"Look Swags, we never intended for people to find out how easy it was to exploit our poor slab designs and reholdering process, and we certainly did not want to lower prices after numerous lawsuits became public. But I got execs on my ass to increase revenue so we are giving out 2.5x the number of 9.9's compared to last year to increase resubmissions, copying CBCS's authentication service, and hooking Zurzolo up on them banger 9.9/10 grades. This has never been about integrity, it is about money, and right now we need more of it!" -Matt

@deerichardz

2 ай бұрын

CGC has always been a scam, from day one. Nicely said.

Grading is NOT subjective. It is either accurate or inaccurate. It should NEVER matter who is submitting - they have bastardized the entire point.

@J.O._comics

2 ай бұрын

Unless you have a computer do the work and have that computer programmed to identify thousands of unique defects, you’ll always get a subjective grade. The problem with the computer grading is it’s still fallible because ultimately it’s programmed by humans and can only go within its coding.

@MagicCityComics

2 ай бұрын

Completely agree! Grading is NOT subjective. “Subjective” is the term used to justify mistakes.

@philipdispenza

2 ай бұрын

I guess you guys can always open your own grading company and "accurately" grade every book coming in.

@kevinhurt5331

2 ай бұрын

Facts

@MagicCityComics

2 ай бұрын

@@philipdispenza these grading companies pride themselves on being the best at what they do. They also charge a premium for their services. There’s established grading criteria. All they have to do is follow their own guidelines. How come all of the sudden, 9.8’s are coming back 9.9? Why wasn’t it a 9.9 from the get go?

Grades above 9.0 should have comprehensive grading notes that detail every imperfection that knocked it down from a 10 to whatever grade it received.

This wasn’t an interview it was a platform

As a buyer, it's zero spine ticks on 9.9 or walk away.

@thirtyacres7504

2 ай бұрын

As well as a 9.8. But we know we've seen CGC let many books get away with it in a 9.8 including spine ticks, blunted corners, and color rub.

@samuelcatoe1927

2 ай бұрын

Agreed. Actual 9.9s do not have a spine tick.

I question every move CGC makes since Blackrock got involved.

@bandoogiemanz

2 ай бұрын

No questions about it, they're all profit based. Simple as that.

Cgc, why were u not grading on a 1-10 scale from the beginning ? What have we been submitting for this whole time? This makes no sense. I think their plan the whole time was to set the standard at 9.8 then gradually allow grade-flation so they can have ppl resub potentially millions of books. Seems like a nice guy but sorry, this stuff is getting shady

CGC sounds desperate to bribe us with 9.9 grades for books with spine ticks.

@shawnmichaud4484

2 ай бұрын

Of course. That's how they'll get a ton of resubmission. And they're doing a great job of it

WTF?!? A 9.9 book can have a spine tic?!? I won’t even buy a 9.8 with a spine tic! To me, a 9.9 book SHOULD NOT have ANY flaws that you can see with the naked eye. I feel like Matt Nelson is saying this just so they can justify giving that GSXM 1 a 9.9 grade!! Matt Nelson losing credibility with me after this vid.

@VolkswagenGamer

2 ай бұрын

I always thought you are allowed one small handling defect for a 9.8. No handling defects for a 9.9, but maybe one manufacturing defect. CGC totally killed it for me when Mr. Nelson here and their marketing department revealed "eye appeal" determines the severity of the defect. Ridiculous. -- Yeah that classic car with 10,000 miles has an immaculate exterior but doesn't drive!

@holyharlot5222

2 ай бұрын

no kidding. false authority

@dfilm

2 ай бұрын

I don't own slabs but appreciate this as a concept. Otherwise any single book that gets shipped to a comic store and put on a shelf to purchase can't ever get a 9.8 or 9.9 which would be unreasonable.

@samuelcatoe1927

2 ай бұрын

The only defect allowed in a 9.9 should be a single minor manufacturer defect like a bindery tear. No handling defect should be present at all. If there is a handling defect, the best grade should be 9.8, period.

@bandoogiemanz

2 ай бұрын

as a seller of slabs, but not a buyer, im not sure how i should feel about this

What Nelson says:”usually 1 or 2 of us is off” … What he really means is- we now allow our owners (big auction houses & dealers) insane incorrect 9.9/10 greases. You common subber will never see it so we can artificially balance the nebulous census.

@bandoogiemanz

2 ай бұрын

exactly.

This is getting redick. I sent a lot to CGc last month of cream of the crop condition comics. 21 books got 18 9.8s , 2 9.6 and one didn’t qualify. Not one 9.9. I am happy with the haul but don’t tell me there wasn’t 9.9 in 18 books if you can now have a spine tic, THAT BREAKS COLOR! Cant wait for AI to grade books.

@lukemorley3540

2 ай бұрын

You need to be a big auction house spending a lot more $$$ and sending in 10 of the same book so they can gift you a 9.9 from the batch

@jabezcreed

2 ай бұрын

They have a video showing exactly what defects they use to distinguish between 9.8 and 9.9. A spine tick was not one of them.

@coldbloodedclowns6797

2 ай бұрын

@@jabezcreed they have 100% changed their standers and thats ok as they are a business but the problem for me is they are acting like this was always the case…it was not

@jabezcreed

2 ай бұрын

​@@coldbloodedclowns6797 I would agree.

@bandoogiemanz

2 ай бұрын

@@lukemorley3540 exactly.

CGC changing the narrative and putting more fuel on the 9.9 fire. 9.8 is the new 9.6 folks.

Making an analogy using baseball and empires is kind of funny. CGC right now would be compared to former MLB umpire Angel Hernandez. 👀

@rayatl217

2 ай бұрын

What is empires? Please

The only person who is ever going to get back a 9.9 with a small color breaking spine tick is Mr. Pink. Give me a break. No regular collector will ever receive a 9.9 with a color breaking tick no matter how small and no matter how perfect the book is.

“World class grading experts” is actually laughable

@GreekGeek66

2 ай бұрын

Exactly. Random dudes learning about comics and grading and 6 weeks later they're touching 4 and 5 figure books with no clue what to look for and what to do. Quantity over quality. Get those slabs out the door and process more!!!!

@bandoogiemanz

2 ай бұрын

@@GreekGeek66 i thought the older more valuable books were reserved for grading only by the more senior graders at cgc.

I can’t wait to see the full interview. I hope you asked him “has the grading standards for 9.8-10.0 changed in the last year?” I would love to hear an honest answer to that question.

@vinceguaglione5524

2 ай бұрын

1. You think he will actually ask that question? 2. You think Matt will actually say, "Yes, it has." It's pretty clear to me the standards have been relaxed.

Just seems really shady. I thought 9.9 books were supposedly Unicorn finds? That was the cope people parroted for years at least.

Great work Swagg!! Can’t wait to watch the rest!

Tbh I’d be dubious of a 9.6 with obvious spine ticks, even most 9.4s dont have them. The idea of a 9.8/9.9 with spine ticks 😂

@samuelcatoe1927

2 ай бұрын

A 9.8 can have a single miniscule spine tick. It's the highest grade where such a defect would be allowable.

Sounds like a politician…..

@thirtyacres7504

2 ай бұрын

He looks like he's been golfing.

Great interview!

Timestamp 7:35 what kind of f*k*ry is that. So if they happen to feel a book is a grade without that spine tic they will give it take grade if they are feeling like it!?🤯

*_Well, I KNOW NOW that ALL my CGC 9.8's are in fact CGC 9.9's and CGC 10's._* *_They are all FLAWLESS._*

Certain submitters certainly have an advantage when submitting large multiples of the same key. There is a strike zone, but sometimes Angel Hernandez grades your book... Big time submitters are pitching like Livan Hernandez with Eric Gregg behind the plate.

Everybody says CGC is a bad grading company yet everyone uses them. Go figure.

@thirtyacres7504

2 ай бұрын

Also, the game is rigged. House wins. CGC is the dominant grading "authority" for comic books. I hope this changes one day.

Thanks for hosting a great interview, Mickey. I liked hearing Matt's breakdown of spine ticks. As with all defects, they range in severity. We like to believe that a 9.6, a 9.8, and a 9.9 are separate things: books will fall neatly into one of the categories. The reality is there is an infinite continuum of grades but humans can only reliably make rougher distinctions. What's hard then is trying to figure out where a 9.6 becomes a 9.8 and a 9.8 becomes a 9.9.

@Supertomscustoms

2 ай бұрын

It’s not that difficult, especially at those higher grades. Any defect in that range could easily be measured and quantified.

Great interview! Handled it like a pro. Looking forward to the day where it’s all AI and we can remove the subjectivity.

When does the first 10.1 come out? Or do we call it a 10.00?

Great interview. Not sure if everyone commenting watched cuz the content was good and made sense. Great questions and letting him speak on it

I was wonder what happened to that prosecuting all those criminals to the fullest extended a lot that they promised a couple of months back? Or an update on the better cases? Whatever have all that great follow-through that never happened? But they sure as hell push those 9.9 for the auction houses.

Good news everyone, soon you'll be able to resubmit books for a 1 level bump from what it was graded over the past decade

@donaldvonglitchenberger4108

2 ай бұрын

yay. then in another decade you’ll be able to bump those 9.9s that used to be 9.8s to 10.0s. I’m So grateful for cgc

@shawnmichaud4484

2 ай бұрын

@donaldvonglitchenberger4108 it's a solid strategy for at least short term longevity. Gotta hand it to them. They know how to work their audience.

I have 9.4s that are better than the supposedly 9.9s

@user-vy7yf2wo7k

2 ай бұрын

No you don't

I absolutely disagree with the analogy that grading is a strike zone. The biggest reason being that a strike zone is invisible and the umpire can't do anything but make a subjective call from his/her point of view. Grading on the other hand is a physical item that can be looked at from all angles under bright lights and magnification and there are pretty clear guidelines on what constitutes what grade. It shouldn't be subjective at all.

And yet we ALL have seen 9.8's with 4-5 spine ticks that break color

@ddougherty8266

2 ай бұрын

Stop making sense... it's not permitted. 😀

Market manipulation in a monopolized subjective manufactured high end grading market! Inconceivable!

great video - perfect information to have and know what a 9.9 and 9.8 can really have. So a 9.8 can have 2 color-breaking spine ticks if the rest is stellar.

A sucker is born every day

Great questions, Mickey! I appreciate Matt's transparency

@michaelcooper9725

2 ай бұрын

Yep, great questions, and great, thorough answers. Very helpful!

@davidsamuelson2089

2 ай бұрын

Transparency? Did you see him actually speak to the fact that the auction houses are all getting these multiple 9.9 and 10 grades? On single wired submittals? There’s no transparency there. It’s just gaslighting and BS.

And a book with sharp corners and no spine ticks get 9.4....hmmmmmm

Hey Mickey, where is the 1 1/2 hour full interview? I'd like to see it.

@thecomickeeper5127

2 ай бұрын

Hopefully he'll release it in sections . I'd like to see it as well.

@philipdispenza

2 ай бұрын

@@thecomickeeper5127 I mentioned to Matt that the video came out and that it was 9 minutes long and he said it was 1 1/2 hours. 😀

@Swagglehaus

2 ай бұрын

Full video comes out tomorrow - I mentioned in description. But I find it helps to break up the long form into a couple pieces since most people don't watch the entire thing.

If 9.8s are now suddenly allowed to have 2 color breaking defects, then why do 99.9% of all 9.8s have no grading notes?

Now this is what sucks about having a 9.8 book with no grader notes. You don't know if it has a chance to get a 9.9 in this new grading world. You just got to take a gamble

While I understand the inherent subjectivity of grading comics, it is far too often used as a euphemism for inconsistency.

2 grades seems like a wide strike zone

I think CGC grades are subjective at every grade level. I wish someone was willing to waste the money to prove it... All they'd have to do is take 100 cgc slabs graded between 6.0 and 9.8. I think there are 10 grades in that span? Get 10 slabs of various comics for each grade in that span, record the grades, crack them all open and submit them as raw books. About one fourth will come back with a lower grade, about half will come back the same, and about one fourth will come back with a higher grade (and about five will come back damaged - lol). But despite my perspective - I don't really care... If people want to pay three times as much for a 9.8 slab than a 9.6 - when everyone knows that the grades aren't precise enough to be reliable - it's their business and their money.

Great interview, lots of good insights from Matt on CGC grading practices. Thanks a bunch, Swag!

As always, I do not frequent in slabbed comic books. I think his answers though are every clear and explain what they prioritize in the grading process. A lot of people on KZread think my book off the shelf was never read, so it's perfect. Reality is 9.9 and 10.0 need to have no printing defects, but the collector hasn't paid attention to that in the 9.8 era.

Okay so all of our 9.8 soon to be devalued to current 9.6 levels.

If grading is subjective then grading notes should be mandatory. As for the baseball analogy, I hope that anyone who submits books do not end up with the Angel Hernandez of graders and if you understand that reference then you understand why the phrase "grading is subjective" is nonsense and that there needs to be some sort of set standard if ppl are going to participate in a system where people make money on comics.

Why is Gaslighting Voldemort emerging from the depths of hell again? Oh, to shill & lie for his ghoulish corrupt owners.

9.8 collectors reviewing there collection now

Grading by humans is about to take a back seat, grading using Machine Learning “AI” will be superior due to no emotion.

People seem to forget.. CGC ultimately exists to make money. Its a business.. we pay them to grade books, so thats what they do. Dont like the service.. dont buy the service.

I have seen 9.6 cgc books that look flawless. Shouldn’t visible flaws be the most important part of grading higher condition books??? I’m just a lowly collector not a silver tongued business man.

Everyone is literally checking out cgc’d books and calling bs in person I’ve become a never cgc guy.

His answer for the criteria of a 9.9 just left me more confused. 😞

@bandoogiemanz

2 ай бұрын

thats probably the point lol

So…..a 9.8 can have a COLOR BREAKING spine tick?!?

Matt Nelson: "A 9.9 can have one stress line that breaks color and a 9.8 can have two?" Matt Nelson sounds like a politician. Probably been golfing a lot, too. Can't trust CGC with Matt Nelson (or any puppet) and Blackstone.

😂😂😂😂

With all that money cgc makes , why does every interview looks like thier in a bathroom or janitors closet

@user-vy7yf2wo7k

2 ай бұрын

It's because most workplaces don't have an "interview" area.

World Class BS is more like it.

The goalposts are being moved to suit CGC’s favored clients, such as Heritage Auctions, high profile artists, publishers, and anyone else with deep pockets. Or to use the metaphor this corporate spokesman used, the strike zone is smaller for favorite pitchers. I’m sure Swagglehouse will get some favored grades for hosting this propaganda.

Reminds me of the story about the gambler... "If you know the game is rigged, why do you still play?" Because it's the only game in town.

My recent experience with cgc grading, and I send hundreds of books a year, is that they are grading significantly harder since the “scandal”. Anecdotally I have gotten agreement on this from other lcs owners and sellers. I can’t support that the graders are consistently grading to the standard that Matt discussed in the video. Just my take on the last 4 months or so.

@shawnmichaud4484

2 ай бұрын

Yet more 9.9s than ever before

@300baud

2 ай бұрын

Maybe grading harsher for the everyday ham-and-eggers, but the auction houses appear to be getting a plethora of 9.9s now.

@bandoogiemanz

2 ай бұрын

@@300baud exactly, it seems you have to pay-to-play when it comes to 9.9s and 10s

The whole CGC 9.9/10 debate is only a problem if we allowed it to be a thing. No one in their right mind will purchase a 9.9 that was graded last week opposed to one graded years ago. And Matt is just saying a bunch of nonsense. Clearly, CGC is getting desperate.

Ah yes the ink does reflect more on key issues 😂 what is this guy talking about?

This some B.S.

comic collector community: wth? ... wtf? ... this is unacceptable ... they are screwing us all over every comic collector: i can't wait to get my shipment back from cgc ... hope i get some 9.8's or better this is not a cgc problem ... they cannot function without customers support

Yahhhh… I’m not buying what he’s saying.

I truly believe that those that are unhappy with CGC grading should just go work for Matt at CGC and learn exactly how to grade their way! No amount of explanation is ever going to satisfy an unhappy person when it comes to CGC grading.

@VolkswagenGamer

2 ай бұрын

Unless it's an investment, buy the book not the grade. Grading based on ambiguous criteria like "eye appeal" makes this highly subjective.

@Supertomscustoms

2 ай бұрын

It’s not the lack of understanding, it’s that their standards are ever changing to fit their financial goals.

@user-vy7yf2wo7k

2 ай бұрын

CGC exists to make money.. thats its purpose.

@Supertomscustoms

2 ай бұрын

@@user-vy7yf2wo7kyes, we’re all aware of capitalism. But, if that’s their sole purpose, then all the more reason to not trust them or pay top dollar for their subjective opinions. Capitalism is great until it overtakes all senses of morality, fairness, and integrity.

It’s all a scam !!! If they want to give a book a 9.9 they will I got a book back all day 9.4 + it came back an 8.0 there was 2 spink ticks notes were vague it is what it is !! Buy the book not the grade 😮😮😮

I used to always defend cgc always felt they offered a good product but any more the nonsense they're saying and the scandals that have gone on I want nothing to do with cgc ever again to say a 9.9 can have spine tic total garbage nonsense get out of here I don't know any collector that would want a 9.9 book and see a spine tic on the book and be okay with that

Cgc (pgx) sounds terrible.

Grading is subjective. I grade differently then you and sonon and on. With a service again grading is still subjective to their rules but it should be consistently the same as you grade.

This is becoming a joke. I'm regretting supporting cgc and may stop supporting them.

Sounds like a bunch of BS

sheesh... CGC seems like a scam

Can I have a world class team grade my books and I’ll slip a 50$ tip ;) hook me up. Hahaa

😂