MCS Grading and My Experiences 3 3

[ygogolak]

I understand that many people on here have time and time again stated how strict MCS consignment grading is. I have made it known before that when I received their own items, they did not live up to the standard of the consignment grading. They have responded on here and asked for some backup to my claims. Which, by that point was months / year(s) prior.

So, here is a recent purchase from their own stock of recent releases.

I ordered two copies of the same book, both of which were stated as NM. They do not assign a numerical grade to their own stock of Moderns.

 

COPY 1

Wavy cover (these are glossy cover, not the cheap paper Marvel uses) Picture is taken with comic still in the bag.

 

Spine stressing & Ink transfer / cover rub / soiling (book has a black advertisement on back)

 

Another picture of the book mangling.

 

Back - cover rub on staple, wavy, stressing

 

COPY 2

Cover rub / ink transfer / soiling

 

Corner tear

 

I can completely understand overlooking a minor flaw and misgrading. I myself have done this before. But it's pretty obvious that neither are NM and each have multiple flaws.

 

[MadGenius]

Yes, when you sell to them or consign raws through them they severely undergrade. That's fine, but they don't put their own stock through the same grading rigor. Big disconnect there.

[ygogolak]

5 minutes ago, MadGenius said:

Yes, when you sell to them or consign raws through them they severely undergrade. That's fine, but they don't put their own stock through the same grading rigor. Big disconnect there.

Not according to them. At least that was the response I received.

[Get Marwood & I]

I used to call this "New book, so I can't be bothered to grade it" syndrome.

By that, I meant that quite often a dealer / shop would pay extreme attention to older books when grading. I ordered an ASM #74 from Mycomicshop years back and it was graded a 7.0. When it arrived, it was an easy 8.5. I was delighted, and found I was always delighted when buying older books from them (the fact I can remember it shows how happy I was).

But quite often with new variants - and to be clear, I'm not singling out MCS here - books stated as NM rarely arrived as such when I ordered them. It's as if the seller has a mental block to grading the book in the same way they would a back issue book. "I've just received it from Diamond, so it must be NM". 

When I was collecting full pelt, and my LCS failed to get the variants, I'd order from the usual suspects, often via their eBay accounts. The amount of times my 'NM' book arrived with spine creases, dings and surface wear / dirt was ridiculous. 

It just seems to be one of those industry things. New books are NM by definition it seems. Maybe there are just too many of the pesky things to warrant close inspection.

But to be fair to MCS, the focus of the thread, I found their back issue grading and service to be exemplary.

 

[SuperZar]

I've had the exact same experiences with MCS myself.  Never could understand the high praises most people in this forum give them.  The irony is that my experiences with Mile High Comics has always been better - and they get mocked here all the time.   I should point out that orders have always been for 'NM' moderns.  It could very well be that MCS is better for the grades on older books as others have stated.

[lizards2]

9 minutes ago, SuperZar said:

I've had the exact same experiences with MCS myself.  Never could understand the high praises most people in this forum give them.  The irony is that my experiences with Mile High Comics has always been better - and they get mocked here all the time.   I should point out that orders have always been for 'NM' moderns.  It could very well be that MCS is better for the grades on older books as others have stated.

I've ordered some Bronze and Silver from Mile High lately, and have been happy with my purchases, enough so that I'm planning my next purchase.

[Get Marwood & I]

13 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

I've ordered some Bronze and Silver from Mile High lately, and have been happy with my purchases, enough so that I'm planning my next purchase.

Nothing wrong with Mile High. You just ignore the insanely priced books, and buy the reasonable books when the half price codeword sale kicks in. Which is usually every week! Great packaging,  and good grading on the whole. And Chuck clearly loves comics and promotes the nuances many dealers ignore. 

[lizards2]

1 hour ago, Marwood & I said:

1 hour ago, lizards2 said:

I've ordered some Bronze and Silver from Mile High lately, and have been happy with my purchases, enough so that I'm planning my next purchase.

Nothing wrong with Mile High. You just ignore the insanely priced books, and buy the reasonable books when the half price codeword sale kicks in. Which is usually every week! Great packaging,  and good grading on the whole. And Chuck clearly loves comics and promotes the nuances many dealers ignore. 

And their chief grader has a great smile!

Edited February 11, 2018 by lizards2
spelling

[Get Marwood & I]

1 minute ago, lizards2 said:

And there chief grader has a great smile!

You remembered! 

[lizards2]

Just now, Marwood & I said:

You remembered! 

even if I misspelled....., 

[Get Marwood & I]

1 minute ago, lizards2 said:

even if I misspelled....., 

Their there 

[newshane]

They don't rigorously grade items under a certain value (I think it's $20). If they did, then they'd have to hire an entire crew to do nothing but grade all day. Most new comics are advertised as NM. They have a return policy.

I've always had great luck on the more expensive raw items, which are typically given a numerical grade. It's my experience that the books are usually under-graded. I've bought several 9.6s that came back 9.8.

...and they are one of the most successful comic shops in the world. They must be doing something right.

[newshane]

5 hours ago, SuperZar said:

The irony is that my experiences with Mile High Comics has always been better - and they get mocked here all the time. 

Your experience is the exact opposite of mine.

[the blob]

24 minutes ago, newshane said:

Your experience is the exact opposite of mine.

I have been fine with my mile high purchases. Only a few have been advertised as nm, but they looked fine. Finding stuff at a decent price is the challenge.

[newshane]

38 minutes ago, the blob said:

Finding stuff at a decent price is the challenge.

...and it shouldn't be.

[lizards2]

6 minutes ago, newshane said:

44 minutes ago, the blob said:

Finding stuff at a decent price is the challenge.

...and it shouldn't be.

They have some great prices on eBay for some of the krap I collect.  I did get a 60's Charlton pence copy of Flying Nurses that was graded FN and it was closer to VFN.

[FSF]

24 minutes ago, newshane said:

...and it shouldn't be.

Isn't this pretty much the opposite of what you're saying in the other MCS thread.  Maybe not literally and exactly, but in spirit?

[darkstar]

Retailers don't spend any meaningful time assessing grades on modern books. Water is wet.

[newshane]

4 minutes ago, FSF said:

Isn't this pretty much the opposite of what you're saying in the other MCS thread.  Maybe not literally and exactly, but in spirit?

Not exactly. Mile High purposefully inflates prices and plays around with "deal" code words released in their emails.

No awkward codes or shopping time frames required by MCS.

I've also personally shopped at the Mile High Denver location. I've posted about my experiences previously. If water dripping from the ceiling and caught by plastic buckets doesn't turn you off from shopping there, perhaps the clueless employees (EC? What are you talking about?) will.

But the prices for Mile High can change from hour to hour. And I've seen them overprice modern raws by up to $40. So if that's your bag, go for it.

The issue your raised with MCS has nothing to do with the prices they assign. You are complaining about the price of consignment items, which they have absolutely nothing to do with.

Kind of an apples and oranges thing here.

[FSF]

Just now, newshane said:

Not exactly. Mile High purposefully inflates prices and plays around with "deal" code words released in their emails.

No awkward codes or shopping time frames required by MCS.

I've also personally shopped at the Mile High Denver location. I've posted about my experiences previously. If water dripping from the ceiling and caught by plastic buckets doesn't turn you off from shopping there, perhaps the clueless employees (EC? What are you talking about?) will.

But the prices for Mile High can change from hour to hour. And I've seen them overprice modern raws by up to $40. So if that's your bag, go for it.

The issue your raised with MCS has nothing to do with the prices they assign. You are complaining about the price of consignment items, which they have absolutely nothing to do with.

Kind of an apples and oranges thing here.

But if you're stating that "it shouldn't be" difficult to find decent prices, it doesn't matter whether MCS sets the prices or not.  THEY are the one's allowing the infrastructure for it to exist.  The issue is the same.  The party to blame, and how much to assess can perhaps be debated, but it's still a fact that it IS difficult finding decently priced material on MCS, which goes to the heart of your comment hear.