*Signature Series Rules Adjustment *

[MedicAR]

1. A Sig Series Survey form will now be available for customers, creators, etc to fill out concerning their experience with Facilitators. They will be available at the CGC booth and online.

 

In all the talk about the pr. sig fee, this seem to have fallen underneath the radar. I think it's a great initiative and I'm hoping CGC will use it to weed out some of the, diplomatically speaking, lesser-performing facilitators.

 

Same here!

[N/A]

1. A Sig Series Survey form will now be available for customers, creators, etc to fill out concerning their experience with Facilitators. They will be available at the CGC booth and online.

 

In all the talk about the pr. sig fee, this seem to have fallen underneath the radar. I think it's a great initiative and I'm hoping CGC will use it to weed out some of the, diplomatically speaking, lesser-performing facilitators.

 

Same here!

 

I would be interested in the control mechanisms since I see a tool to eliminate competition.

[mschmidt]

I'll make sure to mention your paranoia when I fill out the survey

[SoylentBlue]

Just as a point of clarification, is the $5 fee for newly obtained signatures or any signatures on the book at the time of submission?

 

In other words, if I have a yellow label book with 5 signatures on it and I crack it to add 5 more, am I charged $10 (first three free, $5 each for the remaining two...only charging for newly acquired sigs) or am I charged $35 (first three free, $5 each for the remaining seven...charging for all sigs on the book)?

 

All of your charges from your books first submission are taken care of. Obviously this would be known by the original cert. If you already had 5 sigs and you added an additional Sig or Sigs it would be 5 each. Your previous were already paid for on that books previous grading.

 

[font:Book Antiqua]

Milking the Cow Eh...[/font]

 

This has always been part of the program. The additional 5 dollar Sig Fee is at the top of the form. It was enforced for anyone who used a booth witness (with the exception of Artist/Writer sitting next to each other).

 

However, This was not enforced with Facilitators/Witnesses because they had their own witness. With that said 2013 has had the most multi-sig books ever. There are ASM 700 Martin variants that would have 30+ Signatures, that would have wrong paper work and dates (see rule 2) That would sit on my desk/grading/quality control for long periods of time to maintain accuracy, yet the Dealer (with discount) would only be paying $30.40 for that book.

 

I wonder if Spidey 700 was the tipping point?

 

A large part of it, yes.

 

The tipping point was a combo of that cool Skyline Spidey 700 with the all the creators names along with the monster known as Walking Dead (the comics and magazines). Those celebs aren't going to cons just to see your faces. That comic / tv show hit pop culture in the nuts. Cons tend to have at least 1, sometimes 3 and even more cast members for the big conventions. Everyone and their mother wants the entire cast to sign a comic or mag. And because of that, people are getting the 3 sig limit and everyone now pays that price. It sucks but it is what it is.

 

That's inaccurate on pretty much every level.

 

CGC SS forms have displayed a $5 "additional signature same show" fee for years now - meaning that the first signature was included in the CGC SS grading cost, but any additional signatures at the same show were supposed to incur an extra cost of $5/sig.

 

In my experience, CGC has been pretty flexible about enforcing this rule - 2-3 sigs from creators sitting in artist alley at a show usually incurred no other fees than the actual SS grading cost - but popular multi-sig books like ASM 700 where people wanted 10 different creator signatures would get hit with the $5 pr. extra sig fee most of the time.

 

It was just a matter of time before CGC started enforcing this rule across the board.

 

Where the confusion lies, however, is with the wording of what Mike wrote - I'm fairly certain that it's meant to be interpreted this way:

 

1) I have a SS book with 5 signatures, crack it and add another 5 signatures:

I'll be charged $25 for the new signatures (because in total I'll have more than 3 sigs on the book) and the regular CGC SS slabbing fees.

 

2) I have a SS book with 3 signatures, crack it and add another signature:

I'll be charged $5 for the new signature (because in total I'll have more than 3 sigs on the book) and the regular CGC SS slabbing fees.

 

which I don't see a problem which.

 

I thought for a moment that this signature fee would be cumulative - meaning you'd be paying for the same signatures over & over again every time you cracked the book - but I just don't see that being the case.

 

No accumulative, just for Additional (past 3) + Grading

 

Anytime I got my books signed myself (without any 3rd party facilitator) I never had to pay this ridiculous fee. It's only through the facilitators like DWC where things can get fee happy. If I can't get the SIGs myself, I'll use facilitators. If this was in effect for years, CGC did a poor job enforcing it nor did they bring it to my attention when I was getting sigs done. I just think it wreaks (sp) of greed.

 

I wouldn't consider 3 departments working on a handful of 30+ Signed books with incorrect paperwork, for a few hours every single day, when the turn around times back up considerably during convention season and time being a major factor, to be greed.

 

This was enforced, when using a booth witness, just not with facilitators. In fact when using the booth witness a client would pay $33 for 2 Sigs + grading. With the new rule you won't get charged $33 until you hit a 4th Signature.

 

If you feel need to have your concerns heard directly, I would more than happy to speak with you over the phone. 1.877.662.6642. x198. M-F 9 to 5.

[mschmidt]

Thanks for the clarifications, Mike :thumbsup:

[dscott]

Yes Thanks Mike

[N/A]

I'll make sure to mention your paranoia when I fill out the survey

 

 

We shall wait and see.

[MedicAR]

Just as a point of clarification, is the $5 fee for newly obtained signatures or any signatures on the book at the time of submission?

 

In other words, if I have a yellow label book with 5 signatures on it and I crack it to add 5 more, am I charged $10 (first three free, $5 each for the remaining two...only charging for newly acquired sigs) or am I charged $35 (first three free, $5 each for the remaining seven...charging for all sigs on the book)?

 

All of your charges from your books first submission are taken care of. Obviously this would be known by the original cert. If you already had 5 sigs and you added an additional Sig or Sigs it would be 5 each. Your previous were already paid for on that books previous grading.

 

Thank you, feeling much better now….

[MedicAR]

1. A Sig Series Survey form will now be available for customers, creators, etc to fill out concerning their experience with Facilitators. They will be available at the CGC booth and online.

 

In all the talk about the pr. sig fee, this seem to have fallen underneath the radar. I think it's a great initiative and I'm hoping CGC will use it to weed out some of the, diplomatically speaking, lesser-performing facilitators.

 

Same here!

 

I would be interested in the control mechanisms since I see a tool to eliminate competition.

 

My guess would be the invoice number. Putting it on the feedback form would create a solid trail for CGC to go back and see everyone involved on a book should that feedback be less than perfect.

 

Creators would have to be different…

[N/A]

1. A Sig Series Survey form will now be available for customers, creators, etc to fill out concerning their experience with Facilitators. They will be available at the CGC booth and online.

 

In all the talk about the pr. sig fee, this seem to have fallen underneath the radar. I think it's a great initiative and I'm hoping CGC will use it to weed out some of the, diplomatically speaking, lesser-performing facilitators.

 

Same here!

 

I would be interested in the control mechanisms since I see a tool to eliminate competition.

 

My guess would be the invoice number. Putting it on the feedback form would create a solid trail for CGC to go back and see everyone involved on a book should that feedback be less than perfect.

 

Creators would have to be different…

 

That could work in theory. I like the intention here but until I see it I am unsure how it will work. I am excited to see the effort.

[Pirate]

I would think the extra $10 per ss book we are already paying over a regular modern submission would include some extra typing. IMO. If anything raise the other tiers another $5 to cover typing.

[Hank Pym]

Thanks for the clarifications, Mike (thumbs u

[Transplant]

I would think the extra $10 per ss book we are already paying over a regular modern submission would include some extra typing. IMO. If anything raise the other tiers another $5 to cover typing.

[SoylentBlue]

I would think the extra $10 per ss book we are already paying over a regular modern submission would include some extra typing. IMO. If anything raise the other tiers another $5 to cover typing.

 

I can do that for you.

[Pirate]

That's cool, I only submit moderns.

[Kevlar]

These are things easily established and easily now enforced when you have an all out monopoly on the market for something like this. I mean people can be quick to say that they don't and there is PGX or what ever else but honestly that's a bunch of *feces_that_originate_from_bulls*

 

I also don't know what facilitators do pass on such a large amount for assisting us. I figure I pay $28 for the grading, invoice fee???, and witnessing, another $10 typically for fast tracking, and then depending on how they ship another $10 for shipping. When I pay typically $65 per comic assisted I'm not typically seeing any additional $5 charges being handed to me. Must be only using the good facilitators I guess.

 

But never been charged on any of the multi-sig books before so if it is simply an inconsistent thing they must not like you if they did charge you in the past...

 

You haven't been charged this in the past because the facilitataros weren't charged. If you look at facilitator's solicitations for 2014 it has changed...it's changed because we ARE now being charged those extra fees.

[Kevlar]

Not sure if people are still looking for clarification on this but BeachBum and I were talking to some CGC folks at a convention and found out some info.

 

The system that CGC uses is, and I quote from a not-to-be-named person, "antiquated...like using an abacus instead of a calculator". Ok...so I think that they were joking a little, but there are some functions that aren't available.

 

One of which is that we were told the labels have to be manually typed everytime and this can be a bottleneck when you have 10 people on the label. So if I have a book with two people on it and I crack it, get three more sigs, and reslab, the label isn't saved where they can just add the next three. All the names must be retyped. Anything that is time intensive will have a cost involved with it.

 

And as to the above question about $10 extra covering some extra typing...the $10 covers flights to conventions, hotels, wages, etc to have people at the conventions.

[Lee K]

OK - so I scrolled this entire thread and I remain with a question that I don't know the answer to:

 

Are partners that work as a creative team one signature or two? I'm thinking of the Dodsons because they'll be at ECCC, but I am sure there are other examples.

 

Any ideas how my signature witness is going to treat this?

 

Thanks

Lee K

[Bomfy]

I'll assume 2 people even though a team are two individual sigs and both count towards the 3 before the fee sets in.

[seanfingh]

OK - so I scrolled this entire thread and I remain with a question that I don't know the answer to:

 

Are partners that work as a creative team one signature or two? I'm thinking of the Dodsons because they'll be at ECCC, but I am sure there are other examples.

 

Any ideas how my signature witness is going to treat this?

 

Thanks

Lee K

 

I think it is fair to say that if there are two signatures, they will be counted as two signatures.