Shit, they said they'd be done with mine on June 29th and it's July 8th already. My invoice number is not working when I look it up either. What gives?
edit: Woops, apparently their online invoice tracker "is not working", according to their website. Still, waiting a long time for the return of my games when the estimate was in June.
They must really be running behind. The completion date on my NWC cart was supposed to have been July 6th and they didn't get it mailed out until Friday. I just finally got it back today.
Now that the smoke cleared from my initial employment of VGA's services, I'd like to offer up a few anecdotes for y'all. I'll start by saying that, obviously, this organization is currently the hobby's go-to for grading. Their presentation is nice and I really have no complaints there, in fact I was impressed with that aspect. There are a few things that bother me, though:
Shipping Costs: It appears they are charging roughly twice as much to return games (e.g. $15 priority mail package with insurance included costs you $30 to get back). I have a hunch this may just be for USPS' services, but it could be for the others. Sure, they include bubble wrap and packing peanuts, but not enough for a 100% markup.
Organization: Let's face it, their website is a mess. And the recent delay in grading services (with no credit given to customers for their extended wait) is surprising --- I wonder if they really needed that many people at a convention. At SIGGRAPH I typically saw three people at the Blizzard booth: 1) a programmer, 2) an artist or animator, 3) a sales/marketing rep. If Blizzard can sedate convention crowds with three people, I imagine CGA would be fine with a single grader and a sales/marketing rep. No need to tote "half the grading staff" to it, especially if they're not grading anything.
Submission Form: Thank god for this thread because without it the VGA submission form feels like a labyrinth. An aesthetically-inept maze of information and tables. I personally used a fair amount of guesswork to get through the form, and I count my lucky stars that my games came back to me.
No company is perfect, but I would love to see some improvement in these aspects of their service. I'm not sure if anyone else noticed these kind of things when submitting their games, but I thought I'd mention it for the sake of discussion.
FYI I spoke to Kim today and all submissions will be delayed two weeks with no credit back. Half of the graders will be at comic con working a cga VGA booth. Submissions there will give free shipping and they're selling cases. Nothing else interesting tho. They also aren't grading anything at the booth.
Had I known they'd be at the CGA booth I would have had them grade my NWC carts!
Damn, does that mean Game Gear is a custom size? I have one coming in I was planning on submitting on the cheap.
The VGA category page says"If your video game is from a popular main stream gaming platform such as Nintendo, Atari, Sega, Sony, or Microsoft and is a standard size game from that platform, then it should be considered a standard size game." so that sounds like a Game Gear game would be considered a standard game although it's probably best to email them first and make sure.
Now that the smoke cleared from my initial employment of VGA's services, I'd like to offer up a few anecdotes for y'all. I'll start by saying that, obviously, this organization is currently the hobby's go-to for grading. Their presentation is nice and I really have no complaints there, in fact I was impressed with that aspect. There are a few things that bother me, though:
Shipping Costs: It appears they are charging roughly twice as much to return games (e.g. $15 priority mail package with insurance included costs you $30 to get back). I have a hunch this may just be for USPS' services, but it could be for the others. Sure, they include bubble wrap and packing peanuts, but not enough for a 100% markup.
Organization: Let's face it, their website is a mess. And the recent delay in grading services (with no credit given to customers for their extended wait) is surprising --- I wonder if they really needed that many people at a convention. At SIGGRAPH I typically saw three people at the Blizzard booth: 1) a programmer, 2) an artist or animator, 3) a sales/marketing rep. If Blizzard can sedate convention crowds with three people, I imagine CGA would be fine with a single grader and a sales/marketing rep. No need to tote "half the grading staff" to it, especially if they're not grading anything.
Submission Form: Thank god for this thread because without it the VGA submission form feels like a labyrinth. An aesthetically-inept maze of information and tables. I personally used a fair amount of guesswork to get through the form, and I count my lucky stars that my games came back to me.
No company is perfect, but I would love to see some improvement in these aspects of their service. I'm not sure if anyone else noticed these kind of things when submitting their games, but I thought I'd mention it for the sake of discussion.
I agree with all of this. I guess after your first couple submissions you just get used to it and take it for what its worth. Could be alot better though.
Game gear console is not standard, while a game gear game is.
And they are pretty messy, but if you call them, they usually expalin things pretty well. You have to understand, with grading, there are a lot of gray areas that are hard to set rules for. Like the stickers, they can't just come out and say they can remove any sticker, no matter the time it takes for $3. Sometimes they charge extra for stickers, sometimes, it is covered in the $3. You just gotta hope they grade nice for you.
When you submit games do they send out any kind of update emails saying when games are received/ estimated to be finished or any other updates? I sent in my first submissions and have no clue how their contacting works. Thanks!
currently organizing my collection and trying to decide whether it is worth to send some items to VGA. First up would be 3 SNES games, Contra 3, Space Megaforce and Zelda3 CE. Are these legit seals and would it be worth to send them in? I tried to capture the condition of the items the best I could, if further pics are required let me know
When you submit games do they send out any kind of update emails saying when games are received/ estimated to be finished or any other updates? I sent in my first submissions and have no clue how their contacting works. Thanks!
When you send in your submission and it is delivered, it can take a day or two to get picked up by them. After this they will invoice you though email and charge your card. On your invoice it will have the estimated completion date.
currently organizing my collection and trying to decide whether it is worth to send some items to VGA. First up would be 3 SNES games, Contra 3, Space Megaforce and Zelda3 CE. Are these legit seals and would it be worth to send them in? I tried to capture the condition of the items the best I could, if further pics are required let me know
So I picked up a sealed copy of Shining Force III for the Sega Saturn a few months ago off eBay. The seller told me that he used to work at Toys R Us and had bought the game from the store and just never opened it. He was only asking $84 shipped for it, so I went ahead and took a chance. Since receiving the game, I have considered it factory sealed, but have had my doubts. There are a couple of red flags that I noticed:
1. There is no seam or hang-tab on the back of the game
2. I can see through the top of the case and while I can confirm that the Shining Force III disc is in the case, there is no foam piece.
With a game released so late in the Saturn's lifetime, I figured maybe there is a reason that the game was sealed differently and has no foam piece. I have attached some high resolution pictures of all sides of game. The only real flaw in the shrinkwrap is the tiny bit of peeling on the top right front corner. Let me know what you guys think...factory seal or re-seal? Thanks everyone.
So I picked up a sealed copy of Shining Force III for the Sega Saturn a few months ago off eBay. The seller told me that he used to work at Toys R Us and had bought the game from the store and just never opened it. He was only asking $84 shipped for it, so I went ahead and took a chance. Since receiving the game, I have considered it factory sealed, but have had my doubts. There are a couple of red flags that I noticed:
1. There is no seam or hang-tab on the back of the game
2. I can see through the top of the case and while I can confirm that the Shining Force III disc is in the case, there is no foam piece.
With a game released so late in the Saturn's lifetime, I figured maybe there is a reason that the game was sealed differently and has no foam piece. I have attached some high resolution pictures of all sides of game. The only real flaw in the shrinkwrap is the tiny bit of peeling on the top right front corner. Let me know what you guys think...factory seal or re-seal? Thanks everyone.
I have seen this game in person and gave Justin my opinion but was hoping to get some more thoughts from others on here as Im not much into sealed Sega stuff.
Just a quick question. I have 3 sealed games. The 2 more expensive games (Casino Kid 2 and Namco Pac-Man) I would love to get graded and sell to someone who collects graded games cause I have no use for them. However, I also have a Tetris 2 which I see that this game non graded sealed sells on eBay for roughly $35-40. I just dont see the point in getting Tetris graded due to its lack of demand for that particular game being sealed nonetheless graded. My only question is should I sell it as sealed and just buy a CIB which I want to do or just open the copy I have? I only paid $20 for it so it wouldnt put me back any $$. Any thoughts on this? I'd save a good ~$30 if I just got the 2 graded.
Should I get my Cheetahmen II graded? It'll cost $120 to VGA, and another $90 to ship two-day insured via UPS is about $40, so $160 in total. Not sure if it's worth it, that's a lot of money!
Should I get my Cheetahmen II graded? It'll cost $120 to VGA, and another $90 to ship two-day insured via UPS is about $40, so $160 in total. Not sure if it's worth it, that's a lot of money!
Do you really want it back that soon? You can still get it slabbed in an archival case without paying for the fastest turnaround. Also, wouldn't it be cheaper to insure through USPS and ship in a Large Flat Rate Box?
Should I get my Cheetahmen II graded? It'll cost $120 to VGA, and another $90 to ship two-day insured via UPS is about $40, so $160 in total. Not sure if it's worth it, that's a lot of money!
Do you really want it back that soon? You can still get it slabbed in an archival case without paying for the fastest turnaround. Also, wouldn't it be cheaper to insure through USPS and ship in a Large Flat Rate Box?
I would do it with the slower options, unless you can't stand to have it out of your site, cause it will take a while..
Should I get my Cheetahmen II graded? It'll cost $120 to VGA, and another $90 to ship two-day insured via UPS is about $40, so $160 in total. Not sure if it's worth it, that's a lot of money!
Do you really want it back that soon? You can still get it slabbed in an archival case without paying for the fastest turnaround. Also, wouldn't it be cheaper to insure through USPS and ship in a Large Flat Rate Box?
I would do it with the slower options, unless you can't stand to have it out of your site, cause it will take a while..
Oh, I didn't realize I can get a slower turn-around process and still do the Archival. I thought that with Archival you had to do 3-4 days.
Agreed on the USPS with insurance, that's a great idea too.
Ok guys... I'm not normally a sealed collector, though I do understand the allure, I just can't afford it... but I have recently picked up a few sealed titles, so I'm thinking about doing the grading thing, and I've read through this thread already so I have a pretty good idea as far as the process, but I still have questions... chief amongst them being, "Is it worth grading any of these?" and by "these" I mean:
River City Ransom <- Really nice looking copy, has some corner pokes and a yellowed hangtab
Impossible Mission II <- A little box dishing, sticker on front... A.V.E. version
Impossible Mission II <- Some box crushing and a couple small splits in the shrink... Epyx/SEI version.
Then if the answer is "yes" which would look nicer for RCR, the hangtab case? the normal case?
I haven't been able to find sales data for graded versions of any of these titles, aside from French language versions of IM2:SEI, so I don't know if it's worth it for me monetarily... however grading will keep me from opening them
I also have sealed copies of To the Earth and Shadows of the Colossus [Black Label], but I'm pretty sure the answers on these two would be "no" as they're not really rare or expensive.
Hey, they got my games last Wednesday and I still haven't got invoiced for them. Yeah, 10 days total. VGA is the worst company ever, so freakin slow. Someone else needs to start a grading company because they pretty much have a monopoly going and there is nothing anyone else can do about it.
VGA is the worst company ever because of your 10 day turnaround? Have you tried calling Kim? Shes stated and apologized to me because they've been backed up since comic con. Tell them you want a partial refund because your 2-4 turned to 10-14. Contact them directly and complain, or, start up your own grading company as per above.
Comments
Hopefully, they'll get their overdue orders rolling out soon.
Originally posted by: GhaleonsDeadMyFriend
Shit, they said they'd be done with mine on June 29th and it's July 8th already. My invoice number is not working when I look it up either. What gives?
edit: Woops, apparently their online invoice tracker "is not working", according to their website. Still, waiting a long time for the return of my games when the estimate was in June.
They must really be running behind. The completion date on my NWC cart was supposed to have been July 6th and they didn't get it mailed out until Friday. I just finally got it back today.
Shipping Costs: It appears they are charging roughly twice as much to return games (e.g. $15 priority mail package with insurance included costs you $30 to get back). I have a hunch this may just be for USPS' services, but it could be for the others. Sure, they include bubble wrap and packing peanuts, but not enough for a 100% markup.
Organization: Let's face it, their website is a mess. And the recent delay in grading services (with no credit given to customers for their extended wait) is surprising --- I wonder if they really needed that many people at a convention. At SIGGRAPH I typically saw three people at the Blizzard booth: 1) a programmer, 2) an artist or animator, 3) a sales/marketing rep. If Blizzard can sedate convention crowds with three people, I imagine CGA would be fine with a single grader and a sales/marketing rep. No need to tote "half the grading staff" to it, especially if they're not grading anything.
Submission Form: Thank god for this thread because without it the VGA submission form feels like a labyrinth. An aesthetically-inept maze of information and tables. I personally used a fair amount of guesswork to get through the form, and I count my lucky stars that my games came back to me.
No company is perfect, but I would love to see some improvement in these aspects of their service. I'm not sure if anyone else noticed these kind of things when submitting their games, but I thought I'd mention it for the sake of discussion.
Originally posted by: Arkturus
FYI I spoke to Kim today and all submissions will be delayed two weeks with no credit back. Half of the graders will be at comic con working a cga VGA booth. Submissions there will give free shipping and they're selling cases. Nothing else interesting tho. They also aren't grading anything at the booth.
Had I known they'd be at the CGA booth I would have had them grade my NWC carts!
- or not
Originally posted by: Pat the NES Punk
Had I known they'd be at the CGA booth I would have had them grade my NWC carts!
- or not
I had them grade mine and it even came back in one piece! (sorry couldn't resist)
Originally posted by: JNovo79
Dumb question... what size case for a Gameboy/Gameboy Advance game?
They are both standard size games assuming you are referring to the submission category as opposed to the actual measurements: http://www.vggrader.com/categoryexamples.aspx
Originally posted by: MrMark0673
Damn, does that mean Game Gear is a custom size? I have one coming in I was planning on submitting on the cheap.
The VGA category page says "If your video game is from a popular main stream gaming platform such as Nintendo, Atari, Sega, Sony, or Microsoft and is a standard size game from that platform, then it should be considered a standard size game." so that sounds like a Game Gear game would be considered a standard game although it's probably best to email them first and make sure.
Originally posted by: GhaleonsDeadMyFriend
Now that the smoke cleared from my initial employment of VGA's services, I'd like to offer up a few anecdotes for y'all. I'll start by saying that, obviously, this organization is currently the hobby's go-to for grading. Their presentation is nice and I really have no complaints there, in fact I was impressed with that aspect. There are a few things that bother me, though:
Shipping Costs: It appears they are charging roughly twice as much to return games (e.g. $15 priority mail package with insurance included costs you $30 to get back). I have a hunch this may just be for USPS' services, but it could be for the others. Sure, they include bubble wrap and packing peanuts, but not enough for a 100% markup.
Organization: Let's face it, their website is a mess. And the recent delay in grading services (with no credit given to customers for their extended wait) is surprising --- I wonder if they really needed that many people at a convention. At SIGGRAPH I typically saw three people at the Blizzard booth: 1) a programmer, 2) an artist or animator, 3) a sales/marketing rep. If Blizzard can sedate convention crowds with three people, I imagine CGA would be fine with a single grader and a sales/marketing rep. No need to tote "half the grading staff" to it, especially if they're not grading anything.
Submission Form: Thank god for this thread because without it the VGA submission form feels like a labyrinth. An aesthetically-inept maze of information and tables. I personally used a fair amount of guesswork to get through the form, and I count my lucky stars that my games came back to me.
No company is perfect, but I would love to see some improvement in these aspects of their service. I'm not sure if anyone else noticed these kind of things when submitting their games, but I thought I'd mention it for the sake of discussion.
I agree with all of this. I guess after your first couple submissions you just get used to it and take it for what its worth. Could be alot better though.
And they are pretty messy, but if you call them, they usually expalin things pretty well. You have to understand, with grading, there are a lot of gray areas that are hard to set rules for. Like the stickers, they can't just come out and say they can remove any sticker, no matter the time it takes for $3. Sometimes they charge extra for stickers, sometimes, it is covered in the $3. You just gotta hope they grade nice for you.
http://s1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff365/schmibernd79/Sealed%20SNES/
Originally posted by: Maertens29
When you submit games do they send out any kind of update emails saying when games are received/ estimated to be finished or any other updates? I sent in my first submissions and have no clue how their contacting works. Thanks!
When you send in your submission and it is delivered, it can take a day or two to get picked up by them. After this they will invoice you though email and charge your card. On your invoice it will have the estimated completion date.
Originally posted by: schmibernd79
currently organizing my collection and trying to decide whether it is worth to send some items to VGA. First up would be 3 SNES games, Contra 3, Space Megaforce and Zelda3 CE. Are these legit seals and would it be worth to send them in? I tried to capture the condition of the items the best I could, if further pics are required let me know
http://s1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff365/schmibernd79/Seale...
Judging by the pics I would expect 85 on those.
1. There is no seam or hang-tab on the back of the game
2. I can see through the top of the case and while I can confirm that the Shining Force III disc is in the case, there is no foam piece.
With a game released so late in the Saturn's lifetime, I figured maybe there is a reason that the game was sealed differently and has no foam piece. I have attached some high resolution pictures of all sides of game. The only real flaw in the shrinkwrap is the tiny bit of peeling on the top right front corner. Let me know what you guys think...factory seal or re-seal? Thanks everyone.
1. There is no seam or hang-tab on the back of the game
2. I can see through the top of the case and while I can confirm that the Shining Force III disc is in the case, there is no foam piece.
With a game released so late in the Saturn's lifetime, I figured maybe there is a reason that the game was sealed differently and has no foam piece. I have attached some high resolution pictures of all sides of game. The only real flaw in the shrinkwrap is the tiny bit of peeling on the top right front corner. Let me know what you guys think...factory seal or re-seal? Thanks everyone.
Originally posted by: JHawkZZ
Should I get my Cheetahmen II graded? It'll cost $120 to VGA, and another $90 to ship two-day insured via UPS is about $40, so $160 in total. Not sure if it's worth it, that's a lot of money!
Do you really want it back that soon? You can still get it slabbed in an archival case without paying for the fastest turnaround. Also, wouldn't it be cheaper to insure through USPS and ship in a Large Flat Rate Box?
Originally posted by: theguy1962
Originally posted by: JHawkZZ
Should I get my Cheetahmen II graded? It'll cost $120 to VGA, and another $90 to ship two-day insured via UPS is about $40, so $160 in total. Not sure if it's worth it, that's a lot of money!
Do you really want it back that soon? You can still get it slabbed in an archival case without paying for the fastest turnaround. Also, wouldn't it be cheaper to insure through USPS and ship in a Large Flat Rate Box?
I would do it with the slower options, unless you can't stand to have it out of your site, cause it will take a while..
Originally posted by: JD
Originally posted by: theguy1962
Originally posted by: JHawkZZ
Should I get my Cheetahmen II graded? It'll cost $120 to VGA, and another $90 to ship two-day insured via UPS is about $40, so $160 in total. Not sure if it's worth it, that's a lot of money!
Do you really want it back that soon? You can still get it slabbed in an archival case without paying for the fastest turnaround. Also, wouldn't it be cheaper to insure through USPS and ship in a Large Flat Rate Box?
I would do it with the slower options, unless you can't stand to have it out of your site, cause it will take a while..
Oh, I didn't realize I can get a slower turn-around process and still do the Archival. I thought that with Archival you had to do 3-4 days.
Agreed on the USPS with insurance, that's a great idea too.
Edit: Quick update, I looked here again: http://www.vggrader.com/submission_packagedpricing.aspx and am still seeing that for Archival (which is required for $1000+ items) it's 3-4 days at $70. Am I reading it wrong?
River City Ransom <- Really nice looking copy, has some corner pokes and a yellowed hangtab
Impossible Mission II <- A little box dishing, sticker on front... A.V.E. version
Impossible Mission II <- Some box crushing and a couple small splits in the shrink... Epyx/SEI version.
Images of all sides of each game located here.
Then if the answer is "yes" which would look nicer for RCR, the hangtab case? the normal case?
I haven't been able to find sales data for graded versions of any of these titles, aside from French language versions of IM2:SEI, so I don't know if it's worth it for me monetarily... however grading will keep me from opening them
I also have sealed copies of To the Earth and Shadows of the Colossus [Black Label], but I'm pretty sure the answers on these two would be "no" as they're not really rare or expensive.