken cases i think it would of caused too much suspicion.
They didn't swap covers and find some other book with an exact cover wrap. They opened the staples and married a new internal page 10 fold. I don't think that is the centerfold, so unless CGC removes the pages, they won't see any mismatched holes in the page 10 wrap.
Isn't it more likely they also had an 8.5 Hulk 181 in the older case, and just swapped labels, or even if they had a newer 8.5, they could just swap inner wells. Thus having 2 "complete" 181s, the same as the ASM 252. He's left with 2 9.8 MJ.
Whatever he's doing, it's the same method,. He isn't opening the inner well and altering the book. He's just passing one book off as another, then regrading the better one.
I don’t think so. The reason is that this hulk 181 got a new serial number as part of a standard submission (like I showed that it was part of a 8 book submission). Meaning it went through actual grading, not just a reholder.
This scam of swapping wraps on 181s is fairly well known. Unfortunately.
Yes, that’s what I said, they married the wrap inside this book from another book. Definitely much harder to see the staple holes than a centerfold, but they should still be able to catch it if they don’t align.
The page quality is the trickier part. A page that’s aged differently will stick out.
Agree - CGC lack of consistency is the reason this is possible.
I'm glad you made this video. Really opens the mind to the countless instances of fraud that have slid by the eyes of the grading services.
Didn’t the early slabs have the label encapsulated attached to the grade comic? It’s probably something they will have to do to eliminate this possibility
Great idea! And yes the inner well of older slab held both the book and the label, they should bring this back
Good stuff Ryan. Hiding in the volume and looking at what else was in that particular submission are some great concepts to consider here. I remember in one of your previous unboxing videos that you noticed a recent change to the label where they drop diagonal 'CGC' watermarks within the white grade box. If this is a label swap scam, I wonder if there's a way they can use that to detect when an older slab comes in with this new label?
Yeah pretty bad… I am not surprised… but pretty bad. It’s an easy fix. One of the old cbcs slab forms had the label sealed in the inner well. Smash the outside all you want, had to cut label out to swap em. CGC should steal the design.
I still think it's an inside job. I've opened those plastic cases and it's impossible to do so without damaging the case. I suspect the seller is a CGC employee or has help from a CGC employee who has access to the tools/equipment. Who knows how many eBay accounts this scammer has or had... not to mention local direct sales. He needs to be exposed so that his buyers can have their purchase verified... and only CGC can make this happen.
Bingo! It involves multiple CGC employees.
This is just now being found out. God I hope a bunch of people haven't been ripped off by this scam. 😢
Are you kidding of course they have the phrase tip of the iceberg comes too mind. Automatic comics just nuked CGC.
This is just like seeing a roach in your house. If you see one you know there are several you don’t see. I bet this is just the beginning of a huge scandal. You couldn’t pay me enough to buy an expensive slab at the moment.
How many people added the poster from the facsimile Batman 181 to their Batman 181’s for a higher grand. It was printed on the same paper stock and had no markings that it was a reprint.
This dude is the comic book sherlock holmes. As a collector, I appreciate this work
Who's the deep-pocketed financial outfit that bought out CGC a couple years back? Blackrock? They have, or will employ a gaggle or two of legal professionals in this case. The fraud is clearly harming both CGC customers, and also CGC by doing reputational harm. This fraudster had best be organizing his affairs for a prolonged absence. Oh, and this stinks of inside help or blind eye within those Sarasota walls.
Jay Z will send his goons to the submitters house
Thank you Rayan This makes me sick.People are always trying to scam others.I love collecting Marvel stuff.
This was CSI CGC! This was like another type of comic show. Hella informative!
Wowww they didn’t even try to hide it when they did the Uncanny 266. Sheesh. Great work once again. I’m curious what’s going to happen with this guy
Bravo Ryan u deserve a Pulitzer.
This needs to be brought up to NYT
I am a modern age collector, I collect and love, the 9.8 newstands, especially from the 80s. This really makes me reconsider and question my entire collecting focus.
Should I purge and move to silver?
Is it a coincidence that CBCS just dropped a 15% grading coupon while all this is going on :)
Thanks for doing all this work for the hobby!
Hey, hoping that you can reply to this suggestion for everyone scammed by this seller. CGC has already given people a way out. I remember a video regarding a HULK 181 missing value stamp that was in an old CGC blue label. When the person cracked the book out and found the marvel value stamp missing he spoke with CGC about the issue. CGC said that if he had sent the book into them and they found the issue that they (CGC) would be on the hook. So that’s what buyers, who believe their book(s) have issues, need to do. Send these books back into CGC. If CGC finds any issues, within the blue label like restoration or missing pieces or pages, CGC should be giving that person the FMV of the book. Let me know if you think that it’s a good suggestion. Either way CGC has to do the right thing.
Hi, yes, for the Hulk 181s I agree. I think that is likely their best option. But I don’t know if that would work for the other books that appear to have been swapped out.
Lower graded books swapped out really suck for the buyer. I agree. But sending back these books to CGC will give some peace of mind that at least there’s no missing pieces or pages and no restoration. Especially for high value books. CGC needs to get law enforcement involved to put the screws to this guy. We’re talking about thousands of dollars scammed. We need big voices to get CGC to do the right thing.
Wow...Thanks Ryan for letting us know! I hope he/they get charged with some crimes. CGC should also re-evaluate their Re-slab procedures and make a public comment.
I just got two boxes of silver age comics from my stepdad to sell for him this week. I know NOTHING about the comics industry or the grading systems - just started looking into all this stuff this week in order to help him maximize his selling prices. Then, I stumbled into this highly disconcerting issue with CGC. Fortunately, all the comics I have are ungraded and raw. Have found several ‘key’ issues in great condition and was starting to research whether or not I should have some of them graded…but now I don’t have much confidence in CGC and don’t know what to do at this point.
Thanks for bringing all of this to my attention. At this point, I think CGC should hire you as a consultant.
Depending on the book, honestly, grading still will get you more money for them. But some books may suffer from this shorter term. Especially the bronze to copper age keys this seller seemed to specialize in.
@@AutomaticComics - When I popped open the first box, I randomly pulled out one book and it was a Fantastic Four #48 (Galactus). In what I would consider near mint condition. Dumb me thought “Maybe this is worth $20…?” Looked it up on eBay and saw an ungraded copy selling for $1000. That was the lowest priced one I found on eBay. So then I pick another one out at random. It turns out to be a Silver Surfer #4 in about the same condition as the FF. Lo and behold, I see a few videos about the top 5 or 10 best selling comics of 2023 and there it is.
@@AutomaticComics - I’m kinda freaking out about this stuff right now.
Also, thanks very much for your reply.
@@AutomaticComics - What would be the fee to have one of these graded? I’ve looked at CGC’s pricing and don’t really understand their criteria.
CBCS
Thanks again for another video. When I first saw that 181 example I assumed the green label missing pg 10 was just the book that got swapped into a blue label and sent in to reholder which is why they had different #s. But when you showed the multiple books on that blue label submission and the grade dates all match up then that doesn't make sense. As we've seen with the other swaps, the grade date doesn't get updated when it is just a reholder. Great sleuthing. I think CGC could prevent the swapping trick by regrading reholders but nothing will stop a good marriage of a book like the 181 if the marriage is done well.
Thanks Brian..good for you !!! Can you say who is doing this? They should be exposed and prosecuted.
Like you said, many comics have very identifiable flaws that make them unique. Could CGC use scans of comics to be graded and compare them to their database scans of those already graded to find resubmissions? In addition, maybe all reholders should go through a verification process similar to grading in order to verify it is the same book with the same flaws. I doubt CGC would take the action to do these types of things…unless large numbers of collectors got together and refused to use their services.
CGG will most likely come up with a new case where it can still be cracked, but the label will be destroyed in the process. That and change their reholder process.
Reminds me of the card trimming scandal with PSA. Different category and company, same incompetence.
I've always said that if all of the scammers--and I'm not just talking comic books, but also those that prey on the young and elderly through various online scams--would spend as much effort doing work that actually benefited society, the world would be such a nicer place. True, they wouldn't make as much money--just like the rest of us hard-working people. My only hope is that they have just a little bit tougher time going to sleep at night--knowing what they've done.
This guy must be a pro to swap wraps. Scary shit. Great detective work
Yeah, from the posts on the forums, it seems like they’ve likely been doing this a pretty long time. Unfortunately.
@@AutomaticComics can u see on CGC when those books were graded? All of them on that he sold. Just to get a time frame on this thing
I don’t understand what they did with the hulk?
What does that mean swap in a wrap?
This reminds me of what happened with CGC in the coining world Coins that would be in slabbed psa or CGC at high grade, but the coin itself didn’t have that grade you could see with your own eyes that the coin wasn’t as good as the grade indicated and it all came down to people more than one person, putting in fake or low-grade Coins and getting higher grades, which then begs the question how did they get that to happen, the actual cases themselves were fake cases now this isn’t the same as this Comics scam, but I would like to add that any time Comics go up in price to huge amounts like 15,000, $30,000 for Comics that were nowhere near that price even five years ago and probably will get picked out as possible ways to scam. The grading more people enter the unscrupulous world of fake grading because there’s money in it.
Another great video. I said it it and a couple the other pages the guys have up. The seller is from Forest Hills New York, which is right next to Queens, I think people need to be looking into this because a certain other scammer is from queens that’s been high profile lately. Could be a coincidence or not, but it would be really interesting to find out who the seller is. I tried to see if they had anything for sale on eBay but nothing is for sale..
this is a mafia operation. they’re raking in millions every year on fake collectibles. they have youtube and instagram frontmen
This is crazy now! Can’t believe they’re doing direct to newsstand.
I know latest slabs with CGC have photos of the slabs on the website now. Did they not take photos for their own records for older books? 🤯
I’d say it’s pretty safe to say they didn’t.
This one hits home because I saw that very Hulk 181 9.0 listing and was tempted to buy it. I have had that book in that grade on my radar for quite some time. Now.... I don't know if I am going to buy it anytime soon. I suppose I can do some more research using the CGC #, but there is still a risk to buying. This is a huge problem for CGC and graded book collecting as a whole.
Yup, I will be avoiding CGC buying for awhile.
People should take note of the other active auctions/serial #s of this seller in order to recognize what name they'll start selling under when they change their Ebay store name as I would imagine they would now that they've been discovered.
I was trying to investigate if this seller is scamming on silver age books as well. I purchased an Avengers 57 9.4 from him on January 15th of this year and I’m trying to be a detective about determining whether or not it was a purple or green label previously. I haven’t found any obvious proof identifying fraud as of yet. But I think your point about hiding in the volume of the bronze and copper age books makes sense. If you have 15 mins would you consider digging in on this a little? Thank you man and GREAT work!
Hold my beer...I have an Avengers 4 purchased off Ebay nearly 13 years ago I'm now looking closely at because of this news. At this point I'm quite concerned about it.
I take it that the CGC cases are just snap shut, maybe CGC should also glue them shut so you have to break the case to get the comic out making it impossible to slide another book inside.
Not sure if this has not been brought up, but I am wondering if eBay can flag or remove this Seller from their site. The fact that numerous frauds have been identified from this Seller, I would think it would be incumbent on eBay to put a halt to this Seller.
I can't believe people are paying many thousands of dollars for a piece of junk mail - the MJ insert.
I think the MJ inserts are awesome. Only available for sale at US military bases. To each his own.
@@zoso73strange
reminds me of folks that spend thousands on female tik tokers used bathtub water
eBay could, and should, help out with this as well. The least they could do is notify the buyers on this user's listings and make them aware. It would be best if coordinated along with CGC issuing what amounts to a recall on all those slabs. I have a feeling ebay probably won't get involved unless law enforcement initiates.
It would also be nice if Ebay could show you older listings. Try looking up a listing from 10 years ago to review the posted images again, or review the buyers ratings, etc...no dice. Unless you saved images, which is easy in hindsight.
@legonleg1190 that’s where gocollect comes in very handy. They have all the images cached on their site. It’s well worth the price IMO just for that.
I see that now...def. going to pay for a month and start checking my situation out. Thx @@AutomaticComics
Basically a comic book chop shop.
Technically speaking, the person perpetrating these frauds may be engaged not merely in civil fraud but criminal, e.g., federal wire or mail fraud and probably state law fraud laws, too. So who is going to try to make that happen--well CGC might care since the crime is not only harming the purchaser but CGC, too. Any crim lawyers out there? Ebay should be concerned, too.
I believe there are connections between an inside CGC grader/graders with a submitter doing this. Just my opinion.
GRADING of any sort is the biggest scam going ...
You know this is way more prevalent than this one eBay seller. I also suspect it’s been going on for years. It needs to be addressed ASAP by CGC.
We'll never know the full extent of manipulation. many books are "in the vault" never to be seen by outside/prying eyes again, some destroyed in fires,weather events,etc.There's a lot more to it than that of course. I only have a few slabs, but no one's ever going to see'em. not until after I'm buried. I have a cgc 5.5 with a huge chunk torn off the front cover of the book. I thought it seemed a little strange, but the price was drastically slashed to well under fmv, so I was glad to get it.
Mahalo for doing all of this research.
Was the wrap that had the missing page 10, the same wrap that has the Marvel Stamp? If so, then I bet what happened - laziness and incompetence by the grader.. . the graders are told to look for married pages... but on this book, they only bothered to look for the missing marvel stamp and moved on. To answer the question that everyone is asking - no, CGC grades are not reliable. Clearly, everyone in the hobby has known that CGC grades are off by anywhere from .2 to 1.0 points in either direction. People who don't like the grade they've gotten, and think it's too low, crack and resubmit, and in a third of the cases, get a better grade. When they get a 9.0, that they know should be an 8.0, they click their heels and cheer. The lunacy aspect is that everyone knows that the grades are not reliable... so why pay more for a slightly higher grade... Because they figure that there's always someone else out there who's as dumb as they are who just wants a number grade - regardless as to how meaningless it is.
The YT channel demonstrating how the slab could have been opened with heat demonstrated a rough proof of concept. He did not conclusively prove you can crack a slab and reseal it with NO trace of alternation to the slab. He admits this in his video, which resulted in signs of tampering (even on the side opened with more care)! In other words, just remain vigilant and diligent in your inspection of (which we all should be doing anyway after a purchase) and you should be fine. YT channels are blowing this out of proportion either intentionally (for page views) or recklessly/negligently by not evaluating that YT demonstration carefully for both what it shows and doesn't show. We should be judging the proof ourselves and not be misled like sheep. Anyway, because it still appears that a simple inspection of a slab in hand should show any tampering, I will continue my hunt for CGC books on my want list. Of course, CGC should endeavor to improve their slabs, like adding the cert# to the inner well, too. In the meantime, we CAN look out for ourselves a bit better.
Cgc might be able to pinpoint who is doing this by checking submissions with a lot of reholder requests by one individual.
This is why grading is and always will be subjective, because there's always a wide variation in the process whether it be laziness or just how the grader is feeling that day all affects the grade. In this case laziness let these scams happen by them not double checking the books. To me CGC has gone way downhill because of the sheer volume they're doing now, they skimp on quality and just grocery store checkout scan books as fast as they can to do more and more volume.
Have you Swagglepuss talked to any lawyers about this? The owners of those books might be talking to their counsel. I appreciate your knowledge and your videos. This could get messy.
This is where A.I. needs to come in play, some way/ some how. Its amazing, as much as it scares me, what they are doing with a.i. now days.
If graded books sent in for a signature are regraded before being re-slabbed. The same treatment should be given to the re-holder books to prevent this.
The FBI needs to be called on this guy
I was going to say the seller needs to be reported but I found him and it seems like his page no longer exists.
That’s terrible. Gotta always be on the lookout.
Scariest part is that Hulk 181... it means that even CGC can't spot a married wrap if done very well 🤯
I wonder how many people have swapped books in their cgc cases
I stated on the first video that perhaps the hologram in the upper right needs to wrap to the back across the seam of the two halves of the slab. Break the slab breaks the seal.
Perhaps the hologram should have a number on it the same as used on the label.
had same situation with ultimate fallout before Covid ultimate fallout 4 singed in cgc case but case is for batgirl not ultimate fallout
Wouldn't they keep the second book that was resubmitted and reuse it for the same scam again.
Great video Ryan. Did anyone find the FF4 7.0 original slab ?
This so scary. Any of us could be a victim and not even know it
Great work much appreciated hopefully cgc does something
I don't see how a comic book with a missing page can be graded an 8.5, when a dinged corner can take a book from a 9.8 to a 9. An entire missing page is a big deal, and the grade should be way lower than an 8.5. This is why the number grading system is absolute garbage. I can't wait until the market crashes on graded collectibles. These grading companies are scammers by themselves, and then you have people switching out books, which calls every graded book into question now. A huge crash and burn is coming, and it's going to be epic!!