Submitting to CGC

[Johnseye]

Can anyone provide any tips for submitting books to CGC?

I'm wondering if it's a bad idea to submit multiple copies of the same book so they don't compare one against the other. Questioning how subjective they are.

I'm also wondering if 50 is the minimum number of books to submit before they will allow a pass on books below a certain grade.

Does CGC return your milar and backing boards that you ship your books in?

Any suggestions for my first submission would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Shadow_Contact]

I just want to say that this is an awesome question, Ive always been a bit scared to send some books in and would also like so answers.

[X-O HoboJoe]

PM CKB, Rico, World'sBestComics, Hulk181man, Greg, etc . . . Many folks on this board are pros at playing the CGC grading game.

[greg]

It has been awhile since I've submitted, and I haven't done all the option you suggest, but I'll take a shot at answering.

Multiple copies - it's possible that they do have some "instant recall" if they're grading multiple copies of the same book, but I don't know if that would cause them to grade more harshly.

Pre-screening - if you call CGC and tell them you would like to submit less than 50 copies of books for a pre-screen, they will probably tell you if it's OK. I don't know if 50 is a set-in-stone number, especially if you're a new customer and they want your business.

Mylar and backing boards - are not returned by CGC. They might return a loose insert or COA if it's accidentally included. I think they sent a loose card back to me once that I didn't realize was in a book.

My suggestion would be to use pre-screening, and be prepared for the worst (none of your books meet the pre-screen).
That way you're not disappointed if only a few meet the minimum pre-screen grade...
and you won't have to pay for any CGC 8.0 slabs when you were expecting CGC 9.8s.
(Overlooked flaws will bite a few books VERY hard, but pre-screening at least keeps them from being slabbed at full cost.)

[Johnseye]

At what grade do you think it's not worth the cost to slab? I suppose it depends on the book and raw value vs. slabbed. Personally I wouldn't want to collect any book lower than a 9.6 unless it was a rare or old book. That doesn't mean it couldn't be sold if I had to sell it but I'd prefer not to lose money obviously.

How do you usually pack and ship the raws?

I noticed if I scan the books and put the scan up in the Collectors Society forum people will offer their opinions. I suppose this couldn't hurt to do. I will call them before hand once I have my total submission count and hopefully they'll allow less than 50.

[slym2none]

On average, a 9.6 is a break-even grade. And the CGC site offers a good explanation on how to ship books to them. I use their idea as a baseline and go a little overboard from there, but still, it's a pretty good way that they show.



-slym

[ckb]

On average, a 9.6 is a break-even grade. And the CGC site offers a good explanation on how to ship books to them. I use their idea as a baseline and go a little overboard from there, but still, it's a pretty good way that they show.



-slym

For 99% of books 1980 and up, 9.8 is really all you should be going for.

In terms of "what is worth slabbing" if you are slabbing for resale you are flying blind without GPA. Searchable completed listings on eBay do not hang around long enough to be of good use. And, people list stuff and bid stupidly on eBay all the time, so the results aren't always indicitive of market.

I would try to fill an invoice of 30 books to do a pre-screen. You won't need to call them, just write "Pre-screen at 9.8" in big letters on all copies of the invoice. You can't screen at different levels on the same invoice which can be problematic.

Good luck!

[Johnseye]

Thanks ckb, I have subscribed to GPA for a month and have made a spreadsheet of info for all books I am currently submitting for and interested in buying for future reference. Granted numbers change month to month but I have a decent history recorded for reference and can always resub for a month if necessary.

I'll take your advice on nothing below 9.8 and think I have 30 books that "I think" will meet that grade, although it will be close removing doubles.

[ckb]

Thanks ckb, I have subscribed to GPA for a month and have made a spreadsheet of info for all books I am currently submitting for and interested in buying for future reference. Granted numbers change month to month but I have a decent history recorded for reference and can always resub for a month if necessary.

I'll take your advice on nothing below 9.8 and think I have 30 books that "I think" will meet that grade, although it will be close removing doubles.

Certainly make exceptions to that rule based on GPA. Have a cutoff price. If you see a 9.6 sales history that looks like you can get over your cutoff, do a pre-screen 9.6 invoice with those.

For my recent sub, outside of Valiants, my reluctant cutoff was $30. A more sane cutoff is closer to $40-$50.

If you end up submitting two invoices with 30 books at different levels, if you ask CGC to combine shipping they will only nail you with a $70 shipping charge once instead of two $50.

[ckb]

By the way, on your point with multiple copies... I believe they do grade the books against one another. Not sure how you can use that info, but that's my belief from my experience.

[worldsbestcomics]

Can anyone provide any tips for submitting books to CGC?

I'm wondering if it's a bad idea to submit multiple copies of the same book so they don't compare one against the other. Questioning how subjective they are.

I'm also wondering if 50 is the minimum number of books to submit before they will allow a pass on books below a certain grade.

Does CGC return your milar and backing boards that you ship your books in?

Any suggestions for my first submission would be appreciated.

Thanks

My experience is that they do appear to compare books against each other - especially moderns. If I had two 9.8 copies, I used to submit them both and I felt that improved my chances of getting one back in 9.8 but almost guaranteed the other would fail the pre-screen.

I only pre-screened at 9.8. I'm a collector not a dealer and I usually only collect 9.8. I did do some 9.6 prescreens many years ago but my experience was that 9.6 modern books, including Valiants, were hard for me to sell and get my grading fees/shipping costs back. Nowadays it is even hard to sell 9.8 common moderns, including Valiants, and get your money back. CKB is the most experienced CGC Valiant seller on the Boards.

50 is the minimum number for a pre-screen. If you are going to send in fewer, call first and ask permission. CGC is pretty reasonable but this is one area where they tend to be pretty strict. They've cut me some slack on occasion but I send in hundreds of books every year. If you are coming up short of 50, try partnering with another collector. As long as they are all the same tier (like moderns) and the same prescreen (9.8 or 9.6) they can all go on the same invoice. You just need to ship them together to CGC and be able to tell them apart because CGC will ship them all back to one person. But, if you're submitting Valiants and somebody else wants to submit some Marvel or DCs or different Valiant titles, that can make it possible for several collectors to partner together and do something that would be difficult to do individually. Look to see if CGC will be at a con near you and you can drop books off instead of mailing them. I usually bring a longbox of books with me to Emerald City ComicCon every year.

I strongly recommend the prescreen for moderns, especially a first submission. Many collectors sending in their first submissions tend to overgrade their books because they aren't as familiar with the grading system and we all tend to overlook certain flaws that don't bother us (like minor edge wear on the back cover) or overrate certain flaws that do bother us (I hate spine stress and won't submit a book that has spine stress). CGC is very thorough and they grade everything.

CGC will not return mylars and boards for books that they encapsulate. They will return any books that fail the prescreen in your mylars and boards.

Good luck! Post back here when you get your results.

[Johnseye]

I will be going to the Chicago con this Thurs. I'd like to submit my books then, does anyone know the process? From what I can see it looks to be more expensive to submit at a con.

[Escaflown4]

I will be going to the Chicago con this Thurs. I'd like to submit my books then, does anyone know the process? From what I can see it looks to be more expensive to submit at a con.

Yes it's usually more expensive submitting books at the con, but it also takes the worry off from shipping the books to their Sarasota office for grading. All you need to do is bring your books to their booth, fill out their form and submit your payment which will include an arm and a leg for them to ship the graded books back to you.

[ckb]

On-site grading or just submission?

There's no difference in price with submission at the con. At least there wasn't when I did it. I had all my forms printed out with the 10% discount.

The huge downside for on-site grading is no pre-screen. It's a real downer when that Harbinger 1 is handed back to you in a CGC 8.0 slab. Additionally, you cannot apply discounts at the con - full price slabbing only.

[Johnseye]

I called up CGC and it looks like I can submit then and there without having to do on-site grading. This means it will only cost me $17 per book, I don't need to pay the $39 fee to become an Associate member, I can pre-screen and I will avoid the cost to ship the books in.

Does this sound right CKB? Where did you get the forms with 10% discount?

Thanks

[TheVisitor]

I called up CGC and it looks like I can submit then and there without having to do on-site grading. This means it will only cost me $17 per book, I don't need to pay the $39 fee to become an Associate member, I can pre-screen and I will avoid the cost to ship the books in.

Does this sound right CKB? Where did you get the forms with 10% discount?

Thanks

The one nice thing about becoming an Associate member is that you can track your submissions on the CGC site.

--Phil

[ckb]

I called up CGC and it looks like I can submit then and there without having to do on-site grading. This means it will only cost me $17 per book, I don't need to pay the $39 fee to become an Associate member, I can pre-screen and I will avoid the cost to ship the books in.

Does this sound right CKB? Where did you get the forms with 10% discount?

Thanks

Sorry Johnseye, I missed this the first time around. I'm sure this info is dated for ya, but you get a 10% discount if you print the forms through an associated CGC site like ColossusComics.com.

[Johnseye]

I called up CGC and it looks like I can submit then and there without having to do on-site grading. This means it will only cost me $17 per book, I don't need to pay the $39 fee to become an Associate member, I can pre-screen and I will avoid the cost to ship the books in.

Does this sound right CKB? Where did you get the forms with 10% discount?

Thanks

Sorry Johnseye, I missed this the first time around. I'm sure this info is dated for ya, but you get a 10% discount if you print the forms through an associated CGC site like ColossusComics.com.

Thanks CKB. Better late than never. I'll use it for my next submission. They did allow me to pre-screen at 9.8 even though I only submitted about 20 or so books. On the other hand I still haven't received them and when I called they said pre-screened books were running behind. 2 1/2 months so far.