Turnaround time changes and current orders 1 1

[DB Cards]

1 hour ago, Sambuck2 said:

Hi all. I received this unfortunate response in a separate thread from a CGC administrator.

 

Hello - The turnaround times vary with our submission volume and will be longer in periods of high demand. The estimates posted on our website are reflective of the length of time the submissions currently shipping out took to complete service. They are reflective rather than predictive and they are updated as those times fluctuate with our submission volume. Our submission volume has been extremely high and we are working to complete submissions as quickly and as safely as possible. We apologize for the delays and any inconvenience.

This is unfortunate. The fact that times doubled upon being "reflective" of the time submissions are shipping out makes me wonder if they held out as long as possible before changing them. As their turnaround time gets closer and closer to PSAs they will almost surely have less customers for Pokemon (not sure how the YGO community feels about them). Hopefully they find a way to keep up with this increase in demand as they had that as a true selling point when first entering the scene. If you want to run a business successfully you HAVE to solve a problem that the companies already in that space don't.

[alohaboyz]

1 hour ago, DB Cards said:

This is unfortunate. The fact that times doubled upon being "reflective" of the time submissions are shipping out makes me wonder if they held out as long as possible before changing them. As their turnaround time gets closer and closer to PSAs they will almost surely have less customers for Pokemon (not sure how the YGO community feels about them). Hopefully they find a way to keep up with this increase in demand as they had that as a true selling point when first entering the scene. If you want to run a business successfully you HAVE to solve a problem that the companies already in that space don't.

Spot on.  CGC will lose a lot of big submitters with this increase of turnaround times.  Having $1,000 - $10,000's stuck in submission fees is not good for large submitters.   They will just go back to PSA, PSA is good for cash flow, PSA charges after service is rendered (graded).  Missed opportunity for sure.

Edited December 24, 2020 by alohaboyz

[SharpBubble]

On 12/21/2020 at 1:43 PM, alohaboyz said:

Grading is not that hard, most hobbyist that submit cards can eye ball a card and grade as consistent.     Centering , edges, corners are basic .  The surface is the element that is most difficult and time consuming.

Maybe if they go to a more like a "moving assembly line" .  train a person to grade only corners, next person grades only edges, next person grades only centering and the experienced graders do surface.

ALSO,  with the limit catalog of only Pokemon and Magic cards.  Training should be much easier than training Sports cards the consist of so may cards and printing media.

 

In theory this sounds like a great idea. It certainly is an efficient way to streamline tasks. However, in practice it may prove to be disastrous. Instead of one person, slowly and carefully handling one card/order, one card would be exchanged by 4 or more pairs of hands and the card would be taken in and out of sleeves at least 4 different times instead of once. I can see orders being mixed up all the time, because having to grade one order of 5-10 cards at a time by 4 or more different people would be inefficient and grading multiple orders at the same time by 4 different people may get messy and cards would get mixed up. 

[Yeahiwasder4dat]

8 hours ago, DB Cards said:

This is unfortunate. The fact that times doubled upon being "reflective" of the time submissions are shipping out makes me wonder if they held out as long as possible before changing them. As their turnaround time gets closer and closer to PSAs they will almost surely have less customers for Pokemon (not sure how the YGO community feels about them). Hopefully they find a way to keep up with this increase in demand as they had that as a true selling point when first entering the scene. If you want to run a business successfully you HAVE to solve a problem that the companies already in that space don't.

I feel like it's somewhat deceptive and counter productive. They charged me soon after it was received, vs PSA when it's more or less on the way back. So for a bulk submission that's roughly $500 sitting in limbo. As far as times being reflective instead of predictive, seems like a way to bamboozle the people that sent submissions in last. I'd much rather it say 60 days and have it come back sooner than to plan around a 30 day mark and suddenly it's double. If I have to pay up front, and then they tell me it will take twice as long what reason would I have to use them again after being burned to that extent? Not that 60 days is atrociously bad, but as a contractor if I told someone their kitchen renovation would be done in a month +/- few days, then double the time they would be beyond livid. Value starts to falter when you can't be consistent with your schedule. Over promise, under deliver isn't the way to go.

[alohaboyz]

7 hours ago, Yeahiwasder4dat said:

I feel like it's somewhat deceptive and counter productive. They charged me soon after it was received, vs PSA when it's more or less on the way back. So for a bulk submission that's roughly $500 sitting in limbo. As far as times being reflective instead of predictive, seems like a way to bamboozle the people that sent submissions in last. I'd much rather it say 60 days and have it come back sooner than to plan around a 30 day mark and suddenly it's double. If I have to pay up front, and then they tell me it will take twice as long what reason would I have to use them again after being burned to that extent? Not that 60 days is atrociously bad, but as a contractor if I told someone their kitchen renovation would be done in a month +/- few days, then double the time they would be beyond livid. Value starts to falter when you can't be consistent with your schedule. Over promise, under deliver isn't the way to go.

Perfectly said.  I dont think the younger staff in the CGC department understand owning their own Business.  Cash flow, customers service, problem solving and business ethics.   I truly wand CGC to be a major competitor in the grading card sector, but they are making the same mistake SGC made this summer.  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for CGC to take advantage of,  This type of opportunity does not happen every year.    Please CGC,  do it right.

[LKG]

So now we have to wait 60 days when it was just tracking a little over 30-40 days?  Someone explain to me how the order that were received back in November, now have to wait double the time if it is first in first out?

[PokeHustle]

My mix BULK submission of 50 cards was received on 12/08.  I've put in a list in the box accordingly to the order of the cards. 

However, I received an email today regarding not listing all the cards in the invoice e.g Card 1 - Bulk, Card 2 bulk and so on and said that this is significantly delaying the process.

I do get the point however I've seen submissions before like mine and they have always put in Mix bulk with 50x Quantity without adding every single card

In any case, at least I know it's being looked at as I received responses from them so I do think they're doing their best but has a backlog currently.

 

[Yeahiwasder4dat]

8 hours ago, alohaboyz said:

Perfectly said.  I dont think the younger staff in the CGC department understand owning their own Business.  Cash flow, customers service, problem solving and business ethics.   I truly wand CGC to be a major competitor in the grading card sector, but they are making the same mistake SGC made this summer.  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for CGC to take advantage of,  This type of opportunity does not happen every year.    Please CGC,  do it right.

You mean where SGC pretty much said send everything you have even though they couldn't accommodate? I sent 10 '59 baseball cards to be graded there and the turnaround time is like 75-80+ days, which to me is absurd. Luckily those are PC so turnaround time doesn't matter. What I sent to CGC isn't, so time does play a huge part in it. I was on the fence between selling them raw vs grade. If I knew it would be double I probably would've just sold raw. I'm not necessarily mad about it being 60 days, as much as it saying 30 and within a week becoming 60 right after they received it. Understanding that it's not guaranteed, but assuming it'll be close to a month and half total time is a lot different than 3 months. Throws a massive wrench in the schedule for other cards being shipped and what I was going to sell graded instead of raw. I'm sure many others are in the same boat at this point, but doesn't make it any less frustrating.

[mr_highgrade]

You guys definitely don't wanna go the PSA route. They're basically 9 months behind. 

[Sambuck2]

12 hours ago, mr_highgrade said:

You guys definitely don't wanna go the PSA route. They're basically 9 months behind. 

But we know how far behind they are. The selling point of CGC was the turnaround time. Doubling the wait is bad business. They should extend times by 10% at a time. Not 100%. Really feels shady

[alohaboyz]

On 12/24/2020 at 7:17 PM, mr_highgrade said:

You guys definitely don't wanna go the PSA route. They're basically 9 months behind. 

PSA is not that bad if you think "cash flow", they charge when they finish Grading.   BGS/SGC/CGC charge when received, having money locked up in "limbo" for months is actually a bad situation for customers financially.  Never good to give free loans to companies.

 

[CrownCards]

My cards were mailed out around 45 days ago, and still in "Recieved" status. Was really hoping to get them back on/around Xmas. I don't mind the delays but wish they atleast communicated it. I have no recieved any email or update about turnaround times being extended or delays. I basically mailed my cards out Mid-November and it took almost 2 weeks to even acknowledge them now another 30 days of "recieved".

Agree main selling point of CGC was the turnaround times, clearly PSA has the "name" in the market. We already know as a whole CGC grades harder than PSA and some competitors, which is fine if the service was speedy. I will wait and see what happens and how they come back before casting my final judgment as I really wanted this to be a good experience. I literally check every day like a little kid hoping for an update

Edited December 27, 2020 by CrownCards

[Mephisto]

I kept reading before they launched how CGC was a great opportunity due to turn around times of other card grading companies. I saw a lot of people who trumpeted that CGC has a long established company for grading comics and are associated with another company that has graded currency for years when people questioned using CGC to grade cards. 

Many months ago I had to laugh and mentioned to a few people in the CGC comic community that people were going to be in a rude awakening because the CGC card grading turnaround times would balloon in no time...just like the turnaround times for comic books have over the years. Everyone I mentioned this to agreed it would happen. 

Over the course of the 17 years I have been on these message boards I have seen countless threads regarding burgeoning turnaround times for graded comics. I’m honestly surprised the card grading has this many complaints this soon but at the same time I’m even more surprised more people didn’t see this coming. 🤷‍♂️

[Yeahiwasder4dat]

8 hours ago, Mephisto said:

I kept reading before they launched how CGC was a great opportunity due to turn around times of other card grading companies. I saw a lot of people who trumpeted that CGC has a long established company for grading comics and are associated with another company that has graded currency for years when people questioned using CGC to grade cards. 

Many months ago I had to laugh and mentioned to a few people in the CGC comic community that people were going to be in a rude awakening because the CGC card grading turnaround times would balloon in no time...just like the turnaround times for comic books have over the years. Everyone I mentioned this to agreed it would happen. 

Over the course of the 17 years I have been on these message boards I have seen countless threads regarding burgeoning turnaround times for graded comics. I’m honestly surprised the card grading has this many complaints this soon but at the same time I’m even more surprised more people didn’t see this coming. 🤷‍♂️

The surprise isn't in times going up. It's the amount of time at once, and with no prior warning. Not notifying anyone with submissions, or increasing projected turnaround time until after it's already there is surprising. Surely they could see they were getting backlogged or would be shortly based off of the number of submissions. Highly doubt it was a magical revelation that struck them one morning as they walked into the building. Sixty day turnaround isn't the issue so much as being told thirty, then having it double after they have your money and product. A full 100% increase in turnaround time without any indication they were delayed. Seems less about the actual turnaround time, and more about how they decided to inform.

[alohaboyz]

On 12/18/2020 at 3:54 PM, DB Cards said:

While not great, it at least means the market as a whole is starting to accept CGC. Still a crazy good turnaround compared to PSA/BGS. That said, I do wish I would’ve known of the turnaround time change before sending in my newest order

LOL,  I upgraded my membership the day before and mailed a bulk submission the day before the double turnaround time. 

Great timing for me.  (sarcastic).

[Mephisto]

2 hours ago, Yeahiwasder4dat said:

A full 100% increase in turnaround time without any indication they were delayed. Seems less about the actual turnaround time, and more about how they decided to inform.

The fact you are having to say it’s a 100% increase in turnaround time at all tells me it’s at least partially about how bad the turnaround times are. There have been other posts that are clearly about the turnaround times themselves and how CGC aid already blowing it as an alternative as the turnaround times increase.

The part I actually can’t believe is all the posts about how long it takes CGC to log the card submissions into the system once they have been received at their mailing box. To have that poor of a functioning system this early on in both the business and the actual process of grading is...troubling.

Even if CGC card grading starts to improve on the turnaround times they will likely just fall back even worse later on (as has happened numerous times with the CGC comic grading) unless of course people give up the experiment and stop submitting which sales of the cards graded by them will also likely be a deciding factor. Some completed sales have been pretty strong but some others have been also been pretty bad when compared to other established companies in the exact same grade. 

[Yeahiwasder4dat]

 

19 minutes ago, Mephisto said:

The fact you are having to say it’s a 100% increase in turnaround time at all tells me it’s at least partially about how bad the turnaround times are. There have been other posts that are clearly about the turnaround times themselves and how CGC aid already blowing it as an alternative as the turnaround times increase.

The part I actually can’t believe is all the posts about how long it takes CGC to log the card submissions into the system once they have been received at their mailing box. To have that poor of a functioning system this early on in both the business and the actual process of grading is...troubling.

Even if CGC card grading starts to improve on the turnaround times they will likely just fall back even worse later on (as has happened numerous times with the CGC comic grading) unless of course people give up the experiment and stop submitting which sales of the cards graded by them will also likely be a deciding factor. Some completed sales have been pretty strong but some others have been also been pretty bad when compared to other established companies in the exact same grade. 

Don't get me wrong, 60 days is an inconvenience and definitely part of it. Price to time, they still beat others but I'm sure they will get up there with the big three soon. I meant more in terms of I would just drop more money to get 20 days or whatever if I had known going in. 30 days for $8 was great. 60 days for $8 still good. There were some cards I'm trying to get faster turn arounds on, and If I had know I was 60 days out I would've either paid more or sold raw. 30ish day was an acceptable timeframe for them. 60 isn't going to work so well. Mine have been in "received" for two weeks. I agree on that front as well. Just feels like a slap in the face to an extent. Some people might not like the longer turnaround at all, but for me personally I just needed it done somewhere near the original schedule, even something like 35-40 days would've been alright but 60+ I kind of needed to know before hand. 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Yeahiwasder4dat

[PaulS.]

On 12/23/2020 at 6:05 PM, Sambuck2 said:

Hi all. I received this unfortunate response in a separate thread from a CGC administrator.

 

Hello - The turnaround times vary with our submission volume and will be longer in periods of high demand. The estimates posted on our website are reflective of the length of time the submissions currently shipping out took to complete service. They are reflective rather than predictive and they are updated as those times fluctuate with our submission volume. Our submission volume has been extremely high and we are working to complete submissions as quickly and as safely as possible. We apologize for the delays and any inconvenience.

This is not correct and I will speak to customer service to clarify. The 60 day turnaround time applies to orders we are receiving now. For the bulk orders shipping out the door right now, we are at about 33 business days, but we know that will slowly increase as we work through the backlog. We want to be as transparent as we can be because we know that turnaround times are very important to our customers.

In response to additional comments I saw on this thread, no, nobody from CGC has quit or been fired. Quite the contrary, we have been hiring like crazy! 

 

Paul

[PaulS.]

On 12/23/2020 at 7:06 PM, Manuel Marti said:

I sent in 50 cards before Thanksgiving. Still in the receiving stage. You gotta be kidding me. Its not worth it. 
 

at the higher tiers with the long wait times... i might as well go with Beckett. 
 

I am new to Cgc. This was my first submission. I have over 3,000 cards that need grading. I sent in 50 to test the waters. 
 

good thing I did. 
 

I live 2 blocks from Psa but its way too long for grading. Looks like Beckett. 

I am sorry you are disappointed, but the holidays do tend to slow thing down. Please note that the bulk tiers for BGS and PSA are both more expensive, and take much longer. BGS quotes 6+ months and PSA does not even list one, but I am told it is 9+ months.

 

Paul

[PaulS.]

21 hours ago, Mephisto said:

The fact you are having to say it’s a 100% increase in turnaround time at all tells me it’s at least partially about how bad the turnaround times are. There have been other posts that are clearly about the turnaround times themselves and how CGC aid already blowing it as an alternative as the turnaround times increase.

The part I actually can’t believe is all the posts about how long it takes CGC to log the card submissions into the system once they have been received at their mailing box. To have that poor of a functioning system this early on in both the business and the actual process of grading is...troubling.

Even if CGC card grading starts to improve on the turnaround times they will likely just fall back even worse later on (as has happened numerous times with the CGC comic grading) unless of course people give up the experiment and stop submitting which sales of the cards graded by them will also likely be a deciding factor. Some completed sales have been pretty strong but some others have been also been pretty bad when compared to other established companies in the exact same grade. 

Regarding receiving times, we were completely inundated with submissions before Thanksgiving, and were about 8-10 business days behind with receiving. We made some operational changes, and are now completely caught up and submissions only take a day or two to be received.

 

Paul