I think part of what you are seeing is people are catching on that folks who are buying good condition. Raw books are doing so just a grade them... So the people selling them are pricing them as if they were graded for fear of losing out on money. The same thing happens in the video game market with sealed retro games.
Something I don’t really see people discuss is how much it costs to slab books, and that it goes up for older books. The only guarantee we have is that sooner or later the grading companies will raise their prices. Also, books that were considered dollar bin books can skyrocket in demand overnight. For me, with submitting books, modern books will be cheapest to slab when they’re newly released. There’s definitely other factors, like the Dave Steven’s cover art trend. Prior to 2020, these were mostly dollar books and are now highly sought after books. 90’s X-men books are now sought after too based on the strength of the animated series, and we haven’t even gotten a live action Xmen film. There’s just so many factors to consider with grading, but for me, I prefer the least amount of risk and to me one way to reduce risk is to submit books at the cheapest price point available. Good video discussion, definitely enjoyed hearing you discuss actual numbers.
If you want to understand grading there’s two invaluable resources: 1) the cgc grading guide and 2) the overstreet grading guide. If you are submitting to CGC and you haven’t reviewed this in depth (especially if you are a novice but even if you are a sophisticated collector) you are doing yourself a disservice as they out very clearly a good deal of information that is essential to understanding their standards and mindset. That said, while CGC is the standard a lot of old timers still grade to Overstreet and will have varying opinions on grading. CGC is not a bible it is an opinion. It helps provide a standard through the industry but there’s grading college or degree or certificate for grading. Some people are very tight graders and some much looser (understanding which dealers they are helps when buying as well and learning to identify them). The majority of books from 1970 forward don’t need to be graded but for a variety of reasons some people love to have them in holders. The movie bump and comic boom as we all know are all over and not coming back any time soon. The market is starting to settle and it’s a positive thing overall.
In my experience... CGC has done more harm than good when it comes to paying them to press and clean. From popped staples to them taking soo long to Press, clean then Grade & Slab.... the pressing doesnt hold.
Jim this was an instructional video, thank you for the effort you put into it. Is the effort you put into hunting, researching and submitting candidate raw books for grading profitable overall, or is it mainly just another way for you to enjoy the hobby?
I think part of what you are seeing is people are catching on that folks who are buying good condition. Raw books are doing so just a grade them... So the people selling them are pricing them as if they were graded for fear of losing out on money. The same thing happens in the video game market with sealed retro games.
Great vid; well thought out. Fingers crossed for your current pre-screen!
Something I don’t really see people discuss is how much it costs to slab books, and that it goes up for older books. The only guarantee we have is that sooner or later the grading companies will raise their prices. Also, books that were considered dollar bin books can skyrocket in demand overnight. For me, with submitting books, modern books will be cheapest to slab when they’re newly released. There’s definitely other factors, like the Dave Steven’s cover art trend. Prior to 2020, these were mostly dollar books and are now highly sought after books. 90’s X-men books are now sought after too based on the strength of the animated series, and we haven’t even gotten a live action Xmen film. There’s just so many factors to consider with grading, but for me, I prefer the least amount of risk and to me one way to reduce risk is to submit books at the cheapest price point available. Good video discussion, definitely enjoyed hearing you discuss actual numbers.
If you want to understand grading there’s two invaluable resources: 1) the cgc grading guide and 2) the overstreet grading guide. If you are submitting to CGC and you haven’t reviewed this in depth (especially if you are a novice but even if you are a sophisticated collector) you are doing yourself a disservice as they out very clearly a good deal of information that is essential to understanding their standards and mindset. That said, while CGC is the standard a lot of old timers still grade to Overstreet and will have varying opinions on grading. CGC is not a bible it is an opinion. It helps provide a standard through the industry but there’s grading college or degree or certificate for grading. Some people are very tight graders and some much looser (understanding which dealers they are helps when buying as well and learning to identify them). The majority of books from 1970 forward don’t need to be graded but for a variety of reasons some people love to have them in holders. The movie bump and comic boom as we all know are all over and not coming back any time soon. The market is starting to settle and it’s a positive thing overall.
In my experience... CGC has done more harm than good when it comes to paying them to press and clean. From popped staples to them taking soo long to Press, clean then Grade & Slab.... the pressing doesnt hold.
Jim this was an instructional video, thank you for the effort you put into it. Is the effort you put into hunting, researching and submitting candidate raw books for grading profitable overall, or is it mainly just another way for you to enjoy the hobby?
Terapeak is great and it's free