All Clear! Really? 5 5

[jsilverjanet]

maybe @valiantman has the numbers of books graded before, during and after the pandemic.

I'm certain that the price increase, created a large number of submissions that were a tsunami of books that they were unprepared for. I suspect the numbers since then have been high and only recently started trending back to pre price increase levels.

Just a guess, hopefully he has the real numbers.

I'm sure there is a lot of reasons why the turn around times have gotten longer, not just # of books. supply shortages, staffing, training, new facility etc.

Regardless of the reason, hopefully those have been resolved.

The biggest concern is QA. There are just so many mistakes being made, so vast in the types (of mistakes), books being damaged during encapsulation, during shipping etc

I have about 5 books damaged from shipping that i didn't bother contacting about because i didn't want to wait the 4-5 months to get them back.

maybe i'll talk to them about it now.

 

 

[oakman29]

Personally, I would rather just keep on buying encapsulated books instead of waiting for them to arrive at 11 months later, and with quality control issues.

[comicginger1789]

On 11/16/2021 at 10:06 AM, oakman29 said:

Well sir this has nothing to do with the Pandemic. These problems were occurring well before , so please dont put the pandemic excuse stamp on their situation. 

Fair enough. I wasn’t saying there were not present existing problems that continue to exist. I just think that the pandemic really helped pushed them to experience some new lows as a company. And perhaps better preparation prior (and during the pandemic such as limiting in person signings so as to catch up on backlog) could have prevented these lows.

[oakman29]

Well I had a lot of fun with our conversation, but now I have to actually work so have a great day y'all.

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 11/16/2021 at 11:01 AM, oakman29 said:

...have a great day y'all.

I will not.

[Galen130]

On 11/16/2021 at 8:18 AM, Funnybooks said:

Cgc took on the volume knowing they could not handle it properly. They were clearly looking to ramp up their numbers in anticipation of the sale to Blackstone. This is as clear as their Cgc cases.

@Galen130

I agree in part, but why was there a back log???  So many ‘collectors’ out there sending in 100s of comics at a time in order to capitalize on the current inflated market?  LCS’s doing the same?  Granted, there are some that are grading and selling parts of their personal collection, like me, but people are still buying loads of new stuff coming out, then shipping them off right away.  Ask our friendly neighborhood pressers…those guys have been SLAMMED!!  I’d wager one of my slabs that they are seeing a lot of new ‘junk’ along with all the hotness comics.  This is just my opinion and personal conjecture.  It still doesn’t account for the -poor QA/QC.  I’m a victim of this myself.  I will no longer send in my personal collection comics, to anyone.  They’ll stay raw, or I’ll sell them raw.  I had a stack of over 50 ready to go, SA and MA.  I put them back in the long boxes.  The entire comic book industry is a broken toy to one degree or another, and I have better things to do…like posting nonsense on the boards!!! 🤣

Here endeth the 

[Robot Man]

The pandamic situation has definitely affected them. And along with it the huge prices comics are bringing now. Everybody is trying to cash in. 

I believe situations like the Promise Collection didn’t help either. 1,000’s of books coming in at once with a tight turnaround. A lot of the little folks probably got bumped. Maybe limit submissions until they get it sorted out?

Then you have the added weight of new services such as their Signing events and others.

Nice to have a virtual monopoly for your product but in order to sustain it you have to deliver.

NO WAY will I send off my treasured books to them under these situations snd turnaround times. 

 

[valiantman]

For what it's worth - slabbed sportscards largest company (PSA) is only accepting new submissions at the $150 per card fee service level or higher.

That's a slabbing fee of $150, not a value of $150.  The fees at $150 or higher are the only ones they'll take.

They don't accept submissions that don't earn at least $150 in fees per card.  Their backlog is just now reaching January 2021 for "regular moderns" (value tier).

https://www.psacard.com/pricing

Edited November 16, 2021 by valiantman

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 11/16/2021 at 11:04 AM, valiantman said:

For what it's worth - slabbed sportscards largest company (PSA) is only accepting new submissions at the $150 per card fee service level or higher.

That's a slabbing fee of $150, not a value of $150.  The fees at $150 or higher are the only ones they'll take.

They don't accept submissions that don't earn at least $150 in fees per card.  Their backlog is just now reaching January 2021 for "regular moderns" (value tier).

https://www.psacard.com/pricing

Doesn't that mean, to beat out the competition, cgc needs to stay open?

Given issues, it may not be prudent, yet I get why they are trying.  

[Robot Man]

On 11/16/2021 at 9:04 AM, valiantman said:

For what it's worth - slabbed sportscards largest company (PSA) is only accepting new submissions at the $150 per card fee service level or higher.

That's a slabbing fee of $150, not a value of $150.  The fees at $150 or higher are the only ones they'll take.

They don't accept submissions that don't earn at least $150 in fees per card.  Their backlog is just now reaching January 2021 for "regular moderns" (value tier).

https://www.psacard.com/pricing

Pretty cool to be in a business where you turn away business if the dollar amount isn’t up to their liking.

Grading all kinds of collectibles have become mega businesses.

I can’t understand why there isn’t more competition for these companies.

CGC used to be the “gold standard”. Seems like their success has caught up with them. 

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 11/16/2021 at 12:12 PM, Robot Man said:

CGC used to be the “gold standard”. Seems like their success has caught up with them. 

For comic books, they still are. Voldemort has a lot of catching up to do.

People seem to love CGC's services for grading cards, too, which is a new venture.

[D84]

On 11/16/2021 at 8:58 AM, skypinkblu said:

Quality control is still an issue. 

I got this back the other day.

I posted in "ask CGC" yesterday, but haven't gotten a response, it said "waiting to be approved".  I had to google "ask cgc" to find the thread. There is a card "ask cgc".

Sorry to see that.

[Robot Man]

On 11/16/2021 at 9:27 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

For comic books, they still are. Voldemort has a lot of catching up to do.

People seem to love CGC's services for grading cards, too, which is a new venture.

Maybe, but it seems I hear a lot more about grading constancy (Promise Collection comes to mind). Also problems on the back end with slabs and labels. Then there is the turnaround...

I forgot about them grading select trading cards. They seem to want to grab as many markets as possible and this has obviously affected their core business.

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 11/16/2021 at 12:36 PM, Robot Man said:

Maybe, but it seems I hear a lot more about grading constancy (Promise Collection comes to mind). Also problems on the back end with slabs and labels. Then there is the turnaround...

CGC still needs to improve themselves, as well. Hopefully Voldemort launching their census, and allegedly breaking into encapsulating magazines, will continue to push CGC to be better.

[thehumantorch]

On 11/16/2021 at 8:38 AM, oakman29 said:

How? Shortage of employees, because people would rather get free money than work? Possible. Otherwise I don't see any way that the pandemic would have an effect on people sending in comic books.

Have to disagree Dave.  The pandemic has kept people at home and we've seen more sales of comics than usual and we've seen prices increase.  Those price increases have also increased the number of books submitted to CGC.  I've recently sent in books that weren't worth sending in the past because they didn't meet my minimum $200 value and now they do.  I'm sure I'm not alone.

[Qalyar]

My biggest hope for their new workflow process is that it will provide better internal tracking for chain-of-custody. That way, if something goes wrong, they know where to address the problem. Especially with regards to the encapsulation crew. Although there have been grading and labeling errors (there are always some), encapsulation is where I think most of the physical damage is happening, and that needs to stop, like yesterday.

Also, I have no idea what their current workflow is for QA, but whoever is supervisor of that team really ought to be sacked at this point. There are things that make QA more difficult than it sounds like it should be on paper, but there are way, way too many things getting past QA that really shouldn't.

If the new process is speedier, too, good on 'em, but TATs aren't -- in my mind -- the most important target for improvement right now.

[oakman29]

On 11/16/2021 at 9:36 AM, Robot Man said:

Maybe, but it seems I hear a lot more about grading constancy (Promise Collection comes to mind). Also problems on the back end with slabs and labels. Then there is the turnaround...

I forgot about them grading select trading cards. They seem to want to grab as many markets as possible and this has obviously affected their core business.

Maybe that's the underlying problem. 

I'm in pest control, and I'm the best at what I do. I dont venture into auto mechanics, or plumbing. I focus on my one thing I do best. I dont stretch myself. It's always best to do 1 thing great,  than to do several things mediocre. I really dont have a dog in this race,  because I really dont care about turn around times etc. I am however interested in the health of my hobby, and this does(right or wrong) affect our hobby.

[lostboys]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand right on cue I get a message about a private signing.

 

Because who wouldnt want CORONA scribbled on their books?

 

smh

Edited November 16, 2021 by lostboys

[Iceman399]

Now that we've eliminated the backlog of boxes lets get some more signings announced  

[oakman29]

On 11/16/2021 at 10:39 AM, lostboys said:

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand right on cue I get a message about a private signing.

 

Because who wouldnt want CORONA scribbled on their books?

 

smh

Maybe they should worry about the task at hand, rather than adding more to the already large pile of books.