Baxter Building

This is a good topic. Sorry if I'm posting too late. I created a spreadsheet for every book I'm thinking about grading; focused on whether it's worth it if I plan to sell them. I compare what it appears I could get for the book raw based on ebay actual sales. Then I add up all the costs associated with submitting to CCG. Besides the cost of grading at levels: Modern, Value, etc., you also have to work in CGC's handling costs and shipping costs. Their shipping costs back will kill you. It's usually good to have several items of similar level graded together to help reduce these, although insurance and declared value play big parts. The total cost charges back for shipping/insurance always seem to be significantly higher than when I ship a book with Insurance. Anyway, then I take the amount I think I can get for the graded book (assuming I'm anywhere close to what they come back with) from ebay sales again, subtract all the CGC charges, and compare that to the expected raw price. If it's not significantly more, it's not worth the pain and effort. A big variable is what grade the book gets. I did several test submissions of 7 or eight books to CGC in the early days, and nearly always was only a half-grade off up or down, so I'm pretty confident in my grading. But lately it's changed. Once you get over 9.2 it gets extremely tricky, and the values wildly fluctuate. Lately I've seen already-graded books at cons with 9.6 / 9.8 grades that have flaws I can see that would have me grade it 9.2 or lower. Anyway, sorry for the long post. Just describing how I try to cope with the decision. If you're not slabbing to sell, the analysis is likely very different. Good luck.

Wow Joe, that is definitely scary. I did at least think to take pictures of my books sitting on the CGC table, then of the guy taking my books. I was really, really surprised at how casual and dismissive they were about my concerns as to what was happening with my books.

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this comment, but I hesitate to create a new stream as I've little experience here. I just dropped off my most expensive comics for grading at the CGC booth at the Motor City Comic Con. I had gone thru the online process to submit them. I was shocked at how they gave me nothing physical to confirm that they had my books in their possession. In fact, they acted very condescending about the whole thing, like I was silly to want something. They kept telling me not to worry, and explained their process behind the curtains. Anything can happen: books can get misplaced, something can get taken or just confused. It left me feeling very scared that I'd just left my prized books there with no verification from CGC that they had them.

Thank you all very much for the information. I have many CGC books, some I submitted myself years ago, and many bought from ebay in the time since. I have never seen this happen; I guess I've been lucky. I only have a couple of magazines slabbed, that may be why I haven't seen it. The four corners all seem very solid. And like someone else mentioned, I've never actually seen a case cracked open. I had problems with the seller, who sent it out many days late, and it could have been packed better. So I got paranoid a bit and likely magnified in my mind the flaws I could see. I would have sent pictures but it was hard to hold the camera and hold the case so the thin slit on the side was visible. Again, much appreciated.

Hi, First-time poster here. I'm wondering if a CGC book I bought on ebay could have been tampered with. I bought a magazine, Marvel Super Special #1 (KISS), and the edges of the case on the left and the right seem to be partially separated - very thin. if I try to pull them apart I can slightly. The corners of the case seem solidly sealed. I don't know how to open a case so I can't be sure whether they've somehow replaced the book with another copy. I've never seen this with a CGC case before, and I'm concerned that I've been cheated. The book was a 9.6 and I would grade it slightly less myself, but I'm always surprised by grades these days. I'm wondering whether I should return it. Sorry if this is the wrong place for this topic. I couldn't find an answer in the FAQs. Thanks.