Noob question about grading...

[kllrbee]

Hey guys,
Please excuse my ignorance with these questions. I tried to search, but I think because my questions are so basic, I couldnt really find anything.
Im new to t206's, but Ive been doing pretty good lately picking up lots of raw commons. Im about 40% complete and have about 15 hof's (graded).
Anyways, when I get closer to complete down the line in a year or 2, Id like to send the raws to SGC for grading.
Im assuming about half the set will be raw (commons mostly).
Well, I have never sent anything EVER in for grading. I also have some others I would want graded besides 206's (57 Mantle, Williams, 58 Clemente, etc).
Anyways, I noticed its like 10 bucks a card, so if I send 250 206's, thats 2500 bucks? Obviously, thats how the math works out, but man, thats alot.
Is that what you guys do or do they offer like bulk deals?
I dont mean to complain or sound stupid, I just dont know how it works.
So can someone school me or provide a link?
Thanks fellas

[ctownboy]

The same questions you seem to have are the ones I was asking about in the thread I started titled "another SGC question".

David

[Jewish-collector]

This hobby is NOT for the financially challenged. :(

[kllrbee]

Ok, just read that thread and found out 2 things that I was looking for.

1) A bulk deal IS possible with SGC.

2) The bigger question is whether or not I want to pay to have commons that will surely grade a 10-1, or in a few cards a 20-1.5 or 30-2.

I am not looking to resell the set anytime soon (Im not even close to done yet). I have plenty of time to think about it.

Ill concentrate on completing the set first and worry about that later.

Thanks

[glchen]

Yea, that's roughly the way the math works. However, you're probably choosing a grading tier that is too expensive for what you have. For SGC, you probably want to send most of your cards under the lowest grading tier, which is those which have a declared value of $250 or less. For SGC, the lowest special that I have seen is $6/card for prewar cards. (Right now, the Jan 2011 special is $7/card.) If you have the patience, you just need to wait for this special to come back. I saw it at least twice last year. If you prefer PSA, the lowest PSA special for prewar is $5/card, so it is cheaper. However, they usually require 50card minimum or more for this special. If you are sending in many cards to get graded, this is a better deal. The catch, however, (besides the membership fee) is that the declared value of the cards needs to be $100 or less.

[vintagecpa]

I'm not much of a grading expert either, so I find these threads interesting. I wonder if you call SGC out of the blue and tell them you have 400 T206 commons to grade, will they give you a better price?

[jeffmohler]

One thing you might want to consider is storage space! A couple hundred t206s in top loaders doesn't take up that much room, but they do when they are graded....

I generally try to purchase graded cards when I don't know the seller, but if they aren't graded when I buy them, I haven't been sending them in 1. because of the storage requirements, and 2. the financial investment is too large.

Just my random thoughts.....

[k-dog]

Just buy a bunch of screw down holders and a label maker. You can probably use the name "KCG".....(Kllrbee card grading). You'll probably save like 80% of what you would have sent to SGC! :p

[kllrbee]

Just buy a bunch of screw down holders and a label maker. You can probably use the name "KCG".....(Kllrbee card grading). You'll probably save like 80% of what you would have sent to SGC! :p

LOL....:D:D:D Thats not a bad idea Kdog.

"KCG"!! Funny!!

[E93]

It cannot hurt to call and ask if they will give a discount for a bulk submission.
JimB

[ctownboy]

I bought, or traded for, most of my valuable pre-war cards from 1996 to 2001 and focused on rarity. They were all ungraded.

Now, when I get the money, I want to get these graded and protected and put in the SGC registry. That way, if something happens to me, my Mother and Nephew will have an easier time selling the cards and I will have a list for the insurance company to look at if something were to happen to the cards.

Now, if I were buying cards to complete my sets, for example the Diamond Stars, I would buy graded cards. This would save the hassle of worrying about a card on eBay being a fake and also save time and money as far as sending a raw card off to be graded.

I just looked at completed auctions and found some Diamond Star commons in SGC 80 holders which sold for between $20 and $30 dollars a piece. I seriously doubt that I could buy raw cards, get them graded and pay for postage and insurance for less than those amounts.

Kllrbee, maybe you should buy some T206 commons already graded and see how much that costs you and then compare that to buying a raw common and the cost to send it off to get graded. It might take longer to finish your set but it might also cost less in the long run.

David

[kllrbee]

Thanks for the advice guys,
Ctown, I should clarify that not all my commons are raw. I have about 250 cards so far (about 20 dupes though). I think about 140-150 are raw.
I plan on all my Hof's and SL's being graded though.

I was planning on purchasing all the cards graded, but Ive been running across a few raw lots here and there. So I picked them up to bulk up the set. I dont regret it, they are not bad lots.

As said above, I think I will just concentrate on finishing the set, then worry about what I will do with the raws.

Thanks for the help guys. At least now I have some idea of what to do when and if I decide to grade them.

[Bicem]

welcome to the pre-war hobby, we need more just like you!

[smtjoy]

On the Bulk deals to SGC, call them they have worked with me when I had a lot to send in.

[ethicsprof]

in the good ole days of dwyer and goldberg, sgc had phenomenal customer service.
i'm hoping that such great things are continuing and would suspect so.

best,

barry