Sellers to Avoid

[Undead]

lalatin,

I plan to do a complete list of quick ID methods for these in a website I am slowly putting together but for now I will post a couple of images for the Star Wars style A and the Empire Style A. These are details I use as quick identifiers so I can tell at a a glance if a poster is original or not without going over every detail at first. Each of the quick ID details are things that are normally not affected by bad photography, small images or lighting problems so stand out readily even at a glance when looking for them.

For the Star Wars Style A insert look at the Death Star. If the disk in the death star is fully intact edge to edge it is likely real, which version/printing real is another matter, if it is cut off it is the bootleg. If there is part of an X-Wing showing at the bottom of the death star it is good, if it is cropped off it is a bootleg.



For the Empire Strikes Style A I use the star clusters at the very top and the black line at the edge for a quick id. Though like the Star Wars style A there are many tells these are hard to obscure without cutting them off in the picture. There are three main points I use here. First if there is a black line across the top edge that is 1/8 of an inch wide it is a bootleg. The second is if the bright star right in the middle is close to the very top, about 1/8th of an inch from the bottom of the black line, it is a bootleg. Lastly there is a star cluster to the right side of the poster with two bright stars in it. If this cluster is cut off it is a bootleg, if there is space between it and the top of the edge it is original, again which printing is another story.

[stewart boyle]

Great post undead 

[Crazy Vick]

Not particularly... I mean its old paper but I've handled funkier stuff.  I opened a paypal claim a couple of weeks ago because he hadn't sent me the tracking info and wasn't responding the any of my multiple emails. After my claim he finally responded saying the mail service had lost the poster an had just recently "found" it and called him to tell him.

I'm starting to think he had no intention of sending me the poster and when I filed a PP claim he reluctantly did and out of spite included something toxic.

The worst part is that he said ok to reimbursing me 15 euros for overcharging but he wants to send me a cheque.  Wtf?  More anthrax?  I insisted it be paypal will see what he says.

How come I always manage to find the nuts out there

So I won my claim as well.  Got 25 euros back for an overcharged shit packing job with completely unresponsive seller. I didn't bring up the itchy issue though. 

[Simes]

thephotoarchive

This guy is a complete clown.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/191447386394?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT#ht_2941wt_972

You will see that he states quite clearly in highlighted yellow that these stills are Original and Not copies.  I had bought from him before with the same problem but he then stated that his assistant incorrectly labled.  He refunded me all funds.

As to the above, I then asked for more assurance, bearing in mind the previous experience, and he says;

"hi they are older reprints - the color are original 
frank"

The colour?  THE COLOUR??!!  FFS.

I have responded;

"Then why on earth do you state in highlighted yellow that they are guaranteed originals, and NOT a copy??  And what on earth do you mean by, the colour is original?  Fella, sort your advertising out as it is completely erronous and misleading."

For the love of all all things holy...

[Undead]

Adding these two users because I detest shill bidding. If you don't want to sell below a price use a reserve or start bidding at that price.

Anyway, essexestateservices and chameleon-collection are one and the same. They apparently use schill bidding to keep their items from selling too low and then throw it back up for sale under a different ID. They even use the same company name in both descriptions.

Jaws poster sold 12/8

Same Jaws new user name same company name

[Neo]

I've bought a few items from them without problems.

The winning bidder of that Jaws one sheet has 4386 feedback.  If it's a regular "shill bid" account, I don't see how it could reach that high of feedback.  

[Undead]

Not saying that they are bad sellers just believe that it is shill bidding which I hate. Even hating it though I have bought from those that have done this sort of thing before. Bought a poster yesterday where they did it to get the most they could and then dump it to the underbidder less than 2 minutes after the auction ended. The high bidder in that case was a 1200 feedback. It makes no sense in my opinion to copy a completely setup a new listing from one account to another if it isn't especially when it is click one button to relist at the original account. Seen this game way to many times to easily believe that there is nothing to it. If I am wrong, well that definitely will not be the first time. I will chalk part of it up to being really damn cranky. Need more sleep and less stress like the rest of the world.

[lalatin]

Seems like most of the posters are home video release posters. I guess there are collectors of these posters. I am not sure a Jaws video release poster is worth that much.   

[Neo]

Adding these two users because I detest shill bidding. If you don't want to sell below a price use a reserve or start bidding at that price.

Anyway, essexestateservices and chameleon-collection are one and the same. They apparently use schill bidding to keep their items from selling too low and then throw it back up for sale under a different ID. They even use the same company name in both descriptions.

Jaws poster sold 12/8

Same Jaws new user name same company name

The same bidder won that Jaws one sheet both times.    

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=301420691994&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2565

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=221635085811&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2565

[CSM]

He outshilled himself twice!

[Charlie]

Caution not really avoidance... Starlight-Collect on eBay.  The guy's name is Bill...  Bought a still and he packaged it poorly and moisture penetrated in a spot causing a bump on a mint still. 

Requested a partial refund and he replies:  "We will leave it up to you whether or not you feel it is fair for us to pay for the obvious carelessness of USPS."

I reply: 

"Although I appreciate you putting the ball back in my court, you could have packaged the item to avoid the water damage.  I simple plastic sleeve would have prevented the damage.  I've had packages from another dealer packaged so well that even though it was left out in the rain and soaked - nothing got wet.  (<<<This is Bruce's package of course, it was in one of his e-mails) 

So at this point I do think that you should pay for not being prepared for the carelessness of the USPS..."

Then he gives me the runaround after sending multiple photos, that he can't see the damage...  Everyone knows that once a still gets wet its over especially if you have been dealing for 15 years... 

So I tell him I will just send it back for a full refund and zoom! here comes my partial.

Just be careful if you buy from him.  Maybe ask him to provide extra packaging.  I have purchased from him many times and everything was fine.  You just don't really know the character of a dealer until something goes wrong...

[oldposterho]

Had a similar experience with them.  Assured me packaging was done in a way that was demonstrably false, at least on my package.  No doubt that idiot Tibor in the shipping department... Haven't bought anything since, which is a shame 'cause every now and then something pops up that I wouldn't mind having.  It just killed me that something that survived 80 years in perfect condition gets jammed because of sloppy packaging.  I can accept and tolerate that from the random e**y idiot, but these guys should know better.

--Peter

[jedgerley]

moviegoods.com is gone....good riddance....I discovered it was gone after I helped a friend tonight when he mentioned he bought his Dark Knight "Why So Serious" from them. He wasnt happy to say the least.

[lalatin]

Ouch! 

[pratschm]

moviegoods.com is gone....good riddance....I discovered it was gone after I helped a friend tonight when he mentioned he bought his Dark Knight "Why So Serious" from them. He wasnt happy to say the least.

Amen, brother!

They got me once long ago (2001-ish) - a fuzzy Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

[Zoongrew]

Well eatbrie,
You purchased some posters from me, I'm glad to see that I'm not in your list of bad sellers !

[Hicks77]

Hello all,
Has anyone ordered from cinema-city?  Found their site yesterday but it seems a little "iffy".   Their "blog" section is still showing the site template garble. Searched this site for any comments and only found one from a few years back...
Cheers if you can advise

[Charlie]

Hello all,
Has anyone ordered from cinema-city?  Found their site yesterday but it seems a little "iffy".   Their "blog" section is still showing the site template garble. Searched this site for any comments and only found one from a few years back...
Cheers if you can advise

I don't know this seller but I wouldn't throw him to the side for an empty blog session.  From my experiences in trying to start an online shop, you get all excited thinking the world is at your door step and find out getting people to visit much less buy anything is pretty tough.  You go through a sort of depression and start slacking on the amenities like a blog etc.

[Hicks77]

Thanks Charlie,
True could be a fast out of the gate thing but I poked around a bit more and a few things (any comments about my paranoia would be most welcome)
1) When you click on the picture of the poster to enlarge it, a new window pops up, the window is larger but the poster's picture is not.  So can't get a clear look at the poster.
2) Everything seems really reasonably priced (too reasonable...)
3) The descriptions for each about size, condition etc... seem generic and not very specific.

Looked them up, they've been in business in Muskegon Michigan since 1996, had a BBB complaint in 2014 about non-delivery which was resolved.
They list two copies of that cool Bottle Rocket poster 1 for $50.00 (original 1996 release) and 1 for $125 (original 1995 release... ).
Anyway here are the links if anyone cares to comment and steer this newb back to the "listen to your gut" path...
http://www.cinema-city.com/bottle-rocket-rare-rolled-1-sheet-poster/
http://www.cinema-city.com/bottle-rocket-original-issue-rolled-double-sided-1-sheet-movie-poster/

[Charlie]

On the Bottle Rocket on appears to be DS and the other doesn't say... 
On the photos that is just the lightbox (or other) that is installed on his website.  If the images are not big enough they won't enlarge.
I didn't think everything was reasonably priced.  I think the good stuff was just about right.  I did find a couple of items that could be picked up cheap though.
He's got thousands of posters on there.  It takes time to do it right but like I said after awhile you just stop spending as much time because no one is visiting or buying.


I went through his stuff (only got to the Ls).  He looks legit - the only thing I hate is how he mixes reprints with originals.

[Charlie]

This one is pretty steep...

http://www.cinema-city.com/mercury-rising-1998-original-issue-rolled-double-sided-1-sheet-movie-poster/

[Charlie]

I went through the rest of them.  I would just write them about the one you want and make sure it is an original (not original reprint) from a theater before you buy.  There is a bunch of mixing, plus everything seem to be near mint... HMmmmm.

[ddilts399]

I'd be surprised if that site is active.

[jedgerley]

This one is pretty steep...

http://www.cinema-city.com/mercury-rising-1998-original-issue-rolled-double-sided-1-sheet-movie-poster/

Lol i hope that is a typo and is only $8.00 not $800

[Hicks77]

Thanks for the advice Charlie
I saw that Mercury Rising too and an audible "Whaaaa..." came out of me.
I tried phoning them, was forwarded to a messaging service.
Just sent them an email.