Grading is a norm in the comic book hobby.  Investors and collectors alike must deal with this aspect of the hobby.  Comic book social media boards are filled with questions about pressing, cleaning, and grading.  Well, I decided to do something creative to answer the questions.  I am going to take our readers on a journey we recognize as the comic book grading process. This will be a multi-part presentation in real-time that will hopefully take the mystery out of the grading process for some while at the same time providing others with insights never before presented.  This is what our readers can look for in the upcoming months.

Part One: The Ins and Outs of Pressing, Cleaning, and Grading

An Experiment with Expert Assistants

The person reading this article wants to know about pressing, cleaning, and grading from someone who knows. I wanted to start this experiment off on the right foot.  The person who I talked to for advice on pressing and cleaning and grading was... CGC PRESIDENT MATT NELSON. His advice will help me pick the right books for this experiment. The guidance he provided will be used throughout this experiment.

Topics Covered
  • What defects have a better rate of success when cleaned and pressed.
  • Books you may want to buy raw and have graded.
  • What raw books you may want to think twice about buying ungraded.
  • Re-engineering the CGC method of grading to assist you in buying raw books.
  • Advice for first-time solicitations.
  • The price range of the books you are looking to purchase is important.
  • oh...BREAKING NEWS ABOUT A NEW CGC PLANNED INTRODUCTION THAT EVERYONE WILL WANT.
  • And so much more.

Part Two: Buying raw books to maximize your ROI

Using what we learned

We will apply some of the things learned from our talk with Matt Nelson about submitting books to be graded.   Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Modern Age books will be used for this experiment. These books will be those readily available to our readers.  I will not disclose the location of the sales but I will describe the methodology each buyer used to purchase the books.

Topics Covered
  • A key element that CGC President Matt Nelson says you should consider in buying raw books.
  • A segment of books that I am wary of buying.
  • How to use the GoCollect data to purchase raw books.
  • Managing risk to maximize ROI.
  • Research patterns you should see before you buy.

Part Three: Sending our Books to Grading College

The easy step people mess up

Investors and collectors may view this as an easy process.  This is where most people make a bad decision that could impact the grading process.  Veterans and novices should know the ins and outs of sending books in to be graded so that they set themselves up for success.

Topics Covered
  • CGC pricing explained
  • CGC President Matt Nelson on packing mistakes
  • Why risk of loss is an important concept you should know.
  • The benefits of insurance and what every person sending in books should know.
  • Time is of the essence or is it?
  • When you should send the books in yourself and when you should use a third-party vendor.

Part Four: The Return of the Books

The finalized data

This is again an important part of the process.  I will produce the results of the grading process with each book submitted.  The final price for the process will be broken down for each book individually.

Topics Covered
  • The time it took to grade the books and why this matters.
  • Grades received for each book.
  • Any additional notes provided that should be important to investors.
  • Things collectors should know about this process and why it is very important to them.

Part Five: What did we learn?

Making use of the data

This is where we use the data to extrapolate what we learned for future submissions.  An evaluation like this will show where we succeeded, failed, and how the process should be modified in the future. This is where investors will make and collectors will save their money.

Topics Covered
  • Reverse engineering the grading process
  • Reviewing before and after pictures to see how pressing and cleaning improved the books.
  • I will review if any books failed to be pressed and cleaned and try to determine the reason for this omission.
  • Analyzing the time it takes to grade the book and its impact on the potential ROI of a book.

Part Six: ROI and other factors reviewed

Reviewing the numbers

It is important to analyze the numbers both for the short term and long term.  Grading books should only be performed to realize a financial gain, or is it? Time is money.  The process of sending the books out and the grading fees will also cost money.  An expenditure of money requires a careful review to determine in the end if it was all worth it. This is where we dive deep into the numbers.

Topics Covered
  • Plugging in the entire cost and comparing it to the GoCollect data.
  • Review both short and long-term goals in grading the books.
  • Putting forth a final analysis of how the GoCollect data analysis can be further refined to produce better results.
  • Final evaluation if buying books raw is a process that should be repeated and when it should not.

Why did I do this?

Is this You?

I read all your comments.  In addition, I review messages on social media for possible educational articles for this site. The Internet has so much misinformation on the grading process.  People were putting forth opinions and novices were following this advice, regardless of whether the advice was bad or good.

I also found that many people who admitted having books graded didn't understand the process.  Others avoided grading because these individuals do not see the importance of grading their own books. This experiment addresses all these issues.

Value Added

A proper evaluation of an ROI for a comic book warrants investors to understand the grading process to maximize their returns.  Collectors should also understand the grading process to preserve comics with the best method at their disposal.  My readers deserve to have the best resources at their disposal and I will give these tools to them. We also give you access to the advice of an industry insider who has seen it all and whose knowledge you can benefit from knowing.  In the end, we will all be better for it, so let the experiment begin!!!!