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The OFFICIAL Turn Around Times thread for Trading Card Submissions!
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2,607 posts in this topic

On 4/6/2021 at 6:27 AM, Buzzetta said:

There is another possibility where the future is not so bleak.  

There seems to be a problem with the grading of Pokemon cards in general across multiple companies and the problem is obviously the sheer volume of submissions.  I absolutely agree with you that this is a dumpster fire in the making across all companies. But that leads to two questions: 

  • What are the actual causes of the dumpster fire across all companies?
  • What will the impact be? 

I am not a CGC apologist. If it was JUST CGC experiencing problems then surely the problem would lie on CGC.  When everyone is experiencing problems then the root of the problem might be coming from someplace else.  Keep in mind that there really are only two comic book grading companies and no one is seeing anything like what we are seeing with cards.

The sudden explosion in the card market over the last two years seems to be driving people into submitting everything and anything.   When it comes to comics people are reluctant to submit books when, "Value of comic < Grading and associated fees".    By the admission of some posters they are submitting cards that may not necessarily be worth getting graded. 

So I have some questions.

  • Are there collectors that are grading cards or people looking to flip?  Because if there are more people looking to flip, do you think that this will cause an oversaturation of graded pokemon cards that would normally be considered common cards?  
  • Oversaturation would normally cause prices to recede.  If the market corrects itself will people still submit as many cards?
  • Would raising prices on grading cards alleviate the matter?  At the lowest tier, why not submit junk cards just to have it graded.  By raising prices, would Pokemon collectors be more selective in what they submit for grading OR is the mindset to have a fully graded set of a certain set of cards regardless of value? 

The root of the problem seems to be the sheer glut of cards that no company seems capable of handling right now.   It's like if a dam broke and the card collectors were expecting the card companies to accommodate it.  No matter how many pumps you have on hand the valley cannot accommodate flood once the dam breaks. 

So maybe something has to change and perhaps it is the culture of what deserves to be graded and what does not in order for TAT's to become more on track.

 

 

 

 

The problem lies from when the Logan Paul Pokemon craze happened, people started submitting every common known to man in bulk submissions of thousands at a time. People are grading cards that have no business getting graded (commons, obvious damage, etc)

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2 hours ago, Bahamuta said:

The problem lies from when the Logan Paul Pokemon craze happened, people started submitting every common known to man in bulk submissions of thousands at a time. People are grading cards that have no business getting graded (commons, obvious damage, etc)

I mean yeah when its $9 a card why not. Bulk is far too cheap. It needs a substantial price increase. Take advantage of it while you can. 

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21 minutes ago, DonLaGreca said:

I mean yeah when its $9 a card why not. Bulk is far too cheap. It needs a substantial price increase. Take advantage of it while you can. 

I don't believe thats true. Its a card that doesn't hold that much value so why would u raise it. Cap is 100, no need to raise unless u raising the cap substantially 

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What if people that paid for Bulk in December/January don’t get their cards back till 2022 and the new unavoidable tax law is in effect and they lose end up losing money on grading after paying Uncle Sam, as well as the opportunity costs of having money tied up for a year.

HA HA.

WHAT IF AM I RIGHT GUYS.

 

Edit: yes people should pay taxes anyway. Just painting a potential scenario that will impact a lot of people who do not have their ducks in a row.

Edited by PokemanDude90
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3 hours ago, Sp33dy said:

I don't believe thats true. Its a card that doesn't hold that much value so why would u raise it. Cap is 100, no need to raise unless u raising the cap substantially 

I mean if it costs 10 bucks to grade the card and you sell it for 20 you doubled your money. Not sure how a 100 percent return is worth it to you. 

Edited by DonLaGreca
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8 minutes ago, DonLaGreca said:

I mean if it costs 10 bucks to grade the card and you sell it for 20 you doubled your money. Not sure how a 100 percent return is worth it to you. 

Because more value has to be put into that account. It jus doesn't cost 10 for the card. The money used to pull the card, then the grading fee, then the shipping fee to send that card and then the shipping fee into getting the card back and whatever materials used. Its alot more than jus saying u spend 10 and sell for 20. Ur losing 

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1 hour ago, jd619641 said:

FYI, I noticed that the current TAT’s changed today. Bulk and Economy are now 144 and 142 days, Standard is 31 days, Express was decreased to just 17 days and Walkthrough increased one day to 6.

I came in here just to talk about this. I was curious if bulk was still 111. When I saw the updated number I cackled so hard LOL. 
 

Sadly, yes, I am thinking about doing another submission soon. Why do I hate myself haha. 

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14 minutes ago, C2N0 said:

I came in here just to talk about this. I was curious if bulk was still 111. When I saw the updated number I cackled so hard LOL. 
 

Sadly, yes, I am thinking about doing another submission soon. Why do I hate myself haha. 

At this point, I’d only submit if I’m doing Express or Walkthrough. Otherwise, it’s just too long of a wait.

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1 hour ago, jd619641 said:

At this point, I’d only submit if I’m doing Express or Walkthrough. Otherwise, it’s just too long of a wait.

Yeah if I do submit I gotta be extra picky

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On 4/6/2021 at 9:27 AM, Buzzetta said:

There is another possibility where the future is not so bleak.  

There seems to be a problem with the grading of Pokemon cards in general across multiple companies and the problem is obviously the sheer volume of submissions.  I absolutely agree with you that this is a dumpster fire in the making across all companies. But that leads to two questions: 

  • What are the actual causes of the dumpster fire across all companies?
  • What will the impact be? 

I am not a CGC apologist. If it was JUST CGC experiencing problems then surely the problem would lie on CGC.  When everyone is experiencing problems then the root of the problem might be coming from someplace else.  Keep in mind that there really are only two comic book grading companies and no one is seeing anything like what we are seeing with cards.

The sudden explosion in the card market over the last two years seems to be driving people into submitting everything and anything.   When it comes to comics people are reluctant to submit books when, "Value of comic < Grading and associated fees".    By the admission of some posters they are submitting cards that may not necessarily be worth getting graded. 

So I have some questions.

  • Are there collectors that are grading cards or people looking to flip?  Because if there are more people looking to flip, do you think that this will cause an oversaturation of graded pokemon cards that would normally be considered common cards?  
  • Oversaturation would normally cause prices to recede.  If the market corrects itself will people still submit as many cards?
  • Would raising prices on grading cards alleviate the matter?  At the lowest tier, why not submit junk cards just to have it graded.  By raising prices, would Pokemon collectors be more selective in what they submit for grading OR is the mindset to have a fully graded set of a certain set of cards regardless of value? 

The root of the problem seems to be the sheer glut of cards that no company seems capable of handling right now.   It's like if a dam broke and the card collectors were expecting the card companies to accommodate it.  No matter how many pumps you have on hand the valley cannot accommodate flood once the dam breaks. 

So maybe something has to change and perhaps it is the culture of what deserves to be graded and what does not in order for TAT's to become more on track.

 

 

 

 

And so begins the junk slab era!

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13 hours ago, Sp33dy said:

Because more value has to be put into that account. It jus doesn't cost 10 for the card. The money used to pull the card, then the grading fee, then the shipping fee to send that card and then the shipping fee into getting the card back and whatever materials used. Its alot more than jus saying u spend 10 and sell for 20. Ur losing 

People are still making plenty of money when the price for bulk is 9 dollars per card, even after everything you mentioned. Certainly not losing. 

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16 hours ago, PokemanDude90 said:

What if people that paid for Bulk in December/January don’t get their cards back till 2022 and the new unavoidable tax law is in effect and they lose end up losing money on grading after paying Uncle Sam, as well as the opportunity costs of having money tied up for a year.

HA HA.

WHAT IF AM I RIGHT GUYS.

 

Edit: yes people should pay taxes anyway. Just painting a potential scenario that will impact a lot of people who do not have their ducks in a row.

What tax law? What the heck are you talking about?

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Express: received 1/11 shipped 1/25
economy: received 1/11 status: received....
TAT was 30 days at the time.
We are now at 65 business days, and the TAT has been increased to 142 days. I'm 100% going to miss my nephew's birthday, now. He loves pokemon cards, and these were going to be his first graded cards. Annnnnnd I already told him what he was getting... so now... going to be a very unhappy 10th birthday for 1 little boy...

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Bulk - 72 Cards

Received 12/17/20 ("Current turnaround" when received = 30 working days)

Scheduled for grading 4/9/21 (actual TAT = 85+ working days)

 

Finally! Super happy this is finally scheduled for grading, but there is something that I must say. I understand they are doing their best, the market for graded cards in unprecedented, and they are new to the 'card' grading scene, I get it I get it, so all is forgiven and I am happy to continue working with CGC. However, I kind of feel like I was somewhat misled here. Yes there is a disclaimer that TATs are estimates and not guarantees, and yes bulk orders are the least prioritized, but lets be honest with ourselves, 85+ working days compared to 30 is not too good of an "estimate" to put it mildly, and the TAT isn't complete until the entire process is complete so I still have some more time. This post is not meant to be hostile, but to give everyone a little more transparency as to how this process will play out for them, and also to generate a conversation with some constructive suggestions as to how CGC might go about fixing this problem so their customers do not feel misled when TATs jump up 3x after sending their cards in.

The only real suggestion I can come up with is to have an entirely separate staff for each grading tier to be more precise with TATs. That is probably not feasible, so at the very least spruce up that disclaimer so we all know what to expect here. That all I got, so more suggestions are appreciated. Thanks. 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Wyatt Love said:

Bulk - 72 Cards

Received 12/17/20 ("Current turnaround" when received = 30 working days)

Scheduled for grading 4/9/21 (actual TAT = 85+ working days)

 

Finally! Super happy this is finally scheduled for grading, but there is something that I must say. I understand they are doing their best, the market for graded cards in unprecedented, and they are new to the 'card' grading scene, I get it I get it, so all is forgiven and I am happy to continue working with CGC. However, I kind of feel like I was somewhat misled here. Yes there is a disclaimer that TATs are estimates and not guarantees, and yes bulk orders are the least prioritized, but lets be honest with ourselves, 85+ working days compared to 30 is not too good of an "estimate" to put it mildly, and the TAT isn't complete until the entire process is complete so I still have some more time. This post is not meant to be hostile, but to give everyone a little more transparency as to how this process will play out for them, and also to generate a conversation with some constructive suggestions as to how CGC might go about fixing this problem so their customers do not feel misled when TATs jump up 3x after sending their cards in.

The only real suggestion I can come up with is to have an entirely separate staff for each grading tier to be more precise with TATs. That is probably not feasible, so at the very least spruce up that disclaimer so we all know what to expect here. That all I got, so more suggestions are appreciated. Thanks. 

 

 

 

wow... seems like they have actually made a bit of progress on bulk orders. hoping to see some movement on my 1/27 econ order in the next month lol

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45 minutes ago, Jason M Davis said:

When it hits the "scheduled for grading" status, how long does it generally take before they are graded and sent back? Ive been at scheduled for a few days and was just curious as these are my first submissions. 

 

It depends on how big the order is. Small orders (1-5 cards) probably 2-3 days till completion. Large orders (for example 20 cards) can take up to 4-7 days. Might also depend on the service tier. 
 

This is just my personal experience though, so I can’t speak for everyone else. 

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4 hours ago, Wyatt Love said:

Bulk - 72 Cards

Received 12/17/20 ("Current turnaround" when received = 30 working days)

Scheduled for grading 4/9/21 (actual TAT = 85+ working days)

 

Finally! Super happy this is finally scheduled for grading, but there is something that I must say. I understand they are doing their best, the market for graded cards in unprecedented, and they are new to the 'card' grading scene, I get it I get it, so all is forgiven and I am happy to continue working with CGC. However, I kind of feel like I was somewhat misled here. Yes there is a disclaimer that TATs are estimates and not guarantees, and yes bulk orders are the least prioritized, but lets be honest with ourselves, 85+ working days compared to 30 is not too good of an "estimate" to put it mildly, and the TAT isn't complete until the entire process is complete so I still have some more time. This post is not meant to be hostile, but to give everyone a little more transparency as to how this process will play out for them, and also to generate a conversation with some constructive suggestions as to how CGC might go about fixing this problem so their customers do not feel misled when TATs jump up 3x after sending their cards in.

The only real suggestion I can come up with is to have an entirely separate staff for each grading tier to be more precise with TATs. That is probably not feasible, so at the very least spruce up that disclaimer so we all know what to expect here. That all I got, so more suggestions are appreciated. Thanks. 

 

 

 

Lol do you really think when they gave this initial estimate things would blow up like they did? Obviously not and they have since drastically changed TATs to reflect the massive influx in demand. PSA shut down entirely due to demand, I am just try and be logical here. CGC is a business and they would certainly like to retain customers. They gave a rough estimate that they felt at the time they could meet and obviously things have drastically changed. They have adjusted their TATs accordingly and are beginning to meet these new times. Its unfortunate for the people that submitted cards in the beginning, right before the massive influx of cards, buts its simply the reality of the situation. There is really no simple fix to this problem. Card grading is a difficult business to scale, especially scale rapidly, just take a look at PSA. If shutting down submissions completely is the only way to catch up then you should realize how unprecedented these times are.. 

Edited by DonLaGreca
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