Hi everyone. Hopefully this is categorized well and not already covered elsewhere on the forum. It didn’t seem right to bring up in the eBay problems thread.
Anyhoo, have you seen the multiple raw New Mutants #98 Facsimile editions selling for ridiculous amounts on eBay? I’m talking $30 to upwards of $150. Most of the auctions make no mention of reprint or facsimile status in the title. It may be buried in the description, and it’s obvious from the photo(s). I’m guessing the majority sold to completely uninformed people buying a gift for the Deadpool fan in their life, who have not done the barest trace of research.
Takeaways: I’m sad for these buyers, but caveat emptor - so you may still have a good flipping opportunity. And with the now constant stream of facsimile editions, make sure your loved ones know to not try to buy a coveted book for you unless you’ve schooled them on what to look for. I haven’t done a deep dive to see if other facsimile editions have also done this well, but the possibility exists.
I’ve seen threads on this…not sure any were here. But it’s awful what level some will sink to for a buck. I cringe to think of people getting these as gifts from their loving significant other and have to explain to them they wasted hundreds on a comic not worth its cover price.
But I suggest if you or anyone see these being sold on eBay bring them to the forums attention so people who care to end such activities can bombard eBay with reporting the auction as a scam. It’s the only thing we can proactively do given eBay privacy policies.
I feel for anyone who bought one thinking it was an original. However if I’m making a big purchase especially I’m researching beforehand to make sure something like this doesn’t happen.
I’ve got a small stack of these things. I was hoping you were going to say that people were legitimately paying big bucks for them. I feel bad for non-comic fans getting ripped off while trying to buy gifts for comic fans.
I feel like the the listing is misleading, but it does say it’s a reprint, and the photo is of the facs/reprint. The buyers really should be doing more research. Are they not wondering why these copies are so much cheaper than other copies? Are they not wondering why no one else is bidding on these? I agree the listing is not the best, but these buyers seem quite naive. I’m not condoning ripping people off. But at the same time, you, as a buyer, have to be more diligent than this if you’re buying shit online, or in person. If these NM98 sales are indeed a naive buyer purchasing one thing that they think is another, I would blame the buyer equally as much as I would blame the seller. Maybe blame the buyer a little less.
These could also be sham sales that a small group is using to try to manipulate the market on this particular facs, for whatever reason.
Say, if it was my mother buying it for me, she probably wouldn’t know the value of this original book, so even at the cheaper price, she might think it’s still a hefty price for a comic.
But yeah, people do need to to their research when buying something and anything. Shame on sellers trying to hide but there’s no shame for those that make it obvious it’s the reprint. You simply can’t fix stupid sometimes… and there’s always going to be stupid people buying things thinking they’re getting a bargain without reading the fine print.
I’ve considered creating a listing as a PSA for such naive buyers, creating a listing with a very similar title, then having the description describe it for what it really is…and if people still bid ridiculous amounts i’d Contact them and try to figure out why they insist on bidding.
But that’s a lot of work and I’m not that passionate about it.
I did a quick search of “new mutants 98 lot” both live and sold sales on eBay … I saw no blatant attempts at rip offs … if the OP could post a link to any sales or active listings that appear deceptive, I’d be curious to take a look …
I too would like to see the auctions deemed suspect. If anything because I’d like the details so I know we are all talking to the same seller/listing so we have all the facts in front of us.
Yes … personally, I just don’t like to see accusations fly without at least some sort of evidence, especially in our area of interest … plus, if true, it would be not a good thing for the hobby as a whole …
@Uncle_Willie@D-Rog…here is the seller/listing(s) I was referring too. This dude seems to have sold a few of these facs at elevated prices with, what I think is, a misleading description.
Is “RP” supposed to be “reprint” in the title and in leu of “facsimile”? Lame.
Especially when he’s spelling out “First Appearance” and “And” and adding non descriptive/relevant words for this book like “of” and “White Pages” (which are absolutely unnecessary) to force it to 79 characters.
Definitely a calculated move to deceive while covering his/her ass.
“New Mutants 98 NM- To M White Pages First Appearance Of Deadpool And Domino! Rp” can be written as
“New Mutants 98 NM- To M White Pages 1st Appearance Deadpool & Domino! Facsimile”
Same info (should result in same # of hits), more accurate, same # of words.
So if I find any I’ll grab one of these and put up an auction with the same title and within it place a huge warning about scammers and this book. It’s all any of us can really do as I don’t think the listing explicitly violates any ebay policy. If it does, point me to it and I’ll report it as others should also do.
And please keep pointing these sellers out as everyone should be made aware and judge/act as they feel is warranted.
Thanks … (although just a link would have sufficed) … … high sale at $76.00 plus I think $10 or so shipping for that particular book … low sale at a dollar something … I sent the dude a message telling him he needs to put Re-Print within the main line description … I’d suspect when folks get their order, most if not all are opening a return …
Maybe some shill bidding going on as well … who knows … bidding histories are showing an above average number of retracted bids …
I never used the term rip off, and I acknowledged that most of the auctions I saw do make mention of “facimile” or “reprint” in their descriptions. These sellers’ decisions to not include facsimile in the title is strategic, IMO, and it’s on the buyers to understand what they’re buying. That’s why I mentioned this may still be a viable flipping opportunity.
That said, I personally think it’s a shame that multiple buyers paid what they paid. But perhaps many, or all, of the buyers have understood they were not buying a first print and didn’t care.
Active BIN listing for $35, facsimile noted in the description, but not the title. It’s obvious from the photo, of course, for people who know comics weren’t $4 three decades ago. This seller has sold at least a couple already at this price:
Several have sold over the past few months for a whole range of prices. Some of the highest are in October and November, which made me suspect they were meant as gifts. I won’t link a ton, but here are a couple from searching “new mutants 98” and checking the solds:
This seller makes no mention, anywhere, of being a reprint. A buyer would have to know from the photo:
I think one issue I see is most of these listings, the sellers are placing these under the Copper Age category so they’re getting tagged as publication dates of 1991, which is not accurate. These are reprints, the publication dates are not from 1991. So these are misleading and should be reported to be corrected.
Well, personally, I would not Board the Train of “viable flipping opportunity” … my main point here is, once the consumer actually gets the book, if they had assumed it was a 1991 printing, eBay’s liberal return policy would be utilized … so, it’s really to the sellers detriment if they are attempting to mislead … I don’t know if they are or not …
In addition, I seemed to have spotted some listed as signed by Liefeld … yet ::
… high sale at $76.00 plus I think $10 or so shipping for that particular book … low sale at a dollar something … I sent the dude a message telling him he needs to put Re-Print within the main line description … I’d suspect when folks get their order, most if not all are opening a return …