I prefer CBCS all the way. CGC is great to, but I see no reason to pay extra for a product that is no better. Same goes for buying already slabbed comics. I would not pay more just because it says CGC on it.
I don’t think they’re that much more. As long as you buy a years membership for $150…you get $150 credit towards services and the cost compared to CBCS is very comparable.
I just found my notes from last December when I was trying to decide who to go with…CBCS had a 15% off promotion and it tipped the scales. Plus I had a bunch of newsstands and CGC doesn’t note the difference between direct and newsstand unless it’s a Canadian Price Variant.
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Ya, it’s not a huge difference, but CBCS has some pretty good monthly specials as well. What tips the scales for me are things like verified signatures and how easy it is to get graders notes. I send in a lot of comics for slabs (usually in increments of 25) I would say almost all of my submissions have had a signature that was not witnessed. CGC would be a lot more attractive if they had this feature as well.
Here’s prices for moderns, including shipping:
(Qty) cbcs / CGC
(1) $39 / $37
(2) $56 / $57
(3) $76 / $77
(4) $92 / $97
(5) $108 / $117
(6) $132 / $137
(7) $148 / $157
(8) $164 / $177
(9) $170 / $197
(10) $186 / $217
(11) $214 / $237
Pressing and fast tracks look to be comparable. TATs are about the same.
You can save $2 per book and shave off a few weeks going with an outside presser (e.g. CFP Comics) as well.
CBCS Reholders are $10. CGC reholders are $15.
Let’s put PGX in there $13 a modern no matter what it’s worth make it express for $6 more
Just playing around with some PGX numbers…
(1) $39 / $37 / $28
(2) $56 / $57 / $47
(3) $76 / $77 / $60
(4) $92 / $97 / $79
(5) $108 / $117 / $92
(6) $132 / $137 / $106
(7) $148 / $157 / $124
(8) $164 / $177 / $138
(9) $170 / $197 / $151
(10) $186 / $217 / $165
(11) $214 / $237 $179
Pressing & fast track look comparable.
For the savings of $2-$3 per book and the likely 10-20% or more reduction in value when in a PGX slab, I’ll go with CBCS…and using an outside presser get the coat and possible TAT equivalent to PGX as well.
But that’s me. And that’s only talking books after 1978.
I send 60 at a time Modern, Silver age, Bronze. My last submission of 60 cost me $1175.50 including pressing anything in the 60 books that needed pressing, scanning the whole order for pressing, shipping of 2 separate packages because only 30 can ship in one box, and insurance on 2 separate packages.
And I don’t even know what to do with CGC if the book is worth more than any of their grading tiers. Does that mean I can only have it graded in person and it’s going to cost $1000 to press and grade one book no thanks.
I keep my comics free and floppy… that $1175.50 would have paid for half the booking rate for a nice beach house or condo for vacation… Mmmm… vacations are better than slabs. 
I only grade books that I am selling and only if I can make at least $50 profit after book/grading costs. For my personal collection, I just use BCW frames to hang the ones I want to display and the rest in the long/short boxes.
You are probably saving at least $800 by using PGX vs CGC and PGX turn around times are probably the best. making pgx very attractive however the marketplace never seemed to get past old issues.
i hear a lot of love for cbcs but the turnaround times are can take up to 4 to 6 months if they include pressing. I used them 2 twice and they are definitely the strictest graders of the bunch. i had a modern book have some abrasions on the back cover and the grade was dropped to 7.5. No other issues with the book. so they can be very tough graders.
I seem to always go back to CGC even though they probably had the most issues out of the 3 grading companies mainly because they bring back the most value if you eventually sell the book.
they all have their positives and negative so why has CGC completely dominated the market?
From what I understand they will designate newsstands for a few different reasons including the CPV’s you mentioned. They also will if it’s got a different price than the Direct Editions. If it’s got a higher or lower page count than it’s direct counterpart. If there was/wasn’t an insert included. Those will give you a newsstand designation for sure. Although pointing it out to them definitely helps. I’ve also heard of them recognizing different page quality. I’m not sure if that’s true or not.
They dropped the ball in failing to differentiate newsstands on the census. Especially now with record breaking sales for newsstands. Although it seems they should be able to add it to the census and they have to have scans or pics of most of the books. How hard would it be to add them retroactively?
That’s why I buy CBCS, and sell CGC. You can get a great deal on a 9.6 CBCS…maybe 10% less than CGC 9.6…have it grade a 9.8 CGC and triple your profit.
Problem is there are not a lot of CBCS slabs on eBay that are auction style…the few on eBay are buy it now and many try to price Above or equal to CGC…so you need to be patient.
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There are CGC die hards that bash CBCS every chance they get, Sometimes unwarranted or the whole story not disclosed… but will not make note of CGC issues.
Many shops just will not give CBCS credit.
But their biggest negative is they’ve gone through lots of changes And challenges (moves, being bought out by Beckett, hurricanes, pandemics) which seems Never ending in setting their TATs back…but I think they may be FINALLY rounding the corner…as it really comes down to trained staff And they struggled on boarding given all the above…especially their pressing team which was still in Florida (grading moved to Texas)…I’ll say they are committed to the highest standards and quality and were not about to just hire Any people off the street just to get the TATs under control.
Quality is #1 with CBCS. They Also listen to their customers (they have a nice forum atmosphere like we do here) which has lead to such advances like differentiation of newsstand and directs, a census, and improvement in their case design in robustness and security which is now superior to CGC.
That’s what I know. Looking to send another 5-10 comics to CBCS instead of CGC. Partly because of the price, and partly because I don’t want to deal with the Damn Newton Rings…I don’t care if CGC “fixes it” free of charge. It shouldn’t even be a problem. I’ll take a 10% hit on sale price to be able to sell something by the second I get it back versus sending it back for “repair”.
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A factor I’ve heard repeatedly is that some collectors really want the consistency of all their slabs/labels looking the same.
I think CGC also has a branding advantage from being first. When you hear someone talk about submitting a book, it’s usually:
- “I’m going to get it graded.”
- “I’m gonna slab it.”
- “I’m gonna CGC it.” - Once your name becomes synonymous with something, like Kleenex or Xerox, that’s a powerful thing.
As long as CGC books keep generally selling for more, people will be reluctant to break the cycle, even if their own slabs are long-term holds.
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Which should be with every graded book from across the board of all professional grading companies… that’s why it’s just a paid opinion between them all. If there’s no governing body to set the rules or guidelines, then you’re just paying for a fancy slab with a label and opinion printed.
Buy the book, not the slab.
Get books graded to resell, authenticate or preserve, but take everything that’s on the label itself within the slab with a grain of salt.
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You’re dirty…
@jcLu is the only person I’ve ever heard that from. And unless you reholder all your books Or only buy books slabbed In a certain time period that’s not likely to happen, as even the grading companies change their holders now and then. CGC seems to be stuck on the Newton ring design for a while though…
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That’s what you’re paying for anything ever given a value by a third party…The companies are basically aassessors…they just don’t tell you the value because it’s so fluid…
And that opinion can go a long way if there’s ever a loss by fire or theft, etc. so it’s more than that.