Would you be okay with the company, CGC, buying and selling raw comics?

[thirdgreenham]

Let's just say, for interest sake, that CGC opened a buy/sell marketplace, and they themselves, were the ones buying and selling. They could carry the competition's slabbed merchandise, if they wanted to, but would never buy and sell their own company's graded comics. Every raw book that they offer for sale, would also have undergone their thorough restoration check, and have been graded by a minimum of 2 graders plus the finalizer. The only difference is, the books wouldn't be in a CGC slab, and so they would be offered raw in a mylar. Buyers would still have confidence that the grade is sound. I'm not sure if there would be a conflict of interest, or a perceived conflict of interest, as the comics offered wouldn't be in their slabs at all.

 

Would you have a problem with this? If yes, please explain why.

[Azkaban]

Sounds like a good idea to me

[kav]

There would still be a conflict of interest-they could give gift grades or overlook iffy resto to bring in higher prices....no I don't think this is a good idea. Just imagine all the headaches as people buy a book, then send it to get slabbed and suddenly it's not as 'good' as it was advertised to be....

[makeminemego]

As the number of dealers whose grading I agree with has dwindled (there are still really solid options like HGC, MCS, Jim Payette, etc.), I do like the idea of a third party (whose grading is trusted) examining and selling raw books.

 

Having said that, I could be wrong, but I think it'll never happen. It would in the long term possibly decrease the number of books being submitted, as those who are slab crackers who keep the label only would be more than satisfied to trust the grade that CGC has assigned a raw book on an invoice.

 

But yeah, in theory I'd be fine with it, as long as they weren't selling their own slabs.

[jcjames]

 

Appearance of impropriety/conflict-of-interest.

 

A company selling comics (unslabbed) that were graded by that same company that's supposed to be impartial to the grade would appear "fishy".

 

Although many businesses sell self-graded comics, CGC has a reputation for being an impartial and unbiased "third-party" grader.

 

Once they start selling the books they grade, their "third-party" reputation of impartiality goes out the window.

 

 

[wombat]

Can you imagine what would happen to turn around times?

[makeminemego]

Just imagine all the headaches as people buy a book, then send it to get slabbed and suddenly it's not as 'good' as it was advertised to be....

 

Interesting thought for sure, but isn't that the same roll of the dice that you take with any resub? Not to say there wouldn't be problems. Who knows.....

[kav]

Just imagine all the headaches as people buy a book, then send it to get slabbed and suddenly it's not as 'good' as it was advertised to be....

 

Interesting thought for sure, but isn't that the same roll of the dice that you take with any resub? Not to say there wouldn't be problems. Who knows.....

Well there would be a motive to overgrade the raw books which does not exist with 3rd party grading.

[slym2none]

Yep. Classic conflict of interests.

 

 

 

-slym

[makeminemego]

Just imagine all the headaches as people buy a book, then send it to get slabbed and suddenly it's not as 'good' as it was advertised to be....

 

Interesting thought for sure, but isn't that the same roll of the dice that you take with any resub? Not to say there wouldn't be problems. Who knows.....

Well there would be a motive to overgrade the raw books which does not exist with 3rd party grading.

 

True, but if the books were being graded "blind" and the two graders didn't know that it was being graded for raw sale, maybe there wouldn't be a delineation.

 

Or maybe I'm way too trusting in CGC's theoretical ethics.....

[kav]

Unless we knew how things went down behind CGC doors, there's no way to be sure of anything.

Definitely if it was blind grading that's ok but then again they'd have to tack on extra so the book would sell for considerably more than a regular raw. Maybe close to what just getting a slabbed book would be. And what would be the guarantee that slabbed it would receive same or near same grade? Hey I bought this raw book graded at 8.0 now I send it to get slabbed and its a 6.5-what are my recourses? CGC would have to spend a lot of time dealing with issues like that and that would mean they'd have to recoup the lost time is money by charging even more.

[RockMyAmadeus]

It will never happen.

 

CGC is owned by the Certified Collectibles Group, which started with NGC in 1987. One of the strictest rules about working for CGC is that you CANNOT, under ANY circumstances, buy or sell comics commercially. It's not allowed.

 

That wall was erected at the very beginning, and NGC is the lion's share of the CCG's income, by far. What goes for NGC goes for the rest.

[kav]

What about a grading non slabbing service?

[thirdgreenham]

Appearance of impropriety/conflict-of-interest.

 

A company selling comics (unslabbed) that were graded by that same company that's supposed to be impartial to the grade would appear "fishy".

 

Although many businesses sell self-graded comics, CGC has a reputation for being an impartial and unbiased "third-party" grader.

 

Once they start selling the books they grade, their "third-party" reputation of impartiality goes out the window.

 

 

The 3rd-party reputation would only tie in with their slabbed arm of their company.

 

Well there would be a motive to overgrade the raw books which does not exist with 3rd party grading.

 

True, but if the books were being graded "blind" and the two graders didn't know that it was being graded for raw sale, maybe there wouldn't be a delineation.

 

Or maybe I'm way too trusting in CGC's theoretical ethics.....

 

If we believe the story that the graders don't know who's books they are grading, why wouldn't we believe it if we were told that all books graded, for both clients and in-house direct sales, go through the exact same process?

[thirdgreenham]

It will never happen.

 

CGC is owned by the Certified Collectibles Group, which started with NGC in 1987. One of the strictest rules about working for CGC is that you CANNOT, under ANY circumstances, buy or sell comics. It's not allowed.

 

That wall was erected at the very beginning, and NGC is the lion's share of the CCG's income, by far. What goes for NGC goes for the rest.

 

And workers would still not be allowed to buy and sell comics. That part would not change.

[kav]

The 3rd-party reputation would only tie in with their slabbed arm of their company.

 

This reminds me of Han Solo and carbonite

[kav]

I wonder how many comics are in CGC's 'recall' vault and what will ever become of them.....

CGC should donate them to Hero Initiative

[RockMyAmadeus]

It's a distinction the public wouldn't understand, and wouldn't accept.

[jcjames]

 

So if they sell you a raw book "graded" 9.6 and you or your buyer decide later to have it slabbed and if it comes back 9.0 (for any number of reasons other than CGC's fault)..... that's not good for CGC's reputation on either end, raw-grade house or slab-house.

 

IMO, selling HG "graded raws" that won't always come back slabbed at the same HG would make CGC look bad (to say the least).

 

YMMV.

 

 

[wombat]

They are going to have to charge a decent premium to cover their costs of having them graded. Would someone be willing to pay that premium or at that point would you just buy it slabbed?