Keep in the game and hone your grading skills.
Why spend all the money? To sharpen your grading skills. Grading is an art, but with all things worth while it takes the commitment of time, effort, and money.
I've only sent in 33 comics so far to get graded. I keep a list to compare what I think the comic grades before encapsulation and then what it grades after CGC certifies it. Both my 1st and 2nd batch that I sent off, I didn't get any right at all (and 2 were even restored). The most recent batch I got 3 out of 15 correct. The difference this time is that I purchased a copy of "The Official Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide".
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=1960621
It's full of lots of pictures of each grade, and gets you to start looking at your comics from an unbiased position. Now those small creases, impacted corners, and spine stress marks stand out.
Yes, I agree initially sending in lots of comics to CGC is expensive (if your on a tight budget) and disappointing when you expect lots of 9.4 back and only get 7.5s to 9.2s, but wouldn't you like to in the future look through a stack of a Dealer's raw NM- and be able to cherry pick out the 9.6s and 9.8s?
Expert grading skills are priceless. I'm not there yet, but, I'm working on it.
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