What to do when a slight grade bump can greatly change tier submission value?? 1 1

[William-James88]

I asked some people and they told me the best was to ask the community as a whole since it's tricky. The bit I always have a hard time to the point of anxiety with submitting (I only submitted 3 times to CGC and once was a simple signature event) is when an integer of grade can change the tier of the book. For instance, looking at the grades people estimate for this Captain marvel comic I posted (issue 51), this could be between 250-450, so between 2 tiers (value and standard). While grading is objective, it's hard not to fear that selecting the cheaper tier cements that this comic won't get the best possible grade. Plus I would like to have it pressed and I have no clue how much better it can be if pressed. Like a 9.0/9.2 golden age detective that if pressed might get to those fabled 9.4/9.6 grades that can fetch way more than what the price guide end at. So it's moments like these that I don't know what to do. How does one submit a book in those cases? 

 

[seanfingh]

Just use your best judgment, and be really honest. If you think it is Standard, use the Standard rate. If you honestly think it is Value, submit under Value. I have had 10-12 books that I submitted where the price differential was astronomical ($450 for a 9.6 $3-5k for a 9.8) and only once did I get bumped to the higher tier. When they bump you to the higher tier, it is almost always a real positive because you got the dream grade and the additional fee is a drop in the bucket.

[William-James88]

3 minutes ago, seanfingh said:

Just use your best judgment, and be really honest. If you think it is Standard, use the Standard rate. If you honestly think it is Value, submit under Value. I have had 10-12 books that I submitted where the price differential was astronomical ($450 for a 9.6 $3-5k for a 9.8) and only once did I get bumped to the higher tier. When they bump you to the higher tier, it is almost always a real positive because you got the dream grade and the additional fee is a drop in the bucket.

I see. So, applying your answer to the even when pressing is involved, just use the rate of what the book currently looks like (rather than what you hope it looks like after it's pressed) and if it comes out great and you get the bump, then they'll charge you the additional fee. That about right?

[seanfingh]

53 minutes ago, William-James88 said:

I see. So, applying your answer to the even when pressing is involved, just use the rate of what the book currently looks like (rather than what you hope it looks like after it's pressed) and if it comes out great and you get the bump, then they'll charge you the additional fee. That about right?

Yes. Just understand that if the book is 6.0 with a giant non color breaker that gets pressed out - it is probably more likely to get bumped. 

[William-James88]

24 minutes ago, seanfingh said:

Yes. Just understand that if the book is 6.0 with a giant non color breaker that gets pressed out - it is probably more likely to get bumped. 

That's the hope!

[seanfingh]

Best of luck, bud.

[revat]

Don't be disingenuous about it, but going with the lower/cheaper tier is fine if you're on the border.  You're literally not a professional grader, that's why you're sending it to them. 

[Yorick]

The tiers are SUPPOSED to be about insurance value only.  Graders are not supposed to know what tier you submit a book under (and in that way, would grade your book like any other).

[seanfingh]

14 hours ago, Yorick said:

The tiers are SUPPOSED to be about insurance value only. 

I don't know that I agree with this.  The tiering system is intended to compensate them more highly for more valuable books, certainly partially because it would be more expensive to replace them if they damaged them, but also because the stakes are higher for resto detection, the skill set is more highly developed for GA/SA etc. and simply because the end product is more valuable.  The guy fixing Patek Phillippe watches gets paid more than the guy swapping batteries on Casios.

[William-James88]

58 minutes ago, seanfingh said:

I don't know that I agree with this.  The tiering system is intended to compensate them more highly for more valuable books, certainly partially because it would be more expensive to replace them if they damaged them, but also because the stakes are higher for resto detection, the skill set is more highly developed for GA/SA etc. and simply because the end product is more valuable.  The guy fixing Patek Phillippe watches gets paid more than the guy swapping batteries on Casios.

But then in that case, shouldn't the tiering system be based only on the era rather than the worth? 

[seanfingh]

27 minutes ago, William-James88 said:

But then in that case, shouldn't the tiering system be based only on the era rather than the worth? 

Not as far as I am concerned - this is what I said "and simply because the end product is more valuable."

[William-James88]

20 minutes ago, Blarg said:

How would that work? Charge more to slab a GA book than an SA book just because it's older? Comic collectors are smarter than that.

It's not something I was suggesting, I was just trying to understand what was being discussed.

[revat]

29 minutes ago, William-James88 said:

51 minutes ago, Blarg said:

How would that work? Charge more to slab a GA book than an SA book just because it's older? Comic collectors are smarter than that.

It's not something I was suggesting, I was just trying to understand what was being discussed.

This is actually something I've always wondered about.  Shouldn't every book graded be treated with the same expert level of care and objectivity?  On the other hand, maybe an older or more valuable book should get looked at by maybe one more grader or the best best of the best graders? I don't know what the right answer is, it might be proprietary information that we can speculate on, or maybe it's explained somewhere. 

Either way, I think it's a reasonable question to ask. 

But my assumption was for the higher tier and cost was these factors:  Insurance, faster grading (not less time grading, but moving faster in the in the queue and administrative processing), an additional grade from a grader (but not necessarily a 'better' or more expert grader), also that it is flagged as a comic that might be used in some type of promotional materials later on.