CGC Announces Updates to Services and Fees for 2022 6 6

[Qalyar]

I'm not surprised by this per se, but I would have liked to have seem some positive development on the QA front first.

However, I do have a non-customer-complaint question. @CGC Mike perhaps you can answer this one. The new return shipping rates include a "26-30" book line entry. Does this mean that CGC has changed the packaging for return shipping such that they are capable of shipping 30 slabs at a time? I was previously under the impression that 25 was the maximum and anything above that would be shipped separately (with separate charges). If 30-slab boxes are now happening, then in the $5,000-10,000 appraised value bucket, that's the difference between $3.96/book @ 25 books versus $3.23/book @ 30. But there's absolutely no way I'm sending a 30-book submission without explicit confirmation, because having those 5 extra books shipped back separately (in, say, the $501-1000 insurance tier) brings the overall return shipping cost to $4.30/book.

[Point Five]

On 1/4/2022 at 4:35 PM, nikocb said:

Every shipment to me via FedEx has been delayed during the past two years. They've lost 3 separate shipments.

That... does not spark joy.   

 

[Nazirite]

[StingerMcK]

Time to pay for those signing bonuses.

[awakeintheashes]

On 1/4/2022 at 4:22 PM, NewWorldOrder said:

Until I stop making thousands of dollars per year from CGC they know they can just keep raising rates.

Agree with you. However, it would be nice if it was an annual increase - even better if it was communicated as such. Nobody is going to be happy about rates increasing, but if you could set an expectation of when to expect it, it would go a long way. For example, daycare tuition increases every year, which sucks, but I know it’s going to happen and helps soften the blow. And that is an industry with no shortage of demand and greater leverage, regardless of competition.

Right now, it’s whenever they feel like raising rates and then creating a mad dash for people to get books in under the oldish rates. They just got done digging out from under the previous mad dash…now they are creating another. Do they have the labor force for that?

Edited January 4, 2022 by awakeintheashes

[JollyComics]

I see my cash tumbles away.

[NewWorldOrder]

On 1/4/2022 at 1:43 PM, awakeintheashes said:

Agree with you. However, it would be nice if it was an annual increase - even better if it was communicated as such. Nobody is going to be happy about rates increasing, but if you could set an expectation of when to expect it, it would go a long way. For example, daycare tuition increases every year, which sucks, but I know it’s going to happen and helps soften the blow.

Right now, it’s whenever they feel like raising rates and then creating a mad dash for people to get books in under the oldish rates. They just got done digging out from under the previous mad dash…now they are creating another. Do they have the labor force for that?

Honestly they usually do not raises rates this quickly.  Usually it was every couple of years. 

[awakeintheashes]

On 1/4/2022 at 4:46 PM, NewWorldOrder said:

Honestly they usually do not raises rates this quickly.  Usually it was every couple of years. 

Yeah. Makes this feel more like a kick in the nuts. 

[cd4ever]

So I have 14 days to submit my 200 crappy books.  Got it! 

Now where did I put all those Stray Dogs....... 

[iggykoopa]

As long as CGC keeps getting thousands of submissions on their doorstep every single day this is what we can expect. 

[Funnybooks]

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

[Kevin76]

Glad I have a UPS account, they are over charging people on shipping anyway. 

[Terry JSA]

Does this price increase also come with the added bonus of increasing turn around time’s from 8-10 months to 3-4 years? 

Edited January 5, 2022 by Terry JSA

[Tony S]

No matter how one parses it, this is pretty aggressive on the price increase front.  The last increase was nine months ago.  In the past it has been years - multiple years - between price increases. 

Price increase last April the online submission portal crashed and burned that last week before the cut over to new prices. .Be interesting to see if we get a repeat of that. 

Also of interest will be to see what #2 does.  They didn't raise prices last time and only recently increased the price on their fast pass add on and 2 day moderns.  They remain #2, but I'm certain they gained market share.  Now a rising tide can lift all ships and CGC is obviously getting record amounts of submissions. But market share matters too. The cost difference is going to be pretty substantial in a couple of weeks

Edited January 4, 2022 by Tony S

[Cool Ghoul]

I'm not surprised CGC did this, as many companies are raising their prices across the board (utilities, grocery, auto, restaurants, etc.). 

I think CGC is basically just riding the inflationary wave at the moment. 

Sooner or later, however, people may want to re-evaluate whether or not it's worth submitting 100s of modern comics when -- after grading and selling costs are factored in -- there's very little profit left for the end customer.

[StillOnly25Cents]

On 1/4/2022 at 3:16 PM, sevans1979 said:

CGC Comic Book Grading Tiers and Services

• Modern tier – fee changed to $24
• Economy tier – fee changed to $35
• Standard tier – fee changed to $80
• Express tier – fee changed to $130

since they didn't want you to see what they were before

Modern - $22

Economy $33

Standard $75

Express $120 

[adampasz]

Sorry, but I doubt this will reduce the amount of Moderns people are submitting. 

More likely, the costs will just trickle down, and the people selling lots of modern slabs will charge more.

 

[Kevin76]

Don't forget the add on price for fast track  

Rather than stopping submissions like other grading companies did to get caught up, they just raise the rates to discourage submitters instead

Edited January 4, 2022 by Kevin76

[Radricky]

So even higher prices with slower turn around times?

Seems like a great way to push customers to their competition.