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CGC 2012: A year in review

Started by Transplant,

32 posts in this topic

Transplant

Transplant

Posted
Posted

This is my shot as a little nostlagia and reflection. If I missed important CGC related stuff, let me know.

 

 

  • 2012 started out with a bang. CGC implemented rate increases announced in late 2011, effective 1-1-12. In fact the rate increases were announced one year ago today, 12/6/12.
     
    http://www.cgccomics.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=2489&CGC-Fees-For_2012
     
    Moderns alone are going up $1, Fast Track going up $2. They are also adding a $5 per invoice "handling" fee.
     
    All the other services are going up anywhere between $2 - $10 per book.
     
    They also raised the max for walkthrough fees from $1500 to $3000, among other changes that had a financial impact: reholdering, etc.

  • Posted April, 2012:
    According to the website:
     
    Value: ~50 business days late = 10 weeks late
    Economy: ~45 business days late = 9 weeks late
    Modern: ~20 business days late = 3 weeks late
     
    Even better, con season has already started so what are the chances they get caught up?
     
    More ads, longer wait times, less packing materials. Welcome to a better, brighter future.
     
    Just 2 weeks later:

    Value: ~55 business days late = 11 weeks late
    Economy: ~55 business days late = 11 weeks late
    Modern: ~25 business days late = 5 weeks late
    Another 2 weeks later:

    Value: 60 business days late = 12 weeks late
    Economy: 60 business days late = 12 weeks late
    Modern: ~25 business days late = 5 weeks late
    About a month later:

    Value: 70 business days late = 14 weeks late
    Economy: 70 business days late = 14 weeks late
    Modern: 35 business days late = 7 weeks late
     


  •  
  • 11-5-12:

    Value: 80 business days late = 16 weeks late
    Economy:80 business days late = 16 weeks late
    Modern: 80 business days late = 16 weeks late
    ADDED: Anecdotal reporting that fast tracks are running 10 business days or more behind as well!!!!
     

  • 12/7/2012 CGC removes "grades" from your ability to track and see your grades on-line. Permanently?

So here we are at the end of 2011. If you use CGC, are you better off than you were 12 months ago?

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NewWorldOrder

NewWorldOrder

Posted
Posted

I am not defending CGC, but I will say the one thing Mike you can not complain about is CGC is allowing you to bash them on 24/7 basis on their website. lol

 

You have to give them credit for that.

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Transplant

Transplant

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I am not defending CGC, but I will say the one thing Mike you can not complain about is CGC is allowing you to bash them on 24/7 basis on their website. lol

 

You have to give them credit for that.

Actually, I can a little. Some past posts of mine have been deleted. Plus, they've certainly deleted some critical posts in the past.

 

But they are pretty tolerant of criticism. In fact, I've had exchanges with one person at CGC who believes that public discussion of critical items is important and necessary and ultimately help the company.

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NewWorldOrder

NewWorldOrder

Posted
Posted
I am not defending CGC, but I will say the one thing Mike you can not complain about is CGC is allowing you to bash them on 24/7 basis on their website. lol

 

You have to give them credit for that.

Actually, I can a little. Some past posts of mine have been deleted. Plus, they've certainly deleted some critical posts in the past.

 

But they are pretty tolerant of criticism. In fact, I've had exchanges with one person at CGC who believes that public discussion of critical items is important and necessary and ultimately help the company.

 

Well we all know this is a free website to join, but free speech is not free.

 

Good with the bad I guess.

 

You do realize since day one you should have been ticked off right?

 

You didn't mention the most obvious rip off which are tiers structures and insurance costs right off the bat.

 

When CGC grades an Action 1 they are making free money on the same process as a Spawn #1. :insane:

 

Fair market value should have nothing to do with the process of getting a book graded if you want to go that route. CGC does;t sell books, but they are charging you assuming you are and want a piece of the pie.

 

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themoe-migration

themoe-migration

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The Best post i have read on here. I say HOW DARE CGC make money based on what the value of your book is! Two silver age books get graded and one is worth $50 and the other is $500. Does the grader not grade the $50 book the same way as the $500 one? If they are not then this grading stuff is a scam as all books should get the same quality viewing. I bought the expensive book and CGC does not have a right at my piece of the pie. My hulk 181 should be graded on the same tier as my hulk 171. They should keep there fingers out of my pie. Someone tell me why i am wrong on this.

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zuulioso

zuulioso

Posted
Posted
The Best post i have read on here. I say HOW DARE CGC make money based on what the value of your book is! Two silver age books get graded and one is worth $50 and the other is $500. Does the grader not grade the $50 book the same way as the $500 one? If they are not then this grading stuff is a scam as all books should get the same quality viewing. I bought the expensive book and CGC does not have a right at my piece of the pie. My hulk 181 should be graded on the same tier as my hulk 171. They should keep there fingers out of my pie. Someone tell me why i am wrong on this.

 

Because it is their business model and you are choosing to pay them for the service they provide? If their price is too high, don't buy their product.

 

Do you also fault sales people who demand a commission of sale when they help sell a product?

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revat

revat

Posted
Posted
The Best post i have read on here. I say HOW DARE CGC make money based on what the value of your book is! Two silver age books get graded and one is worth $50 and the other is $500. Does the grader not grade the $50 book the same way as the $500 one? If they are not then this grading stuff is a scam as all books should get the same quality viewing. I bought the expensive book and CGC does not have a right at my piece of the pie. My hulk 181 should be graded on the same tier as my hulk 171. They should keep there fingers out of my pie. Someone tell me why i am wrong on this.

 

Because it is their business model and you are choosing to pay them for the service they provide? If their price is too high, don't buy their product.

 

Do you also fault sales people who demand a commission of sale when they help sell a product?

 

I think a lot of it is also insurance. The mere fact that they work with such high value and VERY Delicate items requires that they get all kinds of security, and employee bonding, and employee training, and insurance, etc. If everything was worth just a few hundred bucks or less there would be a lot less costs. They may grade it in the same way, but may store it after grading and encapsulation in a special area...

 

Think of like anything else. If you were a run of the mill museum in a small town, and for some reason someone wanted to authenticate a collection of Picasso's with you, you'd probably need to improve security measures and get better authenticators. Yes you are qualified to do the regular run of the mill art, but this is a big deal, and you have to be much more careful and detailed. Which is not to say you will be anymore partial, but the with the added risk and carefulness required, its not unreasonable to charge more.

 

These are hypotheticals, but and they may or may not be true, but I don't think its SOOOO unreasonable. And admittedly part of it is to make profit. But the added cost is not ALL PROFIT.

 

 

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NewWorldOrder

NewWorldOrder

Posted
Posted
The Best post i have read on here. I say HOW DARE CGC make money based on what the value of your book is! Two silver age books get graded and one is worth $50 and the other is $500. Does the grader not grade the $50 book the same way as the $500 one? If they are not then this grading stuff is a scam as all books should get the same quality viewing. I bought the expensive book and CGC does not have a right at my piece of the pie. My hulk 181 should be graded on the same tier as my hulk 171. They should keep there fingers out of my pie. Someone tell me why i am wrong on this.

 

Because it is their business model and you are choosing to pay them for the service they provide? If their price is too high, don't buy their product.

 

Do you also fault sales people who demand a commission of sale when they help sell a product?

 

CGC is not a product as much it is a service.

 

They are not salesman.

 

My point is people are getting really ticked off at CGC this year, but yet they should have the same problems since day 1 back in 2000.

 

CGC has always unofficially valued comics because it is a way to make free money added into their grading fees with their tier chart.

 

They are assuming you are selling the book and want a small %.

 

Where was the outrage from you guys back then. lol

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NewWorldOrder

NewWorldOrder

Posted
Posted
The Best post i have read on here. I say HOW DARE CGC make money based on what the value of your book is! Two silver age books get graded and one is worth $50 and the other is $500. Does the grader not grade the $50 book the same way as the $500 one? If they are not then this grading stuff is a scam as all books should get the same quality viewing. I bought the expensive book and CGC does not have a right at my piece of the pie. My hulk 181 should be graded on the same tier as my hulk 171. They should keep there fingers out of my pie. Someone tell me why i am wrong on this.

 

Because it is their business model and you are choosing to pay them for the service they provide? If their price is too high, don't buy their product.

 

Do you also fault sales people who demand a commission of sale when they help sell a product?

 

I think a lot of it is also insurance. The mere fact that they work with such high value and VERY Delicate items requires that they get all kinds of security, and employee bonding, and employee training, and insurance, etc. If everything was worth just a few hundred bucks or less there would be a lot less costs. They may grade it in the same way, but may store it after grading and encapsulation in a special area...

 

Think of like anything else. If you were a run of the mill museum in a small town, and for some reason someone wanted to authenticate a collection of Picasso's with you, you'd probably need to improve security measures and get better authenticators. Yes you are qualified to do the regular run of the mill art, but this is a big deal, and you have to be much more careful and detailed. Which is not to say you will be anymore partial, but the with the added risk and carefulness required, its not unreasonable to charge more.

 

These are hypotheticals, but and they may or may not be true, but I don't think its SOOOO unreasonable. And admittedly part of it is to make profit. But the added cost is not ALL PROFIT.

 

 

Insurance is another debate, but all in all the customer sets how much they want the insurance for so I am okay with that.

 

The real money maker is the tier structure.

 

It is as simple as this.......

 

HG vintage comics are finite commodity so when CGC was formed they knew people would sell them for thousands of dollars. So of course they want their services to be rewarded..

 

Don't kid yourselves CGC is grading books for you to sell for a small added in tier structure fee.

 

I am just saying if people want to complain about CGC it should have started back in 2000. ;)

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JazzMan

JazzMan

Posted
Posted

Maybe January 1, 2013 we will see the following announcement:

 

Certified Collectibles Group breaks ground on new 25,000 square foot facility in Sarasota - hires recruiting firm to staff new expansion.

 

Due to the overwhelming demand in the previous three years, CGC is proud to announce the expansion of our current facilities and the hiring of 50 new graders to our family. "We've experienced a dramatic growth rate over the last 36 months and we just had to take dramatic action", said Mr. X in his announcement to his staff this week. "The wide acceptance of collectors wanting to encapsulate and protect their investments has been tremendous and we are so grateful to the community of collectors and dealers that support us. We want to offer the very best to our customers and for them to get the most out of CGC's services, so we are moving ahead with a dramatic expansion where we can scale to the needs of our customers and further enhance their experience. We've also hired Recruiters-R-Us to find and bring us the best and brightest graders to make our turnaround time much quicker and where we can finally have the right amount of slack to support all of our convention appearances without impacting our delivery. Our business has grown because of our customers, we love our customer and our customers deserve the very best!"

 

The new facility is scheduled to be fully operational by July 1, 2013 and the staff fully trained just in time for Comic Con International in San Diego.

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comicwiz

comicwiz

Posted
Posted

I love the way the summary shows a progression of slower TAT's right after CGC started charging for graders notes. Wasn't the opposite supposed to happen? Graders didn't need to answer calls anymore and they could concentrate on grading.

 

Maybe if they stop charging for graders notes, the TAT's will go back down 50/45/20? :shy:

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Dr. Balls

Dr. Balls

Posted
Posted

CGC 2011: The year I thought getting slabbed books was really cool.

 

CGC 2012: The year I thought that slabbed books were a complete pain in the @ss.

 

CGC 2013: The year I learned to love my Mylite-wrapped raw collection.

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DiceX

DiceX

Posted
Posted
This is my shot as a little nostlagia and reflection. If I missed important CGC related stuff, let me know.

 

 

  • 2012 started out with a bang. CGC implemented rate increases announced in late 2011, effective 1-1-12. In fact the rate increases were announced one year ago today, 12/6/12.
     
    http://www.cgccomics.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=2489&CGC-Fees-For_2012
     
    Moderns alone are going up $1, Fast Track going up $2. They are also adding a $5 per invoice "handling" fee.
     
    All the other services are going up anywhere between $2 - $10 per book.
     
    They also raised the max for walkthrough fees from $1500 to $3000, among other changes that had a financial impact: reholdering, etc.

  • Posted April, 2012:
    According to the website:
     
    Value: ~50 business days late = 10 weeks late
    Economy: ~45 business days late = 9 weeks late
    Modern: ~20 business days late = 3 weeks late
     
    Even better, con season has already started so what are the chances they get caught up?
     
    More ads, longer wait times, less packing materials. Welcome to a better, brighter future.
     
    Just 2 weeks later:

    Value: ~55 business days late = 11 weeks late
    Economy: ~55 business days late = 11 weeks late
    Modern: ~25 business days late = 5 weeks late
    Another 2 weeks later:

    Value: 60 business days late = 12 weeks late
    Economy: 60 business days late = 12 weeks late
    Modern: ~25 business days late = 5 weeks late
    About a month later:

    Value: 70 business days late = 14 weeks late
    Economy: 70 business days late = 14 weeks late
    Modern: 35 business days late = 7 weeks late
     


  •  
  • 11-5-12:

    Value: 80 business days late = 16 weeks late
    Economy:80 business days late = 16 weeks late
    Modern: 80 business days late = 16 weeks late
    ADDED: Anecdotal reporting that fast tracks are running 10 business days or more behind as well!!!!
     

So here we are at the end of 2011. If you use CGC, are you better off than you were 12 months ago?

 

I think if they hike fees by about 70% on all levels, it would help get turnaround back to where they should be.

 

 

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