Are $50-$100 comics worth submitting for grading? 0

[Randall Dowling]

CGC doesn’t actually guarantee anything.  Not the grade, not the safety of the book during or after encapsulation, not restoration, not whether the case is archival for long term storage of books. Nothing.  It’s actually understandable to some degree when you consider the value of every single book ever graded cumulatively and then assess that as a potential financial liability.  Unfortunately, it preys on the belief of anyone that looks at the slab and assumes it means something to be graded by CGC.  
 

All it really means, is that right now, a majority of the market has assigned a given value for what people will pay for a given book in a given grade in a CGC slab.  That’s it and that’s all.

[William-James88]

On 2/27/2020 at 8:06 PM, Randall Dowling said:

CGC doesn’t actually guarantee anything.  

So then what does the G in CGC stand for?

[The Lions Den]

37 minutes ago, William-James88 said:

So then what does the G in CGC stand for?

The act of giving security?  

[postersandstuff]

On 2/26/2020 at 5:49 PM, theCapraAegagrus said:

The only guarantees in life are death and taxes. Just FYI.

Gordon : "There are two things you can count on in life , chief O'Hara"

chief : "Death and taxes , sir ?"

Gordon : "No , Batman and Robin !"

[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.

[Keys_Collector]

[Trifisherjoe]

Approx $80/comic, press, grade, insurance,shipping to and from. Not worth it($50-$100 comics). CGC your valuable, rare ones!

[Bird]

11 minutes ago, Trifisherjoe said:

Approx $80/comic, press, grade, insurance,shipping to and from. Not worth it($50-$100 comics). CGC your valuable, rare ones!

I pay to press, grade, & ship a modern for about $32-$34 (depending on how many books are being shipped per lot).

[joeypost]

It all depends what you have in the book. I have turned many a $1 book into a $75-$100 books. Factoring in  grading, pressing, shipping and consignment fees I can double my money on some books, and turn a profit on others. You do have to know what you are doing, or trust someone that does. 

 

[Trifisherjoe]

On 4/11/2020 at 10:35 AM, Bird said:

I pay to press, grade, & ship a modern for about $32-$34 (depending on how many books are being shipped per lot).

...modern, quick press, bulk shipping, limited insurance...$34 right.

[Bird]

21 minutes ago, Trifisherjoe said:

...modern, quick press, bulk shipping, limited insurance...$34 right.

modern fee $18, modern press $10, shipping is $14 to presser (so $1-$2 each book) who delivers books to cgc, $32 return shipping from cgc ($3 each)

18+10+2+3=33, with a little wiggle room each way with shipping

you might want to reconsider how you do it

and not a "quick press" either (my presser is right here on the thread too)

Edited April 13, 2020 by Bird

[Trifisherjoe]

1 hour ago, Bird said:

modern fee $18, modern press $10, shipping is $14 to presser (so $1-$2 each book) who delivers books to cgc, $32 return shipping from cgc ($3 each)

18+10+2+3=33, with a little wiggle room each way with shipping

you might want to reconsider how you do it

and not a "quick press" either (my presser is right here on the thread too)

 

Ok! Thank you!

Edited April 13, 2020 by Trifisherjoe

[James J Johnson]

 

On ‎2‎/‎26‎/‎2020 at 11:35 AM, BaronSamedi said:

Read the books and enjoy them

This      #1 answer