Even if bendgate never happened, paying that many thousands of dollars for a book as common as Wolverine #1 is nuts just because CGC started miraculously popping out 9.9s. And as Swagglehaus points out, all that’s going to happen is more and more 9.9s and 9.8s will pile up on the census.
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I can understand someone paying a premium for a 10.0, because technically the book is “perfect”. There should not be any room for opinion (still need to inspect the book in person for damages though).
But a 9.9 has a flaw. And it could be the same flaw as a book graded 9.8. It’s an opinion how much below 10.0 it is. There really shouldn’t even be a 9.9 grade…no more than than a 9.7, 9.5, 9.3, etc is needed.
If you miraculously get a 9.9, dump the sucker ASAP. Get what you can and buy a nice 9.8 and pocket the profits.
Because anyone paying premium for a 9.9 is just paying a premium for a pretty label…that’s it. Yeah, it’s a nice book…but so are “true” 9.8s.
Granted I would not buy a 9.8 that was graded by CGC without personally inspecting the book myself…because the most recent 9.8s look like yesterdays 9.6s now. If not lower.
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I’ve been ditching this years CGC submissions on Ebay 1st; as I dump nearly my entire CGC collection.
I’ve gotten at least 5 questions from potential buyers if the book is bent in the case.
This CGC thing was supposed to make selling easier. It’s become more grief and more aggravation with these questions than if I were selling raw books. It’s out of hand.
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If you read the comments in the video, bananagate is still happening.
This is a CGC 9.8 book posted on the CGC forum received on 9/29. I don’t understand how this passes quality control if that even exists.
I have no idea what CGC is doing here. They’re denying there’s a problem, said the smaller inner wells have been identified and removed from circulation all the while it’s still happening.
The CGC forum has hit a tipping point, there’s been countless posts about a class action lawsuit, people bringing up the fact that what cgc doing is akin to racketeering (doing something illegal and continuing to charge people for submissions). Talk about getting the FTC involved and getting regulation.
Someone smarter than me please tell me what on earth CGC is thinking here. I understand it’s their lawyers telling them to deny all accountability because it can open them up to a lawsuit. But let’s say they stop all submissions and use all their resources to quickly identify the problem and fix it, wouldn’t that be a better course of action? What they’re doing now is infinitely worse imo, they have destroyed their reputation, opening themselves to legal action and problems further down the line in which they may not be able to recover from.
If any jury reads the CGC bendgate forum thread in it’s entirety from the beginning, they would be disgusted and throw the book at CGC.
Their lack of action tells me they are hurting bad and don’t have the capacity to stop submissions until a resolution is found or their president is completely clueless. What’s happening here?
Edit: So CGC has added a little notice to all their prepared email responses to customers emailing them asking about their damages. It’s the same corporate response saying it is not causing damages etc etc and that these slight imperfections are within the bounds of the respected grade, but at the bottom of the email response is a notice saying they are not allowed to share the response with anyone or make it public, basically an NDA…aka can’t use this as evidence in court. So CGC clearly knows the shit is about to hit the fan and doing everything they can to protect themselves.
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I need to give my full write up and will do so in the near future but I had my once a year con last weekend.
I brought roughly 60 graded books. I priced those things very, very low…all of them at a minimum 25% under any found sold listing on ebay and many of them even less. Many of them weren’t fodder…even books like Ultimately Fallout #4, Sentry #1 9.8. etc, etc. As the vast majority were books I had bought at cover or in cheap bins I was almost fine making even a $10 or so profit on top of my grading fee. I would have accepted any offers to be honest.
I didn’t sell jack…I sold a copy of Venom #3 9.8 and a 4.0 Golden Age copy of Tales from the Crypt…both of which I did very well but still…
For the most part, they are decent enough books that I’m not getting burned or anything and they are good. Stuff like Strange Academy #1, Darth Vader #3, ASM #4 (Silk), etc…but heck, I had a Uncanny X-men #121 9.6 priced silly low and it didn’t even get a glance either. I also had some other older, nice graded Werewolf by night, Tomb of Dracula books though also…nothing got a glance. I’ll sit on them at this point.
I did just fine on raw books and toys overall though.
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And the other thing of note is that although it states 9.8, the effin book is now damaged with pressure tics on the spine. So guess what hobbyists? - it’s not 9.8.
You just got taken for a ride if you bought this book. And if you own this book, then 
I think this is pretty much normal market correction. CGC created an artificial scarcity by grading things at 9.8 ‘just because’. When you don’t grade it as it is, but put an artificial limit on it, say 9.8, you’ve now created a situation where 9.9s and 10.0s are artificially rarer than they should be. People will try and cash in because of CGC’s new realization that a perfect book should be graded a 10.0 not a 9.8, means that if you can find the ones that should have been higher grade all along you can cash in.
I wonder if because of the slab boom of a few years back if people who actually are still buying books post boom/covid (1) feel better about their ability to grade a book (don’t need a 3rd part opinion), and (2) actually prefer to read the book…or at least flip through it.
Basically I’d you meet these two points, why buy a slab at a premium…and risk damaging the book upon release?
Free and floppy, right @agentpoyo ?
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For me personally, it’s the prices of slabs at cons. Here’s a book I wanted for a while and prices keep dropping.
Now these prices are very reasonable for a book I want for my pc. I don’t own any copies of her first appearances. But because of banana gate, I won’t be buying any slabs online even though the prices have fallen to what I feel is beyond correction at this point and it’s a buyers market.
When I’m at a con I never see dealers with these prices for the Darth Vader 3. If they were charging $100-$130 at today’s current prices I would be snatching it up. I can look at it in my hands and look for bends or shoddy grading from the graders. The convenience at seeing it in hand and supporting local dealers would make me feel good about buying it.
However when I’m at cons I still see dealers charging $400 and upwards for the book, and that’s with them already coming down on prices. So I’ve been conditioned to not look at dealer’s wall of slabs anymore.
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I hear you. But if you’re ever tempted, you could look up the slab number on CGC’s website and see when it was graded. If it was pre-2024 (or did the bending start last year?), you’d at least know it has the previous style of inner well.
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Sometimes the 
isn’t obvious and sometimes it’s an S shape. Definitely have to look 'em up.
That would give you some confidence…but you just need to know the first few numbers. 43 through 45 I believe. Avoid those books like the plague online. At least in high grade.
I would pay a little more than eBay just to see the book in person, but we’re talking like maybe 20%…max. And I’d have to feel the book presents very well for the grade assigned.
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Will they offer in grading also?
A free pin. That makes up for everything the past 12 months.
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I wonder if they come slightly bent in the package, too.
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I once got a free cup of coffee at an auto repair center after they effed up the repair twice in succession.
So a free pin seems appropriate after damaging hobbyist’s books repetitively. 
The only time I get excited about pins is when they are really fun-looking ones from Disney parks I can stick onto my tote.
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Love Disney pin trading pins.
Actually love most things Disney but the shows.
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