skybolt

In the past, if I sent in 2 submissions at the same time and one came back with 80% of the books graded at 9.8 and 70% for the other, I'd be a little surprised at the variance. These days it's completely normal to get 80% on one submission and 10% on the other. It's like the Wild West.

My second CCS submission was just shipped with disappointing results. 9 - 9.8's, 9 - 9.6's, 4 - 9.4's' 2 - 9.2's, 1 - 9.0 and 1 - 6.0. No grader notes, including on the 6.0 copy. I will reserve judgment until I have the books in hand. Lately I've been having problems getting 9.8's on 80's Spectacular Spider-Man issues, since the copies I submitted all had miswraps.

I can't believe I finally received some pre February 2022 grades (18 - 9.8's, 6 - 9.6's & 1 - 9.4). No weird grader notes and no inexplicable 8.5 grades. These books were pressed by CCS. I had 3 more submissions go to G/E/I today.

slow modern.

3 of these 4 submissions just went into G/E/I.

I've heard the same thing from many Youtubers opening their CGC boxes as well. They all want to switch to Economy for pre 2000 books. The issue I see with this is that as soon as CGC sees the pendulum swing and a huge glut of books are now being switched to economy grading, I could easily see them transfer some of these new graders to that tier. In recent posts, it appears these new graders have now migrated to fast track modern books as well.

On average about 50% of books graded for each particular issue come back as 9.8 (this average is of course lower for black type covers). With these new graders that average is likely down to between 5 and 10%.

It's interesting that 4 out of the 5 submissions received by CCS on 6/25/2021 just went into SFG. My 4/11/21 submission is still missing in action.

Honestly, even when I get grader notes on some of these harshly graded submissions, some of them don't make any sense. I had a 90's Superman book receive an 8.5 grade with a "crushed spine" designation. I'm looking at the book and all I see is one very minor spine stress line that barely breaks color. Lately, I've also been receiving a bunch of 9.2's with light rippling to cover designations. Unfortunately, some of the 90's books were manufactured that way.

I wonder if some of these so called "new graders" have actually been grading raw books in the industry for a long time, and are now projecting their own personal pet peeves (like not liking misswrapped books) onto CGC. It's extremely important that CGC guidelines are followed by all graders, and not having someone projecting their own grading style onto these submissions.

Was the 9.8 a newer book? I've had similar submissions where only books from the past 10 years receive the 9.8 grade. Some newer CGC graders are hammering 1980's and 90's books if they don't have perfectly flat spines, have some overlapping of the cover at the spine, book is slightly miss-cut, book has some production type scratches for hard stock covers, cover corners are naturally overhanging, etc.

This is actually the best case scenario if you want your books graded by an experienced grader. The ones that fly through the G/E/I, QC, Shipped process are the ones that tend to be graded more harshly.

Whether intentional or not, it does appear that CGC tends to grade tighter during busier times vs. being more lenient when submissions are low. It could also be a case of grading the same issue fatigue. For example, if during a 2 week period a grader sees 3 high grade copies of Batman #500 during low submission times, they are more likely to grade all 3 as 9.8 vs. seeing 50 copies of the same book during high submission periods. What I mean is that if a grader receives 10 pristine copies of Batman #500 and grades them all as 9.8, they are less likely to give slightly less presentable copies the same grade, even if technically they are still 9.8's. It's sort of like a professor taking a step back and grading more harshly when 90% of the class is getting A's. The bi-product of this approach would also benefit CGC, since A.) buyers of these harshly graded books may decide to resubmit to CGC during slower times, B.) there aren't 100 9.8 copies of the same book hitting the market at the same time, which would suppress the value and result in less future submissions, and C.) when grading more leniently during slower periods, people are more likely to submit their books.

It's possible, but I've had a few instances where the designation (as noted above) has changed back and forth within 10 minutes.

Just got this batch back today. After really careful inspection of each book I would say CGC was fairly spot on with 20 out 25 books. Most of the 50/50 books came back with the lower 9.6 grade, but that's totally understandable. As far as the other 5 books are concerned, I would say that one of the 9.2's, the 1 9.4 and 2 of the 9.6's look like 9.8's to me. Since CGC got 20 of the 25 books right, I'll assume I missed something on the interior cover or something. Wish there were grader notes for at least the 9.2 book. It is interesting that I submitted 6 copies of Action Comics #687 (in various submissions), expecting 9.8's, and all of them came back between 9.2 and 9.6. Not sure what CGC is looking for with respect to this book. The only really confusing one was an 8.5 grade with "crushed spine" as the only grader's note. I'm looking at the spine and other then one very minor spine stress line, I don't see any crushed spines. Not sure what that even really means (these books were not pressed). As far as grader's notes are concerned, I wish CGC would provide them for books receiving 9.4 grades and lower if the defect is not noticeable to the naked eye. I honestly don't need grader's notes for the light spine stress lines designation for a 9.4 book if I can clearly see them with some lighting. The ones that look like 9.8's, but come back as 9.0's with no grader notes are the really frustrating ones.

I have another 5 CCS submissions that were received by CCS back on 6/25/21. I don't expect to have those pressed until at least September.

Same with my 4/11 received submission. Although our respective submissions were received prior to CGC announcing the price hike, my gut tells me they somehow got mixed up with the pile of submissions received in May last year. It could be months before they see the light of day.

Beautiful Newsstand Edition!

I honestly think this could be a bigger factor with high end key books in the $10K + range (or maybe even $50k + range). I've submitted plenty of books via CCS and haven't seen a grade difference one way or the other. That being said, I will say that some CCS pressers are better than others.

The staple pushed into the spine has knocked a couple of my books from 9.8 to 9.0. I just got back a modern submission today and again it went from G/E/I to Shipped in a matter of hours. 12 - 9.8's, 7 - 9.6, 1 - 9.4, 2 - 9.2's, 1 - 9.0 and 2 - 8.5's. Not horrible grades, but I was upset my Newsstand Uncanny X-Men #275 came back a 9.6. That book was flawless. I'll give an update once I have the books in hand.

Agreed. I think what bothers me the most is getting dinged for production type defects. If I sent in a book with a small spine stress line expecting a 9.6/9.8, and it comes back a 9.4, I can live with that. On the other hand, I don't think it's fair to get a 9.0 grade on a book like Batman #497 or Amazing Spider-Man #400 where the die cut cover creates an indentation within the inner cover. Even if you get this pressed out, it'll still revert back to its original form once the die cut cover presses up against the book again.

I would at least understand CGC's approach if they overgraded books during slower times and undergraded when they are flooded with submissions. At least this approach forces the market to adjust for that time period. However, when 2/3 of submissions are still being graded per past standards, it becomes a quality issue for CGC for the remaining 1/3. If they wanted to grade books harshly then it needs to be across the board and not just based on certain graders. Consistency is key.

I've had the same issue with X Force #1. I always get those pressed before grading.

My 3/7/22 received SMT just went into G/E/I. Here's hoping the books don't go into Grading/QC until early next week. If they switch to shipped in the next couple of hours I better brace myself for a bunch of 9.6/9.8 books graded as 8.5/9.0.

I hate to say this, but both of our submissions are likely buried under a mountain of other submissions, which were received before the price change last year. They could find them tomorrow or it could easily be another 4 to 5 months before they see the light of day.