CGC raised their prices so submissions could go down to a manageable level. It's supply/demand. A better option is not being able to submit a book unless it has a certain value. No more submitting off the rack or dollar bins.
CGC created this backlog by laying off employees. It should be expected that lead times would increase. Raising prices was just a strategy to try and increase revenue. Cutting employees was an attempt to cut costs. The combination was a hope to find the right mix and optimize overall profitability.
I have been done with CGC since September. Banana gate was the last straw for me. I stay in the loop of things just so I know what is going on. I just can't support a company that keeps back tracking and continues to give us inconsistent quality and ask for a pay raise for not doing the work properly. I agree with everything here in this video.
Yes, Yes, and Yes! I’m so sick of CGC. I hope the comic book community will quit buying slabs and ultimately force people/dealers to stop sending in their comics for slabbing. Folks, stop buying second hand CGC slabbed books. It’s the only thing that will change all this.
Just got a 3 star warning from CGC Boards cause I said something about their business model, and they said they don't want any negatives about CGC on the boards, their is no freedom of speech on a private website
I watched the stream where you called the price increase, and 100% agreed. I felt they would do the same thing as well. Companies owned by Blackrock-type companies don't roll back fees when they have a fiduciary duty to deliver max revenue/profit to shareholders. They know PSA is coming, so they want to squeeze the sponge now before their revenue stream takes a hit. But have we considered this: when PSA opens its doors to comic collectors, are we going to cause them the very same problem(s) that CGC is experiencing today? I suspect that a significant chunk of collectors are going to rush over to PSA as soon as their doors open, out of desperation to get some books slabbed (ones that were initially going to go to CGC, but were held back). Will this initial rush of customers overwhelm PSA, giving them a huge backlog right out of the gate? Will they make mistakes right out of the gate in order to clear that initial backlog? That won't be a good look for them at all, and will only cause us all to be even more frustrated, returning to the dance floor with the devil we already know. I hope I'm wrong. CGC needs a swift kick in the nuts from a real, competent, worthy competitor. PSA should be that competitor. But if they don't have mechanisms and policies in place that will ensure a smooth launch, free from problems and scandals, then they'll torch their own reputation before they even get off the ground.
Said my goodbyes to CGC last week. My first impressions of CGC were not in-line with my expectations of how a grading company should be managed. I will be using PSA exclusively once they have established themselves. I'm patient and I would like my collection taken care of by true professionals.
The main reason I still send books to CGC is that they sell for more. I don’t think that CGC hates customers. They’re like any other business. They’re in this to make money. I’m not crazy about the price hikes, but everything seems to be going up nowadays. As long as CGC-graded comics continue to sell for more, CGC is not going anywhere.
Exactly the price increase sucks but cgc is not going anywhere and psa is not gonna take over the top spot the few butthurt comments about leaving cgc won’t impact them and they probably will still send in to cgc
Any business that has a monopolistic position in a marketplace can raise prices anytime they want because they don’t have any serious competition to keep them in check. It will take many years before PSA can effectively compete (and it’s very possible they will not succeed). So CGC has a window to maximize revenue. Private equity owners want to maximize their investment return quickly before they get out. So this is a familiar playbook. The ONLY barrier now is for collectors and dealers to stop sending CGC submissions. Not here and there. The entire comic community must do this collectively. The unfortunate thing is that this community is very fragmented without a central mechanism to effectively organize them (e.g. union, trade association, etc.). So you are right. More price increases will follow. It is inevitable.
I’ve been in collecting for 3 years and I haven’t submitted yet. Every time I think I’m ready to, something stupid happens and I say “maybe not right now.” Makes me wanna do CBCS, but then I’m automatically reducing the value of my slab.
I am with Mighty Comics. CGC has been crapping on its customers for years and will continue to do so. I do not know what CGC will do in the future, but it is easy to predict other pay raises and further scandals will hit them this year.
The local presser I want to use only submits to CGC. So I'm not submitting any comics for grading and have invested instead in the open & close Comic Capsules. The thicker books, like annuals, don't fit inside these capsules. Otherwise, I'm happy with them.
Out of the gate, yes. People will flock to PSA just to test them out, and to flip the bird at CGC. But the real stress test is whether or not PSA graded books sell for the same price as CGC graded books. If they fall even 5% short, they won't sway enough people over to destroy CGC. As much as we get frustrated that CGC only cares about money, it's a door that swings both ways, because collectors don't want to leave money on the table, either.
I didn't know that BlackStone owned CGC. That's interesting. It might be worthwhile to dig into investors reports to see what's happening inside the company. I'm willing to bet that they "streamlined" by cutting quality control, staff, and internal auditing to boost profits.
All the reasons to just buy graded. It’s not worth the cost to buy a raw comic, almost at the graded prices that most often than not seller’s asking price is, then down the line sending in at a high cost to get graded. I recently thought of cracking a high value book (approx 12k) and sending in for pressing, prescreen, and a regrade. It was going to cost about $1k in fees (9%). Screw that. Not worth it. If it comes back just a half grade higher I lose money, if it comes back the same or lower I’m screwed. Just buy graded, raw game is too costly. If you are buying low cost comics, low grade or whatever, just to collect or fill a run, then yes raw makes sense. Otherwise I would just let someone else pay the grading fees.
You are spot on regarding identifying the problems started when BlackStone purchased CGC. You and I also see that BlackStone will dump CGC when the profitably evaporates. I’m predicting this will happen this year in 2025. What will that look like with CGC no longer has the giant conglomerate to back them? This actually doesn’t affect me because I went with a much smaller company to do my grading and slabbing.
I don't think slabs are dead entirely. They still serve a function. First, they preserve and protect the old books. This should be considered the primary role. Second, they give a general consensus and sense of the condition of the book. The market, not the grade, then sets the value on a book of that condition. But, there is just something to be said about an old raw book. The smell of the paper. The texture of the pages. The old advertisements. It's more magical than holding a slab of plastic.
I own a handful of cgc graded. That's all. I prefer raw 🎉. Always will. Only certain ones need grading. Over the top. I guess grading is more for sellers.
Was to be expected in all honesty, cost of living around the world has gone up, the Trump tax on China will see the cost of plastic go up to the US, so naturally the likes of CGC will see costs rise, I would fully expect to see the likes of PSA to follow
I just got a shipment back from CGC Signature Series, there was 6 books that were all but guaranteed to get a 9.8. Well, one of them didn't get that grade, it got a 7.5! Looked like they dropped it, went to pick it up and stepped on it, slipped on it and launched it 15 feet across the room..... I heard nothing from them about it, just the shock of it coming back damaged.
Why do I use CGC - because none of the other comic grading companies provide a product/service that is superior. Not sure why anyone is surprised or mad that CGC is raising prices. The backlog of submissions is more of an indication how poorly their competitors are doing. If we want to be mad at someone, it should be at CGC’s competition who are still not producing a product and service that looks and feels superior.
Its funny cuz they offered their black friday membership deal for 20$ and a 10% submission reduction for the year a no brainer for me at the time. And now with the price hike it feels like that 10% is now worthless
I can't say I really have any salt in the game because I don't send books in for grading and I never have. I have graded books in my collection, but only because I wanted those books and I picked them up at a good price. I follow this topic because I think maybe someday I'll send some in if I have the spare scratch, because it ain't cheap to grade books. Without fail, these companies always manage to do something or of something happen that makes me realize, it ain't worth my time or money to do so. I can't be the only collector with this take. For companies to have continued growth, they need fresh investors/customers coming into the market. So I agree with you that Blockstone/Blackrock or whatever it is will eventually unloaded it. Time will tell I guess. Cheers L
Haven't sent any books in for well over a year, very sketchy goings on at CGC and it just feels like they r taking the piss out of the comic collecting community.
Totally agree. CGC stinks and their CGC Forum stinks too. I am no longer using them. I have been much happier setting my books to PGX, CBCS and I look forward to trying PSA.
Think about how many people would have sent their books in if they lowered the same amount they raised. It would have turned everything around for them.
RE: "What is your thought process in continuing to submit books to CGC when a $1k book used to cost $55 and it now costs $95" - it's called inflation, bud, and it's everywhere. LOL Remember when a footlong at Subway was only $5? Now, most are in the $12-15 range. The thought process is that, when you consider that it's only going to get more expensive in the future (I don't see any price decreases coming down the road; do you?), the question is not "why grade it now" but rather "why NOT grade it now".
@@jeffstanley6013so unthinking just inflationary? Issue is people incomes haven’t gone up. I’d rather save $100 per book and keep it raw. Especially since comic prices have gone down significantly To pay 10-20% of value to encapsulate a book is ridiculous and a waste of $. That’s why. When food and gas go back down are they going to reduce prices then? So I cant just blame inflation
@@mightycomicsandcollectibles A) "when food and gas go back down ..." - Price volatility in food and gas is not wholly dependent on inflation but is subject to supply and demand with both the suppliers and the public at large. Example: if you drive down the street and see gas is $3.75/gallon (or whatever) but then it says $3.82/gallon next week, that's not necessarily inflation but more of a response to market pressures over the past week. (That's why eggs are so expensive right now, not due to inflation but due to a shortage in supply.) But if you watch Die Hard and you see Reginald Vel Johnson buy his Twinkie's, walk out of the convenience store, throw the Twinkie's in his car and then go take a look at Nakatomi Plaza, and then you see the gas station sign in the foreground say $0.77/gallon (or whatever it was; I know it's in the 70-cent range) and compare that to today's price of $3.75/gallon, that is inflation. Pricing of comic book grading services are subject to inflation, but they are not subject to the same market pressures that food and gas face due to comic grading being such a relatively niche market. So, to answer your question, no, I would not expect CGC to lower their prices next week if the price of gas happens to drop by $0.07/gallon next week or the price of eggs normalize in the next 2-3 weeks. And no, I don't blame just inflation; I also think that their recent turn times are a factor as well. If they want to improve their turn times, they have to catch up on their backlog, and the best way to do that is to stem the inflow of books. And you do that by raising prices. B) "To pay 10-20% of value to encapsulate a book is ridiculous and a waste of money." - That would depend upon your reasons for encapsulating as well as what you originally paid for the book. If you got the book for 50% of FMV, paying 10-20% of FMV to encapsulate it can make sense (depending on what $ amounts we're talking about; I would not encapsulate a $10 book even if I got it for free). For me, I slab my high value books so that, if something happens to me, my wife who knows nothing about comics will much more easily get full value for them from the community. I'm willing to invest a little over FMV on a per book basis for that peace of mind, but that's just me.
I know cgc has had their issues and because of them I haven't sent one thing in three years. I have a feeling that this price increase has to do with the rise of property insurance. Hurricanes have blowed right by or over the top of Sarasota Florida for the last 3-4 years. Whether that's the case or not at least they could have bullshitted us into thinking so and wrote it in at the top of the letter, anything instead of "Here's our new price change". 😅
As a fat inner city sweat hog I believe you sir are entitled to your opinion. Why do I stack graded comics ? Simple… arbitration to accommodate online transactions. 👍
Nostra-Laurence! I mentioned to you in one of your live hangouts that I’ve been exclusive to cbcs since 2021 because I had no faith that CGC could properly do their one and only job. And that was before reholdergate and bananagate. And when you have evidence that a company cannot do their one and only job, the community should have enough integrity to stop submitting to that company AT LEAST until that company admits their missteps and take ownership of their failures. But CGC doesn’t have to do any of that because the comic community has so much of their inventories tied up in CGC graded books that CGC knows it has the community by the balls and doesn’t have to do sh*t.
why? I'm still interested in their signature series, but I now have everything i wanted to have signed by Frank Miller. I have a few books I would like Peach Momoko to sign, but after her...only a few celebrities. i.e. Patrick Stewart and Sigourney Weaver left on my list. I've canceled my CGC auto renewal since I don't know when they will be available for signings (if ever). As someone has mentioned, CGC will focus on Corporate Customer's sending in new comics to be graded with 9.8s or 9.9s in very large batches.
@ collectors really don’t like what they see with that PSA holder. It’s too big, can’t read the text well and collectors don’t need an odd asset at this point
I think this might me followed by a fixed discounted rate for sending in over 15 books like with there promotion, example modern book under 15 subs $27 per $25 15 and 22 for 25 at least that’s thevrumor to cut down the single and double submissions I hope this is true but who know time will tell but for now I won’t over react to basically a $2 increase all the fast food restaurants raise their prices, but people still go there 🤷♂️
I think they will try to do what the sports card industry is doing. Watch for comics that should be normally graded 9.8 start to be graded lower and make the high grade comics more rare. I could see them rejecting current modern comics or making the grading price higher.
This is so funny to me. People worry about how much they pay CGC when in fact the only thing that matters is the end result. Who cares if it’s 18-20-25 or 27…. If the book comes back AS EXPECTED then the 2-4-6 or 8 dollar difference doesn’t matter. The end result is ALWAYS all that should matter
@@zukodany it matters. I’ll add that they’ve been less than accurate as well. I agree with the modern slabs. But if you buy big keys it shouldn’t cost u 95 now. Sorry. Especially with the shotty work and inconsistencies and refusal to fix the issues
@@mightycomicsandcollectibles in a perfect world - a veteran collector should know what to expect when sending books to get graded - the problem always starts when the “pros” fall short of expectations or damage the book when handling it/quality control issues. So again - I stand by my statement - if an expert collector sends in a book to be graded and gets 5 to 10 percent margin of error on expectations - the difference in price paid is laughable. You’d be a fool to think that a $10 difference matters on a $1000 book IF THEY DELIVER.
@@mightycomicsandcollectibles and the point I’m trying to make here is NOT that I’m defending CGC pricings or increase - it’s that the pricing don’t really matter, the only thing that should only matter is expectations. It works that way even when they slash prices or have one of those silly flash sales - WHO CARES?? If u send in 25 books at a BOGO sale - and they come back 50% short of expectations or damaged - you really didn’t get a discount at all - you were ripped off. The same logic applies to those increases
@ I’m not comparing 85 to 95. I’m comparing 55 to 95. That’s was the price 5 years ago. No reason it should double in that time frame. Especially with the price of big books coming down. But you keep cradling there balls my friend. All good. 👍🏻
I have a stack sitting that should be graded. I haven’t sent anything in for a year. If I’m going to sell a 1k book it’s getting slabbed. It sells for more plain and simple. People need to stop slabbing 10 dollar books however 😂
Great intro and outro!!! You called it and I predict you will be right again. Before the end of the year, they will go up again. It's a shame what this company has become. I genuinely love CGC slabs.
You’re gonna be waiting for those video games for a long time they they have video games and movies on hold because they ran out of supplies. They’re not even gonna get their supplies back in to start re-grading them till January 17 at the earliest.
@@DavidClark-vu3dw they said they were working on a fix by increasing the size of the inner well. But I’ve seen people unbox recently with still issues
Man yes.. the swapping was terrible but that bending shit where they walked back what CGC mike said about fixing them as errors for free I never want to see that Tool Matt Nelson talk about community and hearing us I’ll buy magnet cases for $12-$14 and I’ll use those comic capsule has a good product also and both are UV protected Their grading has been so off I saw someone’s book go from 9.0+ down to 7.5 back to 9.0+ How are you that wrong and still allowed to grade books I think a big issue is these graders are nameless when they handle our books so it could be anyone They should be made to sign off who our graders were so when they get it wrong we know that person shouldn’t be handling our stuff I’m not sending anymore I’ll send Art to CBCS for encapsulation but nothing else
I understand why you want the most value out of your books but when you say you would take a slabbed book out of its protection and send it to cgc blows my mind when everyone complains about the service. Choose a company and forget cgc. The others are just as good. It's hilarious to see pgx grades books selling for a quarter of the price but thank you. I'll bust those out of the case and quadruple my money. Not!
CGC was purchased by BlackStone not blackrock! You see how frustrated I was 😂
Reasonable mistake. I always get them confused too.
CGC raised their prices so submissions could go down to a manageable level. It's supply/demand. A better option is not being able to submit a book unless it has a certain value. No more submitting off the rack or dollar bins.
@@brewfront 💯
They helped create this by offering that bulk submission promotion last October.
This is the right answer. Only grade what has value and needs to be preserved. Not to try to game the market.
@ even for a book that’s 1000 it will cost you 10%. I still say that’s too much. 2500 and up yes
CGC created this backlog by laying off employees. It should be expected that lead times would increase. Raising prices was just a strategy to try and increase revenue. Cutting employees was an attempt to cut costs. The combination was a hope to find the right mix and optimize overall profitability.
I have been done with CGC since September. Banana gate was the last straw for me. I stay in the loop of things just so I know what is going on. I just can't support a company that keeps back tracking and continues to give us inconsistent quality and ask for a pay raise for not doing the work properly. I agree with everything here in this video.
Yes, Yes, and Yes! I’m so sick of CGC. I hope the comic book community will quit buying slabs and ultimately force people/dealers to stop sending in their comics for slabbing. Folks, stop buying second hand CGC slabbed books. It’s the only thing that will change all this.
I second this. You're not even buying a comic book. Slabbing reduces it to an NFT.
You are absolutely right!! PSA can't come soon enough!!!! Until people start shopping with their wallet and boycott CGC, nothing will change.
Just got a 3 star warning from CGC Boards cause I said something about their business model, and they said they don't want any negatives about CGC on the boards, their is no freedom of speech on a private website
As you said, it is a private company. Private companies can do what they want on free speech.
I like the Ravishing Rick Rude reference at your opening 😂
I came here to say this!
That's the 1st thing that came in my head as well...HIT MY MUSIC!!!
I watched the stream where you called the price increase, and 100% agreed. I felt they would do the same thing as well. Companies owned by Blackrock-type companies don't roll back fees when they have a fiduciary duty to deliver max revenue/profit to shareholders. They know PSA is coming, so they want to squeeze the sponge now before their revenue stream takes a hit.
But have we considered this: when PSA opens its doors to comic collectors, are we going to cause them the very same problem(s) that CGC is experiencing today? I suspect that a significant chunk of collectors are going to rush over to PSA as soon as their doors open, out of desperation to get some books slabbed (ones that were initially going to go to CGC, but were held back). Will this initial rush of customers overwhelm PSA, giving them a huge backlog right out of the gate? Will they make mistakes right out of the gate in order to clear that initial backlog? That won't be a good look for them at all, and will only cause us all to be even more frustrated, returning to the dance floor with the devil we already know.
I hope I'm wrong. CGC needs a swift kick in the nuts from a real, competent, worthy competitor. PSA should be that competitor. But if they don't have mechanisms and policies in place that will ensure a smooth launch, free from problems and scandals, then they'll torch their own reputation before they even get off the ground.
Said my goodbyes to CGC last week. My first impressions of CGC were not in-line with my expectations of how a grading company should be managed. I will be using PSA exclusively once they have established themselves. I'm patient and I would like my collection taken care of by true professionals.
The main reason I still send books to CGC is that they sell for more. I don’t think that CGC hates customers. They’re like any other business. They’re in this to make money. I’m not crazy about the price hikes, but everything seems to be going up nowadays. As long as CGC-graded comics continue to sell for more, CGC is not going anywhere.
Exactly the price increase sucks but cgc is not going anywhere and psa is not gonna take over the top spot the few butthurt comments about leaving cgc won’t impact them and they probably will still send in to cgc
Any business that has a monopolistic position in a marketplace can raise prices anytime they want because they don’t have any serious competition to keep them in check. It will take many years before PSA can effectively compete (and it’s very possible they will not succeed). So CGC has a window to maximize revenue. Private equity owners want to maximize their investment return quickly before they get out. So this is a familiar playbook. The ONLY barrier now is for collectors and dealers to stop sending CGC submissions. Not here and there. The entire comic community must do this collectively. The unfortunate thing is that this community is very fragmented without a central mechanism to effectively organize them (e.g. union, trade association, etc.). So you are right. More price increases will follow. It is inevitable.
There is competition to keep them in check. And it has a FAR SUPERIOR product but the sheep will always flock because they are TOLD to use CGC.
I’ve been in collecting for 3 years and I haven’t submitted yet. Every time I think I’m ready to, something stupid happens and I say “maybe not right now.” Makes me wanna do CBCS, but then I’m automatically reducing the value of my slab.
I canceled my yearly CCC subscription and I'm waiting for PSA to come aboard. No sweat off my sack.
I am with Mighty Comics. CGC has been crapping on its customers for years and will continue to do so. I do not know what CGC will do in the future, but it is easy to predict other pay raises and further scandals will hit them this year.
I’m noticing some of the smaller auction houses are selling comprised cases now.
The local presser I want to use only submits to CGC. So I'm not submitting any comics for grading and have invested instead in the open & close Comic Capsules. The thicker books, like annuals, don't fit inside these capsules. Otherwise, I'm happy with them.
all PSA has to do is price their grading at $20 and they will destroy CGC.
Out of the gate, yes. People will flock to PSA just to test them out, and to flip the bird at CGC. But the real stress test is whether or not PSA graded books sell for the same price as CGC graded books. If they fall even 5% short, they won't sway enough people over to destroy CGC. As much as we get frustrated that CGC only cares about money, it's a door that swings both ways, because collectors don't want to leave money on the table, either.
@@kyleroussel yep it'll be interesting to watch it play out in late Fall when the first PSA books hit the Vault and eBay.
I didn't know that BlackStone owned CGC. That's interesting. It might be worthwhile to dig into investors reports to see what's happening inside the company. I'm willing to bet that they "streamlined" by cutting quality control, staff, and internal auditing to boost profits.
All the reasons to just buy graded. It’s not worth the cost to buy a raw comic, almost at the graded prices that most often than not seller’s asking price is, then down the line sending in at a high cost to get graded. I recently thought of cracking a high value book (approx 12k) and sending in for pressing, prescreen, and a regrade. It was going to cost about $1k in fees (9%). Screw that. Not worth it. If it comes back just a half grade higher I lose money, if it comes back the same or lower I’m screwed. Just buy graded, raw game is too costly. If you are buying low cost comics, low grade or whatever, just to collect or fill a run, then yes raw makes sense. Otherwise I would just let someone else pay the grading fees.
You are spot on regarding identifying the problems started when BlackStone purchased CGC. You and I also see that BlackStone will dump CGC when the profitably evaporates. I’m predicting this will happen this year in 2025. What will that look like with CGC no longer has the giant conglomerate to back them? This actually doesn’t affect me because I went with a much smaller company to do my grading and slabbing.
I don't think slabs are dead entirely. They still serve a function. First, they preserve and protect the old books. This should be considered the primary role. Second, they give a general consensus and sense of the condition of the book. The market, not the grade, then sets the value on a book of that condition. But, there is just something to be said about an old raw book. The smell of the paper. The texture of the pages. The old advertisements. It's more magical than holding a slab of plastic.
@@Jo_Wa grading is a necessary evil for books over 1000 value imo
@@mightycomicsandcollectibles You are right. I should have said old and/or high value books.
I own a handful of cgc graded. That's all. I prefer raw 🎉. Always will. Only certain ones need grading. Over the top. I guess grading is more for sellers.
Was to be expected in all honesty, cost of living around the world has gone up, the Trump tax on China will see the cost of plastic go up to the US, so naturally the likes of CGC will see costs rise, I would fully expect to see the likes of PSA to follow
I just got a shipment back from CGC Signature Series, there was 6 books that were all but guaranteed to get a 9.8. Well, one of them didn't get that grade, it got a 7.5! Looked like they dropped it, went to pick it up and stepped on it, slipped on it and launched it 15 feet across the room..... I heard nothing from them about it, just the shock of it coming back damaged.
I'm sure you'll enjoy the video I just dropped then. Former employee talks about those situations
Why do I use CGC - because none of the other comic grading companies provide a product/service that is superior. Not sure why anyone is surprised or mad that CGC is raising prices. The backlog of submissions is more of an indication how poorly their competitors are doing. If we want to be mad at someone, it should be at CGC’s competition who are still not producing a product and service that looks and feels superior.
Its funny cuz they offered their black friday membership deal for 20$ and a 10% submission reduction for the year a no brainer for me at the time. And now with the price hike it feels like that 10% is now worthless
Just for accuracy: CGC was bought by Blackstone. Blackrock is a separate investment house and is uninvolved in comics.
@@robertsiman4171 you’re right! I’ll pin it
I can't say I really have any salt in the game because I don't send books in for grading and I never have. I have graded books in my collection, but only because I wanted those books and I picked them up at a good price. I follow this topic because I think maybe someday I'll send some in if I have the spare scratch, because it ain't cheap to grade books. Without fail, these companies always manage to do something or of something happen that makes me realize, it ain't worth my time or money to do so. I can't be the only collector with this take. For companies to have continued growth, they need fresh investors/customers coming into the market. So I agree with you that Blockstone/Blackrock or whatever it is will eventually unloaded it. Time will tell I guess. Cheers L
Haven't sent any books in for well over a year, very sketchy goings on at CGC and it just feels like they r taking the piss out of the comic collecting community.
Totally agree. CGC stinks and their CGC Forum stinks too. I am no longer using them. I have been much happier setting my books to PGX, CBCS and I look forward to trying PSA.
Outrageous. After last year they should have lowered prices.
Think about how many people would have sent their books in if they lowered the same amount they raised. It would have turned everything around for them.
CGC just made sure that I'm going with PSA for sure!
RE: "What is your thought process in continuing to submit books to CGC when a $1k book used to cost $55 and it now costs $95" - it's called inflation, bud, and it's everywhere. LOL Remember when a footlong at Subway was only $5? Now, most are in the $12-15 range.
The thought process is that, when you consider that it's only going to get more expensive in the future (I don't see any price decreases coming down the road; do you?), the question is not "why grade it now" but rather "why NOT grade it now".
@@jeffstanley6013so unthinking just inflationary? Issue is people incomes haven’t gone up. I’d rather save $100 per book and keep it raw. Especially since comic prices have gone down significantly To pay 10-20% of value to encapsulate a book is ridiculous and a waste of $. That’s why. When food and gas go back down are they going to reduce prices then? So I cant just blame inflation
@@mightycomicsandcollectibles A) "when food and gas go back down ..." - Price volatility in food and gas is not wholly dependent on inflation but is subject to supply and demand with both the suppliers and the public at large. Example: if you drive down the street and see gas is $3.75/gallon (or whatever) but then it says $3.82/gallon next week, that's not necessarily inflation but more of a response to market pressures over the past week. (That's why eggs are so expensive right now, not due to inflation but due to a shortage in supply.) But if you watch Die Hard and you see Reginald Vel Johnson buy his Twinkie's, walk out of the convenience store, throw the Twinkie's in his car and then go take a look at Nakatomi Plaza, and then you see the gas station sign in the foreground say $0.77/gallon (or whatever it was; I know it's in the 70-cent range) and compare that to today's price of $3.75/gallon, that is inflation.
Pricing of comic book grading services are subject to inflation, but they are not subject to the same market pressures that food and gas face due to comic grading being such a relatively niche market. So, to answer your question, no, I would not expect CGC to lower their prices next week if the price of gas happens to drop by $0.07/gallon next week or the price of eggs normalize in the next 2-3 weeks.
And no, I don't blame just inflation; I also think that their recent turn times are a factor as well. If they want to improve their turn times, they have to catch up on their backlog, and the best way to do that is to stem the inflow of books. And you do that by raising prices.
B) "To pay 10-20% of value to encapsulate a book is ridiculous and a waste of money." - That would depend upon your reasons for encapsulating as well as what you originally paid for the book. If you got the book for 50% of FMV, paying 10-20% of FMV to encapsulate it can make sense (depending on what $ amounts we're talking about; I would not encapsulate a $10 book even if I got it for free). For me, I slab my high value books so that, if something happens to me, my wife who knows nothing about comics will much more easily get full value for them from the community. I'm willing to invest a little over FMV on a per book basis for that peace of mind, but that's just me.
I know cgc has had their issues and because of them I haven't sent one thing in three years. I have a feeling that this price increase has to do with the rise of property insurance. Hurricanes have blowed right by or over the top of Sarasota Florida for the last 3-4 years. Whether that's the case or not at least they could have bullshitted us into thinking so and wrote it in at the top of the letter, anything instead of "Here's our new price change". 😅
As a fat inner city sweat hog I believe you sir are entitled to your opinion. Why do I stack graded comics ? Simple… arbitration to accommodate online transactions. 👍
Nostra-Laurence!
I mentioned to you in one of your live hangouts that I’ve been exclusive to cbcs since 2021 because I had no faith that CGC could properly do their one and only job. And that was before reholdergate and bananagate. And when you have evidence that a company cannot do their one and only job, the community should have enough integrity to stop submitting to that company AT LEAST until that company admits their missteps and take ownership of their failures.
But CGC doesn’t have to do any of that because the comic community has so much of their inventories tied up in CGC graded books that CGC knows it has the community by the balls and doesn’t have to do sh*t.
💯
My old grandpapy told me this once, " There's a sucker born every Day"!
I love the “ravishing Rick Rude “ intro!!!
why? I'm still interested in their signature series, but I now have everything i wanted to have signed by Frank Miller. I have a few books I would like Peach Momoko to sign, but after her...only a few celebrities. i.e. Patrick Stewart and Sigourney Weaver left on my list. I've canceled my CGC auto renewal since I don't know when they will be available for signings (if ever). As someone has mentioned, CGC will focus on Corporate Customer's sending in new comics to be graded with 9.8s or 9.9s in very large batches.
If you have big book and want to get the best price at auction, the choice is CGC and there is no legitimate alternative and there never will be.
@@comiccowboy right now you’re right! We’ll see about the future
@ collectors really don’t like what they see with that PSA holder. It’s too big, can’t read the text well and collectors don’t need an odd asset at this point
Do not trust any more, they have shown to be dishonest, never liked my books turned into a tradin card.Keepem raw!
It’s Blackstone that purchased CGC not BlackRock. Might want to put that up somewhere to avoid any issues! Good video btw
I think this might me followed by a fixed discounted rate for sending in over 15 books like with there promotion, example modern book under 15 subs $27 per $25 15 and 22 for 25 at least that’s thevrumor to cut down the single and double submissions I hope this is true but who know time will tell but for now I won’t over react to basically a $2 increase all the fast food restaurants raise their prices, but people still go there 🤷♂️
I think they will try to do what the sports card industry is doing. Watch for comics that should be normally graded 9.8 start to be graded lower and make the high grade comics more rare. I could see them rejecting current modern comics or making the grading price higher.
It’s gonna be okay,,,, I just sold two books last night!
This is so funny to me. People worry about how much they pay CGC when in fact the only thing that matters is the end result. Who cares if it’s 18-20-25 or 27…. If the book comes back AS EXPECTED then the 2-4-6 or 8 dollar difference doesn’t matter. The end result is ALWAYS all that should matter
@@zukodany it matters. I’ll add that they’ve been less than accurate as well. I agree with the modern slabs. But if you buy big keys it shouldn’t cost u 95 now. Sorry. Especially with the shotty work and inconsistencies and refusal to fix the issues
@@mightycomicsandcollectibles in a perfect world - a veteran collector should know what to expect when sending books to get graded - the problem always starts when the “pros” fall short of expectations or damage the book when handling it/quality control issues. So again - I stand by my statement - if an expert collector sends in a book to be graded and gets 5 to 10 percent margin of error on expectations - the difference in price paid is laughable. You’d be a fool to think that a $10 difference matters on a $1000 book IF THEY DELIVER.
@@mightycomicsandcollectibles and the point I’m trying to make here is NOT that I’m defending CGC pricings or increase - it’s that the pricing don’t really matter, the only thing that should only matter is expectations. It works that way even when they slash prices or have one of those silly flash sales - WHO CARES?? If u send in 25 books at a BOGO sale - and they come back 50% short of expectations or damaged - you really didn’t get a discount at all - you were ripped off. The same logic applies to those increases
@ I’m not comparing 85 to 95. I’m comparing 55 to 95. That’s was the price 5 years ago. No reason it should double in that time frame. Especially with the price of big books coming down. But you keep cradling there balls my friend. All good. 👍🏻
@@mightycomicsandcollectibles🤣
everyone will complain, barely anyone will stop submitting
@@jbones2099 it’s sad
I have a stack sitting that should be graded. I haven’t sent anything in for a year. If I’m going to sell a 1k book it’s getting slabbed. It sells for more plain and simple. People need to stop slabbing 10 dollar books however 😂
it's ok...we hate CGC all the same.
Because of this fee's going up , im changing grading company..
Until PSA starts grading, there isn't a better option.
Great intro and outro!!! You called it and I predict you will be right again. Before the end of the year, they will go up again. It's a shame what this company has become. I genuinely love CGC slabs.
@@MJComix so do I. In a niche business when companies take advantage it can bring down the entire space
the feeling is mutual CGC!
You nailed this prediction!!
Is it possibe CGC will take your 9.8 key you send in and then send you a lower grade (say a 9.6?) and pocket the difference?
I don’t think they’re criminals. However they did fire 2 people awhile back for doing something similar
Skeletor is laughing at the comic book community
😂
Name a business that is not interested in making money
Non profits😂
I think Donna needs to do some investigative reporting
@@gooddogcollectibles I almost did this video as Donna
I had no idea blackrock owned CGC. Awful news.
@@wobblywallace3383 it’s blackstone. I misspoke. Shows u how fired up I was.
@@mightycomicsandcollectibles two heads of the same snake. Both up too no good.
As long Comic Book dealers keep sending hundreds off comic nothings going to change good call I send book the I want to keep 90S collection
You’re gonna be waiting for those video games for a long time they they have video games and movies on hold because they ran out of supplies. They’re not even gonna get their supplies back in to start re-grading them till January 17 at the earliest.
@@Manscapejr awesome. Another reason not to send stuff. But at lease it costs 40 to grade a game as opposed to 95
What do you think about CBCS and PSA?
I’m done with CB grading
Great video as always 🎉
Did they (cgc) come out and said they fixed the banana-gate issue?
@@DavidClark-vu3dw they said they were working on a fix by increasing the size of the inner well. But I’ve seen people unbox recently with still issues
Man yes.. the swapping was terrible but that bending shit where they walked back what CGC mike said about fixing them as errors for free
I never want to see that Tool Matt Nelson talk about community and hearing us
I’ll buy magnet cases for $12-$14 and I’ll use those comic capsule has a good product also and both are UV protected
Their grading has been so off I saw someone’s book go from 9.0+ down to 7.5 back to 9.0+
How are you that wrong and still allowed to grade books
I think a big issue is these graders are nameless when they handle our books so it could be anyone
They should be made to sign off who our graders were so when they get it wrong we know that person shouldn’t be handling our stuff
I’m not sending anymore I’ll send Art to CBCS for encapsulation but nothing else
Ultimate Warrior myself however great video & I’m not a fiend for CGC 😮 but good call ☎️ mr mighty
I understand why you want the most value out of your books but when you say you would take a slabbed book out of its protection and send it to cgc blows my mind when everyone complains about the service. Choose a company and forget cgc. The others are just as good. It's hilarious to see pgx grades books selling for a quarter of the price but thank you. I'll bust those out of the case and quadruple my money. Not!
very well put.
Send to CBCS or psa cases look better n. My opinion now so that’s how u fight back
@@lostcause0156 yeah but the problem is CBCS doesn’t resell for the same and that’s why CGC is getting away with it. Hopefully PSA comes out swinging
Boooooo
What happened?