Is Today's Pressing Trend Giving People a False Sense of Grading Standards? 2 2

[William-James88]

We've all seen posts of someone not in the know find some "old" comics in an attic and think the comics are in amazing shape since they aren't falling apart. The books turn out to be midgrade and not worth as much as was hoped for. 

While I haven't been on the boards that long, I see this same type of discussion but when speaking of pressing, where people will ignore some defects due to a book looking good after a press. Pressing will make the book look much better than before and it will fall flat, but any colour breaking crease will still be there and a 7.0 with that kind of crease will still be a 7.0 regardless, no matter how good the book may look after a press. And yet we have seen posts where people will object such a low grade based on the book looking otherwise "perfect". It seems pressing gives a false sense of grading standards since the resulting book will fall flat like a mint book and yet is far from a mint book. The remaining marks of a book having been worn don't speak as much as an evident bend but it will be graded the same. 

I just wanted to write this to see if I was the only one thinking that or noticing this, and I am wondering if this is more frequent now than before.

Cheers!

[MR SigS]

I see it too. It's all about instant gratification these days.

[speedcake]

Those people will just have to learn from experience and realize they were wrong. The worst downside I can see is that less experienced collectors, flippers, whatevers might be willing to pay more for a raw comic than they should if they think "a press will fix that subscription crease right up!"

 

[speedcake]

A recent post on the CGC facebook page is a solid illustration of the issue, I think. Guy buys an X-Men #94 that is clearly a 7.5 or MAYBE a Very Fine at best due to color breaking creases and other general wear, but convinced himself it could be a 9.2 with a nice press and clean. I just hope he didn't pay too, too much more than he should have. Even though it is still a really nice copy of that book, and I don't know what his motivation was for buying it (did he really want the book? Is he a wannabe dealer flipper and thought he was getting a steal on a NM- being sold as a FN/VF or VF-? Does he just spend too much time on facebook in general among the "press it all and let god sort it out!" crowd?)

 

[William-James88]

44 minutes ago, speedcake said:

The worst downside I can see is that less experienced collectors, flippers, whatevers might be willing to pay more for a raw comic than they should if they think "a press will fix that subscription crease right up!"

 

I also see less than experienced flippers stating the comic is a higher grade than it is due to what it looks like pressed and fans who don't know any better agreeing and paying mint prices on mid grade books. I've seen that exaxt example on the boards this past week.

[Buzzetta]

I think this has been an old issue well before pressing. I remember going to a flea market here on Long Island with some guy believing that his loose Star Wars figures commanded the prices of MOC specimens because he 'saw the guide'. 

People don't look at the grade in the guide, they look at the highest price in the guide. 

[bobotski]

If you've seen some facebook groups (yeah, I troll there sometimes), mostly every post, pics unseen, is responded to with an automatic "don't forget to press".

[theCapraAegagrus]

Yes.

[valiantman]

18 hours ago, William-James88 said:

I also see less than experienced flippers stating the comic is a higher grade than it is due to what it looks like pressed and fans who don't know any better agreeing and paying mint prices on mid grade books. I've seen that exaxt example on the boards this past week.

15 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

I think this has been an old issue well before pressing. I remember going to a flea market here on Long Island with some guy believing that his loose Star Wars figures commanded the prices of MOC specimens because he 'saw the guide'. 

People don't look at the grade in the guide, they look at the highest price in the guide. 

Exactly - I was going to say that if you take the word "pressing" out of the discussion, "stating the comic is a higher grade than it is ... and fans who don't know any better agreeing and paying mint prices on mid grade books" is a perfect description of both Ebay and my local comic shop prior to the creation of CGC (and also today for raw books).

 

[William-James88]

2 hours ago, valiantman said:

Exactly - I was going to say that if you take the word "pressing" out of the discussion, "stating the comic is a higher grade than it is ... and fans who don't know any better agreeing and paying mint prices on mid grade books" is a perfect description of both Ebay and my local comic shop prior to the creation of CGC (and also today for raw books).

 

I agree, i mentionned something to that effect in my post. But I wonder if pressing is taking that to the next level and turning people who may have been informed about grading into the cases you describe regarding ebay and your LCS.

[THE_BEYONDER]

What’s super annoying is sellers stating “could benefit from a press”, when the wear isn’t NCB.

[valiantman]

10 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

What’s super annoying is sellers stating “could benefit from a press”, when the wear isn’t NCB.

"Could benefit from a press" is just the new version of "CGC worthy".  It doesn't say anything about the comic, but it does suggest that someone other than the seller should put even more money into the book.  They might as well sell a tire and say "could benefit from three other tires and an engine".

[William-James88]

28 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

What’s super annoying is sellers stating “could benefit from a press”, when the wear isn’t NCB.

That is annoying. To me it's the same as people selling "high grade" books for the price of a slabbed 9.4, 9.6, 9.8 copy respectively. Sure, it could very well be those grades, but if you want me to pay a slabbed premium, your book better be slabbed. 

[BlowUpTheMoon]

18 hours ago, bobotski said:

If you've seen some Facebook groups (yeah, I troll there sometimes), mostly every post, pics unseen, is responded to with an automatic "don't forget to press".

It's not only "don't forget to press" it, it's "press and clean" it.  They're usually talking about books that were printed yesterday.  As if those books need to be cleaned. 

[badback83]

1 hour ago, BlowUpTheMoon said:

They're usually talking about books that were printed yesterday.  As if those books need to be cleaned. 

This. 

[William-James88]

7 minutes ago, DocHoppus182 said:

This. 

CGC plays with this too. I highly doubt all the SS books sent in need to be cleaned along with a press and yet there is no option for just a press. We have to pay the full 20$ which includes a cleaning for these modern books that don't need it.

[THE_BEYONDER]

 I wonder what % of submitters that press have no clue what pressing actually does.

[William-James88]

Just now, THE_BEYONDER said:

 I wonder what % of submitters that press have no clue what pressing actually does.

Probably many. Remember those videos that new speculators look at? "If you're not getting your books pressed, you are leaving money on the table" actual quote from the video with no mention of what pressing does.

 

[Joosh]

Knowledge is power. Everyone competent enough to utilize Facebook comic groups has access to research all about pressing and cleaning before spending hundreds on comics and pressing and grading.

my Venom 3 3rd print was not pressed. I simply looked at and determined it didn’t need a press or clean. Magically it still graded a 9.8 as I expected.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Joosh
Added pic

[god503]

Pressing is just a tool.   And when used the right way the benefits out weigh the costs.   Why knock an optional service?  For many people its worth it.   For example, I took a gamble on 2 books this year that I assumed never got pressed because I took the assumption that many people weren't pressing until cgc combined with ccs.  These  books were slabbed years ago xmen 101 9.6 and gsxm 1 9.4.   Saw some things on them that I knew pressing would remove.  So sent them in for claremont sig and got them pressed.   NOW?  XMEN 101 is a 9.8 and GSXM 1 is a 9.6 both with sigs.

Not bad for a 40 dollar investment....

Other books that were already 9.8 I had them pressed regardless just to protect from a down grade from handling by CGC staff.  

Again just a tool...