PCGS Raises Grading Prices!!!

Datentype

I'm trying real hard to remain open minded about the new pricing structure for grading services but we're talking around a 20% increase in costs for me. My only hope is that they truely speed up the turnaround time.

For those of you that send coins in, does this sound reasonable or is this just a way to take advantage of the flood of coins during the last 2-3 months? Is this a mathmatical calculation to maximize their revenues or is this a long time coming? Will the demand begin to drop and other services pick up the slack? is PCGS invincible? Could they have raised prices further? i would be curious to hear your thought and opinions etc.

I was recently told by a customer services manager that if I don't like the thought of re-sending in the current coins at PCGS a second time to get the new full torch designation that "there are other services out there".

wondercoin

Mark: I have mixed feelings about the price hikes. If anything, it will simply make us even more careful about selecting the "cream" coins to submit modern service. It might work out just fine, even if it means slightly less submissions. And, yes, turnaround times might improve.

As for your comment about what the Customer Service Rep told you - here are my thoughts.

PCGS was founded on a dealer network, which for the longest time was the only method a coin could be submitted for grading. PCGS had a close relationship with most of these dealers - the bloodline to getting coins to PCGS. The Collectors Club changed everything. You submit multi thousands of coins per year to PCGS, as I do. We both can not get our dimes redesignated at No Charge, while every collector with a Registered set can. I too believe this is wrong. It sends the wrong message - even though the "PCGS Dealer" is no longer vital for PCGS to receive its record submissions, why in the world should a PCGS dealer (or mass submitter like yourself) not get the same treatment as a collector who has registered a set of dimes, of which most of the coins in the set were bought from you and me? Seriously, this is not "ANTI-PCGS. This is a simple comment that PCGS should "bend over backwards' for its dealers and mass submitters IMHO. You and I should be among the very first folks to get a courtesy offer to allow us to turn in our combined 1,000+ dime inventory to get them redesignated. DHRC has hundreds of silver Roosies as well and they also should be permitted to submit them to PCGS for designation review at no charge, since PCGS is changing the rules "midstream".

Believe me, it is folks like you and I that make PCGS the great company it is, just as much as it is the collector registered in the registry. I am also dissapointed PCGS sometimes does not see it that way. Wondercoin

cointime

Mark,

I understand your concerns about the price hike with the numbers you and Mitch submit. My only problem is the

<< <i>10 coin minimum submission >>

. I do not go through many mint sets ( I submit less 1964 and older, may take 6 months for me to save up 10 coins) and would have to hold my coins now until I reach it. I do think you hit the nail on the head

<< <i>My only hope is that they truely speed up the turnaround time. >>

This is what we have more or less asked for. They have added more graders and to cut down on the turn around time they must have thought that if they raise the minimum submission to 10 coins that they will still get the same amount of coins, but less submission forms (volume). Also since they pushed back the modern date from 1970 to 1965 could be a way to recoop some of that lost revenue.

Ken

asdfy

Mark,

This is the first I have heard of the raise in PCGS grading prices. Where can I find details on this? I submit once or twice per month, when do the new prices take effect?

Thanks,
Mike

Datentype

Mike, you ought to get it in the mail any day. They go into effect on April fools day! Could this all just be a an April fools joke?

ConstellatioCollector

Let's realize that coin grading (like any other business) raises prices every now and then. To hire those two new appraisers probably cost some money. Hopefully, this should help the turnaround time. Also, please help me here, when was the last time PCGS raised their prices? I hope it wasn't last year because, I'll look like a real jerk! I have a few coins in to be graded and I hope they take the time to grade them correctly. And as for the one I'm having round tabled... I hope they see what I see and grade it much higher than they did back in '80 something?

mnmcoin

The last time that PCGS changed there prices was effective November 1, 2001.

morris <><

ps, is the raise in price just for collectors club or for dealers as well?

pss, Mark I noticed you are out in Thousand Oaks, small world I grew up I was born at Westlake hospital (1975) and grew up in TO on Teasdale street just off of Las Flores, across the street from TOHS. Weird!!

Datentype

Morris, I remeber that you were from around here from an earlier deal we had made involving several rolls. It is amazing how small the world can be sometimes. You know who else is from virtually the same block - a Dealer now residing in Ojai that is heavy into Silver Wash B. Zap/Zurich.

I did not get the Dealer sheet but you can bet I'm all over that one. I'm going to assume that they went up slightly but still have better prices than collector's club. If for some reason they do not accept my Dealer membership, I would propose a third level: Dealer Collectors club - which makes all kinds of sense to me but the rates I would expect are probably not what they have in mind for there revenue projections.

mnmcoin

I know Bob pretty well. He is a good guy, one of my favorite dealers.

morris <><