CGC Value or Scam?
zikaatlaw
Posts: 56
Is CGC making most of its money (or slabbing most of its comics) by scamming people into thinking it is worth their money, when it is really not?
I'm not talking about a rare golden age book that is worth thousands of dollars. I'm talking about seeing just about every book from the modern and copper (crapper?) age being slabbed by someone. When I see this, my thought is always, "great, your $4 comic book is now "officially" worth $4. Hope the $15 plus shipping and handling was worth it to you."
I'm not talking about a rare golden age book that is worth thousands of dollars. I'm talking about seeing just about every book from the modern and copper (crapper?) age being slabbed by someone. When I see this, my thought is always, "great, your $4 comic book is now "officially" worth $4. Hope the $15 plus shipping and handling was worth it to you."
Comments
Without actually touching a comic book it's hard to tell it's condition, at least for my untrained eyes, so if I'm buying a $100+ comic over the internet I do probably prefer those with the CGC seal. Maybe I'm gullible though.
I would agree with the internet purchase argument in the old days of ebay, but now, you can return any item and, if it is not as listed, you even get your shipping cost back. Maybe for a craigslist sale or something, but who's slabbing a book for a craigslist sale?
I think it's valuable in the sense that it sets a standard that people can agree on. Although, as you said, their grading isn't nearly as consistent as they'd like people to think. Also, it's valuable for those who play along. I mean, those who feed into the idea of, “Don't take my word for it, take these guys’ word for it. They have an official stamp,” get much more money when selling their books than those who don't. If I were to sell a high-end book, I'd almost certainly have it slabbed first, because it makes a significant difference.
But, I think it's a scam in that it's not all that difficult to learn how to grade a comic. Personally, I think anyone who regularly buys mid- to high-end books without knowing how to grade a comic is a fool. And I think it's a scam in that hardly anyone seems to trust a comic’s grade if it doesn't have a CGC stamp on it, which is ridiculous. I mean, I'm as cynical as the next guy, but there are plenty of honest dealers out there.
It's gotten to the point that I could walk into a random store, buy a high-end book off the wall the shop has graded at VF+ when it's actually a VF, and still pay a lower price for that book than I could a CGC-graded book at their equivalent of VF.
When you boil it all down, a book is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. If people want to pay inflated prices for some extra feeling of security, more power to them.
However, I do believe many people are fooling themselves into thinking their flavor of the month comics will be valuable some day.
Now that Wizard Magazine--which seemed to be a major force in slab hyping--has been gone for a while, is crapslabbing still so prevalent?
Now, that may not mean beans to you, but to a person who wants to pick up as mint a copy as possible, to save the trouble of having to figure out if their back issue pick up is a 9.4 vs 9.8 - these services meet that requirement.
I will agree that there are plenty of $4 books that have $30 worth of grading, slabbing, and shipping on them. Simply put, only pay $4 for it if you want it. As a retailer and a collector, I have many slabbed books in my shop, as well as a few in my collection. They range from new to old, and from key issues to non-key issues. I get slabbed books for those that mean a lot to me (Batman Beyond #1 vol 1), but probably don't mean much to anyone else. I know it will be safe.
Personally? It's not for me, but I'm not really in the collecting game end of the hobby.
• CGC only indicates the grade of the comic at the time it was certified! To maintain the certification, it can not be removed from the slab. Slabbed comics cannot be touched or read, defeating the purpose of the hobby.
• CGC grading is not consistent! The CGC would have you believe there is an empirical method for numerically grading comics. This is not true. Grading is very subjective. Is a book with a corner crease more or less valuable than a book with spine stress marks and no other defects? Depending on who at the CGC is grading a book and the mood they are in that day can dramatically change the value they place on it.
• It is not at all difficult to learn how to grade comics. There are many free resources available online that provide guidance on how to do this, and anyone serious about collecting comics should really take the time to learn this skill. Only purchase books that meet your own personal grading standard and you’ll never be ripped-off or disappointed.
• The CGC is a business, not a non-profit organization, and the company charges a lot to their clients for the grading process. Their customers, in turn, pass the cost on to naïve collectors, which is why certified books cost three to ten times more than uncertified books. People only bring their books to the CGC so they can artificially pump-up their value.
• Individuals who purchase comics solely as an investment (rather than a hobby) often rely on CGC certifications as insurance on the value of the book over time. However, comics actually make a rather poor investment option. Most post-Silver Age books struggle to retain any real value at all, and older books do not gain significant value unless they are extremely rare. To paraphrase Warren Buffet, if you are only interested in investment, put your savings in an SNP500 mutual fund. You won’t achieve any better return on investment than that.
Personally, I don't have an opinion on CGC, having never used them, or bought anything that has been graded. And I don't imagine ever doing so, as for me, my long years of the comics hobby has been about acquiring lots to read and holding onto things to maybe read again someday, or give to someone else to read, without pristine condition being a factor.
Though I think the points you make about a private company rising up and sort of declaring themselves the industry standard feels problematic, in the ways you are suggesting. It feels like they came out of nowhere, and were successful in becoming a provenance for high-end collecting, but there had also been a LOT of years of high end collecting going on before they were ever around.