WATA Game Grading - My first submission with my now completed review 0

[Domo Arigato]

I've never submitted games to be graded before and decided to send a couple in to WATA Games for grading.  I will be logging the progress in this thread and will be giving my opinion in a review of their service as it progresses.

I'm not sure if I made the correct choice in which company to chose, as it appears WATA is currently going through some growing pains.  Currently, they have shut down their two slowest submission tiers and are only offering their faster "Speed Run" for $55 which is supposed to ship in five days and their "Warp Zone" for $75 which is supposed to ship in one day.  These are prices for the two sealed PS1 games I submitted and could be different for other games based on their value. 

I submitted my two games under their "Speed Run" tier (5 days turn around).  I mailed the games out on 11/22/2019 and tracking shows they were delivered to WATA on 11/25/2019.  My WATA online account still just shows my order status as "Awaiting" as of today.  I will probably email or call them on Monday, just to verify that they did receive my games.  I've seen people complaining online that they haven't been able to get anyone on the phone or a reply to email......but I hope that isn't the case when I try.

Here is what their current submission tier and pricing looked like when I submitted my games (I didn't go with any of the extra services listed on the right):

 

 

According to their website, on December 1st, they will be opening up all of their grading tiers again with new increased pricing and longer turn around times for them.  The first picture below is what their full original pricing structure and turn around times looked like.......the second picture below is what their new pricing structure and turn around times will switch to as of 12/01/2019.  As you can see, things are going to be.....different. 

Their slowest tier (Select) was $25 with a 45 day turn around.....it will now be $35 with a 180 day turn around.  So it's going from a month and a half to six months. 

The other tiers will be changing as well.....although not quite as drastically for the turn around times.

 

 

 

We'll see how this goes, so.........to be continued.....

Edited October 31, 2020 by Domo Arigato

[aardvark88]

On 11/30/2019 at 2:05 PM, Domo Arigato said:

Here is what their current submission tier and pricing looked like when I submitted my games (I didn't go with any of the extra services listed on the right):

 

 

According to their website, on December 1st,

Their slowest tier (Select) was $25 with a 45 day turn around.....it will now be $35 with a 180 day turn around.  So it's going from a month and a half to six months. 

The other tiers will be changing as well.....although not quite as drastically for the turn around times.

 

 

 

We'll see how this goes, so.........to be continued.....

At least WATA appears to be  honest in posting expected actual turn around times that a collector is paying for. For me, CGC turn times seems to be 6 to 8 months depending if one is asking for a pro press too.

[Domo Arigato]

1 hour ago, aardvark88 said:

At least WATA appears to be  honest in posting expected actual turn around times that a collector is paying for. 

Well.....we're going to find out soon enough as this progresses and I update the thread. 

The only reason I spent this much ($110 for grading two games plus shipping and insurance both ways) is because I expect these to get back to me quickly.  If they don't, I will be updating this thread with that information and will be talking with WATA about it. 

On the flip side.....if I get them back in a timely manner, I will post positive reviews about the service and, most likely, their product.  I've not held one of their cases in hand yet, but from what I've seen of them online, they look really nice. 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2019 by Domo Arigato

[jason4]

How'd it go? I was considering sending in 3 of my complete in box games but the prices are crazy. 90 dollars per game for the somewhat faster turnaround plus any addons and shipping ins. Tax, I dont know if it's worth it for 150.00 type games. Seems worth it only if you have 500$ plus games sealed. 

Edited May 8, 2020 by jason4

[chell]

I just submitted my first order, took about 1 month exactly for SpeedRun.  

High dollar sealed games is my main reason to get graded right now. But if you want to preserve a game and get a lower level of service it can make sense since the cases alone can run $20+.

[GeneticNinja]

There was a tour by the Last Gamer on youtube where he said a museum guy mentioned that protective cases aren't the best idea for video games. Perhaps he meant the really close cases though. I was going to look into myself. I'm still far from crazy about the whole cased video game cardboard box unless it's something really rare.

Edited May 14, 2020 by GeneticNinja

[chell]

They can be detrimental as some of the plastic can cause harm, I believe. However, when you have games that are worth thousands, it's nice to have a hard plastic shell to protect them. I've just started putting protective measures on mine due mainly to the recent increase in values and every little scratch can detract from that.  I wish games were a relatively cheap, niche collectible again...

Yeah, there are definitely mixed feelings in the game community about grading and even sealed games.  

[Domo Arigato]

On 5/8/2020 at 8:59 AM, jason4 said:

How'd it go? I was considering sending in 3 of my complete in box games but the prices are crazy. 90 dollars per game for the somewhat faster turnaround plus any addons and shipping ins. Tax, I dont know if it's worth it for 150.00 type games. Seems worth it only if you have 500$ plus games sealed. 

Sorry I didn't get back to this earlier.  To be honest.......it was a bit frustrating and I think I got a bit discouraged.....which is probably at least part of the reason I haven't come back to update this thread yet.  I still think WATA is a good company with a good product, but my experience didn't really meet up to my expectations.

There are definitely some good things I liked about the WATA product/service and there are some things that could definitely be improved upon.  I'll work on doing a full review about my experience and get it posted in here.

And yeah.....their prices definitely took a jump late last year.  That's why I rushed to get a couple of games sent to them so I could give them a try before the price increases went into effect.  Also, if your games are sealed and valued in the $150 range, you are limited to only three available pricing tiers to submit them under.

1) SELECT - 180 day turnaround time for $35 each.

2) TURBO - 30 day turnaround time for $50 each.

3) SPEED-RUN -  Not available (10 day turnaround but only available to games valued over $500 at a cost of $75 each).

4) WARP-ZONE - Same day turnaround for $135 each.

Then, as you mentioned, you'd still need to figure in any additional add-ons you might want plus shipping and insurance costs.  Prices are higher for Complete In Box (CIB) and opened games.......I imagine because they have to do more work to verify and inspect everything in them.

 

[Domo Arigato]

18 hours ago, GeneticNinja said:

There was a tour by the Last Gamer on youtube where he said a museum guy mentioned that protective cases aren't the best idea for video games. Perhaps he meant the really close cases though. I was going to look into myself. I'm still far from crazy about the whole cased video game cardboard box unless it's something really rare.

 

5 hours ago, chell said:

They can be detrimental as some of the plastic can cause harm, I believe. However, when you have games that are worth thousands, it's nice to have a hard plastic shell to protect them. I've just started putting protective measures on mine due mainly to the recent increase in values and every little scratch can detract from that.  I wish games were a relatively cheap, niche collectible again...

 

I'll get into this a bit more when I get my full review up, but at least according to the WATA website, their cases are archival and come with UV-protection built in.

From a personal observation stand point after having them in hand, I can verify that the material their cases are made out of is thick.  And I'm not just talking sort of thick.....I'm talking THICK. 

No joke......I honestly think I could lay one of these on the floor and stand on one foot on top of it and do no damage to the case or the game inside of it......but I'm not going to try it.  The durability of their case is one of the things I was impressed with.  On the other hand, there was another aspect relating to the case/encapsulation that I had/have an issue with.....which I'll get into more when I post my full review.

 

[GeneticNinja]

Looking forward to that review.

If this sealed thing continues though, you could see anything vintage with nostalgic feelings being sealed and graded. I wonder how many people have old unopened cereal boxes from back in the day when they came with extra toys? There were all sorts of odd flavors I remember trying. I would have cereal while watching Saturday Morning Cartoons.

[BishopT]

Bump...

 

Just picked up a sealed Tomb Raider Collectors Edition set containing Tomb Raider 1, 2, and 3 for $25. It’s in excellent shape and I see that the last two sales on eBay for sealed copies have fetched $150 (this one still had a price tag on it, and the plastic is worn in places) and $299 (this one did not have a sticker and was in comparable shape to mine), so I’m thinking a high grade WADA might do well graded?

I’m totally new to this sealed games... game, so I don’t know if this is a good candidate or not.

 

[godzilla43]

On 8/7/2020 at 2:04 AM, BishopT said:

Bump...

 

Just picked up a sealed Tomb Raider Collectors Edition set containing Tomb Raider 1, 2, and 3 for $25. It’s in excellent shape and I see that the last two sales on eBay for sealed copies have fetched $150 (this one still had a price tag on it, and the plastic is worn in places) and $299 (this one did not have a sticker and was in comparable shape to mine), so I’m thinking a high grade WADA might do well graded?

I’m totally new to this sealed games... game, so I don’t know if this is a good candidate or not.

I don't think it is a good candidate for grading. The games that I have seen graded and which have been sold in Heritage etc. for big bucks are typically Nintendo NES games. Also the games have been mainly early variants of popular titles like Super Mario, Zelda, Puchout.. Also the NES and SNES games have that flimsy box so finding a mint game is kinda like finding a mint comic book.

I was kinda shocked to find out that the Tomb Raider collection goes for 100-200$. Only answer I can think of is that there has to be a niche group of collectors who collect Tomb Raider stuff and that is one of those uncommon items that couple collectors bid against each other. Pretty sure it is not any kinda a grail for some Playstation 1 collectors. 

If I would grade a Playstation 1 game then maybe game like sealed Castlevania Symphony Of The Night or Suidoken 2. Playstation 1 for US and Europe was all about the 3d games so those 2d games are more rare and also have stood the test of time.  Those early 3d games look dated on todays standards and also the value can drop if a HD remake version arrives like with Crash Bandicoot games or Shenmue games (Dreamcast).

[Domo Arigato]

Ok.....time to update this thread and finish out my review. 

Before I do, I'd first like to apologize to several board members for taking so long to get this completed.  

@GeneticNinja sent me a private message last July saying that he was interested in the review of my WATA grading experience and asking if I might be completing it.  I promised him that I would be finishing it shortly and then failed to do so.  My fault and no excuses.  I simply failed to get it done, so I would like to apologize to him for not getting this completed in a timely manner. 

I would also like to apologize to the others who participated in this thread and might have been waiting for my review as well.... @aardvark88 @jason4 @chell @BishopT and @godzilla43

 

Now.....here is the timeline of my submission and my experience when I submitted two sealed PS1 games to WATA last November for grading.  For the timeline portion of this review, I'm not really going to offer any opinions.  I'm simply going to give a timeline of what happened.  I'll follow this with my opinions and then pictures of the two games will be posted at the end.

In November of 2019, I was thinking about submitting some games to WATA for grading and I noticed on their website that they were going to be increasing their prices and turnaround times soon, so I figured it was a good time to give them a try before this happened.

11/22/2019

Placed my order online with WATA to get two sealed PS1 games graded on their Speed Run tier (5 day turnaround at the time) and mailed them out.  Pricing was in a bit of flux at the time because some tiers were closed so they could get caught up on their backlog.  I paid $55 each for grading......had no idea at all what they were worth, so just declared their value at $498.......which brought return shipping and insurance back to me to $32.38.  So, not taking into account my shipping/insurance costs to get the games to WATA....my total grading/shipping/insurance fees came to a total of $142.38 for my two games.

11/25/2019

Tracking showed the games arrived at WATA but the status on their website still showed as "waiting".

12/2/2019

Sent an email to WATA stating the status on their website is still showing as "waiting" and asking if they could verify receipt of my games and provide an estimated turnaround time for them.  Did not receive a response back.

12/5/2019

Status for my order on their website was updated to "scanned".  I sent another email mentioning I noticed the status had changed and asking if I might be able to get an estimate on turnaround time for my games (since I paid for 5 day turnaround and it had been 10 days since my games arrived there). 

12/6/2019

Received a very nice email from WATA with an apology for their delayed response and letting me know they are a bit behind but will get my games pushed along for me.

12/9/2019

Received an email with shipping and tracking information.

12/11/2019

On the morning of 12/11 at around 11am (two days after I received tracking information), I noticed that there had been no movement with FedEx on my package, so I suspected that it was still at the WATA facility.  I sent an email to WATA mentioning that I had not seen any movement on my shipment.  I did not get a response, but later that afternoon at around 5pm, FedEx tracking showed that they picked up the package at WATA.

12/13/2019

Package arrived to me.

12/18/2019

Received a reply to my 12/11 email apologizing for the shipping delay, letting me know that my package should have arrived by now, and hoping that all is ok.  (I thought this was a nice touch as I did have a small concern and was going to be contacting them anyway).  I sent a reply email to WATA letting them know I did receive my two graded games back and did have a small issue with one of them.  There was some fairly significant scratches and scuff marks that appeared to be on the inner well (not the hard outer casing) on the front of one of the games.  I attached some pictures showing this and asked if they could fix it.  I did not receive a reply back, and since I was leaving for the holidays, I decided to drop the issue for the time being.

1/7/2020

Received a reply email from WATA apologizing that the last message I sent got overlooked.  They told me they would re-blister the game for me for free and said they would send a pre-paid shipping label to me tomorrow.

1/10/2020

Sent an email to WATA letting them know I hadn't received the shipping label yet.  Did not receive a reply.

1/15/2020

Sent another email letting them know I still hadn't received the shipping label yet.  Did not receive a reply.

1/23/2020

Sent an email again letting them know I still had not received the shipping label yet.  Received a reply back apologizing for the delay in getting back to me and included a pre-paid shipping label to I could send the game back in to get re-holdered.  Mailed the game back to WATA to get this done.

2/7/2020

Received the re-holdered game back from WATA.  The scuffing/scratching issue was mostly gone, but I did notice a very small white fiber or tiny hair was now in the case.  It's barely noticeable, so I just decided to let it go and I could always send it in for another re-holder if I decided to.

 

Now....after all of this....what's my opinion of WATA game grading?

I like them.  Keep in mind that this was one single experience from one single person and it was almost a year ago.  Yes, there was some hiccups along the way and, as with any company, there is always room for improvement.  But I do like their product.  The increases in pricing and turn-around times are a bit of a concern....but according to their website, the most recent increases are because their product costs have increased due to the pandemic.  And, to be fair, their pricing is not out of line when comparing it to VGA's pricing.  Plus, the finished product.......their case and label.......are fantastic.  According to the WATA website, their cases are archival and have UV-protection built in.  The games present well in the case and the case itself is VERY strong and sturdy.  I don't think I've ever seen a case for a collectible that's more sturdy.  As I mentioned previously, I think a 200 pound person could probably stand on the case and not damage it or the product inside....but I'm not going to try it.

What did I submit?

Good question.  I'll reveal that information next year.

Just kidding.

I've always played video games, but didn't start collecting any sealed games until the mid 2000's.  Back in 1996, my roommate bought a Playstation 1 and randomly picked a game for it.  We had never heard of the game before, but it looked interesting.  So, we decided to see what this Tomb Raider game was like......and we played the snot out of that game.  At the time, it was groundbreaking and easily became my favorite game of all time.  As Tomb Raider II, Tomb Raider III, etc. came out, we snatched those up to play as well.

Fast forward to about 2007.  I decided to start keeping an eye out on eBay for a sealed copy of the first Tomb Raider game.  One eventually did get listed and I immediately opened up a line of communication with the seller.  We negotiated back and forth a bit and eventually settled on a price we were both comfortable with.

Over the next couple of years, I ended up getting sealed copies of Tomb Raider II, Tomb Raider III, Tomb Raider Revelation (4) and Tomb Raider Chronicles (5).

I'd always thought about getting them graded/encapsulated....and figured I'd send them to VGA at some point to get that done.....even though, as a comic collector, I thought the VGA grading scale was weird.  Then WATA came along.  I liked the look of their holder, and their grading scale was just like CGC's, which made much more sense to me.  So, I thought it was time to give game grading a try.

Here are the two sealed games I submitted:

        

Here is what I got back:

        

After having posted all of that, if anybody has any questions, please feel free to post them and I'll do my best to answer.

And if you've made it this far, thanks for reading it all. 

 

Edited August 29, 2021 by Domo Arigato

[Domo Arigato]

On 8/10/2020 at 3:23 PM, godzilla43 said:

I don't think it is a good candidate for grading. The games that I have seen graded and which have been sold in Heritage etc. for big bucks are typically Nintendo NES games. Also the games have been mainly early variants of popular titles like Super Mario, Zelda, Puchout.. Also the NES and SNES games have that flimsy box so finding a mint game is kinda like finding a mint comic book.

I was kinda shocked to find out that the Tomb Raider collection goes for 100-200$. Only answer I can think of is that there has to be a niche group of collectors who collect Tomb Raider stuff and that is one of those uncommon items that couple collectors bid against each other. Pretty sure it is not any kinda a grail for some Playstation 1 collectors. 

If I would grade a Playstation 1 game then maybe game like sealed Castlevania Symphony Of The Night or Suidoken 2. Playstation 1 for US and Europe was all about the 3d games so those 2d games are more rare and also have stood the test of time.  Those early 3d games look dated on todays standards and also the value can drop if a HD remake version arrives like with Crash Bandicoot games or Shenmue games (Dreamcast).

While it's true that Nintendo was popular and has a very strong collectors market.....Sony has sold a lot of Playstations (including the all-time record holder Playstation 2).....so it and many other systems have a large collectors market as well. 

One thing to keep in mind is that people really aren't paying these prices and collecting these games because of their graphics or to play them .....they're collecting them for nostalgia and/or investment.  Many people that played these games in their youth are making serious money now, and they're willing to part with it to get some of those games back in nice graded condition.  Even high grade sealed copies of some Atari 2600 games are bringing in solid money.

I do agree that the Tomb Raider Collection probably isn't going to command huge sums from the collectors market.  However, it wouldn't surprise me if a sealed high grade slabbed copy hit the $300-$500 mark or more.....just based on raw sealed copies selling in the $100-$200 range.  Tomb Raider games were a huge hit when they first came out.  So far they've released 12 main title games (not counting mobile, etc.) since 1996 and the franchise is still going strong today. 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Domo Arigato

[GeneticNinja]

Thanks for the review. You reminded that I need to get back into Tomb Raider. That first game is classic. I love that Egyptian stage with the Sphinx secret. I didn't like the later games that much. Part 2 was ok but I only played it through once. I don't think I played part 3. I know a few later ones were really bad.

 

I do have the massive two set Art of Tomb Raider books from Dreams and Vision Press.

 

I'll probably get back into it soon. I saw Weta teasing a new classic Lara statue from the original game.

 

 

[Jo Seph]

Some crazy prices for a few sealed WATA games in HA yesterday.

Mario Bros NES Sealed - $660K

Mike Tyson Punchout NES - $102K

Mega Man NES - $144K

Tetris NES - $36K

Pokemon Crystal GBC - $90K

Pokemon Emerald GBA - $55k