Why did I get a purple label? 6 6

[Chaz G.]

16 minutes ago, TappanZee said:

Where do these comments come from?

Those are your Grader Notes. You'll find those on your Submissions page. Click the Submission #, and there should be a link to your Grader Notes for that book.

[TappanZee]

1 minute ago, Chazgee said:

Those are your Grader Notes. You'll find those on your Submissions page. Click the Submission #, and there should be a link to your Grader Notes for that book.

Thanks. Can anyone access them? Are all graders notes public? Or is there another way someone could see them?

[Chaz G.]

Just now, TappanZee said:

Thanks. Can anyone access them? Are all graders notes public? Or is there another way someone could see them?

Only the submitter has free access to their notes. Everyone else has to pay $5 to see them. Books in the NM range often don't get notes.

[shadroch]

1 hour ago, vheflin said:

I agree, especially in the late 80s, a time before slabs, 9.8s, and purple labels.

I would take that in a dark area and scan the cover with a flashlight and some magnification and look for anything that could possibly be CT.

Color touch was performed on many books in this era. It wasn't unusual to see dealers at shows color touching books in the down time.

While I doubt a distributor would color these, it would not surprise me if a store did.

[TappanZee]

1 minute ago, Chazgee said:

Only the submitter has free access to their notes. Everyone else has to pay $5 to see them. Books in the NM range often don't get notes.

I guess I should be flattered someone is interested enough in my case to pay to read my notes.

[TappanZee]

2 minutes ago, shadroch said:

Color touch was performed on many books in this era. It wasn't unusual to see dealers at shows color touching books in the down time.

While I doubt a distributor would color these, it would not surprise me if a store did.

I can only again refer to my experience at Big Apple Comics, where I worked and where I bought this comic. New books would arrive Thursday afternoon in sealed boxes, which we would lug in from a van. We’d open the boxes and put all that week’s books on a big table in the back. We’d take the customers folders (literally manila folders) with their pull lists, and go around the table filling the folders. We’d do that for a hundred or so customers, some of whom were  waiting in the front of the store for us to fill their folder.

There was no time to touch up books even if we considered it, which would have been inconceivable to me. As I mentioned, new books were sold “as is.” No one was paying attention to that level of detail about their condition. Outside of an obvious tear or folded cover, we sold every book that arrived from the distributor.

I have no reason to believe this comic was any different. No one cared enough to treat any individual comic as anything special when it was sold.

[sledgehammer]

1 hour ago, Sensei Ryan said:

While you may be convinced it couldn't have happened at the LCS, I am not (but if you're that confident in that not being possible, it had to make it to your LCS somehow and 30 years ago not many of us would have been thinking to look for CT on the newsstands).

Maybe the book had sat there for a while, and somebody put a big finger print on it.

It's completely possible that some one hit that spot with a black pencil to make it more palatable.

Probably figured it was better than going in the garbage can.

Every copy of ASM over #275 that I bought was bagged without being read.

The copies that were VF were due to fingerprints.

[shadroch]

Spider-Man 300 was a big hit. Like many stores, I under-ordered it. I would not be surprised if Big Apple did as well. With each order you get from Diamond, there are always a few books that don't make the grade. When a book sells out, and none are available for reorder, it's possible books that wouldn't make it end up getting sold. A worker might grab one from a subscription box thinking to replace it when the reorder comes in. Then no reorder arrives and they have to scramble to replace the copy.

[divad]

6 hours ago, TappanZee said:

Let me state up front I am new to all of this. I have been collecting comics in a casual way for nearly 40 years and never had a comic professionally graded. But when I saw the recent prices for Amazing Spider-Man 300, I realized i might have something of value. I bought my copy off the rack in 1988 and it's been in a poly bag in a long box pretty much since then. It's never been out of my possession. But it's in good shape so I thought I might sell a book I didn't have much emotional investment in and use the proceeds to purchase Lee / Kirby Fantastic Four books, which is where my collecting interest lies these days

I went through all the steps—joined CGC, ordered a packing box, shipped it, etc— and today received it back: graded 8.0 with a purple label.The label states: "Small amounts of color touch on cover."

That is clearly an error. As stated above, this comic has never been restored. I bought it as a kid, read it once, and put it away until last month. Either there was a handling issue and the wrong book was graded and mailed to me or they simply saw something that wasn't there. Either way it's deeply frustrating and certainly does not give me any confidence about CGC, its grading process, or its so-called quality control. While I am new to this, I know enough about the comic market that a purple label will affect its price and apparently my decision to trust CGC with my comic means they have reduced its value, maybe significantly.

My question for this forum: What are my options? Can I appeal the grade? Get my money back? Get it regraded? Like I said, I am new to all this and hopefully it can be easily resolved.

(if it matters, I posted images of the comic prior to shipping it another forum on this site "ASM 300 Heating Up", so there is some record of its condition prior to grading)

Thanks in advance.

 

Sorry  . . . You played the game and lost 

[Jeffro.]

2 hours ago, Sensei Ryan said:

How do you know someone who shipped it to your LCS didn't do it?  It was what, 30 years ago...lots of things could explain why the CT is present.  To blame CGC as the end-all is not logical, to me, is my point in this.  While you may be convinced it couldn't have happened at the LCS, I am not (but if you're that confident in that not being possible, it had to make it to your LCS somehow and 30 years ago not many of us would have been thinking to look for CT on the newsstands).

So it's not logical to assume that CGC is at fault but it is logical to assume that something happened, as you say, before the book was shipped from the distributer to his LCS? Not following that at all. 

I have no idea what's going on with this book but that's a real stretch. Why would someone color touch a brand new comic before it was shipped to the LCS? Given CGC's QC gaffs lately, I'd say it's not out of the question to wonder if this could be a QC mistake

[stock_rotation]

2 hours ago, Sensei Ryan said:

To blame CGC as the end-all is not logical, to me, is my point in this.

Yeah, totally illogical for this guy to think to think that CGC made a grading mistake. Makes much more sense that the book he personally bought off the stands in 1988 was color-touched by someone in the distribution line before he bought it.

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/470534-disgusted-with-cgc-at-the-moment/

[Sensei Ryan]

4 hours ago, Jeffro. said:

So it's not logical to assume that CGC is at fault but it is logical to assume that something happened, as you say, before the book was shipped from the distributer to his LCS? Not following that at all. 

I have no idea what's going on with this book but that's a real stretch. Why would someone color touch a brand new comic before it was shipped to the LCS? Given CGC's QC gaffs lately, I'd say it's not out of the question to wonder if this could be a QC mistake

If you'd taken the time to read my prior posts I said that it could be CGC's fault, but I don't think it is.  Just as an FYI 

Also, I never said I believed that the LCS didn't color touch this - that's the OP's claim, not mine. 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Sensei Ryan

[Sensei Ryan]

3 hours ago, stock_rotation said:

Yeah, totally illogical for this guy to think to think that CGC made a grading mistake. Makes much more sense that the book he personally bought off the stands in 1988 was color-touched by someone in the distribution line before he bought it.

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/470534-disgusted-with-cgc-at-the-moment/

Go back and re-read what you just quoted me as saying.  To blame them as the 'end-all' with NO other explanation, to me, is illogical.  Not saying they are infallible at all. I even stated that I've had my own issues with QC from CGC but when someone bags/boards a book and doesn't look at it for 30+ years I'm inclined to think something happened 30+ years ago or sometime in-between. 

Also, do you blanketly believe what everyone on here states as the absolute truth and that there is no way that the OP's could miss something on their end?  If so, good luck with your future posts!  

Edited December 28, 2020 by Sensei Ryan

[Randall Dowling]

With the number of these things getting graded by CGC every month (and I'm talking ASM 300s), I wouldn't be shocked at all if it got switched with another submission.  

The whole LCS color touched a new comic theory seems farfetched to me.  I managed a LCS around this time and I never heard of someone doing that.  Not saying it didn't happen, I just don't think it was that common.  Otherwise, there would be a small epidemic of color touched books from this era which I haven't seen much of.  Granted of all the graded copies, about 10% are restored of some type.  But I attribute most of that to people messing around after it shot up in price. 

[Pat Thomas]

I can't believe the extent some posters will go here to defend CGC when they make a mistake. This particular one is going to cost the owner of the book at least 1/2 the amount he could sell it for with a blue label, or even raw. I can't fathom any comic shop in 1988, on new comic day, going through and color touching the brand new comics before putting them out. This guy didn't buy this comic as a back issue. He bought it for $1.50 along with the other new comics that he also paid cover price for. He says he read it and put it up. What is so hard to believe about that? For many of us, comics take a backseat during some stages of our lives, and they do nothing but sit there and age. I personally had a 25 year hiatus, but had gotten rid of all my valuable ones. The few I still had were exactly the same in 2010 as they were in 1985 when i put them in a drawer. I can definitely see this in a collection of thousands. Maybe I'm naive, but I don't see the point of making a long post expressing disappointment in CGC for a mistake they made if he had actually done color touch on the book. I see somebody who is baffled by the accusation of color touch, and rightfully angry. And some of the excuses people have given are so far fetched.

OP, I'm sorry this happened to you. About the only way of going about this is to call them, explain your situation politely, and ask them to consider regrading the book with an open mind regarding whether a mistake might have been made. You're at their mercy one way or another. If they refuse to fix it, and you know it's wrong, take the book out and sell it raw. They aren't the end all be all people make them out to be.

[TappanZee]

4 hours ago, Pat Thomas said:

. If they refuse to fix it, and you know it's wrong, take the book out and sell it raw. They aren't the end all be all people make them out to be.

Hi, I do think this is ultimately my last recourse if CGC won't make it right. This whole thing is just maddening - I thought I was doing the smart thing by getting this comic graded and it's now appearing to be waste of time, money, and mental energy.  

[TappanZee]

Quick update: I reached out to CGC this morning and they sent me a form for resubmission that includes a pre-paid shipping label. So far they are handling this in an appropriate and professional manner, which is definitely encouraging. I will update this post if and when this is resolved.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement from everyone here. I appreciate it. 

[The Lions Den]

19 hours ago, Topnotchman said:

The one book order was sent through the express tier.  That rules out two books with switched labels during encapsulation.   The notes are

 

 

light bends to cover
	light creasing to cover
	light spine stress lines to cover
	small amount of color touch on top & left bottom back cover

 

 

I am sorry your initial experience with CGC was a bummer. 

Here are a couple of observations: If this book went through the Express tier, that usually means at least two experienced graders saw the book (finalizers, not pre-graders). That also explains why you received it back so quickly. And black is a very common color for color touch, so graders are always on the lookout for it. 

I would suggest you invest in a jeweler's loupe. They're relatively inexpensive and can give you a much better view of your books---you'll see things you never noticed before and it will make spotting color touch much easier.

You could have CGC look at it again, but your chances of reversing this are pretty slim. And it may surprise you how often the graders at CGC have heard this exact same story...

[The Lions Den]

6 hours ago, Pat Thomas said:

I can't believe the extent some posters will go here to defend CGC when they make a mistake. This particular one is going to cost the owner of the book at least 1/2 the amount he could sell it for with a blue label, or even raw. I can't fathom any comic shop in 1988, on new comic day, going through and color touching the brand new comics before putting them out. This guy didn't buy this comic as a back issue. He bought it for $1.50 along with the other new comics that he also paid cover price for. He says he read it and put it up. What is so hard to believe about that? For many of us, comics take a backseat during some stages of our lives, and they do nothing but sit there and age. I personally had a 25 year hiatus, but had gotten rid of all my valuable ones. The few I still had were exactly the same in 2010 as they were in 1985 when i put them in a drawer. I can definitely see this in a collection of thousands. Maybe I'm naive, but I don't see the point of making a long post expressing disappointment in CGC for a mistake they made if he had actually done color touch on the book. I see somebody who is baffled by the accusation of color touch, and rightfully angry. And some of the excuses people have given are so far fetched.

OP, I'm sorry this happened to you. About the only way of going about this is to call them, explain your situation politely, and ask them to consider regrading the book with an open mind regarding whether a mistake might have been made. You're at their mercy one way or another. If they refuse to fix it, and you know it's wrong, take the book out and sell it raw. They aren't the end all be all people make them out to be.

It's not that CGC can't make mistakes---they can and do. But if we look at the details surrounding this particular case, I'd be extremely surprised if they reversed this decision. Believe it or not, cases like this happen all the time at CGC. People think there's no way their book could be restored, but sadly, it often is. 

My suggestion would be for folks to buy a good quality jeweler's loupe. It really is amazing what you'll find...  

[The Lions Den]

On 12/28/2020 at 9:45 AM, TappanZee said:

Hi, I do think this is ultimately my last recourse if CGC won't make it right. This whole thing is just maddening - I thought I was doing the smart thing by getting this comic graded and it's now appearing to be waste of time, money, and mental energy.  

It is possible that CGC made a mistake. Please let us know how it turns out, and good luck...

Edited January 2, 2021 by The Lions Den