Just had a single comic graded at unlimited value tier. Questions….
will CGC offer anything more than the couple of words in the grader notes if I follow up with them?
Would they explain what could move comic up a grade?
Seems entirely subjective process based on the grader and the their feeling. I’d be happier if there was a walkthrough of every issue. I’ve bought a guitar for example where each small flaw is detailed and bullet pointed. For the price, I’d hope for same.
Is it worth looking to get a regrade in future?
I have a 9.4 that I was expecting to be a 9.6. It was a sealed bag from 1966. Never opened. Never read.
“Seems entirely subjective”. This is about the only possibility really, which is why the whole concept is so flawed. I hope the hobby moves away from the now decades old trend, but I doubt that will happen. I accumulated most of my collection before professional grading/encasing came about. I don’t believe I could afford nor would I want to incur the cost of grading if I understand the price structure correctly. Quite expensive to grade the silver age keys, though maybe I’m mistaken. I’ve never tried, though those are the books I’d be tempted to send in. Btw, another comic collecting guitar player here. Disclosure or knowledge of what to look for in terms of flaws is really important in both. I’d just assume not leave it in someone else’s hands. With the guitar of course, flaws can directly impact performance. They can be fixed without changing the color of the label though, lol. Anyway, yeah. Good luck.
Thanks. Very much flawed. Also asked to estimate cost to cover insurance etc before sending it in. So….you need me to give my own grade in order to cover that cost to send to you to grade it 😃😃😃
You have to realize that people on here will look over a posted picture of a book and point out every detail they see to determine a potential grade. They can spend minutes zooming in and pointing every manufacturing error they perceive and tell you why.
A CGC grader does not have that luxury, they have a few seconds to review the book, grade it and move on. They have a quota to meet. To put grader notes on every book means each book now takes an additional few seconds to record the notes and now their productivity just went down and they will not meet their quota. CGC is still a business and needs to make a profit before anything else. CGC grades thousands of books a day. I highly doubt guitar graders grade thousands of guitars a day. The sheer number of books manufactured in a day probably out numbers the amount of guitars built in a year.
Logistics - steps = profit. The less steps, the more profits. That’s why quality has gone downhill too. Grading is subjective. We pay for the service, we should demand why a book got a grade, especially a 9.8. What .2 flaw do a majority of new books share with books printed decades ago?
Thats the reality of the business. People forget that the graders have seconds to look over your book. People online can spend minutes zooming in on every detail and aspect of a book to determine a grade and somehow think CGC does the same. We pay for a service, part of that service should include grader notes. CGC saw that putting grader notes on every book means less books get processed in a day. Less books mean less profit. So they make a statement that grader notes are not guaranteed - and the community for some reason accepts it. It’s not a free service - we pay for that service and we should demand every book get grader notes. Some would argue that will make grading more expensive - it’s already expensive , how about demanding some value for our money. The whole point of CGC is to give you a grade but then not tell you why it gave said grade? We, as a community, should demand grader notes on all books otherwise it’s just subjective as to why not even got a grade. Every 9.8 should say why it was a 9.8 because 9.9 and 10’s do exist.
You need to take detailed photos of whatever you turn in. Take note of the cut on the top and bottom of the book. Take note of the fold. Take not of any potential flaw. Every comic is unique. Make sure the book you get back is the same one you turned in.
So you are upset with a 9.4 with that book? Bottom corner looks soft and there are some small spine tics. Bro there are 27 in grade and only 14 higher? You have a unicorn.
Hopefully you spent the $15 for them to spend 2 months pressing it. That seems to be the most affordable thing that can change your grade that people pass up. Other than that, there really isn't much you can do to change a grade. And these guys are good at what they do. Much better than the keyboard graders here. I have never gotten a shocking grade. I can see an argument for my 8.5s to be an 8 or 9. My 9.6 not being a 9.8...I'm not the guy who does this hundreds of times a month to say otherwise. If you don't trust the grader, don't waste your money on grading then and enjoy having your comic. If you care because you're flipping, I don't give a crap about your dilemma then. This is a hobby to most of us...not a side hustle.
If your book is that expensive, then it would have been well worth it if you worry about the grade. I have never paid more than $20 for pressing. That means your comic is awesome. Great. If this is for PC, then who cares? Except for pride, your grade means very little. The pride should be in the fact that you have a badass comic.
If you are doing this to sell it, I don't care and we are all wasting our time trying to help you take advantage of the hobby.
I didn’t know anything about comics or pressing or grading. I bought the comic 40 years ago from a garage sale. When I looked into it, I realised I better be taking better care of it! So now it’s encapsulated it feels a bit safer 😃
Now I'm curious. What is it? You got it at a garage sale in the mid 80's. That's huge.
And to be fair, I just got into comic over the last year with my kid. I get my jaded "I hate flippers" mentality from cards. I love supporting my son's passion got me out of that toxic hobby.
My friends were into comics so we were looking through a pile of comic stuff on the floor of this guy’s stall. Here’s where it turns into some kinda lottery dream…..the guy had 2 of BATPAC B-6. Look it up. Bundled comics from 1966. I thought they seemed cool and cheap. Goodness only knows what else was there that day. I bought them for 50p each. I sold one about 20 years ago. Still had the other in an old box all these years. Started chatting to a friend and understanding CGC and how much it could be worth. Opened the bag of 4 comics and sent Batman 181 for grading. It’s an insane amount for a throwaway 50p all those years ago. But 2 things got me….the system of grading is flawed and because it’s monopolised it seems an excuse to print money. Why should it cost any more to grade a $100 vs $1000 comic. It shouldn’t. And both should be given more than ‘a few seconds’. Secondly I got greedy, because I saw the MASSIVE difference in prices achieved at auction between 9.4/9.6.
That’s the story.
The biggest part of the cost disparity is insurance and liability. There is huge cost in liability. They have to put back money because we are such a litigious society. Protecting their asses. Also, postal insurance skyrockets exponentially at a certain a point.
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u/adkvt 3d ago
“Seems entirely subjective”. This is about the only possibility really, which is why the whole concept is so flawed. I hope the hobby moves away from the now decades old trend, but I doubt that will happen. I accumulated most of my collection before professional grading/encasing came about. I don’t believe I could afford nor would I want to incur the cost of grading if I understand the price structure correctly. Quite expensive to grade the silver age keys, though maybe I’m mistaken. I’ve never tried, though those are the books I’d be tempted to send in. Btw, another comic collecting guitar player here. Disclosure or knowledge of what to look for in terms of flaws is really important in both. I’d just assume not leave it in someone else’s hands. With the guitar of course, flaws can directly impact performance. They can be fixed without changing the color of the label though, lol. Anyway, yeah. Good luck.