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Why I'm choosing CGG for my next submission

Started by BassGMan,

47 posts in this topic

BassGMan

BassGMan

Posted
Posted

Hi Guys. Well, one of the biggest debates that I've had with myself over the last few months is if I should submit the bulk of my slabbing orders to CGG or CGC. Of course I prefer CGC overall due to the brand recognition, but that is the only reason that this choice has not been easy to make. I am not a big-time dealer although I do submit 100-150 books per year for slabbing. I don't know if CGC would consider me a medium or small customer with those numbers. But due to the extended waiting periods that we are experiencing on Modern and Economy services, it is just not worth it anymore. I can submit to CGG for LESS money, receive essentially the same service, and get my books back in a couple weeks, NOT a couple months. Since I slab for selling purposes, I can turn books over much quicker and my money is put to better use. Six months ago I would not have felt this way but CGG is catching on and my CGG slabbed books are getting alot more bids on Ebay than they used to.

 

Don't get me wrong, I will still send CGC my high value books if I am ever lucky enough to own any and I would not mind paying Express service fees for multi-thousand dollar books. But for the meat and potatoes of my submissions (Modern, Bronze and Silver books valued between $25 - $300 or so) I am gonna have to switch to CGG. I may not sell them for quite as much, but I will be able to sell them much quicker. Geez, I am still waiting for a CGC Magazine order that I shipped in late-November. That's almost three months now confused-smiley-013.gif . Sorry CGC, just can't put up with that kind of waiting anymore. I've got 30 books shipping to CGG early next week.------Sid

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kryptonitecomics

kryptonitecomics

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I can certainly understand where you are coming from as it is impacting my decision to send off books as well. I wouldn't be selling them, but the prospect of waiting 3 or 4 month's leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

 

Are there any plans for CGC to increase it's number of graders? I know they can't just grab anyone off the street, but it seems like the demand has far outweighed there suppy of graders and typically a business will increase it's resources to keep up with the demand. I know that it would mean increased revenue for CGC and a lot more happy customers 893applaud-thumb.gif

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jbud73

jbud73

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Posted

Thats funny I was planning my next submission and I've kinda come to the same crossroads. I don't sell 95% of the books I buy. But I will be subbing 3 books to CGC and the rest - about 6 moderns to CGG. Again resale is not a factor here, just time $$$ and utility. When I pop $$$,time, service and product and consider it from a utilitarian standpoint - CGG just makes more sense even if the books are not for resale, in fact for certain books it makes more sense if the books are not for resale and simply for display / preservation. IMO 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

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murph0

murph0

Posted
Posted

I'm going to be sending the book I receive from Rube11 in to CGG. Not because I think they're a good company or anything. I just want to see what they have to say. After that, the book will just sit in my collection.

 

Brian

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Rocketeer

Rocketeer

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Posted

I'm kind of in the same boat as Sid....I sell 90% of my books and I have about 7 modern orders in right now waiting to be returned,.....I just called up to get and ETA....I found that most of the orders have been graded (the oldest one is from late DEC)...the hold up seems to be in encapsulation.....I was told it's going to be another two weeks before they get slabbed...which will be a turnaround of about 11 or 12 weeks for moderns.... confused.gif

 

On the bright side I did get a couple of sweet 9.8's...wolv limit #1...hulk #340...x-men 266 (two I think and a bunch of 9.6's) and asm #299 maybe some more I can't remember....

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garthgantu

garthgantu

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Rocketeer: that seems kinda weird... there's a two-week period between when the comics are graded and when they're slabbed? I would have thought that once a book is graded, it's slabbed very quickly. Placing the book in hard plastic takes very little time, it would seem. I wonder if CGC is actually experiencing a shortage of materials - that they simply don't have enough plastic casings to go around at the moment..?

 

Does anyone know if it's standard operating procedure for CGC to grade a book and then take 5-10 business days to place it in the slab?

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drbanner

drbanner

Posted
Posted
Rocketeer: that seems kinda weird... there's a two-week period between when the comics are graded and when they're slabbed? I would have thought that once a book is graded, it's slabbed very quickly. Placing the book in hard plastic takes very little time, it would seem. I wonder if CGC is actually experiencing a shortage of materials - that they simply don't have enough plastic casings to go around at the moment..?

 

Does anyone know if it's standard operating procedure for CGC to grade a book and then take 5-10 business days to place it in the slab?

 

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!! foreheadslap.gif

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supapimp

supapimp

Posted
Posted
I bought my first UCG book from Canada. It is graded and sealed in a bag with UCG labels. Grades and info are on the back of backboard on a pretty certificate. Page quality is numerically graded rather than in words- but pretty interesting....Has anybody seen these yet?

 

i was just going to ask you...WTF is UCG? confused.gif can you post a scan? 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

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ArAich

ArAich

Posted
Posted
the last modern submission a made was last year, and i rec'd them back within 21 days total, not business days. 893whatthe.giflaugh.gifsorry.gif

 

I remember that...I had also sent some books at that time and had a similar quick turnaround...however, my last submission was not anything to brag about as it took over 2 months until I recieved my books... 893frustrated.gif

 

I am now focusing on building up "raw" stock until turnaround times get better... confused-smiley-013.gif

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garthgantu

garthgantu

Posted
Posted
Rocketeer: that seems kinda weird... there's a two-week period between when the comics are graded and when they're slabbed? I would have thought that once a book is graded, it's slabbed very quickly. Placing the book in hard plastic takes very little time, it would seem. I wonder if CGC is actually experiencing a shortage of materials - that they simply don't have enough plastic casings to go around at the moment..?

 

Does anyone know if it's standard operating procedure for CGC to grade a book and then take 5-10 business days to place it in the slab?

 

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!! foreheadslap.gif

 

Banner, how's that tulip bulb collection coming along? Are ya making a killing on those yet? Or just going to cut your losses and plant 'em? flowerred.gif

 

Seemed like a reasonable question re: the CGC process... I think I'm aware of all the steps involved, but the specifics of each step, and the time involved, are interesting to me. If you had to break down the period between raw submission and receipt of slabbed books, how would you allocate those 90 days?

 

Receipt of raw book and entry into CGC computer system = 1 day

Waiting period for raw book to reach pre-grading = 20 days ?

Pregrading and submission to primary graders = < 1 day

Primary graders peruse book = < 1 day

Graders' notes entered into system, book and associated grade entered into census = < 1 day

Waiting period for book to be slabbed = XX days ?

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Illiterati-migration

Illiterati-migration

Posted
Posted
Rocketeer: that seems kinda weird... there's a two-week period between when the comics are graded and when they're slabbed? I would have thought that once a book is graded, it's slabbed very quickly. Placing the book in hard plastic takes very little time, it would seem. I wonder if CGC is actually experiencing a shortage of materials - that they simply don't have enough plastic casings to go around at the moment..?

 

Does anyone know if it's standard operating procedure for CGC to grade a book and then take 5-10 business days to place it in the slab?

 

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!! foreheadslap.gif

 

Banner, how's that tulip bulb collection coming along? Are ya making a killing on those yet? Or just going to cut your losses and plant 'em? flowerred.gif

 

Seemed like a reasonable question re: the CGC process...

 

It WAS a reasonable question, that's why Banner had to jump in with that little snipe lest someone take your concern seriously. We joke about the "Thought Police"... or do we? 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

I just wish some of these people around here had the sack to stand up for themselves, have a little dignity, and be unafraid of asking questions. Of course, in a land where NO questions are actually answered, maybe they're just doing their best? 893scratchchin-thumb.gif893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

 

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ArAich

ArAich

Posted
Posted
Rocketeer: that seems kinda weird... there's a two-week period between when the comics are graded and when they're slabbed? I would have thought that once a book is graded, it's slabbed very quickly. Placing the book in hard plastic takes very little time, it would seem. I wonder if CGC is actually experiencing a shortage of materials - that they simply don't have enough plastic casings to go around at the moment..?

 

Does anyone know if it's standard operating procedure for CGC to grade a book and then take 5-10 business days to place it in the slab?

 

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!! foreheadslap.gif

 

Banner, how's that tulip bulb collection coming along? Are ya making a killing on those yet? Or just going to cut your losses and plant 'em? flowerred.gif

 

Seemed like a reasonable question re: the CGC process...

 

It WAS a reasonable question, that's why Banner had to jump in with that little snipe lest someone take your concern seriously. We joke about the "Thought Police"... or do we? 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

I just wish some of these people around here had the sack to stand up for themselves, have a little dignity, and be unafraid of asking questions. Of course, in a land where NO questions are actually answered, maybe they're just doing their best? 893scratchchin-thumb.gif893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

 

 

Is that your best J_C impression???... 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

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Smokinghawk

Smokinghawk

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Posted
Rocketeer: that seems kinda weird... there's a two-week period between when the comics are graded and when they're slabbed? I would have thought that once a book is graded, it's slabbed very quickly. Placing the book in hard plastic takes very little time, it would seem. I wonder if CGC is actually experiencing a shortage of materials - that they simply don't have enough plastic casings to go around at the moment..?

 

Does anyone know if it's standard operating procedure for CGC to grade a book and then take 5-10 business days to place it in the slab?

 

I sent in 10 moderns to CGG, mailed Friday. On Wednesday, they emailed me that they were received, would be graded soon, and shipped on/about March 4.

 

Now, the thing I'm concerned about is whether the grading will be too tough. I sent some GORGEOUS moderns in, and in the past my nice books have come back about .2 too low, in my estimation. Given their recent high-grade returns for their pet ebay seller, I'm hoping that means a slightly adjusted grading scale in general. Sellers will avoid CGG if we start to feel that our commodities are hurt by undergrading.

 

 

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Rocketeer

Rocketeer

Posted
Posted
Rocketeer: that seems kinda weird... there's a two-week period between when the comics are graded and when they're slabbed? I would have thought that once a book is graded, it's slabbed very quickly. Placing the book in hard plastic takes very little time, it would seem. I wonder if CGC is actually experiencing a shortage of materials - that they simply don't have enough plastic casings to go around at the moment..?

 

Does anyone know if it's standard operating procedure for CGC to grade a book and then take 5-10 business days to place it in the slab?

 

That's what corey said,...she said I had 4 orders graded...(like I said the oldest modern submission was from 12/26)....and they were all waiting to be slabbed so not to expect them for another two weeks.....

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garthgantu

garthgantu

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Posted

I sent in 10 moderns to CGG, mailed Friday. On Wednesday, they emailed me that they were received, would be graded soon, and shipped on/about March 4.

 

Now, the thing I'm concerned about is whether the grading will be too tough. I sent some GORGEOUS moderns in, and in the past my nice books have come back about .2 too low, in my estimation. Given their recent high-grade returns for their pet ebay seller, I'm hoping that means a slightly adjusted grading scale in general. Sellers will avoid CGG if we start to feel that our commodities are hurt by undergrading.

 

Good info, 'Hawk, and it brings up another question that I think is pretty fascinating: if you're CGG (or 3PG, or UCG, or etc.), do you overgrade or undergrade in relation to CGC ?

 

If you undergrade, over time you could expect buyers to gravitate to books in your slabs, since the word would get out that "CGG is tougher and their VF+ is most people's VF/NM" ...but at the same time, the people placing the orders are not going to be particularly happy with grades that are too tough.

 

If you overgrade, the submitters may be happy, since their VF books are getting VF/NM labels...but over time, buyers figure this out and start to discount the grades by .2 or .5, which in turn hurts the seller/submitter...

 

Either way, it seems clear that the most important thing would be consistency...

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lighthouse

lighthouse

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Posted
Seemed like a reasonable question re: the CGC process... I think I'm aware of all the steps involved, but the specifics of each step, and the time involved, are interesting to me. If you had to break down the period between raw submission and receipt of slabbed books, how would you allocate those 90 days?

 

Receipt of raw book and entry into CGC computer system = 1 day

Waiting period for raw book to reach pre-grading = 20 days ?

Pregrading and submission to primary graders = < 1 day

Primary graders peruse book = < 1 day

Graders' notes entered into system, book and associated grade entered into census = < 1 day

Waiting period for book to be slabbed = XX days ?

 

You're missing a few steps here...

 

Billing verification after receipt but before anything else

Restoration check early in the process.

There is a quality control check after encapsulation (which can throw the book back into the grading process)

Followed by imaging

Then packing and shipping

 

 

As far as CGG goes, I can't decide if it's worth my time to run some tests or not. One that I have seriously considered is to crack open a modern 9.8 from CGC and submit it to CGG along with two 9.8 prescreen rejects of the exact same issue (chosen specifically to have enough QP variance to distinguish the books coming back).

 

It would cost me the three grading fees, plus the destruction of the CGC 9.8 (since I strongly doubt CGG is careful enough in their grading or packing to ensure that I could recrack the original 9.8 and resubmit to CGC with any confidence) but it might prove an interesting experiment...

 

Best part is, even if CGG knew that I was running the test, they wouldn't be able to tell which book was which... so it would still be an independent trial...

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garthgantu

garthgantu

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If you had to break down the period between raw submission and receipt of slabbed books, how would you allocate those 90 days?

 

Receipt of raw book and entry into CGC computer system = 1 day

Waiting period for raw book to reach pre-grading = 20 days ?

Pregrading and submission to primary graders = < 1 day

Primary graders peruse book = < 1 day

Graders' notes entered into system, book and associated grade entered into census = < 1 day

Waiting period for book to be slabbed = XX days ?

You're missing a few steps here...

 

Billing verification after receipt but before anything else

Restoration check early in the process.

There is a quality control check after encapsulation (which can throw the book back into the grading process)

Followed by imaging

Then packing and shipping

 

Good points, 'House, tho billing verification can be done with a 1-minute phone call to the credit card, right? Resto check does seem like another day in the process...

Quality control could be a biggy, I suppose, but only in a small fraction of cases?

Imaging is only done in a fraction of instances, when requested by the submitter, correct? Packing and shipping seems fairly quick as well...? Or maybe not, if there's a warehouse backlog of slabbed books waiting to go out...

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