I have the opportunity to catalogue a client’s 12,000 size book collection. How much should I charge. 6 6

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 11/4/2022 at 7:59 PM, Aman619 said:

he doesn't have to replicate a CGC type full on grading effort.  The owner just want to know what he has. And if it happens to be valuable, is HIS copy nice enough.  So many books are worth "the same" in all grades below 9.8... not worth grading and hard to sell.

I’m under the impression the owner wants his books to be graded accurately.  Maybe he decides to do the top 1000 first.  That’s what I’d do if I needed to hire someone to grade/value my 12,000 book collection.  Have them first go through and basically cherry-pick the top 1000 books.  Grade/value those & go from there 

[gcstomp]

Nostradamus is not my street name, I cannot see into the great beyond. Yet I can be reasonably sure the owner will not want to spend 25k. What level collection would it be worth such a spend?  Not a $25k collection, 100%, lol.

$250k collection, that would be a 10% spend, no that is way too high. Forget wow,  cataloging will be a great chore and so i would not want to do that work for less.... Unless it is a $500k plus collection, it would just not ne justified unless someone had some court ordered reason to have a cataloged value by a certain date.

Edited November 5, 2022 by gcstomp

[speedcake]

On 11/4/2022 at 8:40 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

I’m under the impression the owner wants his books to be graded accurately.  Maybe he decides to do the top 1000 first.  That’s what I’d do if I needed to hire someone to grade/value my 12,000 book collection.  Have them first go through and basically cherry-pick the top 1000 books.  Grade/value those & go from there 

This is the most reasonable and useful suggestion so far, apart from "RUN!".  Comb the collection for the biggest keys and evaluate those

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 11/4/2022 at 9:28 PM, gcstomp said:

Nostradamus is not my street name, I cannot see into the great beyond. Yet I can be reasonably sure the owner will not want to spend 25k. What level collection would it be worth such a spend?  Not a $25k collection, 100%, lol.

$250k collection, that would be a 10% spend, no that is way too high. Forget wow,  cataloging will be a great chore and so i would not want to do that work for less.... Unless it is a $500k plus collection, it would just not ne justified unless someone had some court ordered reason to have a cataloged value by a certain date.

I don’t think 10% is high.  Without the service....what percentage of market value do you think the owner could realize for his collection?

[Aman619]

On 11/4/2022 at 8:40 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

I’m under the impression the owner wants his books to be graded accurately.  Maybe he decides to do the top 1000 first.  That’s what I’d do if I needed to hire someone to grade/value my 12,000 book collection.  Have them first go through and basically cherry-pick the top 1000 books.  Grade/value those & go from there 

maybe Im projecting... maybe he does want them all graded accurately.  But I am in the frame of mind that the only accurate grade (that means anything for selling) is CGCs grade... and no one can give him that with absolute certainty. And only an overconfident fool would promise that's what the guy will be getting (and when he hears the fee he won't want it any more.)  All of the professional dealers and experienced collectors like us still get their grades back and are surprised.  I dunno.  we are all just having a fun game with this assignment !

[shadroch]

On 11/4/2022 at 7:19 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

I don’t think 10% is high.  Without the service....what percentage of market value do you think the owner could realize for his collection?

What value are you adding to his collection?  A collection that is worth $200,000 is worth $200,000 cataloged or not.  If he wants an appraisal, 10% is asinine. 

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 11/4/2022 at 10:20 PM, Aman619 said:

maybe Im projecting... maybe he does want them all graded accurately.  But I am in the frame of mind that the only accurate grade (that means anything for selling) is CGCs grade... and no one can give him that with absolute certainty. And only an overconfident fool would promise that's what the guy will be getting (and when he hears the fee he won't want it any more.)  All of the professional dealers and experienced collectors like us still get their grades back and are surprised.  I dunno.  we are all just having a fun game with this assignment !

I haven’t submitted to CGC in ages.  And most of the slabs I’ve picked up have been disappointing.   I know what a NM book is.   Sometimes I wonder if CGC does.

[Aman619]

On 11/4/2022 at 10:23 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

I haven’t submitted to CGC in ages.  And most of the slabs I’ve picked up have been disappointing.   I know what a NM book is.   Sometimes I wonder if CGC does.

well, you've been around here long to have read plenty of threads where people have said basically the same thing.  But in the real world your grade opinion means a lot to you, but there are 1000s or more people who go by CGCs grade for the same book -- regardless of whether either of your grades is more accurate than the other.  And, as has been said here for years, you can start your own grading company if you want yours to have as much clout as CGCs.

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 11/4/2022 at 10:22 PM, shadroch said:

On 11/4/2022 at 10:19 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

I don’t think 10% is high.  Without the service....what percentage of market value do you think the owner could realize for his collection?

What value are you adding to his collection?  A collection that is worth $200,000 is worth $200,000 cataloged or not.  If he wants an appraisal, 10% is asinine. 

I’m confused by what you’re asking.  Are you suggesting an ungraded 12,000 book inventory is the same as a graded one?

[shadroch]

On 11/4/2022 at 7:27 PM, Aman619 said:

well, you've been around here long to have read plenty of threads where people have said basically the same thing.  But in the real world your grade opinion means a lot to you, but there are 1000s or more people who go by CGCs grade for the same book -- regardless of whether either of your grades is more accurate than the other.  And, as has been said here for years, you can start your own grading company if you want yours to have as much clout as CGCs.

Or you can send them to mycomicshop and sell them to buyers who appreciate honest consistant grading. You are welcome to believe CGC is the only graders the public respects, but I disagree

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 11/4/2022 at 10:27 PM, Aman619 said:

well, you've been around here long to have read plenty of threads where people have said basically the same thing.  But in the real world your grade opinion means a lot to you, but there are 1000s or more people who go by CGCs grade for the same book -- regardless of whether either of your grades is more accurate than the other.  And, as has been said here for years, you can start your own grading company if you want yours to have as much clout as CGCs.

As I said....most of what I’ve seen out of CGC lately has been disappointing.  5 CB spine hits are allowable on 9.4s these days?  1/4” colouring breaking corner creases on 9.2s?   That everyone is surprised by the grades they are receiving tells me that the grade on the label can’t be trusted like it once was....

[shadroch]

On 11/4/2022 at 7:28 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

I’m confused by what you’re asking.  Are you suggesting an ungraded 12,000 book inventory is the same as a graded one?

Graded by whom?  I'm on the hunt for a collection. You call and tell me your 12,000 book collection has been graded by the guy next door.  Do I make an offer based on the guy next doors estimation?  Do I not do my own diligence? Do I believe the guy checked every page of the SA books? Checked for missing MVSs?  Didn't miss some variants? If he left the books in nice alphanumeric order, he reduced the amount of work needed, so there is that value. 

 I gave an opinion of $1 a book for cataloging the collection. Not for appraising it or cherry-picking it. Not for being an agent.

[Aman619]

really?   Mycomicshop admittedly undergrades books, you get a "safe grade" because they dont want to be bogged down with returns if they miss something, and they arent running a grading company, just a consignment service.  But this is beside my point!  If you want to sell a valuable comic raw, with YOUR grade and not CGC, you have to be a great salesman, or, if your books sell easily raw with your grades, you must be undergrading. Or you are gambling because the same book you called a 7.5 for $2000 could be an 8.5 in a slab worth twice that.  Of course the opposite is true the other way:  you call it am 8.5 and sell it, saving grading fees AND a getting a higher price.  I guess if you sell it raw and are happy with the sale, just walk away and never care if the buyer saw stuff that convinced him that slabbed it would get a higher grade.  That works too, happy with the sale and good for the other guy!

anyway, this all relates to stuff Ive been experiencing with my comics. If I sell them I want top dollar. Im not going to grade and sticker all my books and lug em and set up at a show, then lug 95% of them home again... and think that the buyers will upgrade and slab my 9.0s into 9.4s -- so a slab is the easiest way to sell them for what they are worth, for better or ill.  Overall, It was far easier to comics than unload em.

[Aman619]

On 11/4/2022 at 10:42 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

As I said....most of what I’ve seen out of CGC lately has been disappointing.  5 CB spine hits are allowable on 9.4s these days?  1/4” colouring breaking corner creases on 9.2s?   That everyone is surprised by the grades they are receiving tells me that the grade on the label can’t be trusted like it once was....

dont buy any slabs starting with a 3 or 4 in the serial number!  Ive been happy with grades I've gotten this year.  and disappointed.  But its older stuff not the zaniness of perfect looking modern 9.8s that get hammered or 9.9s!   that world is not where I live though a Hecuva lot of modern collectors do..

Edited November 5, 2022 by Aman619

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 11/4/2022 at 10:44 PM, shadroch said:

Graded by whom?  I'm on the hunt for a collection. You call and tell me your 12,000 book collection has been graded by the guy next door.  Do I make an offer based on the guy next doors estimation?  Do I not do my own diligence? Do I believe the guy checked every page of the SA books? Checked for missing MVSs?  Didn't miss some variants? If he left the books in nice alphanumeric order, he reduced the amount of work needed, so there is that value. 

 I gave an opinion of $1 a book for cataloging the collection. Not for appraising it or cherry-picking it. Not for being an agent.

“Inventory”

Maybe I’m assuming again, but I don’t think the owner is paying to have the  collection graded, so he can sell it as a wholesale lot for pennies on the dollar to you.

I don’t know about you, but I have to grade my books before I sell them 

[shadroch]

Or you could send them to Mycomicshop, let them do the work for you and get better money with less fees than if you sell it yourself.   I'm not sure why you keep ignoring  that.  

[Aman619]

Mycomicshop does seem like a very viable candidate for consigning/sell raws nowadays. I wasn't knocking them before about "safe grades"  Thats what I read in their posts here, and it made sense given the operation they are running!  I kinda felt though that sure, a safe grade oils the wheels to sell your stuff smoothly, but "leaving money on the table!!" I have to get beyond that pennyante thinking, huh? 

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 11/4/2022 at 10:55 PM, Aman619 said:

I kinda felt though that sure, a safe grade oils the wheels to sell your stuff smoothly, but "leaving money on the table!!" I have to get beyond that pennyante thinking, huh? 

Safe/strict/reliable 

Call it what you will, but MCS seems to be becoming the CGC of the raw market. 

[Nick Furious]

If the person has a 12,000 book collection, they probably have some knowledge of the industry.  I would ask some questions about what their expectations are and what they think would be a fair price for the work.  It's probably going to be a lot of work and will be hard to negotiate a fair cash price.  I don't think you are going to get $50/hour or $1 per book.  I think that to come to agreeable terms you may need to negotiate some hybrid combination of cash+books from his inventory for compensation.  Maybe it's $5,000 plus another $5k-$10k in books, depending on the work involved.    

[paqart]

On 11/4/2022 at 7:57 PM, Aman619 said:

Im curious:  you say it updates prices automatically?  do you mean that when you upfdate the condition, or the "pricing data" it recalculates vale?  or does it get new sales data by itself, and update the values of your copies?  THAT would be priceless!

It calculates data based on issue and condition based on 3 pricing systems. It also estimates rarity and print run.