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SREW's Journal

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London Super Comic Con - submission abandoned

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SREW

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No insurance for shipping CGC books internationally

I was delighted to hear that CGC would be at the London Super Comic Con this past weekend. As an eager Collector's Society member I had a coupon for four standard books in hand and spent a month figuring out the best books from my collection to submit. I settled on some gems such as Tales to Astonish #44, Batman #232, and a VG Tales to Astonish #13, one of my prized books! So then I read online, just before the show, that CGC does not offer insurance on international shipping, and uses Fedex which only insures for up to $100 per shipment, basically the paper cost of the comic. Surely CGC wouldn't do this! How could you submit expensive comics and then not have them insured for the return journey to Britain? I decided to check with CGC before carrying my best books to the Excel Centre, home of the show. So on Saturday I went to the CGC desk and duly asked and the first person I spoke to said of course books were fully insured. And I quote, "otherwise what's the point, right?" I agreed and left reassured.

But later in the day I decided to double check and went back to the CGC desk and asked a different person there. This time they explained that no, CGC does NOT insure international shipments and I would have to arrange third-party insurance. I could open a Fedex account and then arrange with an insurer to cover the books when they shipped. As I only had Saturday evening to do this, with no idea about who a reliable insurer might be, I decided the best thing would be to abandon my submission -- I didn't want to lose Groot or the opportunity to buy him back if he was lost. So in the end, because I wanted to use the coupon, I submitted four books that if they get lost in the mail it won't be the end of the world. But I hope they don't get lost or damaged.

CGC said it's too expensive for them to offer international shipment insurance. Yet when I asked various dealers and auction houses and others present at the convention if they offer international insurance, they all said yes, they do. It is common practice, it appears, for dealers to offer full insurance on packages sent from the US to the UK. So I'm bemused, disappointed, and slightly annoyed that CGC managed to overlook what I would think is a no-brainer. If you want to build a market in Europe, make it as easy as possible for your customers to use your services. Having to get Fedex accounts and take out insurance policies with some unknown entity put me off making this submission and it is not going to inspire me to make any CGC submissions again any time soon. I can only end by saying I heard that several other people had not submitted at LSCC because of this problem. I wonder if others submitted without realizing their books are not insured? I'd like CGC to be huge in Europe, so I hope they can take account of this experience and change the arrangements.

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