Is CGC trying to lose their dealers as well? 11 11

[D2]

On 1/11/2022 at 2:04 PM, october said:

Funny, I thought the "merchandise" was the comic book itself, not the plastic around it. The hobby has now reached peak stupid. 

That’s your first mistake 

 

pretty sure all these record breaking sales are CGC graded books 

Edited January 11, 2022 by D2

[october]

On 1/11/2022 at 11:07 AM, D2 said:

That’s your first mistake 

 

pretty sure all these record breaking sales are CGC graded books 

CGC was right to start slabbing clear plastic sheets. The label is all that matters.

[namisgr]

On 1/11/2022 at 12:07 PM, D2 said:

That’s your first mistake 

 

pretty sure all these record breaking sales are CGC graded books 

That's untrue.  It's primarily the sale of slabbed comics that gets media attention, but some of the biggest ticket books in the hobby exchange hands as raw copies, too.

Edited January 11, 2022 by namisgr

[NewWorldOrder]

One way I am looking at to offset the costs is investing in Blackstone stock.  

Growth + dividend has been good actually. 

I am up enough to where if I sold my BX stock it would cover my CGC dealers fees for the next 4 years, plus I am getting some of the CGC profit (plus there other companies they own) returned to me in the quarterly dividend.  

Not a game changer by any means, but it's one way to look at off setting the costs of fees from the company in general. 

[reptilekingdie]

On 1/10/2022 at 5:14 PM, Iceman399 said:

Just logged in after another dealer told me about this.

https://www.cgccomics.com/dealers/benefits/

@blazingbob  @G.A.tor @Dale Roberts @bedrockcomics @joeypost

It's Blackstone that is forcing them to do this type of caca, they want there money back with interest. Will they loose dealers of course they will, for the fee the discount should go up to 20 percent off grading. So does that mean anyone can have a dealer account?

Edited January 11, 2022 by reptilekingdie

[CrocHntr]

On 1/10/2022 at 10:53 PM, CrocHntr said:

Not to turn this into another CGC vs CBCS discussion, but as a buyer, I’m paying for an accurate grade.  I really don’t care which Company’s slab I get as long as I can be confident the grading is accurate.  And I’d pay the same price for either slab, so I don’t know why a seller would willingly sell one for less than the other.

 

On 1/10/2022 at 11:06 PM, blazingbob said:

It is not that the seller would sell one for less then the other.  It is that the buyers won't pay the same price.  Accurately graded books will always sell faster.  If you are looking at a book and questioning the grade and it is the same when looking at lots of books you come to the determination that they grading is loose and that you automatically downgrade the book in the holder.  CBCS did it to themselves,  the market didn't do it.  You get a reputation as a loose grader it sticks with you.

Sure, if similar books compared across the two companies consistently produce different grades, and the CBCS grading criteria is either defined differently or is regularly loose/inaccurate compared to CGC, then I completely get where CGC would be superior and demand higher prices for a certain grade.  I only have a half dozen or so CBCS slabs, so couldn't offer up an informed analysis here, other than that mine look like they're graded accurately to me.  I thought at one point CBCS was considered the stricter grader, but if the pendulum has consistently swung the other way (or I misunderstood all along), then I understand and acquiesce to the point.  It would then make perfect sense for CGC to command a premium in the market given all else equal.  Again, I rarely sell books, but as a periodic buyer, I do try to stick to "buy the book, not the grade".  In that sense, I really don't care whose slab it's in, as long as I agree that the grade is representative of condition.  That said, sounds like I better double my QC efforts before buying! 

Edited January 11, 2022 by CrocHntr

[jsilverjanet]

if you submit around $1450 worth of grading fees the 15% savings = $200 yearly fee

however it's the about the principle and as transplant pointed out, their terms

surprised that's not being mentioned more

 

[skypinkblu]

I don't think the $200 is shocking, I'm sure I've saved that much a few times over these past 2 years missing the occasional special restaurant visits, movies, etc.

What was shocking was the way it was put forward. Last year someone from CGC made a statement about extending the window before the  price increase and made a now semi famous remark saying something like "Which we did not have to do". 

When some of us started using this site, it was mostly collectors. It was a small company that was a part of a fun hobby.  Blackstone is a business, not a small hobby based company. They are in the business of making money. Charging more is going to be part of their business model.

Not being customer friendly (a heads up note instead of a surprise flashing sign) is what bothers many people. Comics were not always a commodity. I've sold comics, I sold a bunch on eBay for years to pay for more expensive comics that I put in my collection. I went from no slabs to slabbing more and more of my books. I did that to preserve them and because I wanted it easier for my family to be able to sell them if something happened to me not because I had a store or set up at conventions.

Personally, I was put off by the way the announcements were made.  I consider myself a collector. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who considers themselves collectors, EVEN if they sell some books.

Perhaps this site will now become mostly dealers...or maybe it's been moving that way for a while.

I'm not sure that changing the sales forum would be a customer friendly move...because then CGC would be in competition with some of  their biggest customers. the auction houses.

For the past year or so, I have tended to stay away (for the most part) from raw books. When I buy books lately, I look for them to be already CGC slabs. I'm avoiding some of the agita I get from the wait times and the errors until they get their act together a little more, but I'm still a customer, only not as much first level as I was before. Instead of the 50 books I had thought about sending in, I have 6. I'll just send smaller amounts and then see if anything has changed.

I used to have the most fun buying raw books. I miss that, I like to read them before I have them slabbed...but stuff changes. Sometimes not the way I'd like it to change.

Honestly if I had seen an email, or a thread here instead of a weird message when I went to check my submissions, I would have just said "OK, that's nice, I'll think about it". 

I'm still not sure what they mean by "price guide" info.

[NewWorldOrder]

On 1/11/2022 at 9:23 AM, jsilverjanet said:

if you submit around $1450 worth of grading fees the 15% savings = $200 yearly fee

however it's the about the principle and as transplant pointed out, their terms

surprised that's not being mentioned more

 

A decent amount of dealers submit a couple thousand books per year. 

[jsilverjanet]

On 1/11/2022 at 11:37 AM, NewWorldOrder said:

A decent amount of dealers submit a couple thousand books per year. 

correct it's really not a lot. and honestly i already lose that in some of the books that are misgraded

[shadroch]

On 1/11/2022 at 10:37 AM, NewWorldOrder said:

A decent amount of dealers submit a couple thousand books per year. 

They could have raised the same amount of money with another nickel price increase when they first announced it.  I'm starting to wonder if these multiple acts of shooting themselves in the feet isn't being done intentionally. 

[Prince Namor]

On 1/11/2022 at 10:05 AM, Transplant said:

You're right.  It's a little silly.  But, and I hesitate to type this, it is somewhat of the principle of the thing.  Dealers built CGC by submitting, advocating, buying and selling.  Just ignore that for a second.  The question is, why start charging?  Why $200?  Why not $1000?  $200/dealer account isn't going to raise any kind of significant money for CGC, as least not on the comic side.  No idea about coins, cards, etc.  So why do it?  

Dealers have expectations of CGC that already aren't being met.  Now, they're not just supporters, CGC has made them another level of customers.  

Why do it?  1 answer.  It gets a dealer used to paying "something" for the privilege of being a dealer.  Next year or the year after, when it's time to renew that dealer fee, who knows what the prices will be.  And oh, by the way, read that dealer agreement again. 

Anything disparaging CGC is grounds to be terminated as a dealer.  

Another angle is... they may open it up so it's not so exclusive, and make that $200 add up.

Just like McDonald's, more locations means more Burgers sold...

[joeypost]

On 1/11/2022 at 12:37 PM, NewWorldOrder said:

A decent amount of dealers submit a couple thousand books per year. 

Month. 

[Tony S]

I don't believe there was any doubt at this point, but I did call CGC and confirm that dealer accounts now have an annual cost of $199

This stands in such contrast to how CGC started. Dealers were actively recruited and treated more like influencers.  For instance all of the Overstreet Advisors when CGC opened were given 10 free grading coupons.  But first the discount for dealers was reduced to 15% from 20% and now there is a charge for a dealer account. 

I send in thousands of books every year and have for a lot of years. And I'll just mention that I am sending in books almost entirely for other people. One of the things dealer accounts were likely to be doing/CGC hoped for.  A lot of people ask me which grading company they should use. Thus my "influencer" comment. 

[joeypost]

On 1/11/2022 at 12:45 PM, Prince Namor said:

Another angle is... they may open it up so it's not so exclusive, and make that $200 add up.

Just like McDonald's, more locations means more Burgers sold...

Maybe it is the easiest way to clean house. Old dealer account with few submissions, SS Facilitators who now have to up their game, etc. 

All in all, $200 is not a deal breaker. I do echo Sharon’s comments about the delivery mechanism. I can never understand why some choose to be a blunt object, when they can be so much more.

Edited January 11, 2022 by joeypost

[buttock]

One possible bright side, is that with all the new fees, people should feel more comfortable holding CGC accountable for their errors & other product issues.  

[blazingbob]

Here is my assessment of the price hikes and new fees.

Mark my words in a few years CCG will be going public.

All of this is being done to boost the bottom line,  show revenues,  backlogs across all the grading companies, increased demand,  capital investment,  the media announcements showing how hot the market is etc. 

All of these things are "small stuff" in the big picture of how "investment banking works". 

Boost the numbers,  come up with the projected cash flows and float the IPO.  

Pull your investment out plus a nice fat profit.  

Wait for the first quarterly report and listen to the "why did you miss your numbers" excuses.  

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by blazingbob

[ThatNerdyCanuck]

Dealers are just going to pass the $200 costs down to its customers anyway, so I don't know what they're complaining about

Edited January 11, 2022 by ThatNerdyCanuck

[NewWorldOrder]

On 1/11/2022 at 9:43 AM, shadroch said:

They could have raised the same amount of money with another nickel price increase when they first announced it.  I'm starting to wonder if these multiple acts of shooting themselves in the feet isn't being done intentionally. 

Yes the goal of Blackstone is to make as much money as possible.

I expect a CGC price increase every January till they see a drop in submissions.   So I will be submitting more than ever before to get my books in holders quicker. I might start going to 200 per month instead of 100. 

[Tony S]

On 1/11/2022 at 10:28 AM, D2 said:

No, they only produce your merchandise. 


 

And they do sell the book. People that buy a CGC graded book, wanted a CGC graded book. 
 

They didn’t want the book because YOU sold it to them. 
 

All hail the coveted dealer. 

You do realize the vast, overwhelming hobby is raw, right?  Go to any comic book store or comic convention. What's the ratio of raw to graded? 10,000 to 1?  There are three comic book stores in my town and one - the largest and oldest - has not one single slabbed comic book for sale.  I have customers that go back to the 1980's.  Dealers shouldn't be put on any sort of pedestal, but neither should CGC.  The relationship between CGC and dealers is and has been mutually beneficial. 

Emotions can be unproductive, but it FEELS like one side is trying to take advantage of what has been a mutually beneficial relationship.