About to finalize selections of my first books to ship for grading.
I’ve heard it’s recommended to send only 1 tier of books at once, i.e. don’t send silvers/bronzes/moderns all in one submission.
Also wondering if I should get EVERY book pressed. I understand pressing an Avengers Annual 10 or Amazing Adventures 1, but should I get Venom 3 pressed even if it looks perfect? Of course it’s worth it if a 9.6 can turn into a 9.8…but just wondering if the usual thing is to ask for pressing on every book you send in.
Lastly, what types of books are best to ask for pre-screening for a certain grade? Not sure how many people utilize that option… Any help is appreciated!
Thanks
You can get prescreening for pressing that way you’re not pressing already 9.8s
I would only use grade prescreening if you’re sending a stack of moderns and looking for 9.8, 9.9, 10.0s
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I send mine in one tier, and I press everything. I don’t use CGCs pressing service.
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Tiers: you can ship tiers separate, but why? That’s just going to cost you more to ship them. And then more to ship them back separately, right? Unless you want them to come back separately as certain tiers are faster. Otherwise I don’t understand the benefit to breaking it up.
Pressing: Don’t use CGC’s presser. It’ll take FOREVER. Send me a message as I have someone who has a pretty good rep who will also drop the books off for you saving you additional postage and possible damage or loss through the extra usps step.
Keep in mind, if you press some and not others, they’ll get divided up and you’ll pay return shipping twice…essential diving books up for any reason is like breaking them up into tiers. You can ask the outside pressor if he/she can press only some of your books but keep them together.
Screening: As far as screening, are you not required to have a minimum of 20 books to qualify for prescreening? I never quite got the point of prescreening unless you had a massive number of new books and you only wanted 9.8s as anything less was “worthless” in a 9.6 or less grade. Cost the same to ship the tHere and back…slabbing is just $10 more or so…and if your intent is to sell you’ll get that $10 back…so unless you have absolutely no idea how to grade, I say take the chance you’re close on grade and just get them all slabbed…
I’m going to be sending in an order soon for my Venom keys and some other books. Probably going to have everything pressed as its worth it to give it the best shot at 9.8 and I’m not in a rush to flip them.
I use PGX pressing they send all my books back in the same package even if half of them are pressed, have to use CGC for magazines and probably take you up on Using your presser @D-Rog
The problem is though by the time you paid for that it’s practically the same as the cost of pressing…and you’re now paying two fees. It may cost you more in the end to prescreen all than to just press all
For example, let’s say you have 20 books and half screen for a quick press, the others “pass”.
Prescreening is $10 fee (or 1% FMV). That’s $200
10 books get a quick press. That’s $80.
So you paid $280.
If you just had all 20 for a quick press it would have cost you $160! So you paid $120 more just for the press prescreen.
In fact, even if they all passed the prescreen you would pay $200, vice $160 to press them all. And it just takes one book not to pass prescreen to set the entire turn around time to several more months. I’m not sure if screening adds to the turn around either.
Am I interpreting this correctly (you pay the prescreen AND press fee if it get pressed)? Let me know if I’m not.
If I’m sending a 15 book submission, I send all in one tier so I save on shipping. If they are in different tiers, each tier will be shipped back on its own. 2 tiers = 2x return shipping, 3 tiers = 3x return shipping. That’s why.
Lots of great advice guys.
I’m not sure if CGC charges you for a pre-screen if they end up pressing the book anyways.
Would Venom 3 now be considered outside of the Modern tier since it’s worth far more than $200 in a 9.8?
Venom 3 is modern for sure. CGC doesn’t really care about the eBay/secondary market prices for modern ‘keys’. My high grade Iron Fist 14 was submitted with a modern tier and it went through(it’s worth $3000-$4000 in a 9.8). Your declared value is more for insurance purposes while shipping. In my last submission of moderns, almost very book was worth more than $200, and it went through with no issues.
You’re not understanding the question. Not everyone has 100 books they want graded and sends them in sporadically. Some of us have 5 or 10 books…and they are spread across tiers, no matter what we do.
So if I have 10 books and no matter what I do I have to break them up into tiers…why am I shipping them to cgc separately by tier?
I either go big 30+ books or 10 books in two Gemini mailers in a $15 prepaid priority box.
60 books cost me $81 to ship yesterday another $40 to insure.
I understand that everyone will have their own unique needs when it comes to slabbing. That is fine. I originally posted how I go about doing my submissions in response to the original post. You, Drog, then asked why I do it that way. I then explained. There is no argument here. 
15 books cost me $75 US ($100 CND) to return ship from CGC. It’s ridiculous.
I tell ya, if it wasn’t for the crazy shipping costs and breaking up of tiers…I’d do a lot more business with them. $18 to grade & slab isn’t that bad…but by the time you’re done and added shipping and invoice fees and separate tier fees and what not, total cost per book is like $40! And then to have it come back in 9.6 can be so deflating…
That’s why I buy a lot of slabs on eBay…I’ll spend $10 more a lot of times to get the book I want already slabbed in the grade is good with for the PC (typically 9.6) just to bypass the 6 month turn around time and risk of a lower grade.
Perfect example here:
I paid $36 shipped for a raw copy of Star Wars 43 (first Lando) newsstand. It looked 9.6/9.8 in the photos, but when it arrived there are a few very tiny spine ticks that I think make it a 9.4…Bright white pages though. Outside shot at 9.6 and it would need a press to get it there. So Even if I grouped it in with other books I’m talking about another $30-$35 to “maybe” Get a 9.6, so $65-$70 invested and 6 months of waiting to find out.
What pops up on eBay a few days after this books arrives…?
I put in a bid of $75 I think…got it for $65 shipped…same price I would pay for the “Chance” of the raw version. And this book is much more presentable.
So I’ll sell my raw to recoup some of the cost, but perfect example of A strategy when it’s better to just buy the slabbed book. Especially when it comes to buying raws on eBay. Too much risk most of the time unless you’re really diligent, patient and disciplined.
Btw, I had been waiting quite a while for this book for the right price and finally decided to take a chance on the raw version as the price seemed right…so this instance the fact the slabbed version fell into my hands immediately after was coincidence. It so happened another 9.6 was available (direct) for $70 so that likely Kept the price down for this auction as well as ending on an strange hour of the day…sometimes it’s all about patience and timing.
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That’s why I choose PGX I average about $20 per book graded pressed and shipped. I sent 60 books Monday I imagine the bill will be around $1000 +$110 shipping and insurance I used to get it there. That same 60 books at cgc sent to pressing and the value of some of the books I sent would be around a $4000 bill from CGC
For preservation of a book I am fine with PGX. But for sales, they and cbcs do not pull in the same resale value. Even though I know people who buy PGX 9.8 and have them Redlands by cgc to sell for higher.
Definitely true for PGX, but I think CBCS has narrowed that gap. At this point I think CBCS is more consistent with their grading and I’ve been pretty unhappy with CGC recently. I’ve seen too many 9.8s that have no business being a 9.8 from CGC lately, plus they have the newton rings that they just don’t seem to care enough about to fix.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see CBCS treated as CGC’s equal in the market more often.
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I sell my PGX for the equivalent of a CGC or CBCS I just don’t sell on eBay so I have little to no competition when it comes to selling a graded key.