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At what grade do you stop paying a CGC premium?

Started by Shadow,

19 posts in this topic

Shadow

Shadow

Posted
Posted

I'm curious as to what grade you stop paying a premium for in regards to a comic that has been slabbed? Let me elaborate a bit. When I make up my Want List, I base what I'm willing to spend on them with Overstreet's Guide. Now, for HG books, that may not always hold the same weight.

 

But let's say a book is CGC'd as a Fine- 5.0. I'd be willing to pay what Guide lists plus the cost of slabbing. But I wouldn't be willing to pay a premium over OSPG just because it was slabbed. I know GPA exists and may refute what a lot of the OSPG states. And it probably depends on the issue and how bad you want it.

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codfish

codfish

Posted
Posted

I don't like paying ANY premiums and that is why I have very few slabbed books. Oddly enough I don't mind paying the premium on more recent books but only if they are 9.6 or better. All older books I have purchased slabbed were all fair market value.

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tomc

tomc

Posted
Posted

tricky question. the only cgc i buy are keys. bronze and silver.

 

silver i buy in low to mid grade. 3.0 or higher.

bronze mid grade and up. 7.0 or higher.

but like i said the ONLY cgc books i buy are keys. so i think i am going to pay a premium anyways because they are key books.

 

 

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Mr. Zipper

Mr. Zipper

Posted
Posted

IMO it's partially grade and partially value.

 

Worth CGC premium

 

  • BA 9.4 or higher
  • SA or earlier 9.0 or higher
  • Any book valued over $100-$150 with a moderate to high probability of restoration

 

Most anything else I won't pay extra because someone wanted to put it in a snazzy plastic shell.

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Aces

Aces

Posted
Posted

Generally I don't look for slabs on books under $200.

 

The "CGC premium" is that I'll pay closer to guide for that VGF ASM 9 that's slabbed in a 5.0 case than I will for a raw "VGF".

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drewincanada

drewincanada

Posted
Posted

I look at it the other way around.

 

It's not a question of how big a premium I'll pay for a slabbed book; it's how much of a discount I'll look for on a raw book.

 

I'll typically pay close to guide rate (which is usually OSPG, but sometimes an average of Overstreet and a few other pricing resources) for a CGC book. And often I'll pay less - sometimes substantially less - if I'm lucky.

 

For raw books, even if they're from a seller with a stellar reputation as a strict grader, I expect to pay less than guide. *

 

But this all goes out the window when it comes to anything at 9.4 or above, where OSPG isn't any help. From my experience, slabbed 9.4s tend to go for 2-3X the guide for a 9.2. (Of course, the scarcity of the title along with an attack of bidding fever can blow this theory out of the water really quickly.) And the multiples on 9.6/9.8 slabs are all over the place - so I just try to do my research on GPA, Heritage, CL, Metropolis, Pedigree, etc.

 

This leads to another question: why doesn't OSPG have a listing for 9.4/9.6/9.8 -- or at least ONE of those grades? These are the grades where the biggest $ variances occur, and it would be useful to have someone out there helping to set standards.

 

* Except for the few cases where I had thought I was paying less than guide, until I got the book in hand and discovered that it had been wildly over-graded, with the end result that I payed considerably more than guide. Grrrrr.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted
why doesn't OSPG have a listing for 9.4/9.6/9.8 -- or at least ONE of those grades? These are the grades where the biggest $ variances occur

 

He doesn't list them because of your second sentence being true, 9.4 and 9.6 prices are varying too much to predict. People intermittently pay prices that lead to lots of outliers at that level -- you just can't predict these prices for Gold and most Silver. Collectors like the doctor who had ComicLink snapping up all the Spidey 9.6s on the market in 2002 or that guy now who's buying all the Spideys he can get at above-market prices, including that 9.4 AF15 on ComicLink last month, inflate the prices significantly with just single purchases of an issue, which makes determination of the market a wild guess at best since so few copies of these issues trade hands.

 

I think he should list them for Bronze, Copper, and Modern though.

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divad

divad

Posted
Posted

All grades. :sumo: I'm not averse to paying the slabbing fees because it was a fixed cost (presumedly) incurred by the seller, but I don't pay any more or less because a book is encased in plastic . . . :gossip:

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sterlingcomics

sterlingcomics

Posted
Posted
All grades. :sumo: I'm not averse to paying the slabbing fees because it was a fixed cost (presumedly) incurred by the seller, but I don't pay any more or less because a book is encased in plastic . . . :gossip:

 

You probably don't have many CGC books then. (shrug)

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worldsbestcomics

worldsbestcomics

Posted
Posted
IMO it's partially grade and partially value.

 

Worth CGC premium

 

  • BA 9.4 or higher
  • SA or earlier 9.0 or higher
  • Any book valued over $100-$150 with a moderate to high probability of restoration

 

This is the same criteria I use.

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MutantKeys

MutantKeys

Posted
Posted
IMO it's partially grade and partially value.

 

Worth CGC premium

 

  • BA 9.4 or higher
  • SA or earlier 9.0 or higher
  • Any book valued over $100-$150 with a moderate to high probability of restoration

 

This is the same criteria I use.

:whatev:
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divad

divad

Posted
Posted
All grades. :sumo: I'm not averse to paying the slabbing fees because it was a fixed cost (presumedly) incurred by the seller, but I don't pay any more or less because a book is encased in plastic . . . :gossip:

 

You probably don't have many CGC books then. (shrug)

 

Just a box or two. :grin:

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sterlingcomics

sterlingcomics

Posted
Posted
All grades. :sumo: I'm not averse to paying the slabbing fees because it was a fixed cost (presumedly) incurred by the seller, but I don't pay any more or less because a book is encased in plastic . . . :gossip:

 

You probably don't have many CGC books then. (shrug)

 

Just a box or two. :grin:

 

Not bad! :golfclap:

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Shadow

Shadow

Posted
  • Author
Posted

There was a dealer who had a book I wanted (JLA #2 in Fine 6.0) and it was slabbed. But the asking price was a couple hundred over OSPG. When asked if I was interested, I politely told him I didn't want to offend him but I'd only be willing to pay what the OSPG was plus about $40 to cover the CGC cost. He wasn't sure what the price in the Guide was so he looked, but pretty much just shrugged and I went on my way. No complaint with the dealer because he's trying to get what he wants for it. So, I went and bought a Fine- 5.5 for substantially less and I was happy.

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