Hi Everyone,
I just wanted you all to know how much I've enjoyed this thread. Not the back and forth regarding Sun Blaze, but the knowledge share. This thread spans many years, but in my opinion it should never die. Comments from SevenDust, ActionJackson, StudioHaedes (and yes even Webcity-X) mirror own experience and conclusions perfectly. I'm assembling a display case with various articles of interest that include graded comics, including two raws that I purchased right here off eBay as "Mint 9.8's" that I personally judged as a 9.6 and 9.4 (which was all I really wanted) after educating myself as painstakingly as possible with the 2016 Edition Overstreet Guide (which research indicated was the way to do so). These were by no means valuable books, but they meant something to me personally. But because they were irrelevances to most, I could not buy them pregraded. I did the best diligence I could, not realizing that as an individual that I'd be screwed, and consequently both came back at 8.5's. With my 1yr CGC sub, I've submitted perhaps 30 books ranging from 1948 to the mid 90's. None of these books have any current popularity, aside from a 1977 Star Wars #1. That one came back as a 7.5 and I'd judged it to be a minimum of a 9.0. (I personally think that CGC is keeping 9.x's of that particular book in as low quantities as possible.)
This is not to say that I haven't received a variety of 9.8 surprises as well. Overall I think I've done reasonably. I just expected to do very much better. I realize I've given you very little with which to analyze my skills, but I can assure I'm a particular individual. I wouldn't have knowingly sent in a book that would come back at a 9.0 unless it was Golden Age. I've since bought many pre-graded books and can make reasonable assessments of the low grades I've received that strongly indicate that CGC is unquestionably manipulating the market. It's just good business to keep your heavy submitters happy with 9.8's while keeping the 9.8 pop down by degrading individual submitters. With no true oversight, it is what it is.
In any case, I'm assembled an amusing printout of your best replies and added the below footnote. I've laminated and set it up next to some of the more befuddling examples of CGC tomfoolery.
...I happened upon this eBay thread one day for reasons I don’t recall. It mirrors precisely my own experience. I could have sent in my books via my local Comic Book Retailer, but he said something about 12-24 month long waits (vs 3-4 in my actual experience). I didn’t want to coordinate with them and besides I’ve never trusted comic book retailers. They’re typically slovenly, jaded, irresponsible rebels that mishandle my books even when I make it clear No Touchy. They almost always treat them as if they can’t be damaged.
In any case, I don’t regret sending them in myself. There was really no way to ingest the contents of this thread without experiencing it firsthand. You’d just think it paranoia otherwise. I will consider using a local retailer in the future, but at this point I just buy pre-graded books...
