Downside of sending all books in with a $400 stated value question 1 1

[chadsdsmith]

Before I get into my question, I should state that I am aware that the stated values we place on comics when submitting has to do with the amount they are insured for should something happen in transit, at the facility etc...I am getting ready to submit 50 modern tier books. Most have a value that will, depending on grade, range from a $200 value to as much as $1000. In the past, I have just sent my books in and valued them all at $400 and let CGC send me the up charge should some of the books be declared higher than $400 in value. I figured I dont want to pay double to grade a copy of new mutants 98 that I think is a 9.8, if it comes back a 7.0 or similar (I don't think my grading is that bad, just exaggerating for effect). Don't get me wrong, I wouldnt send in a high grade TMNT #1 and declare it at $400 or something along those lines, but when the same book can range above and below the threshold, I dont see the point in paying more up front. Am I missing something?  Is there a downside to this strategy? Do CGC graders go "oh, so you think your batman adventures #12 is only a $400 book, well there you go... now its a 8.0 instead of the 9.6 I was gonna give it"? Im guessing they wouldnt do that... just wondering if I should change my gameplan? Sorry for the long story...

[Paul Kosnik]

I don't see a downside, i follow a similar strategy, though i don't declare them all $400.  If i book in 9.8 has a recent sale of only $250, that seems like if something did happen to your book that could be considered potential insurance fraud, so i might put that one at $300 figuring that might be what it costs me to replace.  Otherwise i follow your strategy though and have never regretted it.

[Upgrayedd2]

Please note the applied insurance value (paid to CGC) only takes effect when CGC takes possession of the comics. Your insurance covers the comics while in transit.

I'm curious how many other businesses operate this way where you pay a company insurance in the event they damage your property. Imagine taking your car in for service and the technician says, "Yes, it's $100 for an oil change, but your Porsche is valued at $150,000, so you also have to pay 10% of the fair market value in the event we damage your car. The total will be $15,100." 

[GS Williams]

I kind of feel I was screwed over on this very issue. I submitted what I thought was a High Value Comic for pressing and grading. Looking at similar items on a very reputable auction site, I thought maybe it could be in the $5000 to $10,000 range. So, when I got to the billing part, being a first-time submitter, I discovered that they wanted 3% for pressing and 3% for grading. Ok, Hope for the best $10,000 = $600. I began to second-guess my admittedly amateur self-grade and thought; Ok, I'll back it down to $5000 and I'm sure they'll tell me if I owe them more....... Only the online submission form locked on the $10,000 valuation and I couldn't change it. So, it was either send it or don't, so I authorized the CC transaction and sent it in. As it worked out the Grade came back lower than I'd hoped for with a market value probably under $5000. My guess is that if I'd undervalued the item, they would have quickly let me know I owed them more, but there was certainly no lower fee than I guessed. Since they are the Pros and I'm an amateur, wouldn't you think that was fair? 

[chadsdsmith]

On 3/23/2024 at 9:42 PM, GS Williams said:

I kind of feel I was screwed over on this very issue. I submitted what I thought was a High Value Comic for pressing and grading. Looking at similar items on a very reputable auction site, I thought maybe it could be in the $5000 to $10,000 range. So, when I got to the billing part, being a first-time submitter, I discovered that they wanted 3% for pressing and 3% for grading. Ok, Hope for the best $10,000 = $600. I began to second-guess my admittedly amateur self-grade and thought; Ok, I'll back it down to $5000 and I'm sure they'll tell me if I owe them more....... Only the online submission form locked on the $10,000 valuation and I couldn't change it. So, it was either send it or don't, so I authorized the CC transaction and sent it in. As it worked out the Grade came back lower than I'd hoped for with a market value probably under $5000. My guess is that if I'd undervalued the item, they would have quickly let me know I owed them more, but there was certainly no lower fee than I guessed. Since they are the Pros and I'm an amateur, wouldn't you think that was fair? 

Ya, thats what I was kind of getting at with my original post. Seems to make the most sense to let them upgade it just in case it grades out on the lower end of expectations. Sorry to hear you ended up overpaying on the charges. I mean, if we were all great at determining grades and subsequent values, we probably wouldn't need cgc in the first place, right? Stick it in a nice mylar and call it a day... But we never really know exactly how things will shake out. Unless there is any reason not to, I think I will just continue to submit the way I have been and letthem up charge me.

[namisgr]

There's no harm in letting CGC make the call on the tier your comic belongs in after they've graded it.  Back in the day when the Value tier existed, I'd submit everything on it, and then await a phone call should a book or three fall outside the maximum allowed value of that tier with the news that I owed more money.

[CGC Mike]

On 3/24/2024 at 12:42 AM, GS Williams said:

Only the online submission form locked on the $10,000 valuation and I couldn't change it. So, it was either send it or don't, so I authorized the CC transaction and sent it in.

Hi

You could have abandoned the OSF and started a new one. 

Mike 

[DougC]

On 3/22/2024 at 3:25 AM, chadsdsmith said:

 words...

This is going to depend on how much you trust CGC not to outright lose or damage your books as the amount you declare will be the max they will give you. If you trust them then mark everything as $400, if the increasing number of "CGC lost my books" threads gives you pause then bump up to the next teir.

On 3/22/2024 at 5:46 AM, Paul Kosnik said:

I don't see a downside, i follow a similar strategy, though i don't declare them all $400.  If i book in 9.8 has a recent sale of only $250, that seems like if something did happen to your book that could be considered potential insurance fraud, so i might put that one at $300 figuring that might be what it costs me to replace.  Otherwise i follow your strategy though and have never regretted it.

You should value everything at future replacement value; that last sale may have only been $250 but now it will be on you to find that same deal, pay for shipping, accommodate your time, and hope nothing happened in the market in the six plus months it took to resolve the matter.

On principal your should value everything at $400 after all you are paying them to grade the book not grade the book at 9.8, if it comes back at 9.9 or 10.0 it will be worth the declared value or more. If it comes back 7.0 CGC isn't going to give you a break on the grading fee.

For reference this is the official guidance:

There is a lot of grey area in the "other reasonable method". I very highly value my personal copy of NFL SuperPro #1, CGC may not but that is why items are insured at a starting point by the client and negotiated in case of loss by the business.