PGX versus CGC
Many people would ask the question when looking to get their comics graded, "Should I send my comics to CGC or PGX?" This is truly a serious question to ask one's self when entrusting some of your most precious collectibles with someone you've never met. I went through the same dilemma when looking to get my Transformers collection graded. It's a hard decision to make and you have to break down each company into three or four categories. Reputation, Cost, Turnaround time, and Quality of product. Many would ask "Why not throw in the value of the comic after it's been graded? Doesn't the fact that CGC comics sell better than PGX, determine who should be grading your comics?" My answer to that is, no. Regardless of who sells better or what comics get the better sale rate, should not be a reason to go with one or the other. There are those who get comics graded with the specific purpose of turning a profit, but this discussion is not for that person. I want to keep my graded books. You will eventually see me selling some through this site but it is because I had more than one of that comic and got them both graded, keeping the highest of the grades. So, on to the argument.
First off, Reputation. Both companies have had their scandals. For those who think CGC is without sin, you are wrong. PGX is no angel either. Do yourself a favor and do some research. It's as easy as typing CGC vs PGX into you browser search. There are many forums and discussion boards out there to read and look at everyone's arguments, even those for and against grading itself. The one big deal for me on CGC was this. At one point in time CGC's parent company began its own conservation company, PCS. The president of this new company was CGC's own restoration expert. The purpose of this company was to perform different conservation techniques on comics in order to preserve and conserve. This to me is a huge conflict of interest as CGC does not consider many of these conservation techniques to be that big of a deal. I would disagree. Anything that is done to the comic that could give you a potentially higher grade, should be considered restoration. Some of the examples: dry cleaning, pressing, staple replacement, disassembly and reassembly of the comic, and tucking loose wraps back under a staple. You will still receive a universal label on your graded book, rather than their restoration label. CGC eventually acknowledged the conflict of interest being associated with conservation company such as this and dissolved PCS as a company.
PGX's problems have been more subjective in nature. Many of their flaws have come by missing the flaws. Graded comics have come back with missed restoration, comics that have been graded are resubmitted and receive higher grades the second time around. Many people have said there is only one grader at PGX, and that is owner Daniel Patterson, working out of his garage rather than the giant warehouse they say they have. It has also been theorized that Daniel Patterson is the only employee that is actually at PGX. Questionable business practices have been a problem as well, such as giving better grades to valued customers to help raise the asking price for the comic on auction sites. Many of these claims have obviously been denied by Mr. Patterson and the company continues to do business. So if I had to give the companies a grade based on a 1-10 scale, CGC would receive a 7.5 while PGX would probably get a 4.0.
On to the issue of cost. If you decide to submit to CGC, be prepared to pay a lot of money. One single comic will cost you $45 and that is with a 10% discount. This is for modern tier comics. Submitting older books will drive the price higher. PGX on the other hand for one comic, will cost you roughly $20. That is a savings of half. In fact for the price of one comic to get graded at CGC, you could almost have 3 graded at PGX. In this rough economy that means a lot to consumers. So scores for grading costs are CGC - 3.0, PGX - 9.0.
Turnaround times are also a big issue to consider. How long do you want you collectibles out of your hands and in the hands of other? This is another category that PGX will score higher on. CGC's turnaround time on modern comics is currently 20 days (though be prepared to wait as long as 45 days). PGX lists their turnaround time as 17 days for the same tier. That's 3 days less they have them and sooner that you get to see what you paid for. Granted that doesn't sound like much, but it could mean the difference of almost a week because turnaround times are given in business days. As for other grading tiers, CGC has the slower turnaround times. Score: CGC - 7.5 while PGX receives a 10.
Our last topic is quality of product. This is a tricky subject. I suppose the 2 things you should consider would be the inner and outer holders. Both are very well put together. Both companies make the grade label and the top mounted holder label very readable and include a great amount of information about the comic on the labels. CGC has improved their inner holder and has gotten rid of the movement that was taking place with the comic inside the holder. PGX has a great inner holder that allows no movement of the comic within the holder. PGX will include most C.O.A.'s between the inner and outer holder where as CGC does not. CGC will provide you a digital image of your books through e-mail for $3 per comic graded. This service is not duplicated by PGX. All in all, both companies will return you a very well and carefully packaged product. CGC and PGX will both receive 8.0's for their product grade, as comic "slabbing" will always have room to improve. Final scores tally as such: CGC - 26 points out of 40, PGX - 31 points out of 40.
Personally, I use PGX as my grading service of choice. All comics featured on this site will be graded through PGX and the link on the home page will take you directly to their site. As a whole, these 4 points should be something that everyone should consider before going with a service. Do lots of research. Feel free to e-mail me any comments or questions. I will post them here on the page for everyone to see and comment on. Enjoy the rest of the site.
First off, Reputation. Both companies have had their scandals. For those who think CGC is without sin, you are wrong. PGX is no angel either. Do yourself a favor and do some research. It's as easy as typing CGC vs PGX into you browser search. There are many forums and discussion boards out there to read and look at everyone's arguments, even those for and against grading itself. The one big deal for me on CGC was this. At one point in time CGC's parent company began its own conservation company, PCS. The president of this new company was CGC's own restoration expert. The purpose of this company was to perform different conservation techniques on comics in order to preserve and conserve. This to me is a huge conflict of interest as CGC does not consider many of these conservation techniques to be that big of a deal. I would disagree. Anything that is done to the comic that could give you a potentially higher grade, should be considered restoration. Some of the examples: dry cleaning, pressing, staple replacement, disassembly and reassembly of the comic, and tucking loose wraps back under a staple. You will still receive a universal label on your graded book, rather than their restoration label. CGC eventually acknowledged the conflict of interest being associated with conservation company such as this and dissolved PCS as a company.
PGX's problems have been more subjective in nature. Many of their flaws have come by missing the flaws. Graded comics have come back with missed restoration, comics that have been graded are resubmitted and receive higher grades the second time around. Many people have said there is only one grader at PGX, and that is owner Daniel Patterson, working out of his garage rather than the giant warehouse they say they have. It has also been theorized that Daniel Patterson is the only employee that is actually at PGX. Questionable business practices have been a problem as well, such as giving better grades to valued customers to help raise the asking price for the comic on auction sites. Many of these claims have obviously been denied by Mr. Patterson and the company continues to do business. So if I had to give the companies a grade based on a 1-10 scale, CGC would receive a 7.5 while PGX would probably get a 4.0.
On to the issue of cost. If you decide to submit to CGC, be prepared to pay a lot of money. One single comic will cost you $45 and that is with a 10% discount. This is for modern tier comics. Submitting older books will drive the price higher. PGX on the other hand for one comic, will cost you roughly $20. That is a savings of half. In fact for the price of one comic to get graded at CGC, you could almost have 3 graded at PGX. In this rough economy that means a lot to consumers. So scores for grading costs are CGC - 3.0, PGX - 9.0.
Turnaround times are also a big issue to consider. How long do you want you collectibles out of your hands and in the hands of other? This is another category that PGX will score higher on. CGC's turnaround time on modern comics is currently 20 days (though be prepared to wait as long as 45 days). PGX lists their turnaround time as 17 days for the same tier. That's 3 days less they have them and sooner that you get to see what you paid for. Granted that doesn't sound like much, but it could mean the difference of almost a week because turnaround times are given in business days. As for other grading tiers, CGC has the slower turnaround times. Score: CGC - 7.5 while PGX receives a 10.
Our last topic is quality of product. This is a tricky subject. I suppose the 2 things you should consider would be the inner and outer holders. Both are very well put together. Both companies make the grade label and the top mounted holder label very readable and include a great amount of information about the comic on the labels. CGC has improved their inner holder and has gotten rid of the movement that was taking place with the comic inside the holder. PGX has a great inner holder that allows no movement of the comic within the holder. PGX will include most C.O.A.'s between the inner and outer holder where as CGC does not. CGC will provide you a digital image of your books through e-mail for $3 per comic graded. This service is not duplicated by PGX. All in all, both companies will return you a very well and carefully packaged product. CGC and PGX will both receive 8.0's for their product grade, as comic "slabbing" will always have room to improve. Final scores tally as such: CGC - 26 points out of 40, PGX - 31 points out of 40.
Personally, I use PGX as my grading service of choice. All comics featured on this site will be graded through PGX and the link on the home page will take you directly to their site. As a whole, these 4 points should be something that everyone should consider before going with a service. Do lots of research. Feel free to e-mail me any comments or questions. I will post them here on the page for everyone to see and comment on. Enjoy the rest of the site.
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