I Don't Feel Bad for Scummy Flippers: Change My Mind 0

[D1118]

Flippers are the ones causing the backlogs and the price increases.

They get upset because some kid wants his favorite Pikachu art graded with subgrades, even though the card's worth $0.50. But they don't consider that the kid, ya know, actually just wants to keep the card. The ones who actually just collect their graded cards are the ones suffering the most.

So, no, I don't really feel bad that the price increases are hurting flippers' bottom line. They call actual hobbyists' cards junk and act as though you're in their way and that their priorities are more important than yours.

[DB Cards]

Not sure why you are gatekeeping, anyone is allowed in this hobby. Complaining about TATs and price increases is going to happen no matter what company you are. If you go to Starbucks and the line is out the door and you see the price has went up, that’s something you might complain about no?

Now I do still think that it could be framed as better constructive criticism, rather than outright anger. There’s nothing wrong with saying a company didn’t meet your personal expectations, but there is something wrong with hating on them for just running their business.

[geraldfordfan69]

1 hour ago, Dom Fonce said:

Flippers are the ones causing the backlogs and the price increases.

They get upset because some kid wants his favorite Pikachu art graded with subgrades, even though the card's worth $0.50. But they don't consider that the kid, ya know, actually just wants to keep the card. The ones who actually just collect their graded cards are the ones suffering the most.

So, no, I don't really feel bad that the price increases are hurting flippers' bottom line. They call actual hobbyists' cards junk and act as though you're in their way and that their priorities are more important than yours.

Im confused at who this imaginary kid is since I dont know any sane children who want graded commons. Are you just butthurt that bulk pricing is going up lol?

The whole point of grading is to have a 3rd party give a professional opinion about a card, which is mostly only relevant when it comes to reselling expensive stuff since anyone can claim anything but having a company with experienced people give a grade/opinion, it gives the card's condition legitimacy. .

There really isnt a point to grading if your just going to sit on a card forever, especially a cheap one that is mass produced and can be bought for 10 cents on the internet. You can go buy all sorts of plastic and put it away in a safe. Or you can go complain on the internet if thats how you want to spend your life. That is your choice as well.

 

Edited January 31, 2021 by mattyzeepgam

[PokemanDude90]

Can we not turn this board into Efour2.0 where grown men word-vomit sanctimonious, passive aggressive, gatekeeping nonsense? I mean seriously... what did all the self-righteous elitists even talk about before evil flippers realized how cool and rewarding the entire Pokemon TCG is? 

Buy UltraPro One Touch cases if you want to protect your card for your personal collection. End of argument.

 

 

[Yeahiwasder4dat]

1 hour ago, PokemanDude90 said:

Can we not turn this board into Efour2.0 where grown men word-vomit sanctimonious, passive aggressive, gatekeeping nonsense? I mean seriously... what did all the self-righteous elitists even talk about before evil flippers realized how cool and rewarding the entire Pokemon TCG is? 

Buy UltraPro One Touch cases if you want to protect your card for your personal collection. End of argument.

 

 

Every LCS in existence is essentially a flipper. Buy low, sell high. Don't have anything against. Don't think price hike has to do with flipping so much as people going for services that don't monetarily make sense and clogging the system as a whole? What they're doing makes sense to me. Trying to get people to submit through the appropriate tier based on card value.

 

*Wrong quote, meant to hit OPs.

Edited January 31, 2021 by Yeahiwasder4dat

[geraldfordfan69]

4 hours ago, PokemanDude90 said:

Can we not turn this board into Efour2.0 where grown men word-vomit sanctimonious, passive aggressive, gatekeeping nonsense? I mean seriously... what did all the self-righteous elitists even talk about before evil flippers realized how cool and rewarding the entire Pokemon TCG is? 

Buy UltraPro One Touch cases if you want to protect your card for your personal collection. End of argument.

 

 

I dunno if this even gatekeeping since nobody is going to stop grading just because one person with some stupid ideas has an internet connection and is being disingenuous.

The real reason for their post is that they are probably butthurt that bulk pricing is going up and want to blame someone for it. Most people dont really care that things are going up a buck or two. Most of CGC's customers dont even post on here. There is like 1-2 people who have a problem with it and cry like its Armageddon. I feel bad that these people have to wake up every day knowing that they are wasting their lives thinking about stupid stuff like that instead of taking control of their lives and worrying about real problems.

[theCapraAegagrus]

I won't change your mind, because I agree.

[D1118]

On 1/30/2021 at 11:56 PM, mattyzeepgam said:

Im confused at who this imaginary kid is since I dont know any sane children who want graded commons. Are you just butthurt that bulk pricing is going up lol?

The whole point of grading is to have a 3rd party give a professional opinion about a card, which is mostly only relevant when it comes to reselling expensive stuff since anyone can claim anything but having a company with experienced people give a grade/opinion, it gives the card's condition legitimacy. .

There really isnt a point to grading if your just going to sit on a card forever, especially a cheap one that is mass produced and can be bought for 10 cents on the internet. You can go buy all sorts of plastic and put it away in a safe. Or you can go complain on the internet if thats how you want to spend your life. That is your choice as well.

 

You can collect graded cards, fam. Nobody needs to justify their "point" for liking and collecting something.

The kid in a basement is a hypothetical scenario, but it might surprise you how many people, including parents and their children, open cards and get them graded as a hobby.

Also, you comment quite a lot for someone ragging on others for wasting time complaining on the internet.

[D1118]

On 1/31/2021 at 8:51 AM, Yeahiwasder4dat said:

Every LCS in existence is essentially a flipper. Buy low, sell high. Don't have anything against. Don't think price hike has to do with flipping so much as people going for services that don't monetarily make sense and clogging the system as a whole? What they're doing makes sense to me. Trying to get people to submit through the appropriate tier based on card value.

 

*Wrong quote, meant to hit OPs.

I don't inherently have an issue with flippers. I am a singles flipper on Ebay. I've simply seen people posting in the forums blaming hobbyists for sending in cheaper cards to get graded, as if hobbyists are in their way and need to get out of their way. Increased TATs are the flippers own faults. All I'm saying is that the hobbyists should be to blame.

[Yeahiwasder4dat]

18 minutes ago, Dom Fonce said:

I don't inherently have an issue with flippers. I am a singles flipper on Ebay. I've simply seen people posting in the forums blaming hobbyists for sending in cheaper cards to get graded, as if hobbyists are in their way and need to get out of their way. Increased TATs are the flippers own faults. All I'm saying is that the hobbyists should be to blame.

I flip and collect a lot as well but I've run across multiple others on ebay that have graded .50 commons with a bin of like $50. It's something that I'd be surprised if they ever sold. It's not like 50-100 cards but in the thousands.

I grade my base set holos, but I wouldn't grade all of my base set commons. Some things just don't make sense to grade imo. Spending $10 to grade a card worth <$1. I just slap them in a binder.

Edited February 15, 2021 by Yeahiwasder4dat

[geraldfordfan69]

23 minutes ago, Dom Fonce said:

The reason for my post is because flippers in forums were sh*tting on people who weren't sending in Base Set Charizards and Black Lotuses to get graded, as if someone sending in cheaper cards were in their way.

First off, its not called flipping. Its called being a reseller. The TCG business model involves resellers since the companies themselves do not sell directly. People need to stop with these backwards labels since they make no sense and seem like a way to look down upon what someone does to make money. Its like people using the world "scalper" in a negative matter. Like, who cares how people make money? Its a legal honest way of doing it. They arent breaking laws or hurting people, so who cares. These people need to stop treating resellers like they are sex traffickers' or drug lords or someone whos actually a terrible human being. I tell people outside this world all the time that I sell Pokemon for a living and they think its great. They dont go on rants about flippers or scalpers since most regular people dont really care.

Second, its just makes no sense to send in cards under a certain dollar amount. I dont care if its for your collection, its not worth putting a slab. Anyone is free to do whatever they want since its a free country (at least where I live), but at the same time you cant sit and complain about TATs. Cant have your cake and eat it.

[Holku]

I've sent in over 200 cards since December to be graded.  10% of them were my son's cards.  Baltoy, skitty, etc.  Cards that aren't worth anything to anyone but him.  Very sentimental, and even though many have bent corners, even bent in half, he says they were from pack openings at tournaments we were in, or vacations we went on, etc.  He wants them displayable and protected in something better than a toploader.  If cgc could skip the grading and just encapsulate with the non-graded label, he would be fine with that.  He is 19 now, but its his money and his memories.  The other 90% are cards i collected with him that I think look absolutely cool, from full art mega camerupt worth $2 to a $5 greninja break that was part of my deck in the north American national championship tournament in Ohio.  Are our 197 bulk, and 3 other tier cards slowing things down for everyone else?  You bet they are.  Should we not send them in for grading?  Of course we should if we want to.  Anyone willing to send their cards in, pay for it, and wait however long it takes deserves to be able to use CGC'S services.  When we sent the cards in starting December 11th, the TAT was 30 days.  Its since changed to 65.  It wouldn't have mattered to us if it had started at 90 days and changed to 120, because we aren't resellers or scalpers.  For people that are reselling, of course they want to profit, and they want their product for as cheap and fast as possible.  Fortunately for them, the increased TAT is probably doing them a favor, since values keep rising.  Unfortunately, that also means their money is tied up longer, which I'm sure is undesirable.

[geraldfordfan69]

10 minutes ago, Holku said:

I've sent in over 200 cards since December to be graded.  10% of them were my son's cards.  Baltoy, skitty, etc.  Cards that aren't worth anything to anyone but him.  Very sentimental, and even though many have bent corners, even bent in half, he says they were from pack openings at tournaments we were in, or vacations we went on, etc.  He wants them displayable and protected in something better than a toploader.  If cgc could skip the grading and just encapsulate with the non-graded label, he would be fine with that.  He is 19 now, but its his money and his memories.  The other 90% are cards i collected with him that I think look absolutely cool, from full art mega camerupt worth $2 to a $5 greninja break that was part of my deck in the north American national championship tournament in Ohio.  Are our 197 bulk, and 3 other tier cards slowing things down for everyone else?  You bet they are.  Should we not send them in for grading?  Of course we should if we want to.  Anyone willing to send their cards in, pay for it, and wait however long it takes deserves to be able to use CGC'S services.  When we sent the cards in starting December 11th, the TAT was 30 days.  Its since changed to 65.  It wouldn't have mattered to us if it had started at 90 days and changed to 120, because we aren't resellers or scalpers.  For people that are reselling, of course they want to profit, and they want their product for as cheap and fast as possible.  Fortunately for them, the increased TAT is probably doing them a favor, since values keep rising.  Unfortunately, that also means their money is tied up longer, which I'm sure is undesirable.

You didnt look into screw cases lol? You can buy them for like a few bucks and just put the cards in their yourself within a few minutes. You never needed to send your cards to a professional grading company and spend more money and time to upgrade from a toploader.

The whole point of grading to improve a card's value on the second market. That is literally it. If your a casual collector, just buy screw cases. Grading isnt meant to put commons in a slab. Grading is also more of a means of legitimizing a very rare card. Its so people know its not fake and getting a professional opinion on it's condition. If you dont ever plan to sell your cards, grading is a complete waste of money. It serves zero value if you do not ever cash in on the cards.

Sadly, I dont think people do enough research and just see some youtube video or something on social media that makes grading look attractive without thinking about the value of what it is really for verses other options. That is partially why the TATs are what they are. They see grading is popular and do it mindlessly without thinking what the true value behind it is.

Edited February 16, 2021 by mattyzeepgam

[Holku]

I’m sure to some people it might be a complete waste of money, but I’m independently wealthy and don’t want to take the time to put cards in screwcases.  I’m fine with my cards having grades on them, but if they didn’t, I would be fine with that.  I like that they will have details about the card on the label.  If they offered labels with certain pokemon on them for a few extra bucks like they do for comics, I would probably spend money on that too.

[xvipah]

As of today I'll have sent in 3 cards.

1 to be graded for sale
1 to get graded and encapsulated for me to keep as a nostalgic item
1 that is the same as above, but for my wife.

The 2 we are grading to keep are not worth a whole lot, in fact, in the case of my wife's it's not worth almost anything. But they mean something to us, and we can do whatever the hell we want.

[geraldfordfan69]

8 hours ago, Holku said:

I’m sure to some people it might be a complete waste of money, but I’m independently wealthy and don’t want to take the time to put cards in screwcases.  I’m fine with my cards having grades on them, but if they didn’t, I would be fine with that.  I like that they will have details about the card on the label.  If they offered labels with certain pokemon on them for a few extra bucks like they do for comics, I would probably spend money on that too.

I get that, but grading isnt really the service that you should have been looking for. You could have went to some shop that does trophies and they could have done something like that for you. Grading isnt really meant for what your trying to do and not sure if you were mislead from something you saw elsewhere, but yeah. Grading isnt really meant to enshrine your kids common cards. Hypothetically, yes you can grade anything you want, but when people do that, you end up with a jam packed system with graders having to slew through tons of stuff that while profitable to them, is something they kind of dread since it goes against the real value of grading. And some of these graders probably enjoy the part of the job to where they get to evaluate expensive stuff since they dont see it every day. When they get common stuff, Im sure they arent too happy to see it even though they get paid to do it.

Edited February 16, 2021 by mattyzeepgam

[CHASEnBLUE]

So I saw "Scummy Flippers" and got curious - since I guess I can be labeled that way as well with comics for a very long time and most recently cards since CGC started grading them.

I have thousands of comics in my collection spanning more than a few decades. When the time is right I take out the raw comics I want to sell as a side hobby and get them graded. I also buy comics that by my best experience and guesstimate will end up being a good "flip" if you will at some point. Of course I keep some to pass on when that time comes, so some stay in the collection and others may come out of a box to meet the slab-maker at some point.

Most recently have been sending in Pokemon cards....because I can. Yes, I am going to sell some, as well as keep some in my collection. Whether I chose to grade and flip them or not is my prerogative - just like everyone else that enjoys comics, cards, etc.

If a grading company allowed people to only send in their cards and comics that were worth a certain threshold, they would get graded somewhere else guaranteed by some other company. Besides, people who get upset like this and want it done fast are motivated by the fluctuating turnaround times. As a collector first and a seller second for some extra cash, I'm in no rush and could care less if it takes longer at times. CGC does quality work from my own experiences, and in the end that is what matters.

I don't feel as scummy now. Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

  

Edited February 18, 2021 by CHASEnBLUE