This title for this article exposes the scam behind the rediculous high price tags set upon CGC Comic Books with respect to a copy of the same comic book, unslabbed.
I am not entirely against comic books slabbers as I have purchased a few in the past, but there is a reason why I despise them, especially from the seller's point of view and what CGC and other piggy-back encapsulators have caused.
Partularly eBay, you will find that the majority of comic books are CGC, and prices vary, however for keys, (key issues) like a copy of Spider-Man #149 is rediculously overpriced with respect to an unslabbed copy of the same issue at the same grade.
Here, the seller presents the issue at a buy-it-now price of $33 + shipping costs. Not a bad deal.
A slabbed copy, here the seller jack's up the price 7x the acual value of the book according to a current copy of the comic book price guide.
This has become commonplace on the market and I will show you why it is a rip-off to even purchase a slabbed copy.
While the unslabbed copy at a grade identical to a slabbed copy is cheaper, the grading is done exactly the same way.
I, myself, can examine an unslabbed copy of a book and estimate the actual grade without sending it into CGC for thier so-called "professional grading" system.
Fact is, anyone can giving how to do it.
- The basic grading scale, also known as letter grades, uses the grades from Near Mint (highest) to Poor (lowest):
- NM Near Mint
- VF Very Fine
- FN Fine
- VG Very Good
- GD Good
- FR Fair
- PR Poor
- The ten-point grading scale assigns grades ranging from 10.0 (highest) down to 0.5 (lowest):
- 10.0 GM Gem Mint (Hen's Teeth)
- 9.9 M Mint
- 9.8 NM/M Near Mint/Mint
- 9.6 NM+ Near Mint+
- 9.4 NM Near Mint
- 9.2 NM- Near Mint-
- 9.0 VF/NM Very Fine/Near Mint
- 8.5 VF+ Very Fine+
- 8.0 VF Very Fine
- 7.5 VF- Very Fine-
- 7.0 FN/VF Fine/Very Fine
- 6.5 FN+ Fine+
- 6.0 FN Fine
- 5.5 FN- Fine-
- 5.0 VG/FN Very Good/Fine
- 4.5 VG+ Very Good+
- 4.0 VG Very Good
- 3.5 VG- Very Good-
- 3.0 GD/VG Good/Very Good
- 2.5 GD+ Good+
- 2.0 GD Good
- 1.8 GD- Good-
- 1.5 FR/GD Fair/Good
- 1.0 FR Fair
- 0.5 PR Poor
- Unsalvageable (no cover / rips, missing sections)
The reason why there is a pricing farse is due to the comic book price guide.
Every year this guide comes out and adjusts the value of almost all comics according to their Grade.
The comic book price guide has no guide for CGC books, the prices apply to both unslabbed books and slabbed books, therefore slabbed books of a particular grade, have the exact same value as unslabbed copies of the same grade.
No listing for CGC prices, by grade, exist in any copy of the comic book price guide !
But sellers of slabbed books somehow believe that, now, because the book is graded and encased for protection, that the price in the comic book price guide no longer applies due to it.
Essentially a buyer is merely purchasing the protective casing, which ultimately erodes the book faster since some oxygen is getting to the book.
It is patently obvious that sellers of slabbed comic books are clearly violating comic book price guide prices, and that the publishers of the comic book price guide are not coming out to say anything about it, nor are the slabbers of the comic books.
But it rests on the heads of slabbers to say something about it because sellers continue thier pricing deceptions.
Remember, unslabbed comics and slabbed comics have the exact same price according to a current copy of the comic book price guide.
Slabbed books are being falsely overpriced on all platforms. Whoever started this trend was malicious; just because an owner of comic book has the book slabbed, does not mean the book has "more value" to sell than what the comic book price guide says it's worth.
The encapsulation merely serves as a protection for keeping the grade, rather than it being handled and potentially ruined by mishandling.
It does not protect against fire, water, wind damage.
Sure, the slabbing will keep the book protected for years to come...but that's about all it's worth, any half-wit can grade thier own books, you don't need a slabber to do it.
Don't buy into the over pricing BS of sellers of CGC comic books and other slabbed sellers, the comic has no more value than what the comic book price guide says it is has.
Comic books are for reading, slabbing comics is a bit counterintuitive to that.
If a book is getting old or it's a key, then maybe it needs protection, but that's not an excuse to overpricing it when it comes time to resell.
