I only dealt with them one time. I was wanting some books graded and they had some sort of lower cost membership deal. I joined their club for a year and got some introductory free (and I believe some discounted gradings throughout the year that I never took advantage of). I'm not sure of the price or anything, I just remember it was a lower price joining their club than getting them graded alone. I got 4 books graded. I remember it taking awhile to get them returned, but I wasn't in any hurry so it wasn't a deal at all for me.

I got them back and my comics were slabbed and graded. No issues.

UPDATE: I just found my old Facebook post that described the pricing I paid......in 2013.

I could have had the 2 newer ones done for $18 each and the 2 older ones for $35 each, but instead I just joined the Comic Book Collectors Society ($120) and 4 gradings were included. You also have to pay for shipping there and return shipping and insurance.

Comics (resized).jpg

My experience was very similar! I've since sold off most of my collection, which funded my jump into pinball, but I have previously sent several batches of books to CGC and only have positive things to say about it. I definitely recommend going with CGC instead of their competitors. The up-front cost is higher, but the name bears a lot of weight.

There's no such thing as too much protection when packing the books for shipment. Best of luck with the grading and subsequent sales!

I used to be incredibly active in the comic scene up until a few years ago, I was even a certified witness for CGC (to verify the authenticity of signatures). CGC is generally much more highly regarded than PGX and some of the others, as others have said you don't really have to worry about anything when sending books off to get graded. Just make sure they're adequately insured.

Another option is to see if a comic shop near you works with them regularly, as you can usually just drop them off at your LCS and have your books graded along with the current group being sent in. If possible I'd recommend getting your books pressed before they're graded as well. I've seen a 4.5 get de-slabbed, pressed, then regraded a 7.

I've done a little work with CGC, and like the others said, no problems at all. Got some graded higher and some lower than I expected.

Words of advice from an avid collector.
1) get all the books pressed. minimal cost but you can get a higher grade that can more than offset the cost.
2) Skip speedy grading option, not worth the cost.

Cgc is definitely the way to go because. Each book is looked at 3 three graders. other companies just use one grader

I used to be a dealer and was a CGC witness and CGC facilitator for their signature series before they only let one company handle that part of it now. Been dealing and working with CGC or more than 15 years.

PM me, I can help if you have any questions.

I have have many silver age that I want to sell. Most are in good to fair condition. Is it even worth it to send them to get graded, or is it not worth the cost? I always thought CGC was only for VG to Mint condition.

Cgc is not a bad way to go the only other professional grader that I would look into is CBCS. Its actually started by the guy who started cgc. Cheaper, faster they authinticate signitures. Quickly catching upto cgc. Avoid PGX or any other service. As their grades are junk. I run a comic book store and If i have a PGX graded book people pick it up then go "o its a pgx" and set it back down immediatly after looking at it. CGC obviously is market leader. Tried and true.

I just sent 20 books to CBCS before all the covid stuff. Im waiting on books myself. I would call CGC and make sure they are accepting books before sending.

Also be VERY picky. The first time you send books in you realize how strict their grading is. Which is a good thing.

it depends on the comic. If its a Fantastic Four #1 that books is worth $1000+ in 1.0, Amazing Fantasy #15 even more.

Do some research, If your book is worth under $100 in graded conditon its not worth getting graded. At least thats my cutoff. Also my shop isnt too far away. feel free to reach out to me. I can help you decide whats worth selling and grading and may even be able to find a buyer for some of those books.

Honestly it’s not unless you have Key issues. Otherwise you are spending 40 to grade a book that might be worth 60 when you get it back in 5 months or worse you break even.

Even minor key issues are worth sending in though.

The best thing about CGC is it took a lot of the subjectivity out of buying and selling books. Color touch, new staples, colored pages, were all concerns you had to deal with when buying a book. Some sellers were super shady. CGC and the internet took comic book collecting to a new level. It made it easier to deal the books.

I used to go to onsite CGC events to drop off my books. Some came back higher, some came back lower than I had thought they would grade.

Following.......I've been thinking about selling some of mine. On a separate note....some cool videos on YouTube on how to display comic books using J channel....

20200426_203247 (resized).jpg

I don’t know about comic books, but grading is what killed the baseball card hobby. If your card was graded less than 9.5 no one would buy it, unless an older hall of famer card from the 50’s. The more cards you sent at once, the better the grades. It was a scam that killed collecting. Many companies gave away high grades like water. See home shopping channels. Sounds like comics may be different. Go with the best reputation company and only send in ones that are near mint+. My off topic 2 cents/rant. Apologies.

I have a few I bought over the years but have never sent any out. Any advice on how to sell off a collection?

I sold some a couple years ago. I did go with PGX but my comics were not anywhere near NM and none were golden age.

I made a quick $2600 selling them on eBay after getting them back from PGX. Not bad considering the cost...I would have made less if I had used CGC.

That being said if you have very valuable issues (worth over 1k), I would send them to CGC.

Don’t use PGX they are a scam. It’s literally a company some kid started in an apartment, they have not expertise and no real graders. They also used to inflate grades their own books and have a buddy sell them on eBay about 10 years ago. This is all documented. Check some old posts about PGX in grading forums. Again stay the F away from PGX. No one in the grading hobby uses them and can confirm what I wrote. They are only still around because of noobs that don’t know better.

This anything from the 90’s to current won’t sell unless it’s a 9.8.

9.6’s will sell sometimes but you will take a loss on what it cost you to grade unless it’s Deadpool or Harley Quinn’s first appearance. Issues like that.

I wouldn’t submit anything made
In the last 30 years unless you know how to accurately grade a comic. That takes a long time to learn and do accurately and even longer to know what CGC looks for and deducts on their grading scale.

report back please! How much is it to join CGC?

Being that we are talking comics, I too would like to sell my comic collection. I stopped buying comics in 1999. I have been collecting on and off from my childhood. It was back in the day when there were alot of comic stores around. Back in the early 80's I started I started to catalog all my comics and really tried to always buy really back issues when I would travel around to the comic stores. I know know trying to sell a large collection is a daunting task. I collected alot of Marvel, DC, Image and all inbetween. All bagged and back boarded.

Just like someone asked in this forum about selling a large collection, I would appreciate any advice. Not looking to piece out my collection, but I have over 4500 comics that I am hoping is worth something to help pay for things in this hobby and other interests.

If there are any comic collectors here on this site, looking to buy or can point me in a direction and not get low balled would be great. Not looking to get full market, but they have to be worth something. Every issue might not be worth much, but the ones that are worth something offset the ones that are not looking to have a buyer cherry pick the collection.

Thanks

Thinking about selling these off in future,
as I am getting old and can not take them with you.
Sorry for the blur.
IMG_20200428_104856 (resized).jpgIMG_20200428_104908 (resized).jpgIMG_20200428_104922 (resized).jpgIMG_20200428_104928 (resized).jpg

I am talking about the comics, not the pniballs, as I expect to be buried in those cabinets.

Extra points if you can name the significance of issue #110.

I’ve actually been thinking about starting to collect comics again.
When I was a kid living in San Diego I would go work in my dads coin shop on weekends and during the summer.
There was a comic shop right around the corner called Comic Kingdom where I would go spend my hard earned pay.
Spent a lot of time in there as a kid.

Been thinking about putting together a set a Rogue Trooper.
Anybody read this comic back in the day?

E5631365-84BB-4FE2-B47A-41CC3401DD73 (resized).jpeg

First appearance of Doctor Strange.

That's probably my most valuable book (in best condition Fine).
though for what ever reason Hulk#181 seems to be way over priced, (Wolverine who?)
might be more valuable since my copy is in 9.0+ condition.

I have quite a few Spiderman between 13 and 50. These are the ones I was thinking of shipping to CGC. Also have a few golden age DC, some EC, some early Flash, and a few other runs.

I didn't know that was a comic....though I remember a video game, that I guess, is based on it.

Yep 2000AD, same series of comics that produced Judge Dredd.

Anybody have a copy of Amazing Spider-Man "300" that they’re selling?

How is the silver age collection market at this point? I probably should have sold several years ago as I think those that acquire silver age are getting fewer and fewer, especially for golden age comics.

Could you let me know when it goes live or if you want to sell it outside of eBay so you don’t incur fees. Just let me know and PM if you’re interested. Thanks!

Don't sell! I still miss my Sgt. Rock books... All I did was trade those for John Byrne X-Men back in 1984 (meaning I did the trade back in 1984 when I was 13 years old). Buying the books off the old spinner racks... then trading them away for cool but very common books... ugh! It's only been 36 years... I'm almost over it.

Best of luck with the sales!

Ive been doing the same.....its been fun going back thru them. I think you should change this to the official comic book thread!

Here is my comic book collecting story:
I collected comics for about a decade in the 70s. (I was about 15 to 25 yrs old at the time)
When the early 80s hit, I lost interest primarily due to the cost of books off the newsstand
eventually going from 12cents each to about a $1buck each.
Also when they started all those special short runs or rebooting series
and alternate covers and other BS, I said enough was enough.
I collected Mainly Marvel and DC, but dabbled in all, anything superhero.
There was a year where I collected just about everything,
including horror and some western and army stuff,
everything except Romance and Archie and Harvey.
During that decade of collecting I was able to fill in my runs of most back issues fairly solid
back thru about 1964 on Marvel and DC superhero;
Along with Tower Comics and MLJ heroes and Charlton Blue Beetle and Capt Atom and E-man.
At a cost for the most part for only 25cents to $1 an issue,
at the few comic book shops that i could find at the time
or trading with a few collector friends (geeks and nerds).
Remember this was before comic book collecting really took off.
Anyway, my collection climbed to about 7-8,000 books
and I held them in boxes for about 30yrs until I started selling off my collection about 7-8 yrs ago.
Selling off 200 to 300 at a time, sometimes in a lot of 500-1000 books.
It was hard at first to let go of the stuff.
Started with my duplicates and stuff I did not really care about and the 80s stuff.
Then I finally let go of most all of my classic DC stuff (i.e. 60s/70s).
All told, so far about 4000 books sold and pulled in about $16,000.
I am selling them to a dealer I know from California and he has been fair to me (I think)
I could probably get more for each book if I sold them piece meal on ebay
but that would take hours and hours and years and be a big hassle.
Getting them graded and slabbed by CGC, just does not seem worth it.
I still have about 4000 Classic Marvel superhero books, that are probably worth
Twice what the 1st 4000 books went for.
The older back issues from the 60s are in good to Fine Condition,
while the books that I bought in the 70s of the racks are in NewsStand NearMint.
Again these are going to be hard to let go of, but like they say you can not take them with you.
I also have a bunch of old comic book fanzines, like Alter Ego, Batmania, FOOM, Squa Tront and Spa Fon
and Witzend and the Comic Reader and the CBG and Rockets Blast Comic Collector, etc.

i could've swore i responded to this. I wanted to post pictures so here we go again. shortly.

Firstly, I have been collecting comics since I first saw them in about 1972. They have shaped my entire life in some way or another I am now 52.
It is truly a great hobby, so rewarding just over and over and over.

I recently had a stroke and three brain surgeries. This kind of experience has left nearly everyone who goes through it, dead. I am very lucky.

So as I recovered, I had to deal with a 5000 comic collection. It was in a storage unit eating up money I didn't have anymore.

I could not even barely lift a box now, physically. I set out to sort them and learn grading despite my handicap. (what else could i do?)

I gave ten boxes away to children in my neighborhood. They never had comics before, now they each had 250.

The entire collection was sorted in my own criteria. Anything under 20 dollars was given away. That left me with ten boxes. I also kept all series intact despite value. fantastic four, spider man, etc.

The remaining ten boxes i then looked at high dollar books and what sells potentially.

The examples of higher dollars being infinity gauntlet 1 and a Doom Patrol with a first appearance by beast boy. obscure.

There is no question CgC should be your grading company. They are unmatched.

Their staff has been valuable every time. Their insurance and sales value are undisputed value numbers for the most part.

I'm going to digress here. As a child I read everything I could. I was conscious of condition, but reading them was first and foremost. My trailer burned down when at 16 and I lost all those seriously read books. They did their job, though.

I bring this up because I have I read the crap out of comics. Now a sealed book never appealed to me. But now we have both omnibus and digital forms.

Many collectors I know are interested in key books raw as well as slabbed.

So back to cgc and my books. You cant go wrong it all comes down to your choices now and should you do it at all. It is always good to remember, your non slabbed comics are well protected, they should not degrade no matter what time passes now.

(More brevity needed.)

My ant man 1st and my doom patrol came back poor. But my 1st appearance power man iron fist was exceptional. I removed it from the sell pile to keep because of potential value and condition. Also no matter where I look I cannot find it in my graded condition. Hold that one I thought.

Overall I was very happy. Also once comic shows in your area begin again, you can drop your books off there and avoid 1 of two postal fees.

Sort your collection into your highest value books and then get a second opinion. You can always sort and sell nothing should you desire.

There is a guy I know who has four international shipping containers full of comics from every era. He will never be able to sell it all. He inherited a great deal of it. It is astounding that there are still these kinds of comic stashes out there. There is also a guy at one of the shows who has hundreds of pages signed by Stan lee and Kirby. several hundred. Worth at least fifteen grand a page.

I just stand there and carefully look at all of them. In a way they are already mine, I tell him.

I also told him see you next year.

Hopefully he has heat and humidity control, as excessive heat and too dry or too moist
can rain havok on books.

Sounds like you have been through a lot recently. Thanks for sharing the story of your Comics.

If anyone is looking to sell their collection of silver or golden age books shoot me a message. I would be happy to buy or trade pinballs for comics.

Im in!

I just discovered DCeased by DC comics. Alternate universe for the DC heroes when the world gets infected by zombies. The artwork on the covers look great!

71eZ9xx9MJL (resized).jpg

766526._SX1600_QL80_TTD_ (resized).jpg

I usually drop off at CGC when at Wondercon, but this year I had to mail due to the cancellations. Website seemed fairly easy. This is what I picked out to grade. Hope it gets there (FL) safe.
Note: One time I did submit to CGC a double cover error comic and it wasn’t noticed. I quickly called them b/f they shipped it back to me and it was corrected. With double cover error comics CGC grades the below cover and not the outer cover. I was stoked to get it back as a 9.8 newsstand, double cover error.

02986D24-4154-48AC-8A56-837F33CAC60E (resized).jpeg