Well, CGC is raising prices for their services, and... 14 14

[GoldenPRGuy]

I'm torn on this. On one hand, if I am being honest, I've had an Elite membership since 2013 and probably haven't submitted anything since 2018, so I am accustomed to p---ing money down my leg. In that vein, the increase likely won't directly affect me anytime soon. Nevertheless, it does seem to be massive overhaul to the entire system that offers little benefit to the collector. Higher prices, lower discounts, longer waits etc. Even with the influx of new hires it's not like they are promising a better turn around time. 

Edited April 22, 2021 by GoldenPRGuy

[musicmeta]

IMHYWO - Most of the time (not all the time) if you want a business to change, you have to affect their "bottom line".  As long as the company is doing well and profits are increasing, there is little incentive to change things..i.e. faster turnaround times, better Quality control, etc..  Affect their "bottom line" and then you will see change.  There is always a price point break.   Raise the price of a Modern book to be graded a $500 - How many folks will send in their Modern books
to be graded?  I bet not much.  
Unless a large percentage of us submitters quit sending in books to drop their profits hardly anything will change IMHYWO.
That being said,  The price increases IMOYWO were to be expected.  The market is pretty darn hot, so just like any business wanting to make more money, prices get raised.  
I'm ok with the price increases.......This time. 

[PKJ]

10 minutes ago, blazingbob said:

If CGC wants to partake in the appreciation of collectibles then why don't they sell them for me to?  Or have we all forgot when CGC comes asking for submissions?

You sir will be hit with a fee for suggesting business practices, a tax fee may be assessed after the accounting team reviews. 

[BrntWS6]

It's a business and they are there to make money.  I have raised my rates for my personal business greatly as well in the past year.  But what should come with that is a 30 day turn around time.  Raising rates to only make people wait longer is terrible business.  That would be like Netflix charging an extra $10/month and removing 1/3 of their content.

[Randall Ries]

32 minutes ago, blazingbob said:

While I agree with you "we" have been nickel and dimed for years with getting books graded and the costs associated with doing it.  Shipping there/CCS/CGC/invoice fee $5/fast track fees (if applicable)/shipping back/selling fees/payment fees/taxes etc.

 

That is the unfortunate part of this. I buy raw books I am 90% certain are not restored. I'm not sending books in to be graded either. I buy graded books and I buy the best looking grade at the best price I can find regardless of who grades them. I was illustrating that when middle men get involved, prices go wonky because now we have to pay all their operating fees and their taxes, quite frankly. I mean, look at Obamacare. Not socialized medicine at all. Insurance companies were put in a position of greater power and instead of paying a tax for socialized medicine, it is likely we are paying FAR MORE than we would if we were simply paying a tax. I have no choices in that other than I'll pay a $100 fine at the end of the year instead of thousands on co-pays and trying to meet a minimum treatment cost cut off thing. Apple and oranges, really.

I have a hobby I find cathartic and fun. Helps me to feel young in an ever aging body. I resent the business paradigm being applied to it. I don't care how much money whoever made and when. Seems like comics had value as well before all this started. Probably a more honest value, too. Based on supply and demand. The only real problem was people foisting of restored books or fakes as the real McCoy. If the buyer knows what he/she is looking at, that was rarely an issue for me. I can't believe people are still falling for that "Famous First Edition" thing. Really? Still? From 1974?

[irishcritic]

Just curious how do the new changes affect dealers? Are they still getting the 20% discount or is a dealer account now just basically an elite membership?

[1Cool]

14 hours ago, jsilverjanet said:

I have 7 days to create every possible invoice I had planned for the next 3 months 

Thanks for the comment - I neglected to notice that you only needed to print out the invoice which will give me a month to get the left over 50 books a quick press and get them subbed.

[William-James88]

2 hours ago, Black_Adam said:

This move is obviously a boon for the competition. PGX better tell his mom they're going to need a bigger basement!

Haha. All kidding aside, I do wish the people threatening to leave CGC for the competition would man up and actually do it. Don't wuss out you chumps! Leave CGC and don't look back! Maybe then we'll have better tats.

2 hours ago, 1Cool said:

I wonder why they waited to only a week before the change to tell us about it?  With so many changes going into effect you would think a month notice would be reasonable.  Are they just hoping to reduce the avalanche of books to only a week?

That's what I figured. 

[the blob]

1 hour ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

I like to bash CGC as much as the next guy, but it’s kinda silly to complain about a price hike while the books you’re submitting have tripled in value. 

only a few books. and CGC's pricing structure had them benefiting from the appreciation. 

[blazingbob]

39 minutes ago, irishcritic said:

Just curious how do the new changes affect dealers? Are they still getting the 20% discount or is a dealer account now just basically an elite membership?

Dealer discount was reduced to 15% which is a price increase on top of the others

[the blob]

what do junior CGC graders make?

I actually think jacking up the pre-screen so much is the biggie. Like I said, if they actually gave back an informal grade that would be something. But all we know if a book isn't a 9.8 or whatever.

All these generic moderns getting slabbed into 9.8s to get sold for $29.99 never made sense.

 

[irishcritic]

11 minutes ago, blazingbob said:

Dealer discount was reduced to 15% which is a price increase on top of the others

That's what I thought. That seems like a negative for the dealers and especially the pressers that are also dealers. I wonder when you factor in the credit and the 10% off from the elite vs. the 15% for dealers is there really a difference between the 2? I know it depends on total number of books submitted, but seems like it is really hurting the dealer accounts that garner business based on the savings they can provide to a customer.

[blazingbob]

3 minutes ago, irishcritic said:

That's what I thought. That seems like a negative for the dealers and especially the pressers that are also dealers. I wonder when you factor in the credit and the 10% off from the elite vs. the 15% for dealers is there really a difference between the 2? I know it depends on total number of books submitted, but seems like it is really hurting the dealer accounts that garner business based on the savings they can provide to a customer.

This doesn't impact me in the least.  Just add on 5% price increase on all the others and in some cases my costs have gone up 25%.

 

[irishcritic]

2 minutes ago, blazingbob said:

This doesn't impact me in the least.  Just add on 5% price increase on all the others and in some cases my costs have gone up 25%.

 

That's tough, and I would imagine it will have a tremendous ripple effect in the community as a whole.

[Buzzetta]

1 hour ago, Foolkiller said:

Nobody likes it when change in general occurs and certainly not when prices are raised.  CGC is a business, not a charity and it's primary goal is to make money -- like every other business.  The vintage comic market is hotter than ever and people are sending books in at a record pace.  They've had to expand in order to meet demand and that obviously has costs, but the reason to do so is so that they can make more money.  Just like the fact that the reason most people send books in for encapsulation is to increase their value.  In the free market system we all have a choice -- we could 1) No longer submit and sell books raw.  2) Use a competitor 3) Continue to submit.  Most people are going to choose 3.  I have zero problem with the changes -- CGC has necessarily become more corporate over time -- raising prices is a further step in that direction.  But the reality is, why shouldn't they be taking advantage of this market the same way most of us are?  CGC has helped all of us for many, many years increase the value of our collections or businesses.  They've become an essential component of this industry/business.  If you are opposed to their actions or prices, you do have choices.  

I think that a lot of the outrage really stems from the relationship between a price increase and an increase in TAT's.  When you release a statement that you have hired more graders and increased the size of your facilities, the customer wants to receive something or see an improvement for that price increase.   Instead, the turnaround times are steadily increasing. 

Myself and others would like to see some type of progress in this area to justify the costs rather than accommodate an already increasing problem.  We are not seeing that here or at the least, the perception of curbing turn around times is not being properly presented.  When something like this happens, the perception is automatically generated within that you, as the customer are not receiving as much bang for your buck. 

In short, if they want to increase fees, cool.  A couple of dollars per book is really not a deal breaker if product was received and processed in a timely fashion.  But, since that is not happening, people are a slight bit out of sorts over it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Buzzetta]

28 minutes ago, the blob said:

what do junior CGC graders make?

I actually think jacking up the pre-screen so much is the biggie. Like I said, if they actually gave back an informal grade that would be something. But all we know if a book isn't a 9.8 or whatever.

All these generic moderns getting slabbed into 9.8s to get sold for $29.99 never made sense.

 

As Joey pointed out, that move is probably designed to decrease the number of books submitted for prescreens as that is probably seen as a waste of time by their graders. 

[the blob]

If with the added cost for pre-screens they added the option like the other company of getting a "raw grade" for a few $ more or whatever, that would make sense, but $8 is down the drain there (and I know, it was $5 before). The other company will give you a graded book in mylar with a label for $10 or whatever if your book fails the their pre-screen, although the details are very unclear on their website. 

 

[Lurker89]

The 6 month turnaround is what keeps me from submitting my books... I like enjoying my collection letting the books float in the ether for 6 months to a year isn't my idea of a good time.

[the blob]

4 minutes ago, Buzzetta said:

As Joey pointed out, that move is probably designed to decrease the number of books submitted for prescreens as that is probably seen as a waste of time by their graders. 

why? isn't that pretty easy money? it seems a lot of books can get rejected pretty quickly at $5 a pop.

[jcjames]

3 minutes ago, Lurker89 said:

The 6 month turnaround is what keeps me from submitting my books... I like enjoying my collection letting the books float in the ether for 6 months to a year isn't my idea of a good time.

This is the problem. as soon as TATs improve, more people send in more books which slow down TATs.