I recently sent three comics into Certified Collectibles Group (CGC) to get graded. I also asked to have one of comics, Catwoman #51, pressed prior to grading.
It was the only comic I could see any problems with. It had slight finger creases on the front of the cover. I could not find any issues with the other two comics. Those two came back with grades of 9.8. The comic I had pressed and graded came back with a grade of 9.6. The reason? The grader note said:
finger creases top of back cover.
One of the reasons you press a comic is to get rid of things like finger creases.
Upon further review
I inspected the comic when it came back, The finger creases on the front were gone. When I inspected the back, I again found no finger creases. I decided to contact CGC and ask about it.
I was less than thrilled with the response. Matt M from CGC wrote the following:
As for the finger crease on the back of the book, it looks like this is a color breaking crease in the top right corner just above the fire/smoke.
He sent an enlarged photo that supposedly showed this.
I looked at the enlarged photo he sent and failed to see what Matt M was talking about.
He closed out the email with the following:
If you would like this book to be reviewed, you will need to submit it again through a new grading tier. We can assure you this book was reviewed by multiple graders including a head grader to come to the final grade and all of them agreed on these final grades. This ensures the most accurate designation or grade has been given for each book submitted. I am sorry for the inconvenience.
CGC shipping is wasteful
Something else that irritated me with CGC is how they shipped the three comics back to me. I sent the three books together in one box. They sent each book back to me separately, charging $20 each time. I found that to be extremely wasteful. They should have sent all three books back in the same box.
I’m not even sure how much everything cost. I know that I had $150 credit with my membership. The only charge I ever saw on my credit card was $10.25, so I’m assuming my first and only experience with CGC totaled $160.25. I don’t really know because there’s no place online I can check my account balance.
In conclusion
I was less than impressed with my experience with CGC. If they are going to give a book a lower grade for a color breaking finger crease, they should have to show proof that it exists. They failed to do that. The entire CGC operation seems highly unprofessional. I will not be using their services again.
If you’re in the market for a CGC 9.6 Catwoman #51 with a phantom finger crease on the back cover, you can buy mine on eBay.
