Gotta get that bag $$ for the uncle (Blackstone Management). Blackstone management most likely looked over CGC books and expected to have YoY growth in revenue at a certain percentage. So to hit that quota, they gotta raise the price AGAIN ($$$). I mean if we are truly “baller”, shoot,we open our own grading companies, the ultimate “middle finger” to them.
Blackstone… not BlackRock two different companies.
One way to hedge just buy Blackstone (BX) stock with 3.29% dividend yield.
Collect dividends and use them to pay slabbing fees…
Rinse and repeat 
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Comic collectors and speculators to PGX seeing their turnaround times after cgc and cbcs increase their prices and turnaround times switch to years
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I don’t see this as necessary at all. Their slabs don’t have scratches, scars, scuffs and Newton rings like CGC. The piece of paper at the top isn’t unattractive, but designed to be subtle and not to detract from the look of the book.
They just need to hang in there and let CGC drive business to their doorstep with bad quality and high prices.
Up here, I’m already done with CGC before this latest hike.
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I have no problem selling them and getting the same or close to cgc price. Comic is a comic if paying 3x-50x more to grade a book it’s still that same book. All you hear about is cgc horror stories every day all anyone had to say bad about pgx is from 15 years ago on a cgc chat board and constantly regurgitated by people that like paying 3x-50x more to grade the same book.
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I actually feel like sending in some test cases…have PGX grade then on the cheap then send them in to CBCS. Compare results. I agree, would be nice to have some more recent data for comparison/validation one way or another.
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Honestly, for myself, it just hard to imagine anyone dropping $$$ for a monster grail like a TEC #27 PGX 6 or better, AF #15 PGX 6 or better. UF4 PGX 9.8, BA 12 PGX 9.8 or event TMNT #1 PGX 9.8, unless the price is noticeably cheaper (or simply these “grail” are low grade like a 2.0 or 3.0). I think it easier to move CBCS when compared to PGX.
I think if one is buying those books they had better be pretty knowledgeable about grading as to not get screwed over by a grading error or oversight.
Best to buy them in person where you can examine the book in person.
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It might be a good strategy as they are so backlogged…so, demand is great, increase price, reduce the amount of submissions, get your process going again…become more efficient…decrease turnaround times…increase customer happiness (eventually).
I’m not vouching for anyone here, but if you are insanely busy and people are still forking over cash, there is nothing wrong with raising your rates a bit. Get the money while its good and then if the market cools, offer some temporary discounts or what not. I’d do it if it were my company making tons of money…my quality would be better though I guarantee that!
The only wrinkle there is that if they raise it too much for some people, that will send more to CBCS. And once people start grading with a competitor, they may decide they like it more. CGC had a long reign of being THE name for grading, so even though it does make sense to increase prices for the reasons you said, I’d be concerned about losing brand strength in the process or helping a legit competitor have an easy way to poach more long-time customers.
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Absolutely! I’ve always used CGC. I started submitting books to them in their first year. I’ve stuck with them simply due to consistency and I’m one of those “set in my ways” types. I can say, I’ve never once had an issue with them so I’ve apparently been lucky though.
Having said all that, I’ll be sending my next shipment ( at some point) to CBCS. My presser can go either route & CGC just got too greedy imo. I’m not ever too worried over wait times, but these back to back increases to a sum that just doesn’t seem reasonable is enough.
I’m just a small fish but I typically send out 3-4 25 book orders a year (although I stopped with Covid as shipping woes terrify me in our current state of affairs). CGC lost me with this move.
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I also think “unread” is used as an excuse if somethings up on the inside of the book. No digital code? Well the listing said it’s unread. Coupon missing? Well jeez I said it was unread.
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“Sure I used it to wipe my @$$, but I still didn’t read it…”
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In terms of PGX, I crossed over (4) copies of PGX batman adventures 13, PGX ASM 129 and PGX Venom #3 to CGC, and all came back the same grade. I think PGX does a solid job with modern books. However is seems PGX has never been able to shake the legacy issues.
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I am in the process of getting 20 books to CBCS.
After the last CGC price rise it ended up being considerably cheaper to post 20 books from the UK to a US third-party presser who will submit to CBCS on my behalf. The only down side is that he has been backed up with orders for quite some time, so it hasn’t made the process any quicker than the CGC one.
The price differential really begins to add up when you are submitting a lot of books - especially as the CGC pressing and grading costs are even higher when submitting from the UK.
Also, just to add - I really don’t see the problem with the CBCS subtle design. The cases are great too. I would say, however, that as lots of people do criticise the CBCS ‘paper’ insert, it seems like an open goal opportunity to give it a bit more sparkle (figuratively speaking, of couse).
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Perceived value = reality. Right now, CGC just has a higher perceived value. That might not align with the actual quality of the product, but it is what it is. And, that can be a hard thing to shake. I don’t see a $2 increase changing that. Sometimes a higher price point can only strengthen perceived value.
I think it’ll require a change from CBCS to overcome this. A new, far better insert design, a loyalty/rewards plan… something.
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