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 donāt 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 itās going to cost $1000 to press and grade one book no thanks.
I keep my comics free and floppyā¦ that $1175.50 would have paid for half the booking rate for a nice beach house or condo for vacationā¦ Mmmmā¦ 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 CPVās you mentioned. They also will if itās got a different price than the Direct Editions. If itās got a higher or lower page count than itās direct counterpart. If there was/wasnāt an insert included. Those will give you a newsstand designation for sure. Although pointing it out to them definitely helps. Iāve also heard of them recognizing different page quality. Iām not sure if thatās 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?
Iām sure thatās not all you keep like thatā¦
Uploading: 7F742512-E0D0-4A2A-9441-C0EF2E94825A.jpegā¦
Thatās why I buy CBCS, and sell CGC. You can get a great deal on a 9.6 CBCSā¦maybe 10% less than CGC 9.6ā¦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 styleā¦the few on eBay are buy it now and many try to price Above or equal to CGCā¦so you need to be patient.
1 Like
There are CGC die hards that bash CBCS every chance they get, Sometimes unwarranted or the whole story not disclosedā¦ but will not make note of CGC issues.
Many shops just will not give CBCS credit.
But their biggest negative is theyāve gone through lots of changes And challenges (moves, being bought out by Beckett, hurricanes, pandemics) which seems Never ending in setting their TATs backā¦but I think they may be FINALLY rounding the cornerā¦as it really comes down to trained staff And they struggled on boarding given all the aboveā¦especially their pressing team which was still in Florida (grading moved to Texas)ā¦Iāll 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.
Thatās what I know. Looking to send another 5-10 comics to CBCS instead of CGC. Partly because of the price, and partly because I donāt want to deal with the Damn Newton Ringsā¦I donāt care if CGC āfixes itā free of charge. It shouldnāt even be a problem. Iāll 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 ārepairā.
2 Likes
A factor Iāve 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, itās usually:
- āIām going to get it graded.ā
- āIām gonna slab it.ā
- āIām gonna CGC it.ā - Once your name becomes synonymous with something, like Kleenex or Xerox, thatās 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.
1 Like
Which should be with every graded book from across the board of all professional grading companiesā¦ thatās why itās just a paid opinion between them all. If thereās no governing body to set the rules or guidelines, then youāre 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 thatās on the label itself within the slab with a grain of salt.
1 Like
Youāre dirtyā¦
@jcLu is the only person Iāve ever heard that from. And unless you reholder all your books Or only buy books slabbed In a certain time period thatās 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 thoughā¦
1 Like
Thatās what youāre paying for anything ever given a value by a third partyā¦The companies are basically aassessorsā¦they just donāt tell you the value because itās so fluidā¦
And that opinion can go a long way if thereās ever a loss by fire or theft, etc. so itās more than that.
āDirty Dā was my fantasy football team name. When I obsessed about such thingsā¦now comics replaces that obsession.
Sine yoā pity of the runny kine.
Seemed like the appropriate thread for this.
3 Likes
I only have my own personal experience to go on but Iām questioning CGCās grading over the last few years. At least since the new holders came out a few years ago.
I just received an FF#1 Newsstand CGC 9.2 via eBay. This book has at least 10 color breaking spine tics. It also has someoneās fingerprints on it as well.
Thatā¦ doesnāt look like a NM to me.
1 Like
That looks like a 7.5 at best lol wtf
2 Likes
If the professionals at CGC say itās a 9.2; who are we simpleton hobbyists to think otherwise? 
9 Likes