Shop claiming volume sent to CGC leads to 8 month wait 3 3

[JBrady]

Hi,

A very large comic retailer, large enough to get numerous store exclusives with their name on it every month, claims that the reason their estimated delivery date is 8 months in the future is because of how many books they send to CGC and that it just takes CGC time to grade them all. 

Here’s the situation: on this retailers website, I want to buy a newly released (as of Wednesday) book that is exclusive to them in a CGC 9.8 grade. Even though the release date is 4/5, the delivery date is the end of November, almost 8 months from now.

This doesn’t make ANY sense to me based on what I (think I) know about how CGC works but I thought I’d come here and ask for clarification in case there’s something I don’t that’s relevant. 

From what I can tell, CGC promises to treat all orders the same (regardless of how many books are sent in) and even in situations where prescreening is involved, they anticipate no additional time to get an order out but do allow for occasional exceptions where they say it may take twice as long as normal (so, currently, 40 days instead of 20).

It seems like this store is lying to me, which would cause me to blacklist them, and that something else is at play that they are not acknowledging and are simply putting blame on CGC for, thinking I’ll just believe them. 

Other than pressing, which I can’t imagine why they’d bother pressing every order of newly released books, could there be any other reason why it would take CGC 6-7 months to turnaround an order of any number of modern, blue label books for a store? (Especially when this store does this regularly and hence, CGC has already accounted for the workload by hiring and training staff)

Thanks for any insight y’all can offer. 
Also, I am purposely not identifying the store.

[awakeintheashes]

This will help provide some insight to current TATs by tier. As you can see modern prescreens have been sailing through at the same pace as smaller subs. 
 

 

[awakeintheashes]

As you can see from Greggy’s recent sub, things have picked up a lot from the 6-7 month (or longer) TAT’s we saw last year. 
 

On 3/21/2023 at 12:58 PM, greggy said:

 

[JBrady]

Yeah, I mentioned that current TAT is around 20 days which is why I’m confused about the almost 8 month delivery time the shop is quoting (which they reinforced when I emailed them by stating CGC’s stated TAT don’t apply to big shops)

[awakeintheashes]

On 4/7/2023 at 8:16 AM, JBrady said:

Yeah, I mentioned that current TAT is around 20 days which is why I’m confused about the almost 8 month delivery time the shop is quoting (which they reinforced when I emailed them by stating CGC’s stated TAT don’t apply to big shops)

Weird. I can’t speak to their volume and potential unique situation, but post I quoted is quite a bit of volume over a short period of time. 

You may want to get a membership and submit on your own. 

[JBrady]

I have a membership and actually submitted some this week. But, I’ve had HORRIFIC luck buying raw exclusive variants online and have only received about 10% of them as 9.8 candidates and so, doing the math, I’ve determined it’s better for me to buy the guaranteed 9.8 directly from the shop. 
 

As but an example, the last shipment of store exclusives arrived in such awful shape that the shop refunded the entire $150 order after I provided pictures of the books. Two were quantity limited (600) and they didn’t even ask me to send pictures of me ripping the cover to pieces because it was already so bad that it didn’t matter. The shipping box was pristine, the shop sent them that way.
 

And for some reason, this isn’t unusual for me. The irony of that shipment is that I had posted about my luck receiving store exclusives damaged and the shop owner contacted me personally and invited me to order from them because they don’t ship books like that, so I ordered from them and they absolutely shipped books like that. 

[ygogolak]

What store? Sounds like just an anecdotal experience. I can't see any one store slowing TAT's.

[JBrady]

On 4/7/2023 at 9:10 AM, ygogolak said:

What store? Sounds like just an anecdotal experience. I can't see any one store slowing TAT's.

I don’t want to call out any store, this isn’t about that. But, their estimated delivery dates are right there on their site. I’m not making this up. If someone wants to verify my claim, I’d be happy to share the name via PM if the person also promises NOT to share the name publicly in this thread (again, I’m not trying to name and shame, just looking to understand). 

[Lightning55]

Maybe they are just covering themselves. There was a time or two when tats WERE 8 months. Could be they had people demanding refunds back then throughout those periods. Now they want to avoid the problem going forward by padding the delivery date.

[MAR1979]

On 4/7/2023 at 12:53 PM, Lightning55 said:

Maybe they are just covering themselves. There was a time or two when tats WERE 8 months. Could be they had people demanding refunds back then throughout those periods. Now they want to avoid the problem going forward by padding the delivery date.

At what point does padding become lying?

[awakeintheashes]

On 4/7/2023 at 9:35 PM, MAR1979 said:

At what point does padding become lying?

Depends on how much padding and where you’re putting it. 

[Lightning55]

I tried to be careful not to say "padded tats", for obvious reasons. 

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

I definitely understand the thought at 8 months being offputting, but as others have mentioned it wasn't that long ago that the TAT were that long and nothing says they couldn't have an issue and it take that long, also the damage issue that was mentioned (except look at the QC thread.) If these issues make it to CGC and labels get swapped, Damage, etc then the store will have to send them back for ME 

So they could be factoring the likelihood of a return trip to CGC, but if all goes smoothly then send the books out early to customers.  That way you have a customer that was told 8 months and it showed up in 2/3 vs being told it is 2/3 and it taking 6/8.

[Jesse-Lee]

On 4/7/2023 at 10:01 AM, JBrady said:

I don’t want to call out any store, this isn’t about that. But, their estimated delivery dates are right there on their site. I’m not making this up. If someone wants to verify my claim, I’d be happy to share the name via PM if the person also promises NOT to share the name publicly in this thread (again, I’m not trying to name and shame, just looking to understand). 

It's less about "naming and shaming" and more about saying who the shop is in case others have had similar interactions with them and can identify those interactions. I understand not wanting to call someone out, but it's hard for others to share their experiences if they don't know who you're talking about.

Edited April 8, 2023 by Jesse-Lee

[Tnexus]

To me I'd say this is a CYA sort of tactic. It's better to claim long than to claim short. It's also possible they just never updated their website from a year ago to reflect the changes.

[DougC]

There are also another options here:

1. They are not submitting them today; they will bulk submit sometime this quarter. The November date is an estimate to cover for pre-screen, the current 20 business day TAT, 10 additional days for weekends/holidays, shipping both ways, and any additional changes in TAT or when the books are shipped to CGC.
2. They are not currently interested in (or able to satisfy) additional early number business (guaranteeing your 9.8 sub), but will still offer the option if you are agreeable to the wait.

[ygogolak]

On 4/7/2023 at 11:01 AM, JBrady said:

I don’t want to call out any store, this isn’t about that. But, their estimated delivery dates are right there on their site. I’m not making this up. If someone wants to verify my claim, I’d be happy to share the name via PM if the person also promises NOT to share the name publicly in this thread (again, I’m not trying to name and shame, just looking to understand). 

Would be nice to know so myself and others know who is lying.

I just sent 25 in, regular Modern. They were delivered 3/24, checked in 3/29, delivered to me 4/6.
So, nowhere near 8 months.

[JBrady]

On 4/8/2023 at 2:11 PM, ygogolak said:

Would be nice to know so myself and others know who is lying.

I just sent 25 in, regular Modern. They were delivered 3/24, checked in 3/29, delivered to me 4/6.
So, nowhere near 8 months.

I sent you a PM with the name, as you requested. As I requested, please don’t publicize it. Again, I was never trying to call anyone out, just seeking to understand. 

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 4/7/2023 at 8:31 AM, JBrady said:

I have a membership and actually submitted some this week. But, I’ve had HORRIFIC luck buying raw exclusive variants online and have only received about 10% of them as 9.8 candidates and so, doing the math, I’ve determined it’s better for me to buy the guaranteed 9.8 directly from the shop. 
 

As but an example, the last shipment of store exclusives arrived in such awful shape that the shop refunded the entire $150 order after I provided pictures of the books. Two were quantity limited (600) and they didn’t even ask me to send pictures of me ripping the cover to pieces because it was already so bad that it didn’t matter. The shipping box was pristine, the shop sent them that way.
 

And for some reason, this isn’t unusual for me. The irony of that shipment is that I had posted about my luck receiving store exclusives damaged and the shop owner contacted me personally and invited me to order from them because they don’t ship books like that, so I ordered from them and they absolutely shipped books like that. 

I agree with others suggesting they may be allowing additional time for potentially increasing TATa and/or ME fixes, but the timeline still seems long for that. I imagine that they're also going through the print run and picking out the best copies to submit (which takes time) so they're not getting hit with charges for prescreen rejects. That would also explain why the copies you're ordering ungraded aren't in the best condition; you're getting the ones that they feel aren't worthy to submit for a 9.8 prescreen.

[Dr. Balls]

On 4/7/2023 at 7:35 PM, MAR1979 said:

At what point does padding become lying?

About 15 minutes after prom ends.