More Sticker Drama: Is this the same figure? ebay member: robbieoverman

Joe_O

Joe_O

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Original Auction: Langessports

Live Auction: Robbieoverman


Now...langessports did sell the original one to robbieoverman which as you can see has sticker damage and robbieoverman is now selling an almost identical figure with two stickers in the area the
original one had damage in..suspicious?

I noticed there is a slight mark on the card in the original auction above the nameplate that doesn't seem to be visible on the one up for sale, however it's a white blob that might have been something to do with the camera or
perhaps was just a bit of dust..Initially I was 100% sure this was tampered with but perhaps not..more opinions needed ;)

Here are the pictures of both auctions for when the links die..
snowtr10.png


snowtr11.png
 
Geez, no drama here. Open and shut case, nice one Joe.

That being said, Robbieloverman is a member of the super secret Star Wars collectors society so he is allowed to do what ever he wants. :^) (Too soon?)
 
skye said:
Geez, no drama here. Open and shut case, nice one Joe.

That being said, Robbieloverman is a member of the super secret Star Wars collectors society so he is allowed to do what ever he wants. :^) (Too soon?)
Click to expand...
Hahaha!

Yeah, it looks highly suspicious to me. If you are going to use two stickers to cover some damage, why not just touch up that little spot above the nameplate while you are at it? BUSTED!
 
The seller just added a new picture. You can clearly see the little white dot on the left bottom border. It seems the same MOC. Good catch Joe. :joyous:
 
Krusty007 said:
The seller just added a new picture. You can clearly see the little white dot on the left bottom border. It seems the same MOC. Good catch Joe. :joyous:
Click to expand...

You have good eyes Krusty. Case closed indeed.
 
Nice find, my bet is that it won´t be the last when going down this road. :apologetic:
Isn´t even the offer looking a bit suspicious?
 
Nah he's probably a nice guy and we should all give him the benefit of a the doubt after all, it's probably his first time! :p
 
This would support my suggestion that all price stickers should count as damage. By someone saying, "no damage, just price stickers," and "hey, if AFA says they're not damage, what's the big deal? "

My suggestion to have all price stickers instantly be counted as damage, then no matter who put them there this would still be a C7. If found out to be placed to cover damage, then ungradable by current standards, but it still might be acceptable for someone who wants to display it as such, phoney stickers and all.

Is this trying to mislead, yes, if we accept that stickers are somehow not damage!
 
Good catch...

Trust me when I say this is pretty common guys. The very day after your initial post regarding the other cover-up, I actually had a figure arrive with a sticker cover-up. The seller was gracious enough in the matter and had no qualms over compensating me for it, but that is hardly ever the case. I've actually had 5 in the last year - 3 of which were convincing enough to pass as real. I complained about 4 of them and in 3 of those cases I was told that I was SOL because I'd "altered" the figure and most likely caused the damage with my removal (despite there being absolutely no evidence of litho on the back of the tag). The one that ticked me off the most was a POTF R2 I bought... Even if I believed that the seller hadn't applied the sticker cover-up, it was so obvious that his refusal to concede my complaint was proof enough that he'd done it.
 
Great work Joe,looks like im going to have to pass on that price sticker i was going to use on one of my damaged proofs:grumpy:
 
Wow, I wonder how many lurkers to RS will be using all this attention to sticker-cover-up to their advantage now. I'm sure its been done many times in the past. It's not an issue I thought much of until recently as I generally only buy figures without price stickers. I honestly cannot stand them.

I think SF1138 is correct, stickers need to be considered "damage" and for AFA affect the grade. Really nothing less of a grade than what a figure would get if the whole area behind the sticker was worn away. What would that be off 100, 10 points? So you're AFA 80 with a sticker would now be an AFA 70, or AFA 70-S seems reasonable to me.
 
My only question to this would be HOW can one come up with a TRU price tage from over 30 yrs ago? Would they be able to remove it from another figure, or did they just happen to be able to re-print a tag?

With a sticker that old, when you try to peel them off, they usually turn sort of white, and fill with lines. I am not defending this seller, by ANY means, as I to agree it was done to hide the card damage. I am just wondering how this could be done? I am no where near an expert on Carded figures, and the thing that scares me is I might wind up with something like this someday. Thanks to guys like all of you, you help make me a little smarter and more aware of things to look out for!
 
Stickers can be removed safely in some select cases, intact, and virtually undamaged. I have removed 100's over the years and usually toss them. Lighter fluid, or heat, or goo gone, or removal when the sticker is still a bit sticky and not dried out all work. Over a number of years the glues on some bond on a molecular level and make removal almost impossible, "Venture" stickers suposedly the worst. Kaybee Toys, Early Toys R Us, Sears, early Target, can be removed (but the stickers will disentegrate and vary in the amount of damage to a card), to name but a few. Those stickers, if present I don't touch, and doubt they can be reused. Later Toys R Us stickers remove like they were put there yesterday and their appearance is always cause for concern to me, because they do remove so easily. If one wanted to restick one, that would be an excellent one with which to try.

I would repeat the caveat, buy a figure in the condition you would like it in. If you are happy with a sticker there, buy it; if not, pass. Trying to remove the sticker, no matter how easy is is reported to be to take off, still leaves the question as to what will be underneath. I assume the sticker is covering damage when making a purchasing decision. If I can live with the damage or the sticker covering it, it's a deal.


Also, as a more direct answer to where does one come up with a TRU sticker from 30 years ago. You can buy hundereds of vintage cardbacks to practice sticker removal on, usually for less than $1.00 ea. (Or damaged rotj filler moc) If a 12 Back backer card shoved in a box with 30 other backs has an original sticker, it's probably real and from the same year as all other carbacks of that type. The problem with that is if the card isn't pristine, the sticker usually is just as worn and will have apparent age, that if it were placed on a C9 cardback would look out of place if used to cover a sticker tear.
 
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DJ121 said:
My only question to this would be HOW can one come up with a TRU price tage from over 30 yrs ago? Would they be able to remove it from another figure, or did they just happen to be able to re-print a tag?

With a sticker that old, when you try to peel them off, they usually turn sort of white, and fill with lines. I am not defending this seller, by ANY means, as I to agree it was done to hide the card damage. I am just wondering how this could be done? I am no where near an expert on Carded figures, and the thing that scares me is I might wind up with something like this someday. Thanks to guys like all of you, you help make me a little smarter and more aware of things to look out for!
Click to expand...



Like the other Roger was saying... Toys R Us come off like they were put there yesterday...
 
Ah, yes. Thank you for the info! I would not have even given a thought to a 30 year old tag coming off so easy. I have a carded Boba Fett with a J.C Penny tag on it. Anyone think I should chance peeling it off?
 
I've heard some guys say the Penney's tags are hard to remove... I've not run into any problems with them - especially if it is the larger tags (which look a lot like the LaBelle's tag in the above picture - bottom left)...

If you're removing tags, you'll need the following:
  • Patience
  • Goo Gone, Lighter Fluid or Un-Du
  • Q-Tips
  • Patience
Start by dabbing the entire tag with one of the suggested chemicals... Careful using Goo Gone - it can stain if you saturate through the card... Often times there's a piece of the tag that's already starting to lift - if so great - if not, start picking at one of the corners with a finger nail. Once you've gotten part of the tag to lift, I like to re-apply chemical just behind the lift and right in front of it. I'll often "massage" the tag to the point that it generates some friction warmth on the tag... Tweezers are sometimes nice to have on hand for grabbing the part that begins lifting. The adhesive will slowly start to give... I like to pull at the tag from one side while gently pushing from the other side with a Q-tip soaked with chemical...

I'd say if this is your first attempt at sticker removal, your Boba might not be the one to experiment on... Practice on other tags. Look for things around your house that might have stubborn price tags on them - specifically anything that is on a similar medium (card board).

SF1138 points out the more difficult ones... Beware of them! Although I'm still convinced I can remove Target tags without worry - we'll soon see :D...
 
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From my experience, it is nearly impossible to remove a sticker from anything from the first movie. I've never had a problem removing anything from esb, rotj, or potf.
 
Kyle_Babbitt said:
From my experience, it is nearly impossible to remove a sticker from anything from the first movie. I've never had a problem removing anything from esb, rotj, or potf.
Click to expand...
5 of the ones shown in the above picture are from the first 21... All of them came off clean. Granted, one of those actually turned out to be a sticker covering damage. I'll agree that many of the earlier stickers are pretty tough, but I'm pretty confident I could get 80% or more off without damaging the cards...
 
SF1138 said:
Hasn't this been up almost non-stop for months....
Click to expand...

No idea, thread was nowhere to be seen and as it's active it's important people who didn't see this thread the first time around to see it now :)
 
I'm just curious what he might answer, if you ask him why there are two different price tags on (the white one isn't a TRU sticker, right)?
 
Here's the answer to my sticker question:

quote: "old stock from store that closed one sticker has a red line marked on it covering old price they came from toys r us orange sticker . card and bubble are beautiful .thanks for asking"
 
Which is why I advocate putting price stickers on the bottom of the bubble to avoid damage
 
SF1138 said:
This would support my suggestion that all price stickers should count as damage. By someone saying, "no damage, just price stickers," and "hey, if AFA says they're not damage, what's the big deal? "

My suggestion to have all price stickers instantly be counted as damage, then no matter who put them there this would still be a C7. If found out to be placed to cover damage, then ungradable by current standards, but it still might be acceptable for someone who wants to display it as such, phoney stickers and all.

Is this trying to mislead, yes, if we accept that stickers are somehow not damage!
Click to expand...



I have to agree. Perhaps I'm slightly biased because I don't like the price stickers- ever- no matter what they are from. But still it seems like the hobby is nurturing this problem by not considering legit price tags as damage. There are some kinds of damage that may be ok to the collector by personal preference, but we still should treat them as an alteration for which the condition is downgraded. It doesn't make any sense to me to maintain a card with no price stickers is the same condition rating as another card in the same state that has stickers applied. Any way you slice it, something has been added to the price-stickered card that was not done by its manufacturer but by a later third party.


Since I usually remove most of the price stickers from my purchases, I'm very wary of this problem.
 
Grading with any item added to a package, even if from the original seller is still a defect from "as produced" If we allow stickers in grading to get a pass, someone will always find a way to exploit this. NO PRICETAG is "Original" so if placed 10 minutes after it hit the stockroom or ten years later, what difference does it make? If you argue that the sticker may be trying to cover damage, what is the difference between that and a sticker that can't come off without damaging the item? The damage is there, latent or not. Just because a sticker is "almost" original why do we allow this to get the same grade as one without?

"Let the truth be known though the heavens might fall..." Remove the sticker for a real grade of what's ,then no one can place a "false" sticker and damage, even if hidden, is now revealed. If I like a figure and am not collecting for it's "value" why grade if I know it looks good to me?

"Apparent grade" is another option. If we give a Q- or qualified grade from an unremoved sticker; this, too, could be a solution.
 
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WoW...just Wow.... had anyone been able to email the buyer before he paid... this seller is extremely bold, even changing stickers a second time... unbelievable
 
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