joeypost

My 12/11/2012 fast track value books are still sitting at graded. 23 working days later.

Moderns arrived today The Hulk 271 came back as 9.8 Selling?

I can only assume many more are graded per day than put into their plastic tomb. Until they address that issue TAT's will never fully catch up or be close to respectable.

I was at CGC this morning and I was told they are starting to catch up (slowly) and have been making progress.

I think it is 50% of the estimated time additional. If a regular submission was 40...then pre-screen would be around 60.

Someone must have read my post. Books have now passed resto check.

I have value fast track books that were received on 12/11/2012 that have not passed the resto check yet, have not been scheduled. Unless my math is way off that is 18 or 19 working days allowing for the 4 days off for x-mas and New years. At the rate they have been popping books into slabs these should be done in the next two weeks. I have my heart set on 30 business days.

Always has been. And if you had to pick a stage in the process where you wanted the most care possible, it would be encapsulation. As hard as they might try, you have to assume everyone knows how far behind they are and rushing things through is always at the back of everyones mind.

It could be two weeks before they are graded and another 3-4 before they get shipped. So you are still fairly close to the 120 estimate. If I am wrong I would be happy about it since it appears CGC is doing some catchup, Catsup or Ketchup

So when is the grade "finalized" and "final" and not subject to change? The way I read the following 2 sections together, a book is graded after the final grader examines it and, only then, it will head to be encapsulated. Further, being graded is a precursor to being marked "shipped/safe" according to the website. It used to be that you could see your grades once a book was marked graded. The way I read the above, nothing should change from when something is marked "Graded" b/c the books have been graded and are headed to be slabbed. This is just another example of decreasing any transparency. Did they do it b/c it was a hassle? B/c they are training new graders? B/c they were worried about showing when damage happened? Who knows. There's no information coming out of Sarasota and it's just another in a long line of "changes" about which no CGC rep speaks or answers questions. Read the text you quoted: "Grades are available online once the books are marked with the status "Shipped"." Nowhere does it say that the grades are supposed to be available when the books are marked "scheduled for grading" or "graded" - and as the QC process happens after the books have been graded, it makes zero sense to hand out the grades till the books have actually been finalized (which doesn't happen till they hit shipped/safe). What I don't understand is why you, instead of posting the same speculations again & again in thread after thread, didn't just pick up the phone, call CGC and ask them directly about this latest change? I did ... they said it was a mistake to ever have allowed people access to grades prior to the books being finalized. That it created confusion amongst new submitters and that it had gotten to be an even bigger headache ever since they started training new graders. My experience with CGC is that every time there's been a problem with a book where it was obvious that something went wrong whilst it was in the hands of CGC, CGC took care of it & made me right. If you choose to believe otherwise, that's your prerogative, but I have to say that I'm not really a fan of the tinfoil-hat-wearing Transplant that sees a giant conspiracy in every single decision made by CGC. Mike, I don't see it as tinfoil hat wearing. Joey makes an excellent post which provides real insight into why I post the things I do. I won't rehash it here except to say that CGC just keeps taking away things, with no communication. And this is the way CGC has been doing business since this board started up 10 years ago. How many of CGC's new policies were first reported here by a hobbyist b/c they called up and accidentally found out about it? How many things had to be "discovered" by hobbyists first before CGC would even admit they knew what we were talking about? Probably be easier/quicker to list the things CGC did report proactively than not. How long does something have to go on before it's no longer a nutty conspiracy theory? I think the point had more to do with bad business practices compared to conspiracy theories. At least that was the intent of my posting. There's no question CGC doesn't excel at communicating changes, but if I look at your list, Joey, a lot of those items were posted about both here and on CGC's own site prior to them taking effect - the price increases, the changes to the SS program, the charging for graders' notes, the $5 invoice fee, etc. One may not like CGC increasing their prices, but you can't say that they didn't give us notice that they were going to do so. And it's not all bad either - the changes to the SS program made it much more of a level playing field for anybody who enjoys SS books. And whilst I don't personally care one way or the other about them acquiring Classics Inc and offering up pressing as a service, it is an addition that wasn't available previously. Mike, my post had more to do with what has been taken away. CGC has let uus know about the price increases and oher items you have mentioned. What I ask is what have we gotten back regarding customer service in comparison to what we have lost? This is not a complaint but a simple question of facts.

So when is the grade "finalized" and "final" and not subject to change? The way I read the following 2 sections together, a book is graded after the final grader examines it and, only then, it will head to be encapsulated. Further, being graded is a precursor to being marked "shipped/safe" according to the website. It used to be that you could see your grades once a book was marked graded. The way I read the above, nothing should change from when something is marked "Graded" b/c the books have been graded and are headed to be slabbed. This is just another example of decreasing any transparency. Did they do it b/c it was a hassle? B/c they are training new graders? B/c they were worried about showing when damage happened? Who knows. There's no information coming out of Sarasota and it's just another in a long line of "changes" about which no CGC rep speaks or answers questions. Read the text you quoted: "Grades are available online once the books are marked with the status "Shipped"." Nowhere does it say that the grades are supposed to be available when the books are marked "scheduled for grading" or "graded" - and as the QC process happens after the books have been graded, it makes zero sense to hand out the grades till the books have actually been finalized (which doesn't happen till they hit shipped/safe). What I don't understand is why you, instead of posting the same speculations again & again in thread after thread, didn't just pick up the phone, call CGC and ask them directly about this latest change? I did ... they said it was a mistake to ever have allowed people access to grades prior to the books being finalized. That it created confusion amongst new submitters and that it had gotten to be an even bigger headache ever since they started training new graders. My experience with CGC is that every time there's been a problem with a book where it was obvious that something went wrong whilst it was in the hands of CGC, CGC took care of it & made me right. If you choose to believe otherwise, that's your prerogative, but I have to say that I'm not really a fan of the tinfoil-hat-wearing Transplant that sees a giant conspiracy in every single decision made by CGC. Mike, I don't see it as tinfoil hat wearing. Joey makes an excellent post which provides real insight into why I post the things I do. I won't rehash it here except to say that CGC just keeps taking away things, with no communication. And this is the way CGC has been doing business since this board started up 10 years ago. How many of CGC's new policies were first reported here by a hobbyist b/c they called up and accidentally found out about it? How many things had to be "discovered" by hobbyists first before CGC would even admit they knew what we were talking about? Probably be easier/quicker to list the things CGC did report proactively than not. How long does something have to go on before it's no longer a nutty conspiracy theory? I think the point had more to do with bad business practices compared to conspiracy theories. At least that was the intent of my posting.

Didn't it used to be 3 graders? It used to state 3 graders.

Not to stir up the pot further, but a little bird pointed me in the direction of this most recent change. Not sure if it has been addressed before or not. "CGC guarantees that a comic book encapsulated in a CGC holder is authentic and has been inspected by at least two professionals." Am I reading too much into this and the 2 "professionals" no longer need to be graders or is the wording CGC used poor.

About 4 months ago I had 22 books on a 30 book submission change grades from when they were "scheduled for grading" till they were actually graded. They were all cracked-out 9.8s that suddenly dropped to 9.6 yellow labels, but when the grades were finalized, went back up to 9.8. Even though I'm by no means new to subbing books, I must admit I was a bit freaked when I got the preliminary grades by email - I ended up mentioning it to CGC at the next show I was at, and they told me they were training new modern graders and I shouldn't pay attention to the grades till the books were actually slabbed. I realize that people, in general, are pissed at CGC for the long turnaround times and seem intent on complaining about every single thing that CGC changes, but how does it make sense to allow people access to grades until the books are finalized? There's zero benefit to CGC in doing so and it could very easily lead to confusion & ill-will amongst new submitters when they don't realize that the grades they're seeing aren't "real". The logic you use is sound Mike, and I agree with you. It had to have been a headache emailing PDF's and reading out grades over the phone. That part I get. Anyone who has been in business for an extended period of time knows they have to trim practices that waste time. The rub I see with CGC is that they only take away, they have never replaced one lost service with another. Do they have to? No, they don't. Would it be nice? We all know the answer to that one. Over time people do get tired and frustrated when less and less is given and nothing positive takes it's place. What is in place is working for CGC. They have zero legitimate competition. They have no reason to make any drastic changes. The consumer has no choice but to wait and pay what they ask if they want books slabbed. Maybe Matt and his crew will have an impact. Only time will tell. Keep in mind we are already in January and CGC is 120 days behind. In 2 months the convention season ramps up again. Will we be looking at 160 days soon? Who knows. Since my time here on the boards I can list many things CGC has done away with or reduced that would create a less than favorable environment. Increased pricing. Three times. No discount on bulk submissions or handing back in the old label from cracked out slabs. Horrific turnaround times. Not being able to check grades until the books are on their way out the door. No longer being able to pre-screen SS books. SS Witnesses having to be accompanied by a CGC employee. Charging you $5 per invoice for them to take your books. Periods of tight grading/loose grading. Not communicating changes with their customers. Losing head graders. You can see why any subtle change, at this point could send someone over the edge.

I'm happy.

Iron Man 44 in 9.4 OW/W Avengers 105 in 9.4 OW/W

Maybe the holidays that are coming up next week have started causing delays this week. You lose two days next week due to x-mas. My last batch of value fast tracks took 9 days to go from graded to shipped/safe. I can remember when fast tracked value books would have grades after 10-12 days and be shipped before day 20. I miss 2007.

Anyone notice any movement on the Marvel Presents books from 3 on?

How did I miss this post. One of the best of the year.

Is Iron Man 44 one of the harder ones to find?

We have Nik to thank for it. Thanks buddy.

Small potatoes.

I sold a 9.8 SS copy about a year ago for over $1,800.00

Somewhere between a lot and a whole lot. I myself have owned and sold over 50 copies of this book.