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Whats the consensus on Metros grading ?

Started by Senormac,

60 posts in this topic

Forbush-Man

Forbush-Man

Posted
Posted
There are a few trends I've noticed with Metro.

 

1. They are way more forgiving of stains than is CGC. If they list a book as having a stain, it can be as much as 2.0 higher in grade than what CGC will give it.

 

2. They are way more forgiving of cover tears than CGC, especially on pedigree books. They have a few Church/MH books that look beautiful but have 1-2" tears that would really affect the CGC graded.

 

3. They don't give much mention to PQ in their grades or prices. They have some books that are LT/OW or slightly brittle priced at OW/W prices (I know because I bought one).

 

4. Non-color breaking creases are often ignored in their grading. If you buy a book with this kind of defect, Matt Nelson can press it out and you'll be pretty much where Metro said you would be.

 

Other than that, they seem as close to CGC as anyone else on their higher graded books.

:signfunny:

 

Cheetah. :cloud9:

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skybolt

skybolt

Posted
Posted
I agree with this post. I've purchased many raw books off of Metro over the years and you always have to deduct 2 or 3 points for books that have stains, tears or creases.

"2 or 3 points"? :eek: Crikey.

 

 

Again, in this scenario the crease, tear or stain is always mentioned in Metro's description. For instance, when I started collecting vintage books back in 2003, I purchased an 8.5 raw copy of Fantastic Four #6 for $1,300 from Metro. The description did mention a water stain on the back cover, but being a novice collector back them I just assumed that the stain was factored into the grade. The book came back a 6.0 from CGC and I had to sell it for an $800 loss a few years later. I agree it was mostly my fault since I shouldn't be shelling out $1,300 for a raw book without knowing how a water stain could afftect the grade, but I definitely learned my lesson after that day.

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tb

tb

Posted
Posted

Most of the books I have bought raw from Metropolis have come back from CGC exactly the same grade, including a Walt Disney's Comics and Stories 31 in VF/NM. A minority, all less valuable books, have come back slightly lower. One secondary book turned out to have an obscure and hard to detect restoration that CGC caught. Metropolis took that book back without questions and gave me a full refund.

 

These are just my own objective experiences with them.

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Mark 1

Mark 1

Posted
Posted

My only experience with buying raw then grading was a Tales of Suspense 40. They had it as 5.0. I sent it to CGC and it came back 4.0. I contacted Metro and they wouldn't stand behind the book and compensate me in some way or take the book back. The girl at the time said it was 1 grade off and they don't do anything in those cases. Have to admit I wasn't happy and for the record 4.0 to 5.0 is two grades but I just wasn't in a fighting mood that day.

 

Now I just go to Metro and hand pick my raw books or have bought slabs. I have seen overgraded raw books there in my opinion and others are spot on. Some others might have been undergraded.

 

I like Metro and would continue to buy there but that TOS experience made me less of a fan.

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kelholt

kelholt

Posted
Posted
Metro's grading is spot on. (thumbs u

 

CGC might be a grade or so too tight. (shrug)

 

I agree for the most part. Metro has been "on" for books I've bought from them. I just always wonder though why a book is still "raw" (especially books over 1k) in this day in age of craziness for slabbed books.

 

I've asked myself this question several times when interested in a book at Metro. If a 1K + book is not cgc graded by a major dealer then I am very skeptical about the book.

 

I also agree with Cheetah about page quality from Metro. It can be off at times.

To be fair and balanced, the last two books I bought from them were Golden Age raw and I sent them to CGC. One came back same grade as Metro and the second was sold to me as a 7.5 ( I thought looked much better) and came back a 8.5.

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kelholt

kelholt

Posted
Posted
It would cost Metro a small fortune to slab all their 1K books. Believe it or not, a lot of collectors still avidly seek out raw books. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

I agree that most seek raw books too, after all are we collecting the books and their stories or are we collecting newly manufactured slabs of plastic with numbers on them?

 

My personal thought for me is how I look at what I consider a "nice" purchase of a 1K + book.

No one likes it when they miss a fault before purchasing, but the feeling is much different when I buy a $15 book than a 1K book. My point was not to say Metro should slab all their 1K + books, but to point out I wonder why they are not cgc graded? What are they hiding? Is the 9.0 grade they say a true 9.0? It would seem that whatever small fortune to grade a few of their "nice" books would have a greater ROI than if books just left unslabbed. They might even push their profit up if graded well by CGC. If people did not care for the slab they can always break it out and voilà they have a raw book that has been atleast verfiied on some level to be of a certain grade level.

 

Perfect example: Metro has a book I have been looking at for over a year. It is graded a 9.0. It is $3,300 raw. If I spend 3,300 I want to know what I am getting and would gladly pay $3,400(price asking and fee for grading) if it was a cgc 9.0. I do not want to fool with returning a 3K book, therefore since I can't hold the book and verify for myself what it grades for me then I pass over it. I would think that others have examples of books on their site that they simply pass on due to a similar reason. I would also submit that some of their books that have been there for years that are of the 1K-10k caliber would have sold several times over IF they were CGC graded at the level Metro says they are.

 

Ps, Sorry , I will now step down off my soap box

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adamstrange

adamstrange

Posted
Posted

Metro has been around a long time and some of their customers are like me. I have spent far more money on raw books than on slabbed books and I was purchasing raw books long before CGC opened their doors. With some important caveats, I would still prefer to purchase raw books as that allows me to inspect them and form my own opinion as to their condition.

 

I appreciate having CGC's opinion but, from time to time, it has actually prevented me from buying books because I couldn't open one up and look at it in detail.

 

Metro shows over 6000 slabs in their online inventory so they clearly have embraced slabbing. That's because many of their customers want slabbed books. While I wouldn't encourage someone to purchase a raw book if they aren't comfortable making a decision without the assistance/expertise of CGC, I would suggest Metro has enough customers similar to me that (so far, at least) they don't need to incur the added expense of CGC grading fees.

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hockey&comicsguy

hockey&comicsguy

Posted
Posted

I bought some Strange Tales from them a few years back that were, IMO, over graded at least a full point. Somebody the bed on them I believe as they weren't even close.

 

I also bought a mid-grade Rangers 26 as unrestored that ended up having an obvious tear seal.

 

In both instances they took the books back and I had no problems getting something else or my money back.

 

Pretty much all the other books I bought from them were spot on. I mean spot on. They said 7.5, it came back from CGC a 7.5. They said 6.0, it came back 6.0 and so on. On the whole I would say they're pretty good, especially in relation to some others dealers.

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Scrooge

Scrooge

Posted
Posted
On the whole I would say they're pretty good, especially in relation to some others dealers.

 

... or board members ...

 

Re: Metro. I only bought from them a long time ago, probably 8 years now and was not impressed by their grading on the low grade books I bought, nor was their customer service that great. I understand that personel has changed since then and closer attention is being paid to grading across the entire range so it's really time I look back into their offerings, though I regularly check Metro's site to see if they have a book in inventory or not: if they don't have a copy, it's either a tougher book to find or a book in high demand that they can't keep in inventory. Either case, it informs me on pricing.

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1962

1962

Posted
Posted
It would cost Metro a small fortune to slab all their 1K books. Believe it or not, a lot of collectors still avidly seek out raw books. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

I agree that most seek raw books too, after all are we collecting the books and their stories or are we collecting newly manufactured slabs of plastic with numbers on them?

 

My personal thought for me is how I look at what I consider a "nice" purchase of a 1K + book.

No one likes it when they miss a fault before purchasing, but the feeling is much different when I buy a $15 book than a 1K book. My point was not to say Metro should slab all their 1K + books, but to point out I wonder why they are not cgc graded? What are they hiding? Is the 9.0 grade they say a true 9.0? It would seem that whatever small fortune to grade a few of their "nice" books would have a greater ROI than if books just left unslabbed. They might even push their profit up if graded well by CGC. If people did not care for the slab they can always break it out and voilà they have a raw book that has been atleast verfiied on some level to be of a certain grade level.

 

Perfect example: Metro has a book I have been looking at for over a year. It is graded a 9.0. It is $3,300 raw. If I spend 3,300 I want to know what I am getting and would gladly pay $3,400(price asking and fee for grading) if it was a cgc 9.0. I do not want to fool with returning a 3K book, therefore since I can't hold the book and verify for myself what it grades for me then I pass over it. I would think that others have examples of books on their site that they simply pass on due to a similar reason. I would also submit that some of their books that have been there for years that are of the 1K-10k caliber would have sold several times over IF they were CGC graded at the level Metro says they are.

 

 

 

Ps, Sorry , I will now step down off my soap box

 

 

+1 (thumbs u

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Filter81

Filter81

Posted
Posted

I haven't bought from Metro in years, so hopefully based on some of the responses in this thread their grading has improved since then. My track record with them though was always worse than my track record of buying raw books on eBay. For every book I bought from them that was graded correctly, it seemed there was another book that had some sort of problem.

 

If the books you are looking at are inexpensive then I wouldn't worry too much about the technical grade. If the books you are looking at are expensive, my advice would be do yourself a favor and pay the money to have them overnight graded at CGC. Because if there is a problem, and you pass the 10 days they give on their return policy, unless you are one of their big customers you will likely be S.O.L.

 

I've gotten books from Metro that later CGCed 2 full grades lower than the grade they assigned. I've gotten a few books with undisclosed restoration (one book was trimmed on all 3 sides), and I've gotten books that were missing pages. But never got a refund.

 

If you buy a raw book and don't immediately get it CGCed you may come out ok, but you're taking a big risk.

 

 

 

 

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1962

1962

Posted
Posted
I haven't bought from Metro in years, so hopefully based on some of the responses in this thread their grading has improved since then. My track record with them though was always worse than my track record of buying raw books on eBay. For every book I bought from them that was graded correctly, it seemed there was another book that had some sort of problem.

 

If the books you are looking at are inexpensive then I wouldn't worry too much about the technical grade. If the books you are looking at are expensive, my advice would be do yourself a favor and pay the money to have them overnight graded at CGC. Because if there is a problem, and you pass the 10 days they give on their return policy, unless you are one of their big customers you will likely be S.O.L.

 

I've gotten books from Metro that later CGCed 2 full grades lower than the grade they assigned. I've gotten a few books with undisclosed restoration (one book was trimmed on all 3 sides), and I've gotten books that were missing pages. But never got a refund.

 

If you buy a raw book and don't immediately get it CGCed you may come out ok, but you're taking a big risk.

 

 

 

 

:o

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Ted Knight

Ted Knight

Posted
Posted

No question, negative experiences stand out more than positive ones and I have had a friend get a book that was trimmed and undisclosed from Metropolis. But then, trimming can be hard to miss and he sent it back without any problems. When they relisted it, they included the trimming in the description.

 

Seemed pretty forthright to me.

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