MARVELous Fan

If CGC were to have a London office, where those in the UK and Europe could get their books graded, wouldn’t they make sure that the people they employed were taught to the same level of grading as those based in Florida? I would see this as a CGC franchise type thing. If you go anywhere in the world, the McDonalds meal you’ve eaten has been prepared and cooked the same way as it is done in the US. Conformity and consistency is the key thing here. If you have that, you can replicate that business model anywhere in the world. I can’t think of a reason why CGC couldn’t do the same! Andy

Hi, Apologies if this has been asked before in this section, but how does it work with trades? Is it usually 1 for 1 (if both books are of similar value/rarity/sought after)? or, if 1 seller has a book that is rarer/more sought after and expensive to buy, does the buyer have to offer 2 or more books, up to the value of what the seller wants, price wise? Understand if the above is stating the obvious and I’ve answered my own question, but would just like to know if there is a definitive answer to this question? Don’t want in the future to insult another seller nor get ripped off by offering too much. Thanks, Andy

Thanks for the welcome, and thanks also to members who posted after my last thank you. Thank you. Andy

And I was! Thank you, ‘Yes I Canada’

As a newbie on this forum (and apologies if this idea has been mentioned before), I find it strange that CGC as a company has not thought to train people from other countries to become graders. If there were graders in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and Australia, that would save collectors in those continents excessive shipping costs to and from Florida. I’m not saying CGC should have a base in every major country around the world, but in Europe, for instance, if there was a base in London or Paris (as just two examples), sending books to and receiving slabs back from either of those two cities must be cheaper for any European collector, than to send them all the way to Florida and back! Apart from Europe, North America and Canada, there could be a small number of graders in the other continents I’ve already mentioned, able to cover major cities in those areas! If (and I know it’s a big if), this could be implemented by CGC, it would take the pressure off the graders in Florida and turnaround times would be much quicker, particularly for the collectors in the US and Canada. Training worldwide graders would be expensive, but if it meant CGC charging a bit more for their services to pay for it, would world wide collectors be happy with the trade off of getting their books back quicker than they are right now! I’m sure many of you are shaking your heads in disbelief at my suggestion (probably because this idea has been shot down before), and I realise I’m expecting unicorns at the end of a rainbow, but just thought I would put this out there, just so I can be ridiculed. LOL. Andy

Many thanks to all those who replied since my post of yesterday. Food for thought indeed! Andy

Thank you to everyone who replied. Some great answers and your thoughts have been duly noted. Apologies for not stating what book it was. The book in question was Tomb of Dracula # 10 (Blade’s 1st appearance). Not sure if the dealer has it at $975 in anticipation that the book will go up in price if the talk of a Blade re-boot actually happens, or whether the dealer truly believes a CGC 7.0 should be around that figure of $975. I guess I could ask the seller how long he’s had the book up for sale, but that might be rude to do so, and he could just say “last week”, and I still wouldn’t be any the wiser. Guess I will do a little more investigation work (checking eBay sold prices, seeing what other 7.0 grades are out there and at what prices), before I contact the seller. Once again, thanks for all your replies. Andy

20 views and not one reply? Have i said something wrong? If I have, no offence was meant - just thought someone could give me an answer! Oh, well...

Hi, N00B here - First post, so please be gentle! Apologies if this question has been asked before (and has been answered) but I’m looking to purchase my 1st slab, and would like to know how collectors arrive at the best average price comparison, so they know they haven’t over paid? The slab in question is on a dealer’s website. It is a CGC 7.0, priced at $975 I went onto comics.gocollect.com and found there had been 17 sales in 2020 of this slab in this grade (nearly all of the sales were on eBay), so I added up every price and then divided by 17, and got an average of $828.41. Is this the only computation to find out if a title is over priced? If so, is it proper etiquette to inform the dealer that you have used comics.gocollect.com to learn that the average is $828.41 (and not his price at $975), or would it just be the case that the seller would say, “that’s the price, take it or leave it!” The difference between the two amounts is $146.59. That’s quite a lot. With a price difference of that size, would dealers be willing to haggle, or perhaps pay for overseas shipping (I live in the UK) to offset the amount? As I’m sure you can appreciate, I want to start on the right foot, and continue the correct way to buying slabs in the future, so any information and help on the above would be much appreciated. Many thanks and a Happy 2021 to all of you. Andy