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Poor grading of Raw Books in the Sales Forum!

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Buying raw books always comes with the risk that the grade doesn't match expectations - because grading is SUBJECTIVE. Hell, there isn't even a standard grading model that is 100% universal.

 

There is no such thing as a guarantee when something is graded on a scale.

 

I think the real problem here is that there are more and more people selling comics on this site everyday that make no other real contribution (this assumes you count what I do around here as contribution :shrug: ).

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I am seeing more overgrading in FS threads now, as well as with dealers. I have narrowed my raw purchases down to just a handful of boardies and dealers as a result.

 

I'm getting to be in this camp more and more. Rampant overgrading isn't relegated to people on these boards. It's dealers and LCS too. Find guys you trust or buy only graded books. The only way to go.

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Buying graded books always comes with the risk that the grade doesn't match expectations - because grading is SUBJECTIVE. Hell, there isn't even a standard grading model that is 100% universal.

 

There is no such thing as a guarantee when something is graded by supposed experts.

 

I think the real problem here is that there are more and more people selling comics on this site everyday that make no other real contribution (this assumes you count what I do around here as contribution :shrug: ).

 

:lol: :thumbsup:

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There's also the other side of the coin, with some buyers being waaaayy too picky. I grade according to overstreet (which is the industry standard btw), which many buyers are clueless about and are expecting to see something according to how CGC grades, which is a big secret btw, so we can't grade according to their criteria. Overly picky buyers need to get a clue, or do sellers a favor and only buy pre graded books

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Why don't we work on getting pictures first before we pass judgements on the grades those pictures are based on.

 

Baby steps people, baby steps.

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There's also the other side of the coin, with some buyers being waaaayy too picky. I grade according to overstreet (which is the industry standard btw), which many buyers are clueless about and are expecting to see something according to how CGC grades, which is a big secret btw, so we can't grade according to their criteria. Overly picky buyers need to get a clue, or do sellers a favor and only buy pre graded books

 

Are you talking about your ebay sales? Because this thread is about the Sales Forum on the Boards. I don't believe you've sold here, have you?

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At Heroes this year one of the books I bought, during negotiation I asked the seller:

 

"What do you grade this? 1.0, 1.5?" He replied:

 

"My grade is $750"

 

At first I was taken aback by the snark, but the more I thought about, that is sometimes the best answer.

 

Here is the book, here is the price. Take it or leave it.

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I have a feeling most seller's grades is 'whatever i paid for it plus some random number i pulled out of my for profit' dollars. Especially those that refuse to put an actual grade or number to their product.

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At Heroes this year one of the books I bought, during negotiation I asked the seller:

 

"What do you grade this? 1.0, 1.5?" He replied:

 

"My grade is $750"

 

At first I was taken aback by the snark, but the more I thought about, that is sometimes the best answer.

 

Here is the book, here is the price. Take it or leave it.

 

I can agree with the "here is the price, take it or leave it" philosphy, but the answer to the question doesn't make me want to deal/ negotiate with the seller.

 

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i think that sometimes people look at something and compare it to the cgc book they were most recently hammered on, or bought, or saw or whatever.

 

and lord knows i have missed stuff. like something smack dab in the middle of the back cover because my eyes naturally go to the edges to look for rips, ticks and water stains, or just not seeing a page where something was cut out when i should have. that's what refunds are for. most of my mistakes are on books i am selling for $2, but i have made them all along the price specturm over the last 15 years.

 

but on the flip side, i once owned a cgc 9.4 ASM 300 with 5 or 6 not too small spine ticks, which were quite prominent on the back cover. a SA strange adventures with a big CB crease on the front cover that was an 8.5. i'd have a tough time justifying listing a book like that as NM if I actually saw the back cover while grading and a big crease might be tough to call an 8.5, so we shouldn't base grades on the cgc mishaps either. but then again, a gorgeous x-men 117 i sold to a boardie here that had one small spine tick and so i graded it as a 9.2 to be safe with upward potential came back a 9.0 (clearly the boardie thought it had a shot at 9.4+). and an 8.5 thor 165 i sold looks like it came back a 9.0, while a magazine i thought was a 7.0 came back a 5.5 for the buyer. i did a bulk deal on ebay with a guy where I graded a big stack of late BA ASMs as 9.2s and 1/3 came back as 9.4s, 1/3 as 9.2s and 1/3 as 9.0s. cgc can be fickle and i don't pretend to know how they are going, particularly as i have never submitted a book, just bought them or observed the results of others. i just hope to be close.

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At Heroes this year one of the books I bought, during negotiation I asked the seller:

 

"What do you grade this? 1.0, 1.5?" He replied:

 

"My grade is $750"

 

At first I was taken aback by the snark, but the more I thought about, that is sometimes the best answer.

 

Here is the book, here is the price. Take it or leave it.

 

I can agree with the "here is the price, take it or leave it" philosphy, but the answer to the question doesn't make me want to deal/ negotiate with the seller.

 

This is common with LCS'.

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