Another third-party grading company?

[mlovest]

Is there enough of a market demand out there for another thrd-party grading company like CGC? When might it come along? What would the impact be for comics in general? Any rumors out there?

 

Seems like some competition would be a good thing. It would be interesting to know what the profit margin is for CGC. Given the amount of work they put into grading each book, it's probably not very high for the more modern books. Of course, they are much easier to grade, right?

 

Just wondering...

Mike

[blowout]

There have been many discussions on the board regarding the likelyhood of a new grading company. It would only be a good thing as the competition would push CGC to produce a better service and hopefully become more accountable for their grading criteria.

Our very own forum member supapimp was even talking about looking for backing to start his own rival grading company.

[hammer-migration]

There WON'T be any competition. Any new startup service would soon find out that they would NOT be operating a profitable venture. I would assume that someone interested in starting a grading company venture would be WELL-versed in the mechanics, technicalities, and complexities of the comic hobby, as well as in possession of keen insight into other collectibles fields. Someone of these qualifications to sit in judgement on grading comics would soon find out that they could make INFINITELY more money, BUYING and SELLING comics than grading them.........that is, UNLESS someone with a bankroll like JP Mega$aur's was putting food on their table. The indominatible Ernst Gerber himself attempted to startup an encapsulation/grading service decades ago and quickly abandoned it when he realized that his money making potential was being diverted to a break even proposition at best. For years, it seems, that many have hinted at initiating grading services. Many that were/are VERY qualified. Extremely qualified individuals that can grade their butts off and who have FORGOTTEN more than 99% of the hobby KNOWS. Individuals that have sat in judgement on Action Panels at World famous Auction Houses: Stephen Fishler, Rob Roter, Sean Linkenbach, Mark Wilson, Keith Contarino, etc., etc. NO grading service however came to fruitation. It took the TRIAD, JP/Manning/CGC to put the grading service on the map (JP's $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ X infinity...God bless him, I look at the Heritage offerings and I have to make a concious effort to keep my jaw from dropping, Manning's auctions 1 and 2, and CGC's product being pushed along by both efforts).

[fantastic_four]

Is there enough of a market demand out there for another thrd-party grading company like CGC?

Don't know, but I'll be surprised if one of the currently existing coin or card companies doesn't get one started up within the next 3 years. I agree with Hammer that there wouldn't be much money in it, but not everyone's primary motivation is money at every point in their life, so one of the sports card companies has a chance of recruiting a comics pro to help them out.

[FlyingDonut]

A third party grading service is already in formulation. Look for it to be announced officially by the end of this year. The encapsulation process is the sticking point, and they may not be using encapsulation.

[fantastic_four]

Sounds like you may have heard the same rumor I did...any idea which company is forming the one you're thinking of?

 

Of course, I've heard this same rumor and bold talk from a would-be CGC competitor EVERY year since 2000, so it'll be interesting to see if this year's rumor mill is any different from the last few years.

[Illiterati-migration]

Oh come on, I KNOW I'm not the only person here who remembers that guy who posted a month or two ago about "his" new third-party grading service... now if only I could remember the name.................... PCG? Does that sound right?

[fantastic_four]

PopCultureCertified.com is who you're referring to. No offense to those guys, but I don't consider them a threat to CGC because they don't claim to do a restoration check and because they don't use slabs. I bought some comics from them a few weeks ago; they put the comics in an E. Gerber Mylite2 bag with a Full-Back board and a little gold emblem sealing the bag shut. There is a grading certificate behind the board visible out the back of the bag. You can open the bag by just lifting up the emblem; not sure how easy it is to lift that emblem without signs of wear, I wasn't patient enough to give it a go.

[FlyingDonut]

The company I'm referring to is NOT PopCultureCertified.com.

[fantastic_four]

Yea, I figured; that's not the rumor I was thinking of either.

 

Care to share which one? Is it a coin and/or sports card company?

[Illiterati-migration]

So you bought some books from them? How do you feel about their grading system? Don't they use some sort of alphabetical rating on forty or fifty different aspects to the book? I don't know, I tried to read their website... but... eyes... too... lazy... Okay, so it just didn't make all that much sense to me. Did they charge you multiples of guide for their books?

[fantastic_four]

They rate 10 aspects of a comic. The books I bought were some Daredevils linked to below, priced very well:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemWithCategory&item=2156251765

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemWithCategory&item=2156252201

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemWithCategory&item=2156252376

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemWithCategory&item=2156253068

 

Their grading was decent; I graded two at NM 9.4, one at NM- 9.2, and one at VF/NM 9.0. I'm undecided about their grading system, although I'm not a fan of the A, B, C, D grades they give. I really like the way they show you what grades they assigned to the 10 different categories. I wish CGC would do this; if they did, there would be less questions about what goes into the grades they give.