Cool Things on ebay

[Scott Harris]

I know we have a thread for pointing out ripoffs on ebay, but I thought a thread about cool stuff on ebay might be interesting as well. The item that inspired me is this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Harvey-Comics-Poster-Calendar-1953-/380247432914?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5888835ed2


Which is a 1953 Harvey Comics wall calendar poster. I'm not a big Harvey fan, but this thing is totally sweet.


http://i.ebayimg.com/07/!Bwgh-9QEWk~$(KGrHqV,!h8Ev1+0Ey3+BMJQyZqgiQ~~_3.JPG

[Lone Ranger]

That is pretty cool.

I like how they still have Black Cat in the banner considering she was persona non grata at Harvey in 1953.

[hondobrode]

That's awesome ! Just got laid off last week, but even at the fairly steep price I'd probably still get it.

How cool ! There probably aren't a dozen of those anywhere anymore.

[Jezebel Bond]

edited...I'll wait till the auction (on the item I was looking at) is over to comment on it....

[Red Oak Kid]

I like stuff like that. Can't be many of those around. I wonder what kind of give-aways to retailers/wholesalers DC had?

I would guess a big outfit like Dell did stuff like this.

Doubt if Martin Goodman had any give-aways, the cheapskate.

[MDG]

A few years back, one eBay dealer had multiple copies of Harvey wall calendars like this, but from the late 60s.

[Scott Harris]

A few years back, one eBay dealer had multiple copies of Harvey wall calendars like this, but from the late 60s.

Yes, those still seem to be around. When I found this, there were several Harvey calendars from 1970 available. Interestingly, while they were also wall posters, they seemed to only be for one month instead of the whole year, and each one featured a different character. For Harvey fans looking to get this sort of thing, those 1970 one sheets are certainly more available and therefore significantly cheaper. But still cool.

[Ozymandas]

http://i.ebayimg.com/07/!Bwgh-9QEWk~$(KGrHqV,!h8Ev1+0Ey3+BMJQyZqgiQ~~_3.JPG

I could have used this last year when the dates and the days of the week synched up, but now it's just garbage! :wink:

[dan bailey]

And then there's ...

... the X-Men #1 toilet (http://cgi.ebay.com/X-Men-1-Toilet-OOAK-/230497026995?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35aab183b3), wherein we learn that

The issues were carefully deconstructed, panel by panel, cover by cover using scissors and X-Acto blades. Hundreds of separate images were glued to every square inch (other than water holes) of the bowl, tank, seat, and lids. The gatefold cover was left intact to cover the tank lid, with smaller images added to cover the fold seams. After the entire tank was "base coated" with layers of images, the 3 covers that featured the members of the X-Men were dis-assembled to eliminate the backgrounds, then attached to the front of the tank. The bowl interior was covered with the assorted full-spread posters that came in the centerfold of each variant. The seat has been covered with the ads from the various companies that advertised back issues, showing the prices for available issues in 1991. The seat lid features the Magneto cover and assorted images of the Master of Magnetism from all the issues. The back of the seat lid features the "Blast From the Past" centerfold poster, with only X-Men as the background, no bad guys or filler pics. The bottom of the seat is glossy images from the deluxe edition only. It's shiny and makes a wonderful frame for the lid back when opened.....The credits for the issue, along with the indicia, are intact on the base, along with the author's name in large letters from an ad featuring his novels. After all the separate images were glued in place, they were coated repeatedly, first with the glue sealant, then with 5-6 coats of polyurethane. The whole process took upwards of 80 hours and a full pint of polyurethane.

I figure the only reason this attracted no bids, despite Free! Shipping!, is that some of you guys couldn't figure out how to get CGC to grade & slab the thing.

[TheHistorian]

And then there's ...

... the X-Men #1 toilet (http://cgi.ebay.com/X-Men-1-Toilet-OOAK-/230497026995?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35aab183b3)

Best. Thing. Ever.

[METAROG]

Best. Thing. Ever.

Hey, that would go perfect with this-http://cgi.ebay.com/SPIDER-MAN-AND-INCREDIBLE-HULK-TOILET-PAPER-/260633115138?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3caef1ba02

[zryson]

Some kool things I have seen on eBay recently are the DC superheroes calendars from the 70s :smile:

[Lone Ranger]

Here's a nice batch of DC Archives and a couple of other hardcovers.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/DC-Archive-Graphic-Novel-Hardcover-14pc-Book-Lot-/170514569250?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b375d822

The Greatest 50s Stories one is out of print.

3 hrs left and they are sitting at just over $10 a book with free shipping.

I've got most of these already, but it looks like a good way for someone to dip their toes into the reprint pool.

http://www.neatstuffsite.com/npics/300-0610-10h.jpg

[Lone Ranger]

I just noticed that it has a reserve (I though those were soooo 1999)

Neat Stuff has a ton of listings up now with huge lots of Golden Age stuff. Prices might be good, so long as reserves aren't too high. Shipping is free in the US - but the high cost of that would keep me away from them.

[dan bailey]

Neat Stuff?

The Neat Stuff from whom I bought a lot maybe 6 years ago, then waited & waited for delivery, then finally emailed them, only to be assured that the comics were definitely mailed & should've reached my house weeks earlier?

The Neat Stuff that continued to maintain that everything was ship-shape when I pursued the matter over the next few months of continuing to receive no comics?

The Neat Stuff that finally, finally decided to stop blowing the apparent malcontent off & deigned to actually look at their records ... & discovered they'd somehow sent the comics to a David Bailey living god-knows-where?

(To add insult to injury, after they gave me his contact info -- I'm hoping it wasn't the David Bailey [no kin, I fervently hope] who fired me at the newspaper in Little Rock -- he made extremely nice & said the package was still sitting there in his hall, & he'd be sending them my way. That was, oh, 5 or 6 years ago. I'm still waiting.)

By then, of course, the deadline for leaving negative feedback was looooooooooooooong past. Probably wouldn't have mattered, really, since if memory serves theirs was scandalously bad anyway -- something in the 91 percent range. Most people assumed they had pictures of or blood ties to eBay corporate higher-ups, else they'd have been banned years earlier.

That Neat Stuff?

Screw those bastards.

Are they still charging an outrageous flat fee of $1 (or maybe it was $1.50) handling for each & every damned comic they sell?

(Wish I'd put 2 & 2 together a year or so after that when some Neat Stuff honcho came to the collectibles store I was working at for the purposes of placing a value on the stock so the owner could wind up selling out. Alas, I didn't realize he was with those incompentent bums till I looked at his business card later.)

[Lone Ranger]

Very interesting!

I don't like reserves, so that put me off at first - but your experience with them seals the deal.

I wonder how they have a 100% feedback.

I generally find that some eBay operations can get too big - so many books/transactions get screwed up.

[dan bailey]

I wonder how they have a 100% feedback.


I need to go look -- either it's a different outfit altogether, or they pulled a fast one & established a new account (& then made sure to do business much better than in the past).

[dan bailey]

Nope -- that's them. Looks like they've cleaned up their act & relaunched under a different account. When I dealt with them their account name definitely didn't include their 800 number.

God only knows how much money they slipped under the table to various eBay powers-that-be to be able to pull that off with no apparent repercussions.

[Jolly Mon]

Nope -- that's them. Looks like they've cleaned up their act & relaunched under a different account. When I dealt with them their account name definitely didn't include their 800 number.

God only knows how much money they slipped under the table to various eBay powers-that-be to be able to pull that off with no apparent repercussions.

Makes you wonder why they kept the same name. If they hadn't, you never would have known it was the same people. When confronted with seeming contridictions like this, I usually assume the same thing: stupidity. It's sad how often I'm right.

[GreatLakesAvengers]

It's the same people. They actually had two different ebay names:

neat-stuff-1-800-370-3315
neatstuffcollectibles (no longer in use)

However, they've long sinced abandoned selling individual issues via ebay and now deal with large lots like you've seen.

As for feedback ratings, ebay only considers the past year when tabulating percentages. And, considering they've only had 267 ratings in the past year with no negatives, their feedback is currently sparkling!

[OroroTChalla]

And then there's ...

... the X-Men #1 toilet (http://cgi.ebay.com/X-Men-1-Toilet-OOAK-/230497026995?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35aab183b3)

Slightly O/T, but is X-Men #1 really the best-selling comic ever? I would've thought it was Superman or Batman #1.

[Reptisaurus!]

Slightly O/T, but is X-Men #1 really the best-selling comic ever? I would've thought it was Superman or Batman #1.

Yes. This is X-men # 1 (1991) and, because their were multiple covers, a LOT of people bought multiple copies - Trying to get one of each cover. (And, presumably, sell them later for big bucks.)

There probably weren't as many READERS of X-men # 1 as Superman # 1. But their were definitely more individual copies sold.

[dupersuper]

Yes. This is X-men # 1 (1991) and, because their were multiple covers, a LOT of people bought multiple copies - Trying to get one of each cover. (And, presumably, sell them later for big bucks.)

There probably weren't as many READERS of X-men # 1 as Superman # 1. But their were definitely more individual copies sold.

It may be the best selling single issue, but I'm pretty sure Death of Superman is the best selling graphic novel ever.

[zryson]

when it comes to 100% feedback i can give some information - basically some sellers really intimidate the hell out of me sending me nasty emails and threatening to report me if i dont give them postivie feedback so sometimes they get postiive feedback through intimation.

[Reptisaurus!]

It may be the best selling single issue, but I'm pretty sure Death of Superman is the best selling graphic novel ever.

It used to say that on the Back Cover, but that was before the Watchmen movie - And the mass of Watchmen sales that came with it.

[Grapeweasel]

I don't often have an extra $9500.00 lying around, but if I did....

http://cgi.ebay.com/John-Romita-Sr-AMAZING-SPIDERMAN-568-COVER-Original-Art_W0QQitemZ310189688774QQcategoryZ3985QQcmdZView ItemQQ_trksidZp3907.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DSIC%26i tu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%252BDDSIC% 26otn%3D8%26pmod%3D280555085306%26po%3DLWI%26ps%3D 63%26clkid%3D6039526013567428361

[CromagnonMan]

I don't often have an extra $9500.00 lying around, but if I did....

http://cgi.ebay.com/John-Romita-Sr-AMAZING-SPIDERMAN-568-COVER-Original-Art_W0QQitemZ310189688774QQcategoryZ3985QQcmdZView ItemQQ_trksidZp3907.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DSIC%26i tu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%252BDDSIC% 26otn%3D8%26pmod%3D280555085306%26po%3DLWI%26ps%3D 63%26clkid%3D6039526013567428361

Thats a bit optimistic for an ASM 568 cover:eek:

[Roquefort Raider]

It may be the best selling single issue, but I'm pretty sure Death of Superman is the best selling graphic novel ever.

I'm surprised! At 325 million copies sold, the 32 Asterix books average 10 millions a pop; Tintin is only slightly below that. Was the death of Superman that popular???

Maybe it's a qualified best-seller... "best-selling collected run of a superhero comic-book" or somesuch.

[Scott Harris]

I'm going to guess they meant sales in America, not worldwide. Hardly anyone here in the US has ever even heard of Asterix.

As far as X-Men #1 being the best selling comic as compared to Superman #1, it's possible that X-Men #1 may have actually even had more readers than Superman #1, not just more copies sold. It's really hard to say, but I bet it's close. According to the GCD, Superman #1 went through three printings when it came out in 1939 for a total of 900k copies. Which is a lot. X-Men #1, on the other hand, sold 8.3 million copies according to Newsarama. If you figure everyone bought 5 copies, one for each over, that's still a lot more than Superman; but of course, some people bought a lot more than 5 copies.

Still, I think it's very possible that X-Men #1 had more readers than Superman #1. Just think, though, how bad the comics in the early 90's had to suck to lose nearly a million readers by the end of the decade. Good job, industry.

[hondobrode]

Gonna have to disagree here.

Many copies were read, but many more were back stock fodder and the stuff of dreams for "investors".

8M is the number I've heard for all 5 covers, but no way can I believe more people actually read that issue's contents than the Death of Superman. Literally dozens of non-comics readers have mentioned to me they heard the news, bought the issues or collected series, and * gasp * actually read it.

[zryson]

i didnt buy it but about three weeks ago there was a giant silver age/bronze age collection of action comics/superman comics that ended up selling really cheap which was a surprise but then alot of the older comics are going cheap as the recession hits many countries and people sell off their comics and other merchandise to pay bills. so there are definitely tons of bargains to be had out there. its most definitely a buyers market.

[Jezebel Bond]

i didnt buy it but about three weeks ago there was a giant silver age/bronze age collection of action comics/superman comics that ended up selling really cheap which was a surprise but then alot of the older comics are going cheap as the recession hits many countries and people sell off their comics and other merchandise to pay bills. so there are definitely tons of bargains to be had out there. its most definitely a buyers market.

Feel free to pm me some good high-grade deals...those 15c cover Superboys are like blood in the water for me...maybe I can joust you for other auctions :wink:

I've bought quite a number of books from former-seasoned collectors who finally decided to make the sad decision to part with their collection...I do appreciate fine new books being added to my own collection but knowing they came from someone else who owned them longer than my lifespan is something to think about. Several of these owners communicated back and forth with me as auction time grew closer, many were personally bought off the shelves, well-kept (since they're usually VF or better), now they're being sent off to me, a new owner...

One guy sold his Peter Parker Spectacular Spider-Man run to me (1976 series), issues 2-16 complete in NM...for a measly $10.49 since I was the last sniper bid at the time...lucky for me, terrible for him...

[zryson]

Feel free to pm me some good high-grade deals...those 15c cover Superboys are like blood in the water for me...maybe I can joust you for other auctions :wink:

I've bought quite a number of books from former-seasoned collectors who finally decided to make the sad decision to part with their collection...I do appreciate fine new books being added to my own collection but knowing they came from someone else who owned them longer than my lifespan is something to think about. Several of these owners communicated back and forth with me as auction time grew closer, many were personally bought off the shelves, well-kept (since they're usually VF or better), now they're being sent off to me, a new owner...

One guy sold his Peter Parker Spectacular Spider-Man run to me (1976 series), issues 2-16 complete in NM...for a measly $10.49 since I was the last sniper bid at the time...lucky for me, terrible for him...


ultimatejezebel, hi, and i too like hearing some of the stories behind the comics people sell. one man i bought stuff from on ebay sold his stuff because he had simply run out of room and was selling off his entire collection because he was getting "on in years". cool about the peter parker spectacular spider-man. i bought a huge run of those but gave those away to a hospital. im not entirely sure why i bought them in the first place when i think back on it? probably because at the time i just needed to buy something and i could get a stack of them cheap. ebay has some amazing bargains lately. the recession hit hard in many places around the world, esp america and britain and with fears of a double dip recession i think there will continue to be many bargains out there to be had for those interested in buying. also cool you like the superboy comics

[dupersuper]

I'm surprised! At 325 million copies sold, the 32 Asterix books average 10 millions a pop; Tintin is only slightly below that. Was the death of Superman that popular???

Maybe it's a qualified best-seller... "best-selling collected run of a superhero comic-book" or somesuch.

Beats me; I'm just repeating what DC said a couple years back.

[Jezebel Bond]

It's the same people. They actually had two different ebay names:

neat-stuff-1-800-370-3315
neatstuffcollectibles (no longer in use)

However, they've long sinced abandoned selling individual issues via ebay and now deal with large lots like you've seen.

As for feedback ratings, ebay only considers the past year when tabulating percentages. And, considering they've only had 267 ratings in the past year with no negatives, their feedback is currently sparkling!

I won books from them years ago, around 2003ish. Back then they'd post up hundreds of books with many ending at the same time so it was possible to win books cheap. I think I won X-Men Prime for 6 cents and Ghost Rider #81 (last issue) for 1 cent, both in NM...shipping per book was about 99c each or something like that.

Did they rip someone off?

[zryson]

just bought a stack of comics from ebay for the ridiculously high price of - wait for it - 1 cent each! its incredible. 1 cent per comic. bought a couple of bronze age superman comics as well as some eighties superman and a couple of spideys' from the early 90s. also have my eye on a couple of really nice older comics that havent attracted any bids yet so if i can afford it next week when the auctions run out i might bid on those if they have not attracted too many bidders :smile:

[dan bailey]

Did they rip someone off?

They most certainly did, but of course the comics they lied repeatedly about having sent me (they went instead to someone with the same last name, it turned out when I somehow managed to shame them into bothering to actually check their records), as I detailed in the last post at the bottom of this thread's first page, weren't 9.8s or anything, so of course it didn't really matter, I suppose. *sigh*

To be charitable, "rip(ped) someone off" might be less accurate than "proved remarkably incompetent & then denied it for months on end," but to be honest I'm not sure that's any better ... though admittedly I'm quite biased in this case.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

I don't often have an extra $9500.00 lying around, but if I did....

http://cgi.ebay.com/John-Romita-Sr-AMAZING-SPIDERMAN-568-COVER-Original-Art_W0QQitemZ310189688774QQcategoryZ3985QQcmdZView ItemQQ_trksidZp3907.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DSIC%26i tu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%252BDDSIC% 26otn%3D8%26pmod%3D280555085306%26po%3DLWI%26ps%3D 63%26clkid%3D6039526013567428361


Thats a bit optimistic for an ASM 568 cover:eek:

Wow.... thats the kind of crazy.... I just pulled up that Auction and not 1 bidder yet. :tongue:

[Scott Harris]

Here's something one of you guys might be interested in. It's an Australian edition of Nature Boy #3, Charlton's attempt at kicking off the Silver Age in 1956. It features stories written by Jerry Siegel and drawn by a young John Buscema! Now there's a weird team. And the backup is the final appearance of the original Blue Beetle. It's starting at just $10 plus shipping right now, with no bids yet:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nature-Boy-nn-FN-Australian-Ed-NR-/200514807844?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eaf9d2824

[Kan-Man]

Neat Stuff?

The Neat Stuff from whom I bought a lot maybe 6 years ago, then waited & waited for delivery, then finally emailed them, only to be assured that the comics were definitely mailed & should've reached my house weeks earlier?

The Neat Stuff that continued to maintain that everything was ship-shape when I pursued the matter over the next few months of continuing to receive no comics?

The Neat Stuff that finally, finally decided to stop blowing the apparent malcontent off & deigned to actually look at their records ... & discovered they'd somehow sent the comics to a David Bailey living god-knows-where?

(To add insult to injury, after they gave me his contact info -- I'm hoping it wasn't the David Bailey [no kin, I fervently hope] who fired me at the newspaper in Little Rock -- he made extremely nice & said the package was still sitting there in his hall, & he'd be sending them my way. That was, oh, 5 or 6 years ago. I'm still waiting.)

By then, of course, the deadline for leaving negative feedback was looooooooooooooong past. Probably wouldn't have mattered, really, since if memory serves theirs was scandalously bad anyway -- something in the 91 percent range. Most people assumed they had pictures of or blood ties to eBay corporate higher-ups, else they'd have been banned years earlier.

That Neat Stuff?

Screw those bastards.

Are they still charging an outrageous flat fee of $1 (or maybe it was $1.50) handling for each & every damned comic they sell?

(Wish I'd put 2 & 2 together a year or so after that when some Neat Stuff honcho came to the collectibles store I was working at for the purposes of placing a value on the stock so the owner could wind up selling out. Alas, I didn't realize he was with those incompentent bums till I looked at his business card later.)

This is weird - the Human Fly thread made me think about a dealer I used to do business with in the early 80s that specialized in bulk comics - runs, mystery grab bags, etc. The prices were reasonable and the condition was good, so from time to time I'd buy 30-40 DCs or Marvels just to see what I'd get. Invariably, titles like the Human Fly would be included. I hadn't thought of them in over 20 years but today I did a google search and from the looks of things they're somehow affiliated with Neat Stuff. Not the same company, necessarily, but maybe partnered with them. Small world, I guess.

For the record, I was dealing with Joseph & Peter Koch out of Brooklyn.

[dan bailey]

Interesting. Koch is still around on eBay, I'm pretty sure. I've bought from them in the past, though I remember being really ticked off about 5 years ago when I went for a Buy It Now on a surprisingly cheap complete run of Jungle Action, only to be told they'd already sold it elsewhere.

[Scott Harris]

I found something that I just know Dan Bailey at least will appreciate. it's a listing for an Australian printing of Sgt. Fury #5 (http://cgi.ebay.com/SGT-FURY-5-RARE-Sydney-1960s-4-/250753174804?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a620dcd14). I'm very tempted to get this, as #5 is one of only 2 issues I'm still missing (the other, of course, being #1). But check out the crazy new cover those Aussies slapped on Sgt. Fury. I have a strange feeling Nick wouldn't usually rock a yellow neckerchief:


http://i.ebayimg.com/17/!CB7pB0Q!mk~$(KGrHqUOKpIE0VM4LTqYBNJgD+n1Yg~~_3.JP G

[dan bailey]

What a find! And how intriguingly ... generic. Not only would ol' Nick never don a yellow neckerchief, as you note, but those other two soldiers look less like Howlers than I do.

Offhand, I also can't really think of too many instances in which Fury would be toting a handgun, as opposed to a full-fledged machine gun, particularly on the battlefield.

[Scott Harris]

Check this out: it's a calendar from 1946 with a different comic strip for every day of the year (http://www.ebay.com/itm/1946-Comics-Calendar-True-Comics-Press-/251070377882?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item3a74f5ef9a). How cool is this?

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1946-Comics-Calendar-True-Comics-Press-/00/s/ODE1WDM4OA==/$%28KGrHqFHJC0E-P-jLtkHBPv5KFosDw~~60_57.JPG


It's from True Comics, so I think the strips are all historical in nature.

[pinkfloydsound17]

Did not know this thread was here haha...way to dig it up

I cannot post the link cuz the auction is over (and I removed it from my watch list) but there was a really rare Superman tin toy from late 30's, early 40's

Wait nevermind here it is


http://www.ebay.com/itm/230846903169

I just thought it was cool, sold for almost $1500 bucks!!