"Why did I buy that?" isn't a phrase that normally comes out of my mouth. I don't usually regret any purchases that I've made. But I do have one glaring regret that's embedded into my mind. Its taught me a valuable lesson - always know the value of items that you are searching for.
It was just last year, my brother and I were heading to a comic con and I had my normal list of comics that I was in search of. I'd done my research on majority of the comics on my check list but not all of them.
It was just last year, my brother and I were heading to a comic con and I had my normal list of comics that I was in search of. I'd done my research on majority of the comics on my check list but not all of them.
I was in the search of a Batman 357. A decently common comic. Its the first appearance of Jason Todd and Killer Croc. To me, its a key issue in the bronze age of Batman that I wanted (needed!) in my collection.
I wanted a very clean copy of the comic. I knew that it wasn't hard to find, so a clean copy shouldn't be to expensive. I was wrong! I only found two vendors that had copies. One vendor had a copy that was extremely rough, and the other vendor had a copy that was excellent (at least to my amateur eyes).
The nice copy was 5 times the price of the rough copy. But in my mind, I had already committed to a nice copy and I wanted to bring it home that day. I thought for sure that the vendor wasn't asking much over the overstreet value.
I forked over the cash. Got the vendor to negotiate a little but not much. When we got into the car, my brother looked the values of our comics up in the overstreet. I had drastically overpaid for the comic. My only hope was that someday I could have it graded and receive a 9.8 or pray for a miraculous 9.9 grade.
The nice copy was 5 times the price of the rough copy. But in my mind, I had already committed to a nice copy and I wanted to bring it home that day. I thought for sure that the vendor wasn't asking much over the overstreet value.
I forked over the cash. Got the vendor to negotiate a little but not much. When we got into the car, my brother looked the values of our comics up in the overstreet. I had drastically overpaid for the comic. My only hope was that someday I could have it graded and receive a 9.8 or pray for a miraculous 9.9 grade.
I finally got around to sending it off for grading (this was my first time ever having my comics graded). I was worried that I'd get a 9.2, or God forbid a 9.0. But no, I opened the box and felt like a gut-punched boxer. The comic came back at 8.0, - It hurt.
This regretful purchase taught me two things: 1) Always know the value of the comics on my wishlist, and 2) I'll probably never send off a comic to have graded again unless its a valuable comic that I want preserved.
This regretful purchase taught me two things: 1) Always know the value of the comics on my wishlist, and 2) I'll probably never send off a comic to have graded again unless its a valuable comic that I want preserved.
Make sure to check out everyone's regrets at Cool & Collected!
Crooked Ninja
Monster Cafe
Lando
The Nerd Nook
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Crooked Ninja
Monster Cafe
Lando
The Nerd Nook
That Figures