Yes please let them know that the PSA label is pure garbage. Tell them there are so many people who want to give them a chance because the absolutely hate CGC but PSA is out to lunch with this label if they think it’s going to overtake Cgc’s dominance in the hobby.
Let them know that once people slab their books, they become art pieces to be hung on their wall. That’s why the aesthetics of the label means so much to the overall perceived value of the slab. It’s all about presentation. I have absolutely no interest hanging these ugly labeled slabs on my wall.
The PSA label is hot garbage; it’s like they’re not even trying. Here’s a perfect time to come compete, and then to trip up on such an obvious weakness?
Another potential CGC scandal brewing. Cliffs notes: a cgc single submission of 21 books gets 12 cgc 9.9s. Should be obvious why this is really really bad for many reasons and should be raising red flags. There have been people who has submitted thousands of books and has never gotten a 9.9. But it actually gets worse, on one of the books in the submission there is a restored “A-1 professsional” color touch. This should raise red flags about the other books in the submission…
Watch the video for some great detective work and a better explanation on what is going on. The comments in the comments section will give you a better idea why everyone is upset with this. It’s highly sus…
There’s nothing suspect here. The grader got laid the night before. We all know that happens!
Seriously, though, the 9.9s don’t bother me in a sense that what he showed looked like they could grade higher than 9.8x. The person submitted likely was someone who targets perfect books. And we don’t know that CGC didn’t have a second person review these to confirm the grades. That’s supposed to be what happens.
What bothers me is what disqualifies them as 10.0s? I don’t get the 9.9 grade. Should not exist.
The only reason it does exist from the beginning is for a contingency plan for bringing in more revenue when submissions slowed down. Incentivize people to re-submit books that should have gotten 9.9s before. They even admitted their past grading did not look for 9.9s….and they know they exist in 9.8 cases…which was a nice promotional move to get the ball rolling. No one should be paying a premium for a 9.9. But oooohhhh….look at that gold number….so shiny.
That being said, not correctly entering the grades in the census is the big red flag, if there are 2 errors in 25 books. That’s nearly 10% failure rate. How many other errors are in that census? Clearly shouts lack of quality control….at least on the record keeping side.
I will say this. That case is SOLID. Literally. It probably weighs 2-3 times as much as CGC or CBCS. I’ll have to examine it again tomorrow more closely. But that was my first impression.
They don’t really have much promotion to it other than what you see. The people there were kinda of meh about it. It was clear they’re not pushing slabbed comics at this show….very soft roll out here.
There was no line, not even for grading trading cards. no one was asking about it. CGC was right next door and had pretty constant activity.
Speaking of which, CGC had two booths. One at the main floor and one in front of the Artists Rows (probably where you grab witnesses). Also, they were offering on sight signature verification. For those trying to avoid the artist “fee bump” for when their signature is witnessed. Tomorrow I’ll have to ask how exactly does that work on site? I thought they outsourced it…maybe not.
CBCS had a little booth across the floor. And not nearly as much traffic…still more than PSA. I think it was just for witnessing signature because Beckett had another booth on the main floor showcasing everything they can grade.
Yeah I got my Wollow #1 signed by Jim Lee and Lucas Lee and came back with both CGC Signature Series and JSA. Probably cuz Lucas hadn’t had any other books signed? Who knows. It looks cool though.
I want to submit a book to PSA just to have a PSA slab. I have ones from CGC CBCS and PGX, trying to get some other funky grading company slabs as well (PGX was CBGC or something before the name switch
If there’s any truth to CBCS having no policy in place preventing sending work items to personal emails, and then not actually having a policy on what is a trade secret and how to properly protect that information, not only is that a huge flag on how this company protects sensitive information, but this case is over.
There are times I actually feel awful for selling graded books to hobbyists for the inflated prices they often command.
But then I remember I’m not responsible for anyone’s competencies and am just capitalizing on the scam.
And then I feel ok again knowing I’m not buying the scam, but just selling it.
Just hoping it doesn’t completely fall apart as I have alot of money invested in the scam and competencies.
@Bill you shouldn’t feel awful about selling slabs. There are some real value that graded books provide to the hobby. If graded slabs didn’t exist the market would be flooded with restored books that are sold as legit to unsuspecting buyers.
Many people just prefer the comfort and the aesthetic that the slabs provide. People all collect in their own way and how they like to. I don’t collect exclusives or variants but I understand that some people like to collect rare books and it makes them feel good about it.
This whole banagate has made me not send any books to get graded by cgc. I had a stack of books that I’ve been holding onto until they get this issue fixed. Been checking up on the cgc forum thread and find out it’s still happening.
So this week I decided to put up a NM raw copy of Hulk 340 for auction to see what happens. This was a book that was supposed to be sent in for grading but I wasn’t going to risk getting a banana bend with a color breaking tick.
I was surprised it sold at nearly the price of a graded 9.6 in a slab. Factor in the cost of grading and shipping costs there and back from Canada and I made out better than had I slabbed it without the anxiety. Makes me wonder if slabbing is even worth it now.
I, too, have not been submitting
It’s one thing for me to have my own personal beliefs that this entire grading thing is a scam. (my opinion)
But when I begin selling books that are literally damaged to uninformed buyers (and most CGC buyers are uninformed about what’s going on with banana books), then I draw a line. Selling damaged scam books I don’t want on my resume
Therefore, I do not submit anymore either until I am confident this thing is resolved. CGC won’t admit there is a problem; so they won’t tell the populace when it’s fixed. So I have to rely on the community for information on this topic.
Further, to your point, it doesn’t even seem to be worth submitting anymore. Raws are getting, in some cases, better sales for a book perceived to be a certain grade.
So now my new thing is sending to my presser and having him return the books to me for selling raw; instead of off to CGC. As long as the market stays down/nearly equivalent to raw, I wonder too if it’s worth it
