How ACCURATE are "NEAR MINT" eBay Listings? 

More videos of grading comics please. Also don't be afraid of lower grades. It helps people learn grading nuances. Plus these could be part of the shorts.

Great info. Please keep doing videos like this. As a newbie, it's great to visually see and hear what precisely accounts for grades given and how you do it. Thanks again!

Love the production value James: graphics, crowd noises, etc, super fun!

It is also important to note that you did better with your eBay purchases than your Whatnot purchase. That surprise me more than anything in this video.

Credit where credit is due, this was a very informative video for those of us interested in the finer details of grading, and nice job pronouncing adaptation correctly!

I stopped wondering after I bought a "9.2" copy of a book from an eBay seller who was a "previous grader working at CGC". The book came to me well packaged and I sent it directly to CGC for grading. Surprise, it came back an 8.5.

Great video. I've come across a few listings labeled as NM with only 1 stock photo of the front cover. They also don't respond to requests for more pictures.

I absolutely love the layout of this video

I dont even look long at the eBay listing if they dont include multiple pictures, hard to see some spine ticks on those even, people are crafty with angles. I have had the flip side to that though, where the seller explicitly states, "these are NOT NM, if you want that seek elsewhere" then one in that set gets my first 9.9..go figure 😅 Looks like a good haul for you though! I would love to get that sensational she-hulk 34 if you decided not to submit yourself. That's a hard one to find in good shape

I've bought books that were listed in "very good condition" but when I received them, they clearly had some moisture damage to the front and/or back covers. I've noticed that some sellers will show a picture of the comic in a bag and not include any close up photos of the corners or spine, in order to make it harder to spot flaws. I would love to see some "how to" videos from you about cleaning and pressing books. I'm not necessarily trying to get anything graded, but I would like to at least attempt to salvage some of my favorite comics.

I love when I click on an Ebay item thsat says near mint and it's like Fine-. Keep up the great videos.

Just get an Altoids or an Andes Candy and put your book next to it... it will be "Near Mint."

Very informative and helpful video. I might be too critical when I grade my books. If it has so much as a shallow non-color breaking spine tick I list it as very fine. Near mint to me means no visible imperfections when viewed in bright natural light.

The only way I will say that a book is NM is if I say VF/NM and only then if it is from a few years ago and looks flawless. And yes, I do use the tired trope of "I am not a professional grader" because quite simply put, I am not. I may see something as VF but then I also illustrate any defects I see. For instance, I may say something is VF but then tell you it has 5 spine creases. Now is that a Fine grade then? Hell I don't know....Because I am not a professional grader! But if you disagree with that assessment, then don't buy the book. If I just say "VF" and don't tell you I see a couple ticks...well then I am jerk for not telling you. So I try and inform you of all the defects I see, even if I say it is in merely Good condition. Regardless, I sold something I thought was VF and someone gave me a neutral feedback because he said "you call these white pages?!?!?!" and I was like....But dude I never said anything about the color of the pages. So no matter what, you could always be wrong. I had a potential sale of that Blade promo theater give-away fall through because I thought it was VF at a minimum, but when the guy asked me about it, I gave it another look and it seemed like it had color loss on the spine from where the book was folded over after stapling....so I was honest with the guy and didn't want him to buy it if he wasn't sure he would get the 9.8. Cost me a $75 sale but don't want people to think I ripped them off. ::shrugs::

Awesome tips to spot a real near-mint! Thanks 😊

My local antique store has a Shadow Hawk #1 and they’re asking for $20. You should see it. The spine on that book has more ticks than my dog!

The NM accountability on this vid is vital. Especially buying online.

Very interesting. That was informative and well-presented.

great video! I don't buy off of Whatnot anymore. The books are always overgraded on that app. Ebay is a crap shoot. The best sellers books always go for more money. They can be tough to buy from just like anyone else. Some books are listed NM+ and are clearly NM-. Other books NM and look better. I find a wide discrepancies on VF and VF+ books all the time. I consider myself a very harsh grader so it's tough to tell. I remember over 5 years ago I bought a Ms Marvel #1 (70's series) listed as a VF/NM. I thought the book looked much higher. I sent it to CGC and got a 9.6 with white pages. I didn't clean or press the book. That was awesome but very rare.

I haven't trusted an ebay listing at all in years unless it's from a seller I've used and trusted before. And if they're a seller I trust, I generally buy directly from them and skip the bay altogether. I grade sellers by how they handle a small order. If you aren't going to get my small order right, you aren't going to get my big order right.

I want to get better at my grade assessment so that I’m able to submit books for 9.8’s so this helps a ton.👍

Thanks for doing this video, James. I really enjoy learning.

Gotta love when they say”Im not a professional grader” but, then guess a grade anyway.

I have sent in 100s of comics to cgc over the years I can spot 9.8s no problem. When I sell on ebay I take tons of photos and angle them in the light to really show any spine ticks even then I still refuse to say stuff is NM or NM+ even when I know it is I still do my listing at VF/NM. Out of 100s of sales only time I have ever listed any thing as NM was a run of Super Girl woman of tomorrow cause it was modern DC card stock and it looked amazing have not gotten any self submitted 9.9s ever but that set gave me the vibes lol. Point being a lot of people just put that for a faster sale I will never understand that cause then people will be reluctant to buy from you again. Thanks for the video take care!

Great video Brother. Thank you for sharing Your knowledge and passion and adventures from Toronto Ontario Canada 😎👍❤️✨️✨️✨️✨️📚📚📚📚📚✨️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️✨️✨️✨️💯💯💯💯💯✨️✨️✨️

Good video, really informative 🥰

A LOT of NM listings on ebay are nowhere near NM. I I recently bought a comic listed as NM and it has seven, i say again, SEVEN, spine ticks. The photo on ebay didn’t show them up so well. so either i hit a different book than was pictures or the picture was doctored or just taken in such a way as to hide the ticks. but there are many many clearly not NM books listed as NM on ebay. it’s a pain in ass.

how are you dry cleaning the covers w/o chemicals? more vids like this!

Video Idea: 1st Appearances of characters as babies compared to when they are adults ie: Cable, Damian Wayne, Tefe Holland, Groot, etc

When purchasing raw books on eBay, I exercise extreme caution. Nevertheless, I maintain a realistic outlook regarding the condition of the items I receive. Furthermore, my buying approach involves acquiring books with the intention of pressing and cleaning, addressing any pressable defects that may be present. Lastly, I've cultivated a list of trusted sellers whom I frequently order from.

I think the biggest problem is when a book is listed as "NM" a lot of people think they're getting a cgc 9.8 contender lol. If it's a 9.8 contender, 90% of the time the seller is submitting it themselves unless the book barely has any value in a 9.8.

I like it when you do this!

No where near accurate in many cases. It seems like a lot of sellers think "near mint" just means the cover is still attached. Some of them may just not know better but others are blatantly ripping people off. The most egregious and irritating example I've come across is the seller Newkadia. Their entire store is comics so they definitely know better but they will list books as "NM+" that wouldn't even qualify as 'Fine' after a clean and press. They post stock photos of the books and then ship something that looks like it was stepped on by an elephant. I honestly have no idea how they still have a store. At this point, if a seller doesn't have multiple high quality photos of the ACTUAL book, front and back, I just keep scrolling.

My last ebay purchase was multiple books from same seller, 2 listed as NM. The nm books were absolute trash, and i mean FN at best. One was a failed press attempt with that texture on the cover and nearly blown out staples, and it still had bends and terrible corners. Sure, i got my money back but why not list them correctly to begin with?

*_If there's dirt on the cover, if there's pressesable defects, it's not a NM; it's paying to do work on a book._* *_You don't pay for what you can bring out of a book._* *_Rules are if someone says a Raw is a 9.8 and the ebay customer gets it graded and it comes back a 9.6; then the seller owns the buyer money._*

great pickups, bro. #WANTCAPTAINCARROT lol.

There's a reason I don't assign grades when selling. There's too much nuance involved to not make mistakes, at least at my level. That's why I take solid photos and let people assess for themselves.

Would trade the batman by Gaslight comic for other comic

I once got a near mint with a detached cover from eBay

That first Superman book looks like no better than a Very Fine Minus (7.5) to me. What do you think?

I think the dirt should be factored in because when you’re buying a NM copy your should be buying it as is not what you could get it to be with more money (paying someone to clean it) or more time (cleaning it yourself)

One could say that you were hunting for mint comics 😏 But yeah, even the books that may be “near mint,” there’s a wide range between 9.0-9.8.

I don’t buy off whatnot anymore gotten burned way too many times. Either the seller’s mutant power is brain-damage or just completely dishonest.

jeez, who was that whatnot seller? I've never had one so egregiously off the mark.

I avoid Ebay sellers who only provide a photo of the front cover or front and back covers. I shouldn't need to ask for photos of the inside, they should be part of the listing. If they're not then I'm immediately suspicious of the comic's high grade. I also skip sellers who use meaningless descriptions of the grade such as "excellent condition for its age", they clearly know little or nothing about comics. And of course for a valuable comic I visit the dealer and look over the book in question personally.

the biggest discrepancy I see, is not with books labeled NM, but books listed as VF-NM

To be fair, who of us here can claim to be "Near Mint?" 🙂

Well if they're my listings about 90%of the time 😏

What is that cheetah looking figure on your wall?

Grading has always been a subjective art.

Not bad.

Lol E-Bay "NM" means anyjthing with NM in the grade: 8.5-9.2.

I never take the self-assigned grades on eBay seriously, but then I don't go to eBay for 9.6-9.8 contenders. I always assume that if someone claims a book as a NM, that it's probably somewhere between a FN to VF.

I’m sorry but I don’t believe you for a second that you bought that Spectacular Spiderman 90 as a book described as NM. It’s soo egregiously and obviously not NM. It was 4.5 at best, could maybe press/clean to a 5.0. No fucking waayyy someone called that near mint, and if they did, what are you doing keeping it? That’s an easy return book for a full refund.

🖖👍

You were super generous with that Puma issue. There's a rip. It's definitely not Near Mint if there's a rip in the cover.

Hello, love your channel,,Where do you get your KEY ISSUE stickers? Thanks.