Submitting comics for the first time -- questions -- help much appreciated!

[donlas]

Hey everyone,

 

First of all, apologies if (for whatever reason) a post like this is not allowed. I don't think this thread violates any sort of protocol, but I am a noob here. I'm about to submit comics to CGC for the first time. I've been looking through this board as well as the official CGC website for quite a while now and there are some questions that still remain unanswered in my mind.

 

If anyone can answer any of my questions, or if anything jumps out at anyone as being obviously the wrong way to go about doing something, then any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Here's an overview of what I'm doing:

 

I have somewhere between 30 and 50 comics that I'd like to have graded. Whatever exact comics I choose, I believe they will all be Modern Age comics, with the exception of Daredevil #8 (from the '60s). My next oldest comics would be Detective Comics #474, 475 and 476, but they're from 1977 and I believe that the cut-off for Modern goes back to 1975.

 

The most valuable comics I'll be submitting are my two copies of Batman Adventures #12 (one NM- or VF+, and one NM+ (possibly a 9.8)) and my copy of Preacher #1 (NM or NM-, probably). I'm pretty confident that the ONLY comics valued at over $200 will be the two BA 12s, which I guess is important because it seems that any comic valued at over $200 costs a different fee and goes into a different classification(?).

 

And here my questions begin.

 

1) When I take stock of the comics I'll be submitting, what do I do about the fact that my two copies of Batman Adventures #12 are each worth something different due to condition? Do I list them separately and say that one's value is (let's say) $2000 while the other copy (in less than NM condition) is worth only $1000? Or do I combine them into one item line, put down a quantity of 2, and then say that the value is... what? Per comic on average? Per comic based on conceivable NM+ value? Or value in total? I'm totally at a loss.

 

2) My next question is about tape, or rather the potential lack thereof on the back of bagged and boarded comics. A dealer friend of mine, who submits hundreds of comics per year, has told me that CGC is actually happier when there is NO TAPE on the back of bagged comics. Rather than sealing with tape, he simply tucks the top of the bag behind the board. Does anyone have an opinion on this? I know that CGC's website specifically says to use one piece of tape to seal comic bags. For my nicer comics I have NOT been using tape anymore, and I don't really want to put pieces of tape anywhere near those comics unless someone thinks that I absolutely should, for CGC's benefit.

 

3) Does anyone have any comment on the number of comics I'll be submitting all at once? To be honest I'd rather get MOST if not ALL of the comics I want to have CCG'd done all at once, just to get it over with for a while, rather than submitting a few comics at a time and paying for shipping multiple times. Do you think I should divide them into two stacks and pack them side by side in a wide box? (I'm just a little worried that if I have 50 comics all in one stack, with cardboard dividers etc, then perhaps that could be too much weight on the comics toward the bottom of the pile.

 

Okay, this could get long. I have a bunch of (relatively) little (fussy) questions, but I'll just ask a few more for now, in hopes that somebody can kindly get back to me on some of this.

 

4) Am I correct in assuming that I could submit all 40ish comics at once, but have some of them marked to be processed and mailed back to me quicker? In other words, it isn't like they're going to wait till all of the comics are processed before sending ANY of them back, right? On the other hand, I'm assuming that I'll get most of my Moderns done in a cheap/slow manner. Will CGC wait till ALL 30ish of those comics are done before sending ANY of them back? Or will they just send those ones back however they see fit, a few at a time?

 

5) I know that I buy insurance through CGC as I'm filling out the forms. Should I ALSO be buying additional insurance through the post office? Or is the insurance I buy through CGC good for mailing insurance as well? Like, I'm more worried about a mailman accidentally dropping the box than I am about a CGC employee dropping a book.

 

Any help or remarks that anyone could give me about any of this stuff would be great. If you think I'm going about things in an incorrect way, or if something sticks out to you as glaringly obvious which I'm not seeing, please let me know. Example: "If you're going to submit that many comics at once, but sure to use ____ service." Or: "You're not saving yourself much of anything by submitting more than ____ number of comics at once. You may as well just submit your very best comics separately." Literally, any pointers like that would help.

 

Again, THANKS in advance. The service is a lot to try and process when you've never used it before. I've been looking through these websites and boards for weeks now, but I'm still not totally clear on the above.

[mschmidt]

1) You should really think of this value as an insurance value - it's what the books are covered for whilst they're in CGC's possession and when they're being shipped back to you (if you use a shipping method with full insurance coverage).

 

While the modern tier has a max value pr. book of $200, in reality people submit books like the ones you mention (BA #12, Preacher #1) under the modern tier all the time - the only caveat is that your books will only carry an insurance value of up to $200.

 

In general, if you're based in the US, you should always max out the insurance value of the tier you use to submit your books.

 

So ... if you end up submitting your BA #12s under the modern tier, list them both on one line, set the quantity to 2 and set the pr. book value to $200.

 

If you go the standard tier route, do the same thing, but list the value as $1000 pr. book.

Express tier, $3000 pr. book.

 

2) CGC doesn't really care. I personally tape all my books.

 

3) As long as you pack them well, there's no reason why you can't submit 50 books in one go (remember, though, that each invoice can only contain up to 30 books). In general, when you're dealing with a large amount of books, I prefer to do cardboard bundles of 10 books - eg. take 10 bagged & boarded books, put them in a magazine bag, then inside a heavy-duty, oversized cardboard sandwich, then wrap the bundle in bubblewrap. You end up with a nice stack of bundles that can then be put inside a box with some more bubblewrap or packing peanuts.

 

4) Each invoice can only contain books under 1 tier. Eg. if you're submitting both moderns and older books, you'd need 2 separate invoices. All books on an invoice are shipped back together. The tiers all have different turnaround times with the general idea being that the more you pay the faster you get your books back - you can always check out CGC's services & fees page to see the current turnaround times:

 

http://www.cgccomics.com/services/Services.aspx

 

5) CGC offers 3 different shipping options - USPS registered & insured, UPS and Fedex. If you choose the USPS registered & insured shipping option, your books are insured in transit for the full value you put on your invoices. If you choose UPS or Fedex, you only get $100 worth of shipping insurance no matter what value you put on the form.

 

 

[Real Elijah Snow]

I was about to respond but Mchmidt nailed it.

[donlas]

Wow, thanks very much! This is extremely helpful information. I'm juggling information in my mind right now, and I'll probably have more questions later, but right now my thinking is:

 

I'd really need the two BA 12s insured for more than $200. If that would mean that I'd only get $400 if both of them went missing or got destroyed, then that would floor me. I'm also extremely nervous about having those two comics out of my possession for a long time, so therefore it seems like it would make much more sense for me to put those two down as Standard or Express. That way they could be insured for closer to their actual value, and I'd be getting them back quicker.

 

So I'm thinking that I'll need multiple invoices for this one shipment. At the moment it seems like there would be three or four different invoices.

 

Some questions that come to mind at the moment:

 

1) For a lot of my rank-and-file modern issues (Sandman #1... DKR #1...) why would it ever make sense to submit them via "Economy" rather than "Modern"? Modern is cheaper, allows for a higher maximum insurance value, and takes about as long as Economy. So what I'm seeing is that the only advantage of Economy is if you have 15 or more comics older than 1975. If it's 1975 or newer, there's no point in looking at Economy(?).

 

2) Would there be anything wrong with just submitting multiple Modern invoices? For the bulk of the comics I want to submit (newer than 1975, each worth less than $200), why not just divide them into two or three batches and fill out a separate Modern invoice for each batch? Then I could get each chunk back as soon as they're done being processed, rather than waiting until all 30ish comics are done before any of them are sent back. OR, is it not allowed to have separate invoices for the same thing (Modern) in the same order? OR, is there a high-enough per-invoice fee that maybe I would want to consolidate all comics of the same type into a single invoice? (I guess it's only $5 per invoice? If so, that doesn't seem like much of a drawback.)

 

I sense that some of this stuff is probably very basic. I've just never done it before.

 

A last question for now:

 

3) Okay, so CGC offers me various shipping options. Does that mean I'll need to know the weight or dimensions of the eventual shipping container before I purchase shipping? For the amount of comics that I'm going to be submitting, I'm either going to use a USPS Priority Regional Rate Box C (and put all the sandwiched comics in one big stack) or use a longer, wider cardboard box of my own (and put the comics in two stacks, side by side).

 

Thanks very much again.

 

P.S. Real Elijah Snow: Okay, a Katy Perry gif of how she looked in THAT DRESS. Now I know I'm at a good forum with likeminded people :-D

[Dark Prime 0]

this is how i do it, so take it with a grain of salt but it makes sence to me

 

1 sepperate by date only, if CGC catches that you put it under the wrong teir. they will change it for you and will charge you more (far as i know they will call to let you know).......honestly let them do the work, if they don't catch the book (BA12) then that's their problem and you got it done for cheeper

 

2 just make sure you use a tape that's easy to get off. i know for myself when going though books i'll come across tape that i need to use a box cutter to open instead of attempting to get it off the bag........take the tape off the bag when you open it, you can always put that tape back on when you close it back up

 

3 far as i know shipping max at their lowest teir is 30 books, this way you max your price per book at the cheepest lv.......but you can send in all your books. as a side iirc each order is a max of 30 books (so if you send 40 under the same teir it's 2 orders (30 & 10), i could be wrong as i've never sent in more the 30 though), have to remember i haven't sent any books in for 2-3 yrs so if things have changed i might be wrong

 

4 put the books you want faster under "fast track" and the ones your fine getting slower under that teir........far as i know that is the only way to do what your looking to do

 

5 cgc ins you're forced to get (far as i know), doesn't cover the mail to cgc (so get the USPS ins)......it does cover shipping back to you (again far as i know)

 

i know you didn't ask but keep in mind the price, when i send books (30) with a press (joey) it could cost anywhere between 700-1k depending on the teir i'm sending in

 

[Dark Prime 0]

your 2nd group of questions

 

1 i'm not going to answer bc i don't quite understand what your asking so i'd rather say nothing and let someone better informed give an answer

 

2 you could do an invoice for each comic if you wanted cgc won't care, more money for them......though from a price per book angle sending in all at once is better then in 3 different packs idea, it's simple math. shipping on 30 books is $50 (pulling a number out of the air) so 30 / $50 = $1.66 per book. 10 / $50 = $5 per book.......so would you rather pay $50 shipping or $150 shipping, your call

 

the shipping is going to be the same wither you send 1 book or 30 books, it will not change........that's why i said to max your price per book on shipping, send the max amt of books

 

3 the shipping prices cgc gives are the prices to get the books back to you only......the post office decides on the price to get the books to cgc

[mschmidt]

Wow, thanks very much! This is extremely helpful information. I'm juggling information in my mind right now, and I'll probably have more questions later, but right now my thinking is:

 

I'd really need the two BA 12s insured for more than $200. If that would mean that I'd only get $400 if both of them went missing or got destroyed, then that would floor me. I'm also extremely nervous about having those two comics out of my possession for a long time, so therefore it seems like it would make much more sense for me to put those two down as Standard or Express. That way they could be insured for closer to their actual value, and I'd be getting them back quicker.

 

So I'm thinking that I'll need multiple invoices for this one shipment. At the moment it seems like there would be three or four different invoices.

 

Some questions that come to mind at the moment:

 

1) For a lot of my rank-and-file modern issues (Sandman #1... DKR #1...) why would it ever make sense to submit them via "Economy" rather than "Modern"? Modern is cheaper, allows for a higher maximum insurance value, and takes about as long as Economy. So what I'm seeing is that the only advantage of Economy is if you have 15 or more comics older than 1975. If it's 1975 or newer, there's no point in looking at Economy(?).

 

2) Would there be anything wrong with just submitting multiple Modern invoices? For the bulk of the comics I want to submit (newer than 1975, each worth less than $200), why not just divide them into two or three batches and fill out a separate Modern invoice for each batch? Then I could get each chunk back as soon as they're done being processed, rather than waiting until all 30ish comics are done before any of them are sent back. OR, is it not allowed to have separate invoices for the same thing (Modern) in the same order? OR, is there a high-enough per-invoice fee that maybe I would want to consolidate all comics of the same type into a single invoice? (I guess it's only $5 per invoice? If so, that doesn't seem like much of a drawback.)

 

I sense that some of this stuff is probably very basic. I've just never done it before.

 

A last question for now:

 

3) Okay, so CGC offers me various shipping options. Does that mean I'll need to know the weight or dimensions of the eventual shipping container before I purchase shipping? For the amount of comics that I'm going to be submitting, I'm either going to use a USPS Priority Regional Rate Box C (and put all the sandwiched comics in one big stack) or use a longer, wider cardboard box of my own (and put the comics in two stacks, side by side).

 

Thanks very much again.

 

P.S. Real Elijah Snow: Okay, a Katy Perry gif of how she looked in THAT DRESS. Now I know I'm at a good forum with likeminded people :-D

 

1) The Economy tier is for pre-1975 books - not sure why you think anyone would use the Economy tier for modern books. I mean, there's a Modern tier for a reason

 

2) There's no benefit to benefit to splitting up an invoice if the books will all be subbed under the same tier - not only would you pay a $5 invoice fee + separate return shipping for each invoice, but a smaller invoice doesn't get done faster than a larger invoice. It's not like you'd have 3 invoices that would be shipped back weeks apart - in all likelihood all the invoices would be completed at about the same time and you'd end up with 3 different shipping boxes showing up at about the same time.

 

3) The CGC shipping options are only for books being shipped back to you - the shipping cost is based solely on the number of books & the specified insurance value.

[krighton]

Personally, insurance through the USPS is a complete and total waste of money. They will find a way not to pay if you're item is lost or damaged. Seen it too many times. If you mail through USPS just package it up good and hope for the best.

[donlas]

Thanks very much for your replies, everyone. Things are getting clearer and clearer in my mind. This is all really helping. Thanks.

 

I'm probably not going to submit quite so large an order. It will probably end up being around 30 books total, rather than 40-50. I just spent a long time looking through my books and asking myself questions like, "Do I really want this Detective Comics #475 slabbed if it has a rusty staple and might only be a 6.0? Probably not. And do I really want this Miracleman #23 slabbed if it might only come back as an 8.0? Probably not."

 

The Economy tier is for pre-1975 books - not sure why you think anyone would use the Economy tier for modern books. I mean, there's a Modern tier for a reason

 

Oh okay... sorry... I'm getting confused. I think I meant "Value" but I typed "Economy" by mistake. Either way, I guess almost all of my comics would be Modern anyway.

 

When you said you put multiple bagged/boarded comics in a "magazine bag", do you mean that what I consider an "oversized comic bag" would be okay? I have a ton of those and that's what I was planning on using to bundle several comics together within a "cardboard sandwich". I don't know if what I have are technically Golden Age bags, or magazine bags, or what. But I get them all the time when ordering back issues online.

 

The whole packing thing in regards to putting the comics between cardboard, with bubble wrap around each packet, is really clear to me. That makes total sense, is explained well on the CGC site, and it's basically how I pack comics for eBay sales anyway.

 

I know that I should try to pack the comics so that as they're unpacked they correspond to the order of the invoice. Normally I pack comics with them all facing toward the center, so the first half of the stack would be backwards. Does it make sense to do it that way for CGC, or am I overthinking things? Like, if I have six comics packed in a bundle, with three of them facing up and three of them facing down within the sandwich, then should the top comic (which is facing down) be #1 on the invoice? (I'm probably overthinking things here...)

 

Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks again to everyone, especially in regards to postage. So what I pay CGC is for their postage to me, and nothing more. And however I get the comics to them, and whatever insurance I put on the package, is entirely between me and USPS (or UPS, or FedEx). Got it.

[RockMyAmadeus]

Personally, insurance through the USPS is a complete and total waste of money. They will find a way not to pay if you're item is lost or damaged. Seen it too many times. If you mail through USPS just package it up good and hope for the best.

 

Registered mail.

 

I have never had a claim denied, but I have never had anything lost through Registered because it's such a high level of security, and if it did, USPS would be very, very hard pressed to find a reason not to pay.

[Dark Prime 0]

way overthinking on the packing........put in order of the invoice , put in any order you wish. i'm trying to remember what cgc cs said was the reason they put orders on the side to check in at the end of box opening, it had something to do with invoice #'s with looking them up (and something missing on the invoice) but this was prob 5-7 yrs ago so the excat info is kinda merky

 

when choosing your books you could always look said book up on ebay in the grade you think to see if its worth it. even if your not selling now doesn't mean down the road you won't sell. there were times i looked up a book and could buy an already slabbed 9.8 for slightly over the gradeing fee, that book didn't go in the order, i've also pulled books form an order bc they weren't worth getting slabbed based of seeing their selling price (unless your going for a run, then looking it up is pointless)

 

for myself i pack my books in a 1 - 2 order. 1 is right side up, 2 is upside down, repeat. the most expensive books go in the middle of the stack. cardboard sandwitch all 30 books in 1 pile (no tape on the cardboard), wrap in bubble wrap (tape the bubble wrap) and popcorn in the box till it can't move (news paper works too but not as good)......make sure you put a layer of popcorn in the bottom of the box as well. though the 10/10/10 idea in packing is better then my way, and i'm prob going to go that route from now on

[donlas]

For what it's worth, I've never had any problem with getting money back from USPS via the $50-$100 insurance that comes with normal Priority shipping. I've had a few batches of comics damaged in shipping, and all I had to do was take a picture of the damaged box and the damaged comics, and I got a check back in a week or two. I don't have any experience with getting money back from extra insurance, though...

 

Thanks for the relies!

 

Yeah, looking up CGC stuff on eBay now is an eye-opening experience. Some of what I have is just not worth grading right now. Like, I have some random McFarlane Amazing Spider-Man issues... and some Deadpool variant covers from a few years ago... and they may be 9.6 copies, but if they come back slabbed at 9.4 then they're virtually unsellable at a price that would bring me any profit. So why risk it? Even if they come back at 9.6, it isn't like I'd make a mint on them -- I'd make maybe $50 tops, after eBay taxes, because it's only the 9.8 copies that are really bringing in a ton of profit.

 

For my personal collection, I might want a lot of those issues slabbed eventually, just so I can have a ton of McFarlane Spideys or my favorite Deadpool variants in 9.0 or better. But right now for what I'm doing, it isn't a priority.

 

Besides, a lot of the artwork looks better behind mylar bags than it does behind CGC plastic... Mylar just makes certain colors really POP in my opinion.

 

I'm also appreciating just how extremely great some of my own CGC purchases on eBay have been. Last week I won auctions for a 9.6 Flex Mentallo #1 SS Frank Quitely and 9.4 Batman: Son of the Demon SS Mike Barr from the same seller, for $35 combined total, $47 shipped.

 

Alright, last question (at least for now): Any opinions on taping the comics (or "the bag with the comics within them") to the cardboard slab? I'm seeing that people seem to use long pieces of tape across the entire length and width. Usually when I ship comics for my eBay sales, I just use two relatively short pieces of tape to fasten the very top and bottom of comics to one side of the cardboard "sandwich". It probably doesn't matter much either way, but I may as well ask if anyone has a preference, or even if they find that masking tape would work better than clear tape, etc. My only concern is that the clear packing tape I have might be difficult to get off if it's used generously, top to bottom and left to right, across the entire span of the comics. But I guess the CGC people are probably experts at cutting/pulling tape so as not to put a strain on the comics underneath. Probably over-thinking things again...

[Bird]

I only tape on the top and bottom if the tape is touching the comic bags in any way - spine ticks from stress!

[Myparentsbasement]

I use painters tape. I think it holds the stack together, but it's easier to remove than packing tape.

[donlas]

Thanks again, guys! Yeah, my thoughts exactly. I think painter's tape would be better for the same reason. Plus it's easier to see than the clear packing tape that I normally use. And I'm only going to tape the very top and bottom of the bag (within which the multiple bagged and boarded comics will be). I think that taping them sideways could risk spine ticks.

[Jaylam]

Someone may have already covered this, but when packing books in a stack, alternate the spines; left, right, left, right.......there are two ways to do this, you can pair the books so the front covers are facing each other, or have one right-side up, then next one up-side down and so on. Do not pack the books so all the spines on are the same side. This will not bother CGC and in fact they recommend doing this to reduce stress, compression and movement during shipping.

[Dark Prime 0]

honestly imo use whatever tape you want to tape the bag to the card board, that's what a box cutter is for. if you can't cut a bagged & boarded book lose from being taped to cardboard with no damage, there's something wrong. for myself i just leave the tape on the back of the bag instead of peeling it off or replaceing the bag, have yet to see any illeffect from it on my books

 

i use scotch tape though if i tape it, all 4 sides. i just don't put a large amt of pressure so i'm not damageing the book though

[Lonzilla]

If you have the opportunity to go to one of the few shows where CGC does onsite grading you can save yourself a humongous headache with packing, mailing, shifting, crushing, weather, etc. Drop the books off the first day, pick them up on the last day.

If you don't have that luxury, pack the books like you're shipping fine china and secure the box within another box.

Depending on which Deadpool variants you want to slab, there's several that are still worth it in 9.6, even in 9.4. ASM 620 comes to mind immediately

[donlas]

If you have the opportunity to go to one of the few shows where CGC does onsite grading you can save yourself a humongous headache with packing, mailing, shifting, crushing, weather, etc. Drop the books off the first day, pick them up on the last day.

If you don't have that luxury, pack the books like you're shipping fine china and secure the box within another box.

Depending on which Deadpool variants you want to slab, there's several that are still worth it in 9.6, even in 9.4. ASM 620 comes to mind immediately

 

Thanks for your insight.

 

Yeah, I REALLY wish I lived anywhere near where CGC does onsite grading. I don't.

 

The Deadpool variants I'm considering are:

 

Deadpool #11 (8bit Hastings variant) - LOVE THIS ONE, but it looks 9.4 to me and would hate to risk having it come back only 9.2...

Deadpool #34 (3-D variant) - 9.6? I'll probably have at least this one graded.

Hulk #7 Marquez Variant (Hulk 340 spoof) - 9.6 probably

Thor #1 Hastings Variant (Deadpool swooning over Lady Thor) - 9.6 probably

 

[lou_fine]

After reading this thread here, it certainly makes it seem that the entire CGC submission process is a nightmare. Very convoluted with a lot of different moving parts at the same time, even including silly things like the proper application of tape on your packages.

 

Looks like you have to not only figure out the tiers, but also your shipping and insurance options. Did you guys also mention something about minimum quantities, invoice charges, coupons for free submissions, etc, etc.? I believe I also heard that you have to be a member and pay annual dues in order to submit books for grading. If that is true, it sounds as though CGC must be making money left and right then?

 

Maybe I should take a closer look at their home page to check out the exact details of the submission process. Especially since I've been here since 2003 and I still haven't got around to checking it out yet.

 

It can't be as difficult and costly as how you guys are making it sound. Hopefully, it's just a case of practice makes perfect.