Well, CGC is raising prices for their services, and... 14 14

[Tony S]

1 hour ago, Eric Perry said:

This is one of the most annoying things I've encountered in the world of collectibles.  The particular behavior that infuriates me is this:

Person A has an item for sale.  Person B points out every conceivable thing they can to drive the price down.  They'll even "haggle" about the grade of the item (that's not a NM- book...it's VF+ at best!!!) they're trying to buy.

A week later, person B has the item, lists it for sale, and describes it as NM.

Person B is a 

You just described why professional 3rd party grading and encapsulation exists in the hobby.  Arguing about grade was just another way to negotiate the price.  With professional grading and encapsulation, the negotiation is only about price. 

[Eric Perry]

12 minutes ago, Tony S said:

You just described why professional 3rd party grading and encapsulation exists in the hobby.  Arguing about grade was just another way to negotiate the price.  With professional grading and encapsulation, the negotiation is only about price. 

Ever had someone try to beat you up on price because your item "looks overgraded" to them?

[kimik]

2 hours ago, Eric Perry said:

This is one of the most annoying things I've encountered in the world of collectibles.  The particular behavior that infuriates me is this:

Person A has an item for sale.  Person B points out every conceivable thing they can to drive the price down.  They'll even "haggle" about the grade of the item (that's not a NM- book...it's VF+ at best!!!) they're trying to buy.

A week later, person B has the item, lists it for sale, and describes it as NM.

Person B is a 

I don't mind if someone jacks up the grades on books I sell them. I grade strictly, so I have regular customers (some for over 20 years now) and other dealers buy from me. I am fine with them adjusting the grades and reselling at the next show. It is the nature of the game. Just grade strictly, price fairly, and keep turning stock over.

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

1 hour ago, Eric Perry said:

Ever had someone try to beat you up on price because your item "looks overgraded" to them?

Every time I visit..

[HotKey]

1 hour ago, Eric Perry said:

Ever had someone try to beat you up on price because your item "looks overgraded" to them?

What a shock... all my interactions with people online have only been top drawer!

[Real Elijah Snow]

Am I looking at this fee chart wrong? It looks to me like the $15 is for fast tracking the pressing, and not the grading..There doesn't seem to be an increase for fast tracking on a straight sub...

[lou_fine]

14 hours ago, the blob said:

14 hours ago, Ryan. said:

What's Florida minimum wage? 

https://www.natlawreview.com/article/florida-minimum-wage-to-increase#:~:text=Effective January 1%2C 2021%2C Florida's,hour to %248.65 per hour.

$8.65 an hour. If they're paying their graders $15 to start I'd be more on board 

From my point of view, it really depends on the number of books a grader is expected to grade on a per hour basis.  

For a mid-range value Standard tier book, if they are expected to grade 10 of them per hour (okay, they would probably get fired   ) that means they would be responsible for generating a top line revenue of $750 (i.e. $75 X 10 books).  As a result, I would certainly hope they are getting more than an egregious $8.65 per hour as compared to what they are bringing.  Of course, there are a lot of other associated support costs such as receiving, encapsulating, shipping, admin., accounting, etc., but if you look at the top line revenue that's a whole ton of money to be left to pay for all of the other costs.  Especially when you consider the fact that the graders are most likely expected to grade many more than 10 books per hour.  

All I will say, is that based upon the top line revenue that I am seeing here, somebody is sure making a ton of bottom line profits off this whole grading game here.  

[lou_fine]

15 hours ago, Black_Adam said:

Honestly, I seriously doubt these price increases are going to reduce at all the volume of books being submitted to CGC.

What gives you the idea that CGC is trying to reduce the volume of books that customers are submitting to them?  

Especially when CGC is a business and like any other business, their goal is to come up with different strategies to increase both their top and bottom lines. Just take a look at all of the different scams schemes   they are coming up with and it's pretty clear that they are trying to get increased submissions from their customers, not less submissions from their customers.  

If they really wanted to reduce the volume of books that's heading their way, they can simply say no books accepted unless they are at least 25 years old, because seriously, anything more recent than that is probably 99.9% worthless drek from a true vintage collectible point of view.  Or they could shut down their whole pressing and CPR game as that would surely reduce the volumes of books heading their way.  So, from what they are actually doing, they are clearly trying to increase the volume of books heading their way, not to reduce it.        

Edited April 23, 2021 by lou_fine

[Cosmic_Shel]

2 hours ago, Real Elijah Snow said:

Am I looking at this fee chart wrong? It looks to me like the $15 is for fast tracking the pressing, and not the grading..There doesn't seem to be an increase for fast tracking on a straight sub...

Here's a link to their full list of Services: https://cgccomics-production.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/price-sheets/2021-04-08-us-cgc-price-sheet.pdf

Sadly, it shows the $15 Fast Track Fee on Modern and Economy tiers.

[greggy]

8 hours ago, Dr. Dank said:

What's a gallon?

3.8 litres

[ADAMANTIUM]

5 hours ago, greggy said:

13 hours ago, Dr. Dank said:

What's a gallon?

3.8 litres

4 quarts or 8 pints...

Edited April 23, 2021 by ADAMANTIUM

[PickleRick1216]

4 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

4 quarts or 8 pints...

 

[X_Phile]

13 hours ago, comicdiablo said:

I upgraded from Associate to Premium at the beginning of April, so yes, it's good that the current benefits will remain for one year. Probably will return to Associate next year though...

I was looking last week at upgrading from Premium to Elite. If I do this by the 28th will my Elite carry on for a year?

Edited April 23, 2021 by X_Phile

[Black_Adam]

6 hours ago, lou_fine said:

What gives you the idea that CGC is trying to reduce the volume of books that customers are submitting to them?  

Especially when CGC is a business and like any other business, their goal is to come up with different strategies to increase both their top and bottom lines. Just take a look at all of the different scams schemes   they are coming up with and it's pretty clear that they are trying to get increased submissions from their customers, not less submissions from their customers.  

If they really wanted to reduce the volume of books that's heading their way, they can simply say no books accepted unless they are at least 25 years old, because seriously, anything more recent than that is probably 99.9% worthless drek from a true vintage collectible point of view.  Or they could shut down their whole pressing and CPR game as that would surely reduce the volumes of books heading their way.  So, from what they are actually doing, they are clearly trying to increase the volume of books heading their way, not to reduce it.        

My comment you quoted was aimed more at the previous posters who felt these changes were going to hurt CGC's business (with the balance of my post being of the opinion it wouldn't).

But based on the Law of Demand, it is hard to imagine changes like the 60% cost increase on prescreens won't, at least temporarily, reduce the number of comics being submitted for this service. However, any drop in submissions will easily be counterbalanced by the extra $3 charged (and the other sweeping price increases) making sure CGC's bottom line is the one number that does keep heading in the right direction. 

[comicdiablo]

1 hour ago, X_Phile said:

I was looking last week at upgrading from Premium to Elite. If I do this by the 28th will my Elite carry on for a year?

I think so. Here is the exact wording: "Important Reminder: CGC memberships purchased prior to April 28, 2021, will continue to have the current membership benefits until their renewal/expiration date."

[jcjames]

2 hours ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

4 quarts or 8 pints...

How many parsecs?

 

[ADAMANTIUM]

1 minute ago, jcjames said:

2 hours ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

4 quarts or 8 pints...

How many parsecs?

 

as far as the couch to the fridge!

[jcjames]

8 hours ago, lou_fine said:

What gives you the idea that CGC is trying to reduce the volume of books that customers are submitting to them?  

Especially when CGC is a business and like any other business, their goal is to come up with different strategies to increase both their top and bottom lines. Just take a look at all of the different scams schemes   they are coming up with and it's pretty clear that they are trying to get increased submissions from their customers, not less submissions from their customers.  

If they really wanted to reduce the volume of books that's heading their way, they can simply say no books accepted unless they are at least 25 years old, because seriously, anything more recent than that is probably 99.9% worthless drek from a true vintage collectible point of view.  Or they could shut down their whole pressing and CPR game as that would surely reduce the volumes of books heading their way.  So, from what they are actually doing, they are clearly trying to increase the volume of books heading their way, not to reduce it.        

There are folks in this thread who have already suggested they'll think twice about subbing as many books, especially for pre-screens.

Whether this is CGC's intention or not, increasing prices does affect demand.

 

[lou_fine]

48 minutes ago, jcjames said:

There are folks in this thread who have already suggested they'll think twice about subbing as many books, especially for pre-screens.

Whether this is CGC's intention or not, increasing prices does affect demand.

 

Well, given that grading is still more of an art (i.e. a so-called "professional" opinion at a particular point in time), as opposed to an actual science, wouldn't it make much more sense to simply sub books that will still have value whether it comes back as CGC 9.4, CGC 9.6, or CGC 9.8, instead of only subbing books that have value in CGC 9.8 and above.  Even more so when you have to take in CGC's probable margin of error when it comes to grading.    

To each their own, but wouldn't it make more sense to sub a book that has actual value regardless of the grade within reason, as opposed to subbing for a grade when the underlying book doesn't have any worthwhile value if it doesn't hit that grade.  I guess it's really a case of if you are truly collecting comic books or are you really only collecting graded labels.    

[MetalPSI]

3 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

Well, given that grading is still more of an art (i.e. a so-called "professional" opinion at a particular point in time), as opposed to an actual science, wouldn't it make much more sense to simply sub books that will still have value whether it comes back as CGC 9.4, CGC 9.6, or CGC 9.8, instead of only subbing books that have value in CGC 9.8 and above.  Even more so when you have to take in CGC's probable margin of error when it comes to grading.    

To each their own, but wouldn't it make more sense to sub a book that has actual value regardless of the grade within reason, as opposed to subbing for a grade when the underlying book doesn't have any worthwhile value if it doesn't hit that grade.  I guess it's really a case of if you are truly collecting comic books or are you really only collecting graded labels.    

I've always thought the price differences between a 9.4/9.6/9.8 to be ridiculous 

There is are differences between a 9.4 and 9.8, but between 9.6, not many