Check it.
Seal it. Sell it.
Photograph a comic, answer nine questions about its condition, and get an honest grade range with what holds it back. Seal the result as a Passport, and when you sell the comic its history goes to the buyer, who can check nothing has been changed.
Nine questions. An honest range.
Take a photo of the front cover, and if you like the back, the spine, the worst corner and the worst defect. Then go over the comic the way a grader would, one question at a time, with a hint for where to look:
- Spine
stress lines, and whether they break the colour
- Corners
sharp, blunted, bent or a piece missing
- Creases and bends
a crease that breaks the colour shows as a white line
- Edges and tears
nicks, tears and chunks missing
- Staples
clean and tight, or rusted and loose
- Colour and gloss
fading and dust shadows
- Pages
white, cream, tan or brittle
- Writing and marks
shop date stamps, names, stickers
- Bigger damage
water, stains, a detached cover, a coupon cut out
The answer is a range on the 10-point scale, such as Likely 5.0 to 6.5, and what holds it back most, such as one crease that breaks the colour. One tap sets the middle of the range as your grade in My Comics.
Your check, not a slab.
Mint Check is your own look at your own comic. It is not a professional grade, and it is not any grading company's standard. Each fault keeps a comic out of the grades above it the way it commonly does in grading, and a grader looks at the whole book, so the answer is always a range.
The range errs low, because owners miss things. If nothing was found it says 9.2 to 9.8, if nothing was missed.
A comic's history, sealed.
Sealing a Passport locks a comic's Mint Check, its photos and its history (where it came from, and who signed it, if anyone did) with a key made on your phone. The key never leaves the phone. Check the comic again later and the newer check is sealed on after the first, so the record grows and nothing in it can be quietly rewritten.
- Send it
By AirDrop, Messages or email, as a file. The buyer's Mint Menace checks every seal and every photo, then adds the comic to their collection with a new entry saying it changed hands.
- Or send a link
A buyer without the app opens it in their browser, which checks the seals too. Your phone locks the Passport before it is uploaded, and the key to unlock it is only in the link, so our server cannot read it. Links are deleted after 90 days, or at once when you tap Stop sharing.
- Share cards
A picture of the comic with its sealed condition for WhatsApp, Messages and Facebook, with a link to the full Passport if you want one. Not for eBay photos: eBay does not allow added text.
- Receiving is free
Anyone can open a Passport they are sent, on any plan, including the free one.
And what it does not.
It proves that every entry is exactly as it was when it was sealed, and in its order; which phone sealed each one, shown as an anonymous short code; and that the photos are the ones that were recorded.
It does not prove that the photos show the copy in front of you, that the seller judged the condition well, or the dates, which come from each phone's own clock. The app says so wherever a Passport is shown, and so do we.
Ready for eBay.
- The listing kit
A title that fits eBay's 80 characters, a description that names every fault from the Mint Check, and the photos ready to post. It only calls a comic a pence copy when the scan was sure.
- Worth grading?
CGC's UK fees and insured postage to their London office, against what the slab is worth at each grade in your range, and whether that beats selling it raw. It never says what grade a comic will get; where the answer changes inside your range, it says so.
Try it free.
- Free
Mint Check for 3 comics, and 1 Passport.
- Collector
Mint Check for every comic you own.
- Seller
Everything in Collector, plus a Passport for every comic you sell, Passport links and share cards, the eBay listing kit and Worth grading?.
- Single Passport
Selling just one? On the free or Collector plan, buy one more Passport when you seal it. It is a one-off purchase, not a subscription, and any comic with a sealed Passport gets the listing kit too.
Prices are on the App Store page, in your own currency. Your checks, photos and Passports stay on your phone unless you send them; the privacy policy has the detail.
Check your best one first.
Mint Menace is on the App Store now, free to download for iPhone.
