Old Lady Tried to SCAM me out of $300 

Gotta love when you're willing to do them a solid by giving them more money than you normally would and then they try to screw you over. People are the worst.

She knew exactly what she was doing. It’s a shame. You handled it well.

Having collected comics for over 40 years, whenever I run into a situation like this, I just put the money back in my pocket, say nothing and walk away... I let karma take care of it... what goes around truly does come back around like a karmic boomerang. I hope she enjoys the books, because with ethics like that she'll pretty much have them forever.

Important life lesson: just have a healthy dose of realism because there are people of all types. Not everyone is looking out for you. That being said it is always better and more productive to befriend a community if/when you can.

Sorry you had to deal with that, it sounds pretty frustrating, and the "free time" spent in the car really gives you a chance to reflect on how crappy the whole deal was. At my store we finally had to implement a 10% appraisal fee due to people coming in and taking up tons of our time and playing us against our competition in town. I would tell sellers up front that we would give them a fair appraisal, show them exactly how we came up with the values, and if they didn't want to take our offer, which was almost always higher than our competition as they only bought a narrow range of books from folks, whereas we generally took it all ( the Charltons, Dells, Harveys, Gold Keys, etc. ), then we would charge them the 10% fee and both parties could move on and feel satisfied that nobody's time had been wasted. This eliminated almost all the nonsense, and because people selling comics to comic stores generally only care about getting some amount of cash out of the deal, very few would be willing to part with any amount of money for just the appraisal. In the few cases where people balked and walked, they would almost always come back a few days later and say the other guys had offered them less, or wouldn't even look at the books because they were not "pre-1975" or some other random determination. In those cases, we would refund to appraisal fee and buy the collections for the predetermined amount. Side note: the competition's policy of not looking at post-1975 books led to our buying a roughly two long-box collection that was chock-full of 1977 Marvel 35-cent variants in high grade. All the Star Wars books ( the #1 graded 9.0 ), ASMs, FFs, Hulks, X-Men, etc... It turned out to be the biggest haul of 35-cent variants we ever scored in over 20 years of business!

I guess the lesson learned here is never tell them what it's worth. They go from happily being willing to take $10 to learning that it's worth a hundred because you told them and then them greedily wanting 100 magically all of a sudden. Rather than let them get greedy, just let all your hard work, skills, time invested and knowing what things are worth benefit you and not benefit greedy sellers who try to use our knowledge for free ungratefully.

I once went to look at a collection this guy said he had 190 Batman comics for sale. I drove an hour and a half there after talking to him on the phone he said oh yeah they're all late 90s or early 2000s. When I show up it's a 190 of the same OnStar promotional pamphlet that happens to have Batman on the cover. He then says oh I probably should have told you before you drove out they're all the same and not actually a comic. 🤦

I truly appreciate the level of calmness you showed during this video (and all your other videos). I’m not sure I would have been able to keep calm in a situation like that. Inspirational.

I'm a firm believer in "your word is everything" if you say you're going to do something then do it. Period

Unfortunately there are always people out there who try to undercut or screw people. Most of the times it seems to be people who always think they have diamonds in their hands

Can't believe she thought this would work, especially with you having the text to back up the deal.

Yeah, I've dealt with bait-and-switch before. Every time I've purchased a vehicle from a car dealer. They like to call it "++".

It's ridiculous that there are people who do this. Maybe you didn't get any comics out of it, but you got a good story for a video and a lesson for anyone watching.

I didn't have a bait and switch really, but I had a shop who suddenly "couldn't find" the Vote Loki book I claimed on a live sale, then claimed I didn't give them my info in time. Turned out they pulled it after a couple days and sold it to someone else when the book got really hot during the Loki show

It's so annoying when they try to flip the price.

As someone who is about to start selling their collection, I truly appreciate these videos. I've been going back and watching your older ones too. Much appreciated

What a bunch of crap. Treat people the way you want to be treated.

Mrs. Fratelli (of Goonies fame) once uttered “kids suck”. Unfortunately, sometimes adults suck too. Glad you didn’t get taken advantage of.

As someone who has done more than their fair share of Meetups to by and sell things, it is the most frustrating when you have to drive far for the meetup. Not only gas and what not but your time. Sorry you had to go through that man, but happy to hear you stuck to your guns

Can be pretty frustrating when people don't know what they have

I have a lawless waist line. Wait..you said lawless waste LAND. My mistake. Seriously though - you are 100% right - Do not give people more money than you agreed to. You are rewarding their bad behaviour and making it more likely for them to do it again.

People with greed and an ego ...what a waste of time

This channel has definitely helped me learn a lot about comics in every form and way and I glad to see you so close to a milestone you deserve it!

Never had a bait and switch but constantly get people who think there stuff is worth way more then it is and get upset at me when I tell them it's actual price. Now I kinda expect it and doesn't even bother me anymore.

I’m SO happy I found your channel! I’m loving it so far, and can’t believe it took me this long to find exactly what I was looking for in a comic RU-vid channel! Thank you for all the hard work.

That’s a wild story. I can’t believe she treated you like that. 😝

I can't stand when people do the bait and switch, especially when they know they're caught and they double down.

This exact thing is the reason why I don't think too much about buying from private sellers who don't really know about the business and what stuff is worth...they almost always have the impression that just cuz it's old it's valuable, regardless of condition, and they will try to gouge you in the wallet

couple of weeks ago had a seller on ebay cancel my orders I won bidding on because he didn't want to give me combined shipping. when I complained, he said he would give the comics (that I won for $1) for $3 each and $40 shipping. I reported him to ebay.

been buying comics for about 51 years now. have more stories than i should have. let's just say i sold a huge collection to a dealer, put the comics in his car, than he tells me that he doesn't have the money now !!!!! but he will get back to me every wednesday. so as a friend i allowed this. never heard back from him. weeks went but. 10 long boxes of silver age marvel. had to go to the police, and than court. i only got back half the collection, as i couldn't prove there were that many boxes, just his word against mine. i got a thousand dollars for half the collection, the other half the court made him give back. i heard he had a buyer for a complete Thor collection. so there went my comics. yes it does happen, but Never give your books to anyone without payment, even if there were your ''friend'' a lesson i learned the hard way. you have the best channel for comics, bar none.

I love these videos, continue making these story videos! Nice to listen to while sorting my comics!

No real bait and switches, but I’ve been ghosted on more than one occasion. We’ve all heard the dreaded, “I’ll get back to you.”

That sucks. Thankfully most people are honest. I actually had a guy (who I never met before) give me $50 more for a rare POP once because I was way under market. Couldn't believe it but he insisted.

Thank you for putting those efforts into delivering 2-3 videos a week. As a newbie I find your content so helpful and full of passion. I hope to see you soon on Twitch to share your CGC opening live :). Cheers from Rome, Italy !

Congrats on the subscribers! Love this channel!

Buyer or seller doesn't matter. If you don't feel comfortable with it, back out.

That sucks man. Too bad there are so many dishonest people out there. Thanks for the reminder here

I don't know what gas is right now over there, but here it's at $5 a gallon, and I'm spending $100 a week on gas commuting just up the street for work! That alone would piss me off having to go back and forth for coming up empty handed.

I’m impressed she kept it going after you showed her the texts.

Congrats for 9k subscribers didn’t realize how much you’ve grown

If she honestly expected you to buy it than she's the real sucker

Great show! I made a deal this past spring with a guy selling comics on Facebook (my first comic purchase is 20 years or so), so I was pretty apprehensive to etransfer some guy money for him to send 5 books in the mail to me. I took a chance and it worked out, he confirmed receipt of the money and mailed them out on the next business day with a tracking number, I got the books within 4 days (regular mail). I would definitely buy from this guy again if he had something I wanted. It’s all about reputation and respect. Cheers!

There is nothing worse than making an agreed price and then having someone try to raise the price on you it’s very disgusting if you ask me

@ 9:45 "Lawless Wasteland"...I love that. That's a good start to a video title. Lawless Wasteland of Comic Book Hustlers...or something to that effect.

So sad that lots of people now days don't value integrity more.

I backed out of a sale. It was an arranged meet with a cash sale for a CGC graded book. The meeting spot was at a restaurant about an hour from each of our towns. He arrived and texted me - described what he was wearing and said he was sitting on a bench by the entrance to the restaurant. I could see him from my car. It was a busy restaurant with a big parking lot. He wasn't alone. He had another guy with him. The car they drove was a total beater (I saw them pull in to the lot), and the guys looked dodgy to me. The value of the book he was buying was many multiples of the value of his car. Maybe the guy simply wasn't into cars, but it didn't make sense to me that a guy who could afford to buy the book didn't have the money to fix or upgrade his car. I also didn't like that he had a pal with him. I got a bad vibe from the situation and texted him that I was backing out of the deal. Still feel crappy about it. Maybe I'm a judgmental prick, but I learned long ago to trust my gut. The guy had already not made the best first impression with our communications via email before the meet. Terrible grammar and spelling. I told him via text that if he had Paypal I'd send him $40 for his time and gas. Never heard back from him.

Love the story time videos! Always interesting to hear about the horror/holy stories from collecting!

Completely sucks people do this! I don't understand what happiness people get from this lol.

Hi thanks for sharing the story. I am really appreciating your content especially the recent posts about how you dealt with the flood, your interactions with these folks, your interaction with the comic book exec. , the educational video on Canadian price variants. Thank you for the videos.

What a skeezer. Can't stand that type of behavior.

Hey! New subscriber! Funny story, and good lesson learned. And I appreciate the info about how to back out. I'm new to all of this and appreciate the info.

WOW….. AWKWARD!!! Can not believe the things people try to pull and sadly like you said most get away with. I’m still stunned she stood her ground especially after you showed her the text!!!!

My standard line for those kinds of collections is "I wish I had better news for you", then I often suggest they donate them to the children's wing of their local hospital if they don't want to sell them for the going rate.

Sorry that happened man I hope you come across some more great deals in the future and also btw good luck with the house I cant wait to see the fix up before and after.

I have experienced this, where deals were changed, it’s a hazard of the hobby

Thanks for the hard work! Hope your house in getting into shape quickly.

Worst Bait & Switch was at a comic shop where I pre-ordered a variant cover for a book that was listed for $20 but when I went to pick it up they changed the price to $50 and put it on eBay because they knew they could get more online

I love hearing these bait & switch stories 😊 though, sorry that this happened to you (again)! That Death of the Family set is awesome 🙌 nice! Lovin' the channel ❤️

The bait and switch situation I had was with a comic shop was buying a Goldenage Batman and we agreed on the amount and after I drove 3 hour’s he doubled the price. I didn’t have a text or email to show him what we agreed upon. So sad to say have to leave without it. But shows you have to watch everyone.

Wow!!! What a sham dude. She obviously knew what she was doing. Sorry to hear you got the run around

You handled this horrible situation better than I probably would. Good on you.

Damn sorry about that, the nerve on some people smh.

the son poisoned that well with his price expectations

Enjoyed hearing your story !! Haven’t experienced the “bait and switch” thing but always good to be aware !!

Your channel is one of the reasons I got back into collecting. I've been to some of the places in your videos (Jersey Strong!) Enjoy the content, keep it coming

The title got me immediately

After being out of collecting for many years. I enjoy your videos because collecting has changed so much now.

Where did she get the idea of £300 for a game?! Glad you didn't back down!

I had a deal in place with a buyer, I offered him the entire Eternals run plus the annual for a price we agreed on. He shows up with significantly less money than our agreed upon price. He then asked if i would be able to do a cash payment plan where I would give him the comics and he can pay them off by monthly payment.

Great video. I think with the skyrocketing price of collectibles, there has also been in influx of unsavory types trying make a buck.

Dang. I haven't had to deal with that but can imagine how frustrating it would be

Glad this hasn't happened to me yet. That sucks man, sorry you keep running into these types of people.

Having been a collector since the 70's and buying and selling since the 90's.....I have dealt with this many times. I have pretty much become numb to it and never even get excited anymore until the item or items are in my possession and the deal is done. Actually I feel you were being generous with the $0.10 to $0.25 each price as I buy most collections at around $0.05 a piece, but, I do understand you were trying to help here out as well. I do however feel there is no problem backing out as long as you communicate this to either the buyer or seller ahead of time.

Scammers in all shapes and sizes unfortunately

I’m glad you shared the story. All too common. Glad you’re getting back on your feet.

Great topic and great discussion...I've had that happen a few times and in every situation I tried to come to a fair compromise but in the few instances where it was clearly an unethical way of doing business I stepped away from the purchase, despite driving an hour to the destination.....I believe if you go into the situation with honest and fair intentions than you should feel comfortable walking away from someone clearly being deceptive or misleading...I especially struggle when you agree to a deal and by the time you arrive the person raises the price by a significant amount because they've received other offers in the meantime. Mind you they've already agreed before you've started the journey....

Appreciate the advice and insight! Hearing these stories always make me be careful with Craigslist sales

Sorry to hear that she wasted your time like that. I've been screwed out of a deal a few times on Facebook Marketplace. Sometimes when something is just listed and you get the Seller to agree on a price/deal. Someone else jumps in to offer more or Tell the Seller that the item is under priced. One Lady agreed to sell me an item and as I'm literally 10 minutes away she jacked up the price $50 more. I ended up just turning around as there was no telling how much more she was going to try to get me for. I would've confirmed via text that She is offering you all of the Comics and the Game for $300. I was expecting she was going to pull out the Keys and hope you'd forget what was in the lot.

You have been a great guide into getting into comics and for that I thank you

I would have wished her the best of luck and left after she said she was hoping for $1000.

New to the channel, loving the content so far!

Great video!!! Many scammers out there.

Great advice James and sorry that situation happened - always awkward.

Hope you’re doing ok with the restoration. Keep up the good work and awesome bane statue

Best cb vlogg on RU-vid. Completely agree and appreciate integrity you bring to collecting

It's not bait-and-switch, but on eBay there are sellers out there that have many comics out there and not all of them have sophisticated systems to ensure that they've got the latest, current prices. Then, they find themselves selling one at a bargain price, but back out and suddenly, they "accidentally sold" that comic. It's listed again next week, because "I got a new one in" ... of a 1983 book and it's now selling at 6 times as much as last week.

Been back in the comic book game four months after not collecting in twenty years. Quickly found out the hard way this is a dirty game we are in. I have dealt with more people being shady than honest. It’s a bit jarring at first. Everyone trying to get a 1up on each other. Nice when you deal with honest open people

sorry to hear what happened - especially after you had been so fair with your offer and given them advice on the prices

Thank you for sharing your words of wisdom. I started getting back into collecting/investing again.

I love your vids. Best vids of the whole community!!

Bummer! I showed up at a garage sale and they stated the box of comics were already sold. I’d have to buy the entire box for more than what they were offered. I just said thanks for letting me look at them and left. Only a 5 min drive.

You sir, are undoubtedly the Charlie Brown of comics collecting. I’m sorry bro

I appreciate that you’re willing to pay more for the books. I think it’s ridiculous how little a lot of these buyers pay people for their comics. I understand with lower end 50 cent type books. But paying 25% or less of value for big keys is like theft in my eyes.

I don’t know about anyone else but I really enjoy these talking vids lol 😅

I hope you don’t let these greedy, manipulative people ruin your positive attitude. I love how you always use these situations as learning experiences instead of growing bitter. People like that are definitely in the minority and most people in my experience aren’t like that. Anyway, love your channel and I look forward to more content.

She tried to say no 300.00 for the game. In hopes you would still buy the comics at 300.00 instead of the 225.00, since you made the trip.

Sorry to hear about this. Great video.

This is one of my worst fears but so fat I have not experienced anything like this. That's why I'm just gonna buy from comic book stores and collect newer issues. I'm so sorry that you experienced this.

I'm sure people see an article on the internet about games and comics skyrocketing and are trying to get max profit. It also brings out the greed. Reminiscent of Loss aversion and the endowment effect. They value what they have so much that it would take a significant loss from a buyer to appease them. Tough situation to deal with for sure!

That woman doesn't need to know about the comic community to understand when a deal is made with written terms you uphold that agreement. Overall people not involved in the comic community think because they have comics due to all the movies a bundle of 20 will be worth 1k I hear it all the time myself, good job by not accepting her "new" B.S. terms, I walk away from comics all the time when I see one Ive always wanted when the dealers raise the price.