I apologize if this has been asked before. But should all comics be pressed before they are submitted for submission? I have a stack of modern books which should grade well however I generally miss tiny flaws. So should all books be pressed before grading?
1 Like
Thats totally up to you as you are adding costs to both press and grade the book and your expected return. Some press because they want to maximize the grade they can receive from the book and if the book comes back a lower grade they dont want any regrets as to whether a press would have benefited the book. I believe cgc also does a 9.8 prescreen (if you send 50 books, i think 5 dollars a book to prescreen, i havent sent books in awhile) and theynwill only grade books that meet the pre-screen. Cgc also offers pressing but if I remember correctly is more expensive and not very extensive.
No all books donât need to be pressed before submitting. It takes a little while but you will learn to spot the type of defects that pressing can and cannot take out.
A ton of modern books I submit I do not press and they come back 9.8
Only if you think it can improve the condition. Pressing will correct bends and spine curl, but only if the bends donât involve âcreasesâ the break color.
The older the book, the more itâs been handled and likely benefit from a press.
Even modern books have a âwavinessâ to them that can count against the grade. Hold it up to a light and see how flat the cover lies?
Also, if you have a group of 10 books and you think 8 could benefit from a press, it may makes more economical sense to keep them Together and press all 10 rather than spilt up return shipments.
Pressing costs more, and will double the total turn around time to get then back. So consider those in the decision.
The good thing is that the risk of damage to the comic due to pressing is extremely low if you use a presser which is very experienced.
Donât give them to just anyone. Go with reliable pressers as recommended by others here or other trusted comic forums.
Also, if you just stick new moderns youâre picking up and put them in a snug longbox for a few months, most of the new âwavinessâ some may have will fix by just being sandwiched for a short time, then you send it off to get graded, saving you pressing fees I sayâŠ
A question that you need to answer yourself (different from everyone) is if a book doesnât come back a 9.8 are you going to crack it, press and resubmit leading to double grading costs?. As you are well aware there is a huge difference in price between 9.8 and 9.6 even though in some cases the difference may not be easily recognizable. Of course within each grade there are âstrong 9.8â and âweak 9.8â where depending on the mood of the grader the defect was overlooked.
It really depends on how the comic looks. Once youâve done it for a while you learn to spot pretty quickly if a comic will benefit from a press or not. I donât press every comic submitted, but in each batch of 25 I might press 3-4? And these are almost all universally new release modern books being submitted.
1 Like
A quick caveat, pressing does not guarantee a bump in the grade. You need to understand what can be pressed out.
I have a relatively good understanding of pressable defects, however my problem is I sometimes miss flaws when submitting books without a press. And given the difference between 9.8 and 9.6 is so much, I hear a lot of people get every book they submit pressed before grading.
Most charge $8 for a quick press for modern books. I am still on the fence. I have about 50 modern books i want to submit.
I press every book I send inâŠworth it to me. I hate dealing with âshould haves and what ifsâ. Worth the piece of mind and the presser I use I trust completely. For me, if the book is worth getting gradedâŠthan itâs worth the cost of getting it pressed as well. Too much left on the table these days with a grade difference on many books (at least the ones I grade to sell)
Seems new folks pressing are popping up everyday though. A good presser is worth the wait if need be. I just saw a beautiful Spidey 300 Newstand that was ruined by a bad presser yesterday.
1 Like
Try snd do some napkin math. How many sub 9.8 would you need to be made into 9.8 to cover the cost of pressing. If itâs a smallish - than probably worth it
The answer to your question is subjective to each individual.
Because Iâm a Canuck the shipping costs, to and from the US, are ridiculously expensive. Due to this, I have everything pressed before grading, just for my peace of mind about maximized grades. I donât want to be resubmitting any book.
2 Likes
I press almost anything I send in unless Iâm not too worried about the grade or it has issues that pressing wonât fix so I say, âScrew it,â and will take the lower grade.
thanks I am leaning towards pressing every book. too many times a book i thought was a 9.8 came back 9.4 because i missed something.
Hard to tell without seeing the books but from my experience most likely your 9.4s will not be 9.8s even with a press, maybe 9.6. Others here with more experience than myself and press books may be able to shed more light on this. I think pressing is great given the right defects. Just trying to set expectations that pressing may not be the cure all. Ive been doing this for over 25 years and still miss things 
I always miss something. I take what I expect the grade to be and subtract a point. Unless I press, then Iâm usually on the money?
1 Like
Should brand spanking new books be pressed when most of them look almost perfect as is?
@NickH Just honestly depends. All too often, I see brand new books sitting on shelves with issues that a pressing can handle. Most notably, the waviness of these very cheap covers/back covers because of the horrible paper that is used (pointing at Marvel moreso than others).
The waviness in a cover can absolutely lower the grade and this is always my biggest area of concern with newer books.
I am actually quite surprised how many new books are not immediate 9.8 candidates. Colour rubs, ticks, wavy paper and bends are pretty common in my experience.
I will usually press wavy books myself as itâs really easy and hard to mess up. Any other type of defect I pay to have pressed.