Noah, did you actually see the sig yourself or was that what the seller told you? I passed on a deal once that sounds almost identical- a guy had a beat up copy of Hulk 181 for $80 at a flea market, swore it was signed by Herb Trimpe. I walked away because the sig looked shaky and the book was trashed. Found out later the same book sold at auction for way less than a legit copy would go for. So sometimes passing is the right call, you know? You gotta trust your gut with stuff like that unless you can get it slabbed and verified.

I get what you're saying but I actually see it differently. The word "glowing" fits fine here, it just means the review was really positive about the vacuum. The real problem is the seller straight up faking reviews by editing them after.

Oh I feel this in my bones. I once spent four hours prepping a floor and then two minutes bragging about how fast I laid it down. My back still hasn't forgiven me for that one.

$400 for a starter rebuild at a chain shop, and you're asking if it's dramatic? @the_sean, have you ever been stranded in a grocery store parking lot at 9pm with a toddler and a trunk full of ice cream? Because I have, and let me tell you, that $400 started looking cheap real fast. It's not just the part cost, it's the tow truck, the missed work, the cold groceries you have to toss. A dead starter can wreck your whole week if the timing's bad. You must've had good luck with starters to not see the drama in that.

I keep a small stash of MDF board cutoffs for exactly this reason. If an idea pops into my head for a profile I don't own, I'll just hog out a quick custom shape from a scrap block with a rasp and sandpaper. Takes maybe 10 minutes and you get to test the look on your project without dropping money on a full set. Plus sometimes the rough handmade version ends up looking better than the machine perfect one anyway.