How much does it cost to send Silver Age Comics to CGC? 0

[billbrown7080]

could someone here explain to me exactly how much it will cost to send Silver Age comics to CGC to have them graded?

someone just told me it would cost 1000.00 to have 3 comics graded, but most of what I've read says to 20 to 60 dollars per comic...

 

to be specific, If I wanted to send Tales Of Suspense #52, Tales To Astonish #27 and Daredevil #1 to CGC to have them "slabbed" and Graded....what are the costs I'm looking at?

 

PS, I'm new to the boards and have zero experience selling....

 

thank you so much for any replies.

[revat]

Here is the link to the page of prices for CGC submission

https://www.cgccomics.com/submit/services-fees/

 

These are major keys, SO depending on the grade, they might be need to be standard, express, or walkthrough, each of which has different prices.  Additionally, the estimated value (based on grade) of your comics will result in different insurance rates for shipping in both directions.  It depends largely on the grade. 

Additionally, there might be a membership discount dependent on your level of membership.

So if I were you, I'd use GPA analysis to estimate your value based on grade, and match with the CGC price chart, and/or contact CGC directly with other specific questions.

[Silver_Couch_Surfer]

[billbrown7080]

3 hours ago, revat said:

Here is the link to the page of prices for CGC submission

https://www.cgccomics.com/submit/services-fees/

 

These are major keys, SO depending on the grade, they might be need to be standard, express, or walkthrough, each of which has different prices.  Additionally, the estimated value (based on grade) of your comics will result in different insurance rates for shipping in both directions.  It depends largely on the grade. 

Additionally, there might be a membership discount dependent on your level of membership.

So if I were you, I'd use GPA analysis to estimate your value based on grade, and match with the CGC price chart, and/or contact CGC directly with other specific questions.

thank you this was incredibly helpful but kinda soul crushing...

 

It will cost WAY too much to get the Bulk of my KEYS graded...

 

I've probably got at least 50 or 60 Books that would need the "express rate" and then Hundreds that would "Standard" rates...

it does say how much the rates are if the Comib is over 3,000 in value??? do you know

 

simply put, just out of my range

I'd have to sell 1 or 2 of my Major Keys get 5000 to 10,000 dollars and then spend the next few years spending them off.

 

CGC has stumbled on to a GOLDMINE!

Edited December 7, 2018 by billbrown7080

[comicdonna]

The reward usually out weighs  the cost.  Many prefer to purchase a slabbed key.  Much easier to sell, and get more money.

[Dr. Love]

Major keys have to be slabbed - a few for funeral expenses, as you've said is all you're interested in doing, is no big deal

if you're going to keep the rest, as you've said you want to, no need to slab

if not, just hand them over to an auction house like ComicLink and they'll front you the slabbing costs.  Didn't the marketing director cover that already?

[revat]

You don’t have to slab everything.  The keys, you probably should.  But for comics you’re considering for standard, you can do your own research and see if you’ll get better ROI by leaving it raw.  As always, the more work you put in and the more knowledge and experience you acquire the better your chances of maximizing your profit.  But your time also has value (how much is only known to you).

OR you can consider contacting an auction house and just let them do all the work, but then they keep more of the revenues....but still might be worth it.  Everyone’s internal math is different.  Good luck

[billbrown7080]

On 12/6/2018 at 8:53 PM, Dr. Love said:

if not, just hand them over to an auction house like ComicLink and they'll front you the slabbing costs.  Didn't the marketing director cover that already?

yes but I'd have to sell my entire collection, so I dont consider that an option....

 

I actually liked everything the MD said and if I ever consider selling my collection I'll certainly consider them...

[Bomber-Bob]

34 minutes ago, billbrown7080 said:

yes but I'd have to sell my entire collection, so I dont consider that an option....

I actually liked everything the MD said and if I ever consider selling my collection I'll certainly consider them...

I'm unclear with your end game, are you slabbing for your Personal Collection(implies keeping them) OR the intention is to sell ? If you are keeping your collection I would only slab the keys, leave the rest raw. If you are selling, the point about sending them to Comiclink is a good suggestion. 

[billbrown7080]

1 hour ago, Bomber-Bob said:

I'm unclear with your end game, are you slabbing for your Personal Collection(implies keeping them) OR the intention is to sell ? If you are keeping your collection I would only slab the keys, leave the rest raw. If you are selling, the point about sending them to Comiclink is a good suggestion.  

My father passed away 2 monday's ago...

I wanted to sell a few of my keys to help with funeral costs.

but I am probably the least experienced/knowledgeable collector there is when it comes to selling comics as I inherited my collection and have never really bought comics before.

I knew dealers dont pay full value for comics, so I made a thread on here 2 weeks ago asking whats the best way to find collectors who are buying for their personal collections because I thought those were they type of people I needed to find to sell me Keys for the right value.

I've since learned by the responses, what I'm looking for is almost impossible.

 I am not going to sell my collection, I only want to sell a few Keys to help pay for funeral costs, but I've learned even that is going to be difficult because my entire collection is raw, It seems to be the universal consensus here, that If I want to get fair value for even a few of My KEYS they need to be sent off to be slabbed which pretty much doesnt help me for what I need.

So the end game is...Now I'm just learning and asking questions.

I dont think I'm going to be able to sell anything to help with the funeral because it wont be fast enough.

I know I'm not selling My collection.now or anytime in the future(hopefully I have them when I die an old man)

So now I think I'm going to get past the funeral, and for the next few years sent out maybe 40 of 50 of my biggest Keys to CGC a few at a time.

first I now know the importance of comics being slabbed, I'd to get some of my Keys Slabbed now just for my own personal curiosity, I have my comics graded and have a very good idea what they are worth, but as posters has pointed out, Once I get them slabbed I will actual have a concrete value of the books.

and second I think it would be a good idea to get some of my main Keys slabbed because If I ever run into another situation like this again where I need to sell a few Keys for emergency money....I'll be set to sell a few keys fast and for the most possible value.

all in all I've learned a ton in the past 2 weeks on this forum....I know my collection inside and out, but thats about all I know, I just have no knowledge of how the comic book selling and buying industry works because I've never had to do it...

 

 

 

[revat]

I would say if you need money QUICKLY for the funeral expenses, just run some ebay auctions RIGHT NOW for some of the keys.  You will of course leave some money on the table in some cases, but putting in the time and money to grade (and to discern which are worth grading) has value too.  If you value the money NOW more, then just sell them.  MILLIONS of people sell comics on ebay everyday, and they do just fine.

Alternatively, you could sell here on the boards TODAY with less fees.  There's a 'sales' subforum.

 

and just in case you haven't thought about it yet... Just because a given comic sells for MORE (on average) slabbed, doesn't necessarily mean its worth it automatically to slab it.

For example, lets say you have a comic currently that you could probably sell for $300.  But you do your price research, and find out if you slab it you could probably sell for $450, IF it hits your estimated grade (you are admittedly not an expert at grading).  Seems like a no brainer right?  Slab it.

Well... right now you have $0 invested, and a $350 return on investment.  If you slab it, counting all the shipping, insurance, grading, it will probably be a $60-$80 investment for a $150 marginal revenue, so essentially just a two-to-one return, which isn't bad... but you have the risk of getting a higher or lower grade, and a 4 month wait while your money is tied up.  And while your ultimate return will be higher, so will the fees you pay on the back end when selling.  And this isn't even considering the option of pressing.  And this also assumes you have a good venue on which to sell from and get a good price when selling.

And since you're dealing with a lot of high dollar books, taxes might become an issue as well.  You might want to consider talking to your estate lawyer.  But honestly, if you have a bunch of comics worth $500 and up, its probably worth just going to an auction house - comiclink, comic connect, heritage, or mycomicshop and just going through them.  They save you the trouble of deciding what to slab/press and how/when/where to sell. 

Hope this helps, sorry for your loss.

[billbrown7080]

6 hours ago, Tony Squawk said:

Does this mean your familiar with CGC's standards and you graded them yourself?

Not necessarily CGC as I've never had a comic graded by them....

 

but when I inherited the collection and went on my 3 years journey putting it together and going through it....when the time came to start grading, I studied my off, many different sites has different grading standards, but I found as many as I could and studied them...

I've graded every comic I own...I believe I'm at least in the ball park....since I never intended on selling any comics....what I did was grade them as Their absolute best and worst.

On every comic I have, I have it graded as "Between"......... "Between 4.0 and 5.0" and Then the value as "Between $___ and $___"

for example I posted pictures of my Amazing Spider-Man 50 in the "can you spare a grade" forums....

when I graded in years ago, I thought it was a 4.5 to 5.0....but On My lists and graded as "Between 4.0 and 5.0" and Then the value as "Between $___ and $___"

I figured the absolute worst possible grade it could be was a 4.0....and about the best possible grade it could be was a 5.0.....so for my own personally collection, I was happy knowing it was between a 4,0 and 5,0 and the value was between whatever a 4.0 is and a 5.0 is

since its been posted on the can you spare a grade forum....the universally consensus is 4,0,4,5 and 5.0......no 5.5's or 3.5's have been posted...

so basically I feel confident in my grading that I at least know pretty close to what the grades and value is of my books...

obviously my way of grading wouldnt work if I tried to sell them as there is a massive difference between 4.0 and 5.0....

but for me it worked as a way not to over or under grade and get for sure range of value of what my books are worth...

I hope you understand what I'm saying

[billbrown7080]

7 hours ago, revat said:

I

And since you're dealing with a lot of high dollar books, taxes might become an issue as well.  You might want to consider talking to your estate lawyer.  But honestly, if you have a bunch of comics worth $500 and up, its probably worth just going to an auction house - comiclink, comic connect, heritage, or mycomicshop and just going through them.  They save you the trouble of deciding what to slab/press and how/when/where to sell. 

Hope this helps, sorry for your loss.

thanks ton of great advice...

 

could you elaborate more on the Taxes?

how could taxes could into effect in selling my comics?

[billbrown7080]

7 hours ago, Tony Squawk said:

I don't understand this part. Why would you have to sell your entire collection?

well in the PM I got from The Marketing Director....It seemed they were interested in handling my entire collection/all of My keys...

They said If I really had the stuff I said, they could send someone out to my location ...

I highly doubt they would be interested or doing everything they claimed for 1 or 2 KEYS....

It seems to be the reason they are interested is because they know if they handled and sold all my KEYS they could make good money and it would be worth their while, and I Highly doubt their interested in sending someone out to my location if I'm only wanting to sell 1 or 2 Keys for 2000 or 3000 Thousands dollars which would net them 200 to 300 dollars....

I could be wrong here, I would think they are interested in dealing with the Bulk of My collection or KEYS, where they could sell them for 60 to 70 thousand + and Make 10% of that...

 

 

[Bird]

If you inherited the collection you also have to be concerned about color touch and restoration these things were common back in the day before books are being slapped and if you get a purple label value drops dramatically in many cases

[billbrown7080]

2 hours ago, Bird said:

If you inherited the collection you also have to be concerned about color touch and restoration these things were common back in the day before books are being slapped and if you get a purple label value drops dramatically in many cases

I agree and Have some with color touch and restoration....

its probably less than 1% of my total collection....but for example in my Amazing Spider-Man set...it goes from 1 to 670 and I think I found 9 copies in there that had restoration...Most were later issues over 100....but the big 1 was My #1 had/has amateur restoration...

 

I dont want to say I've found every single issue in my collection thats been restored, But I clearly knew what to look for and did...I did have some that I found  and have them specifically marked and noted...

 

Most of the comics I found that were restored were amateur color touch....

Mainly it looked like some one took markers and colored in comics that had minor color breaks on the spine ....

I got an ASM 41 that Is literally Beautiful, Had it graded as a 8.5....but then noticed it had 2 tiny color breaks on the spine , where someone took a brown marker and touched it up....It KILLED Me when I noticed it....have no clue how much it hurts the value or what to grade it, but I got it marked as restored...

 

thats how the majority of the comics that I've found restored have been

Edited December 12, 2018 by billbrown7080

[revat]

7 hours ago, billbrown7080 said:

thanks ton of great advice...

 

could you elaborate more on the Taxes?

how could taxes could into effect in selling my comics?

First, a disclaimer:  you should probably contact a real tax professional, and should definitely fact check any tax or legal advice given by internet strangers.

 

1.  Sales tax - depending on the state you or your chosen consignment/auction house are selling from, there might be sales tax which might need to collect or report or both or neither.  Even though they probably shouldn’t, a lot of people don’t bother with reporting/collecting/paying sales tax on small books.  With bigger books on public internet sales that’s a lot harder.  Something to consider when doing your research.

2.  Income tax - in theory, any time you sell something for profit you should report the income on your return and pay the associated tax. Again for smaller items many people ignore this aspect, but for larger items this becomes very difficult, and most companies will actually report the sales to the IRS.  There are ways to mitigate or navigate the tax, depending on whether you treat comics as a business, a hobby, or just extra random income.

3.  Related to the point about income taxes, there still might be a way to have the ESTATE sell the comics and pay the related taxes, then you get the cash tax free, assuming the total inheritance isn’t more than $5.5M.  You would probably need to contact the trustee and/ or a lawyer to figure out the details on that.

 

but as I said these might be dependent on your state and other factors, and might be worth discussing with a lawyer or CPA or other professional 

[Dr. Love]

8 hours ago, revat said:

First, a disclaimer:  you should probably contact a real tax professional, and should definitely fact check any tax or legal advice given by internet strangers.

2.  Income tax - in theory, any time you sell something for profit you should report the income on your return and pay the associated tax. Again for smaller items many people ignore this aspect, but for larger items this becomes very difficult, and most companies will actually report the sales to the IRS.  There are ways to mitigate or navigate the tax, depending on whether you treat comics as a business, a hobby, or just extra random income.

3.  Related to the point about income taxes, there still might be a way to have the ESTATE sell the comics and pay the related taxes, then you get the cash tax free, assuming the total inheritance isn’t more than $5.5M.  You would probably need to contact the trustee and/ or a lawyer to figure out the details on that.

 

but as I said these might be dependent on your state and other factors, and might be worth discussing with a lawyer or CPA or other professional 

great advice - consult a pro.  Especially on the distinction between moving the books through the estate, or as the beneficiary.

in my layman understanding, unlike the sale of personal assets, which can be approached as just extra random income, there are different rules that apply to the sale of collectibles.  When you sell a collectible such as comics, there are only two flavors:  business or hobby.

"IRS Summertime Tax Tip 2014-15, August 6, 2014

Millions of people enjoy hobbies that are also a source of income. Some examples include stamp and coin collecting, craft making, and horsemanship.

You must report on your tax return the income you earn from a hobby. The rules for how you report the income and expenses depend on whether the activity is a hobby or a business."