Why should I use CGC? The others are cheaper and faster... 0

[shadroch]

I don't disagree, but if I found the right green label books, I'd have no problem sending them to the DC. 

 

[Math Teacher]

On 8/2/2021 at 10:30 AM, revat said:

I would say everyone has their own reasons for doing whatever 

but if your concern is cost/benefit analysis, look up sold prices on eBay for equivalent books in equivalent grades with different grading companies.  Then do your own math of grading costs, shipping, estimated turnaround time, and do what works best for you.

 

the random opinions of internet strangers should mean much less than the actual objective numbers.  

 

good luck

As sound as this advice is, putting it into practice is not so easy.

I went to Ebay, as suggested, and I did three searches: "spider-man cgc", "spider-man cbcs", and "spider-man pgx".

 

Under CGC, there are 1,195 listings in Silver Age. Under CBCS, there are 153 listings in Silver Age. Under PGX, there are 55 listings in Silver Age. There are 5.7 times more listings for CGC than there are for CBCS and PGX combined. And it's clear from the listings from CGC and CBCS that there are some Ebay sellers that don't understand the concept of the Silver Age. The odds that you are going to find multiple listings for the same book graded by CGC, CBCS, and PGX would be quite small.

Secondly, I think it would behoove us to remember that we were all "newbies" at one time. I'm sure that I asked PLENTY of stupid questions when I first joined the boards back in November, 2018. I believe I joined the boards after my first submission to CGC, through one of my LCSs. Yes, there were "snarky" comments, but there were also helpful comments. And honestly, how do we really know anything about the original poster? If you look at his profile, he joined in October, 2020, and has made only two posts. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that he has been "lurking" for some time.

I shudder to think how many times @revat has typed in the phrase, "I suggest you contact CGC directly." My guess is that number would have to be expressed in scientific notation. It's one thing to respond to a person who asks a question that can easily be found on the website or is a question that CGC should really answer. It's another thing to respond to a person who is asking an opinion question.

With just a little effort, I found a thread that asked this exact same question three years ago. As I mentioned above, there were "snarky" comments and helpful comments. At that time, the OP was interested in learning about CGC vs. CBCS vs. PGX. I don't see a whole lot of difference from the thread back in 2018 vs. this thread.

There are numerous board members whose opinions I have come to value, such as @KCOComics, @KirbyJack, and @Omaha-CGC-Comics, just to name a few. When I am thinking about purchasing or selling a book, I often ask for their opinion, and they are always happy to share. I have met both @KirbyJack and @Omaha-CGC-Comics in person, as we all live in the same area. And even though @KCOComics and I have communicated numerous times, I don't think it would be out of line to classify him as a "Internet stranger." I know a little about him and he knows a little about me, but we've never met nor even spoken to each other. But I still value his opinion.

I just don't understand the need to pounce upon someone that asks a stupid question. As a teacher, I would often say, "The stupidest question is the one you don't ask." And I know that someone will say that the OP will make this post and then never be heard from again. Based on some of the responses he got, can you blame him/her?

I apologize if I have came off as "holier than thou." I just think that the world, and this board, would be a better place to be if we all could just practice a little kindness toward each other.

OK. I'm done pontificating. Have at me.

[MattTheDuck]

Since most chat boards don't involve any actual commerce, but do involve a significant degree of anonymity, you can basically post anything you want without fear of "reprisal."  One of the good things about this Board is that there's somewhat less anonymity.  If you buy and (as I do) pay by check or money order, or if you sell, you know the "real" name and shipping location of anyone you deal with.  It is possible to reduce your "I will buy from" list based on posting history rather than eBay feedback and the like.  Despite my short time here, I can tell you there are posters I have no interest in buying from, based solely on their intemperate posts to either me or (mostly) others.  I'm sure I'm not the only one. 

If you intend to sell here, post carefully.

[KCOComics]

On 8/17/2021 at 6:57 PM, Math Teacher said:

As sound as this advice is, putting it into practice is not so easy.

I went to Ebay, as suggested, and I did three searches: "spider-man cgc", "spider-man cbcs", and "spider-man pgx".

 

Under CGC, there are 1,195 listings in Silver Age. Under CBCS, there are 153 listings in Silver Age. Under PGX, there are 55 listings in Silver Age. There are 5.7 times more listings for CGC than there are for CBCS and PGX combined. And it's clear from the listings from CGC and CBCS that there are some Ebay sellers that don't understand the concept of the Silver Age. The odds that you are going to find multiple listings for the same book graded by CGC, CBCS, and PGX would be quite small.

Secondly, I think it would behoove us to remember that we were all "newbies" at one time. I'm sure that I asked PLENTY of stupid questions when I first joined the boards back in November, 2018. I believe I joined the boards after my first submission to CGC, through one of my LCSs. Yes, there were "snarky" comments, but there were also helpful comments. And honestly, how do we really know anything about the original poster? If you look at his profile, he joined in October, 2020, and has made only two posts. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that he has been "lurking" for some time.

I shudder to think how many times @revat has typed in the phrase, "I suggest you contact CGC directly." My guess is that number would have to be expressed in scientific notation. It's one thing to respond to a person who asks a question that can easily be found on the website or is a question that CGC should really answer. It's another thing to respond to a person who is asking an opinion question.

With just a little effort, I found a thread that asked this exact same question three years ago. As I mentioned above, there were "snarky" comments and helpful comments. At that time, the OP was interested in learning about CGC vs. CBCS vs. PGX. I don't see a whole lot of difference from the thread back in 2018 vs. this thread.

There are numerous board members whose opinions I have come to value, such as @KCOComics, @KirbyJack, and @Omaha-CGC-Comics, just to name a few. When I am thinking about purchasing or selling a book, I often ask for their opinion, and they are always happy to share. I have met both @KirbyJack and @Omaha-CGC-Comics in person, as we all live in the same area. And even though @KCOComics and I have communicated numerous times, I don't think it would be out of line to classify him as a "Internet stranger." I know a little about him and he knows a little about me, but we've never met nor even spoken to each other. But I still value his opinion.

I just don't understand the need to pounce upon someone that asks a stupid question. As a teacher, I would often say, "The stupidest question is the one you don't ask." And I know that someone will say that the OP will make this post and then never be heard from again. Based on some of the responses he got, can you blame him/her?

I apologize if I have came off as "holier than thou." I just think that the world, and this board, would be a better place to be if we all could just practice a little kindness toward each other.

OK. I'm done pontificating. Have at me.

 

Appreciate the sentiment and I feel the same way. 

Before I joined the boards, I use to search the forums for answers to specific questions. To me, the greatest benefit to the boards is the wealth of knowledge shared by it's users. 

So whenever someone asks a question, if I can help, I try to give a thoughtful response. 

At the end of the day, we all have a vested interest in this hobby continuing grow. My very small contribution to that is making "newbies" feel welcome and doing my part to address their questions. 

 

And let's face it, in our real day to day lives how many people do we associate with actually care about comics?  So I'm just happy to have an audience for my otherwise useless knowledge. 

[revat]

On 8/17/2021 at 3:57 PM, Math Teacher said:

As sound as this advice is, putting it into practice is not so easy.

I went to Ebay, as suggested, and I did three searches: "spider-man cgc", "spider-man cbcs", and "spider-man pgx".

 

Under CGC, there are 1,195 listings in Silver Age. Under CBCS, there are 153 listings in Silver Age. Under PGX, there are 55 listings in Silver Age. There are 5.7 times more listings for CGC than there are for CBCS and PGX combined. And it's clear from the listings from CGC and CBCS that there are some Ebay sellers that don't understand the concept of the Silver Age. The odds that you are going to find multiple listings for the same book graded by CGC, CBCS, and PGX would be quite small.

Secondly, I think it would behoove us to remember that we were all "newbies" at one time. I'm sure that I asked PLENTY of stupid questions when I first joined the boards back in November, 2018. I believe I joined the boards after my first submission to CGC, through one of my LCSs. Yes, there were "snarky" comments, but there were also helpful comments. And honestly, how do we really know anything about the original poster? If you look at his profile, he joined in October, 2020, and has made only two posts. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that he has been "lurking" for some time.

I shudder to think how many times @revat has typed in the phrase, "I suggest you contact CGC directly." My guess is that number would have to be expressed in scientific notation. It's one thing to respond to a person who asks a question that can easily be found on the website or is a question that CGC should really answer. It's another thing to respond to a person who is asking an opinion question.

With just a little effort, I found a thread that asked this exact same question three years ago. As I mentioned above, there were "snarky" comments and helpful comments. At that time, the OP was interested in learning about CGC vs. CBCS vs. PGX. I don't see a whole lot of difference from the thread back in 2018 vs. this thread.

There are numerous board members whose opinions I have come to value, such as @KCOComics, @KirbyJack, and @Omaha-CGC-Comics, just to name a few. When I am thinking about purchasing or selling a book, I often ask for their opinion, and they are always happy to share. I have met both @KirbyJack and @Omaha-CGC-Comics in person, as we all live in the same area. And even though @KCOComics and I have communicated numerous times, I don't think it would be out of line to classify him as a "Internet stranger." I know a little about him and he knows a little about me, but we've never met nor even spoken to each other. But I still value his opinion.

I just don't understand the need to pounce upon someone that asks a stupid question. As a teacher, I would often say, "The stupidest question is the one you don't ask." And I know that someone will say that the OP will make this post and then never be heard from again. Based on some of the responses he got, can you blame him/her?

I apologize if I have came off as "holier than thou." I just think that the world, and this board, would be a better place to be if we all could just practice a little kindness toward each other.

OK. I'm done pontificating. Have at me.

I think this all makes sense.

But in the same way this type of post (logical, generally thoughtful, overall quite didactic and reasonable) is obviously written with hopes of creating a more accepting  more welcoming environment, I know some of my 'snarkier' (and they're certainly not all snarky from my point of view, though some certainly are, nor do I think Math Teacher is specifically saying they all are) comments or answers are geared towards people asking better questions or trying to develop an attitude of helping themselves first or helping other help them. 

While certainly it is nice to be nice, it is also a kindness to people you (in general, not anyone specifically) are literally asking for help to first think through the question before asking, put in a bit of effort to research the answer yourself, and think about and provide specifics when applicable.  Understandably, people might be newbies relative to CGC or even comic books, but they aren't new to asking questions or seeking help from people.  From my perspective, if one is seeking help from complete strangers who are volunteering time and expertise, it would be extremely kind to be as direct and comprehensive as possible both to get the best answer possible for my situation and to waste as little time as possible of the people trying to help.

And I think the number of questions posed that are easily answered by checking the website or contacting CGC is a symptom that society at large increasingly thinks it is entitled to help/answers from strangers instead of doing the barest modicum of work FIRST to solve problems themselves.  I would happily push back against that trend every time, sometimes (but not always) with snark.

 

also, in this specific case, pgx vs cbcs vs cgc I think it would make the  most sense to compare keys (largest likely sample size as they are slabbed more often and sold more often on average), and to use 'sold' listing prices, as they indicate in most cases what the comics actually sold for instead of what they are offered for (one can get an idea from the data, even if its not all direct comparisons).  For the original OP, while they are possibly a newbie, I would assume that since they know about the three companies and can find this website and create an account here and post here, I assume they can A) find grading company websites to figure out costs; B) understand that Ebay exists; and C) know of the existence of some Key comics - maybe ASM 300 or 361, or New Mutants 98, etc. (again if they asked a more specific question about a book or type of books people could have given more specific answers). So my answer would be to A) give some actual advice worth considering, and B) try to make them know that we know they didn't even bother trying on their own first, and that they should have.

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by revat

[Math Teacher]

On 8/17/2021 at 6:59 PM, revat said:

And I think the number of questions posed that are easily answered by checking the website or contacting CGC is a symptom that society at large increasingly thinks it is entitled to help/answers from strangers instead of doing the barest modicum of work FIRST to solve problems themselves.  I would happily push back against that trend every time, sometimes (but not always) with snark.

@revat, I certainly don't think all your responses are "snarky." Some of them are terse, but they say what they need to say, as in my example of "You need to contact CGC directly." I've commented before that I admire your patience with some of the newer members. After you type in the aforementioned phrase literally dozens of times, you are entitled to a little snark.

What frustrates me about today's youth is their absolute ignorance of the vast amount of resources that they have at their fingertips. When I grew up, my siblings and I had three resources: each other, a textbook, and the Encyclopedia Britannica. If I needed help with balancing a chemical equation, I used my textbook. Now, if students were to realize that the Internet can be used for other things besides posting cat videos, they would be so much better off. For example, try searching for "how to solve a system of equations." You will find that there are a countless number of pages that can help you with this topic, and many of these pages include videos that show you how to do the problem step by step (think Khan Academy). For the majority of students I see, using the Internet to teach yourself how to solve a math problem is a thought that never crosses their mind. I've been pursuing an ongoing crusade to teach my wife that same habit - eliminate the middle man. Instead of asking me how to do something, which often entails me looking it up on Google, I tell my wife to just look it up on Google yourself. Unfortunately, I'm not having much success with this, so I may soon have to give up on my quixotic quest to make my wife more self sufficient.

I work with my old school's IT department as my summer job. Everyone who works in the IT department is busy to the nth degree. So, if I get an error message that I have never seen before, I don't chase down one of the techs to get them to help me. I type the exact error message into Google, and I get numerous sites that inform me as to how to deal with the problem. Personally, I get a lot of satisfaction from knowing that I was able to solve the problem on my own, rather than asking someone to do it before me. As @revat has stated, we have created a generation that wants everything to be spoon fed to them, rather than getting up off their keisters and figuring it out on their own. In this regard, @revat and I are in simpatico.

I think we both know what the problem is, but we just address it in different ways. To be honest, I believe that @revat is more often helpful than I am. He takes the time to respond to a lot of posts, and I often just glance at them, knowing that I don't have time to respond to all of them.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Math Teacher

[Ride the Tiger]

CGC is the way to go for best market value but you probably won't get thru the process without a few hiccups. Your Amazing Spider-man 121 will probably come back with a label saying it's a x-men 139. Your casing might have a plastic shard in it. You'll probably have to wait 6+ months for the book. At some point you will want to know the status of your submission so you will log onto this site only to find out the site is experiencing some type of difficulty and you should try to log on later. Oh ya and the case might have a bunch of Newton rings. And your books could have a bunch of mystery defects that weren't there when you submitted the books. I think that's it. Did I miss anything?

[Gaard]

Don't forget that they might charge you shipping charges from 2 years ago.

[Deskpop]

I’ve been holding out on doing any sort of grading and just recently got my subscription. I wondered the same thing but it seems to me that CGC is the company that we have all kind of agreed is the one we trust to tell us what the condition of our collectibles are worth. It’s like the other companies are the off brand. 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Deskpop

[Ride the Tiger]

They might also assign one of your books an incremental grade that has never been used before in the history of the company.

[Fisionbomb]

"Why should I use CGC? The others are cheaper and faster..."

@jcs1234 YOU shouldn't.

[Williamseric58]

To be honest I would rather use the others. The reason I say this is I did a experiment and sent a submission of three issues to each CBCS, PGX Comics West, PGX Comics Easy and two to CGC. The CGC's submissions were delivered on April 9th and July 6th, CBCS was delivered on July 11th, PGX Comics East was delivered on July 16th and PGX Comics West was delivered on July 20th. I received both PGX submissions within about two weeks. The CBCS one took 4-5 weeks with fast pass. And lastly the first CGC order is still being pressed and cleaned and the second CGC still has not been entered into the system yet. Both PGXs and CBCS was under $40 per issue. So take this how every y'all want, but results don't lie.

[Williamseric58]

On 8/1/2021 at 9:52 PM, jcs1234 said:

Does anyone recommend PGX?

 

Yes I do. The new PGX Comics East is owned and ran by former CGC Vintage Comic Grader.