CGS "membership" Fee

[The Coinery]

On 1 September 2016 at 1:33 PM, SWANNY said:

Does anyone know the names of any of the coin graders at CGS - LCGS  (looks like they have not changed)

As management at LCGS refuse to reply to any emails, I thought I would try to talk to a grader 

 

Edited September 2, 2016 by The Coinery

[azda]

On 1 September 2016 at 2:33 PM, SWANNY said:

Does anyone know the names of any of the coin graders at CGS - LCGS  (looks like they have not changed)

As management at LCGS refuse to reply to any emails, I thought I would try to talk to a grader 

 You have more chance meeting the Pope than getting anything from these lot these days. If you are a member of the Illuminati you might get through (Eventually)

[supermack]

Does anyone know how to get the photos of the coins?

Do I have to pay the £99 fee?

I want to sell my coins, but no idea how to get decent photos without spending a fortune on a macro lens.

 

[Sword]

You can no longer download CGS photos from the London Coins site unless you have paid unfortunately. 

[supermack]

I have no idea how to take a decent photo myself. I assume it is done with a digital SLR plus macro lens, and careful lighting.

This is very frustrating.

I do not want to join London Coins either, but maybe its the only way for me to get in and download my photos. Assuming that is still possible, and he has not disabled that.

Does anyone know if it is possible to download once you are member?

[Sword]

My understanding is that you can access photos, population reports, CGS valuations etc. once you have paid the £99. In addition, you can also apply to be a grading member if you pay a £499 deposit upfront (unless you have slabbed enough coins with them in the past)

If you don't want any more coins graded but simply want to access the CGS data such as photos, then they intend to charge £49 for it. However, this level of service is not currently available and you will have to wait. http://www.coingradingservices.co.uk/lcgs_menu/price.php

You might want to consider trying to take your own photos instead.

[supermack]

Thanks for your help.

I find the whole London Coins business farcical and totally absurd.

I did my coin valuations today, and the upside is that Spink 2016 values my coins higher than CGS ever did.

Just got a work out a way to sell them now.

[SWANNY]

List them on here with the CGS grade , I'm sure they will sell

[Nordle11]

35 minutes ago, supermack said:

Thanks for your help.

I find the whole London Coins business farcical and totally absurd.

I did my coin valuations today, and the upside is that Spink 2016 values my coins higher than CGS ever did.

Just got a work out a way to sell them now.

 

33 minutes ago, SWANNY said:

List them on here with the CGS grade , I'm sure they will sell

Because of your low post count supermack you won't be able to see the wanted/for sale section to list them, let me know if you do want to list them on the site I'll open the section for you, you've been a member for a few years and it's more to just stop people signing up to sell a coin.

[supermack]

Ok Thanks for your help Nordie. I am going to try and take the photos first. I think even on here, the prospective buyers would surely like to inspect high resolution photos.

[Sword]

Another U-turn from  London Coins. 

Check this out: http://www.lcgrading.co.uk/

Look at the FAQs: The annual fee for joining LCGS is £99. Looks like riff-raff  are now welcome. You get a £50 voucher to spend in LCA auctions and another LCA voucher to spend on their coins on the LCA website providing the purchase is over £250. The second voucher is not useful to most people though. 

I would be interested to know if those people already paid their £99 fee will now get vouchers.

No mention of the £499 upfront fee now. 

They are no longer calling themselves a TPG but is now saying LCGS " offers a third party grading system based on a benchmark coin grading set, and fixed parameters which the graders follow which remain unchanged over time".

Personally, my confidence in CGS / LCGS have been badly shakened and I am unsure if I really want to use them again. 

 

[Sword]

Having read their website http://www.lcgrading.co.uk/  a bit more, I think it was just rather carelessly put together. Under the benefits of coin grading tab, they have forgotten about the change of name and call themselves CGS UK a few times. 

In FAQ, they mentioned that "LCGS has graded over 40,000 coins as at 2016". Not true unless they are admitting that LCGS is the same as CGS.

 

[Nordle11]

10 hours ago, Sword said:

Having read their website http://www.lcgrading.co.uk/  a bit more, I think it was just rather carelessly put together. Under the benefits of coin grading tab, they have forgotten about the change of name and call themselves CGS UK a few times. 

In FAQ, they mentioned that "LCGS has graded over 40,000 coins as at 2016". Not true unless they are admitting that LCGS is the same as CGS.

 

The 'Key benefits of coin grading' is literally copypasta from CGS site, that's why it says CGS all over it. They're missing pictures too. 

Also - "Hall of Fame collections can create a large attraction if offered in the London Coin Auctions adding significantly to the realise value." So why is it that only through consignment to LCA does the value increase? They're like a kid that thinks they're extremely venerated, when in actual fact nobody likes them. 

[PWA 1967]

Matt you state..........nobody likes them......thats your opinion and i take that on board.

However lots of people do including dealers and people i speak to on a daily basis.

Maybe it is the forum that doesnt and most have never used them, but believe me the users on here who actually post ....is a small number of collectors out there.

I sold a couple on here yesterday and much easier to sell than raw coins......so must be some trust as can actually sell them without pictures.

Or maybe its because i just like Semra 

[Nick]

11 hours ago, Sword said:

Under the benefits of coin grading tab, they have forgotten about the change of name and call themselves CGS UK a few times.

It must be an easy mistake to make.  Same office, same people, same job...

 

PS. Loving your signature tag line Matt.

Edited October 4, 2016 by Nick

[Nordle11]

Remember I'm only talking about the company change, I'm not on about the grades they supply, the consistency in grading, the photo quality, the people who use the service or anything else, I'm talking about the fact that they handled this change of name and fees in a very bad and sloppy way, giving little to no information to anyone who regularly uses them and changing their minds 3 to 4 times (while I assume some people have paid different fees, depending when they signed up after the change) about what they want to charge.

There's one thing to say 'We are a grading company', and another to say 'Our graded coins will get more money if you put them in our specific auction, where we will take a fee for grading and then a fee for selling'. Even the most venerated of people still have friends  

 

[Nordle11]

1 minute ago, Nick said:

It must be an easy mistake to make.  Same office, same people, same job...

PS. Loving your signature tag line Matt.

Haha thanks. I was considering another level - "There are only 10 types of people in this world - those who understand binary, those who don't and those who just realised this joke is in base 3."

Get it?  

[azda]

6 hours ago, PWA 1967 said:

Matt you state..........nobody likes them......thats your opinion and i take that on board.

However lots of people do including dealers and people i speak to on a daily basis.

Maybe it is the forum that doesnt and most have never used them, but believe me the users on here who actually post ....is a small number of collectors out there.

I sold a couple on here yesterday and much easier to sell than raw coins......so must be some trust as can actually sell them without pictures.

Or maybe its because i just like Semra 

To be honest i'm finding it easier selling a coin that's slabbed than unslabbed, especially higher end coins. I had one on the bay for a month unslabbed, had it back a week slabbed and it's gone to California, the postage was a bit ouchy though, although they said from Munich to California, 24hrs 

Edited October 4, 2016 by azda

[Nordle11]

24 hours is nuts, I can just about get that from mainland Spain to.. mainland Spain .

American collectors always prefer the slabs though, right? Maybe they were considering it before and then the slab helped them over the edge..

[azda]

29 minutes ago, Nordle11 said:

24 hours is nuts, I can just about get that from mainland Spain to.. mainland Spain .

American collectors always prefer the slabs though, right? Maybe they were considering it before and then the slab helped them over the edge..

Yes you're right Matt, they do like their slabs, maybe the number on it was the reason

Well, it's at the airport now, i'm tracking it on the fedex site, my jaw dropped when he said 24hrs, it was no 10 euros postage though

[Nordle11]

9 minutes ago, azda said:

Yes you're right Matt, they do like their slabs, maybe the number on it was the reason

Well, it's at the airport now, i'm tracking it on the fedex site, my jaw dropped when he said 24hrs, it was no 10 euros postage though

I bet

Interested to know if it arrives in 24 hours, or at least close to that.

[azda]

3 minutes ago, Nordle11 said:

I bet

Interested to know if it arrives in 24 hours, or at least close to that.

806796901500, keep an eye on it lol

[Nordle11]

bloody hell they're estimating 23,5 hours delivery time  

[azda]

16 minutes ago, Nordle11 said:

bloody hell they're estimating 23,5 hours delivery time  

Service with a smile.......but something else i found out today is that even fedex won't insure a coin over 500 euros.

[jaggy]

13 hours ago, PWA 1967 said:

Matt you state..........nobody likes them......thats your opinion and i take that on board.

However lots of people do including dealers and people i speak to on a daily basis.

Maybe it is the forum that doesnt and most have never used them, but believe me the users on here who actually post ....is a small number of collectors out there.

I sold a couple on here yesterday and much easier to sell than raw coins......so must be some trust as can actually sell them without pictures.

Or maybe its because i just like Semra 

Nothing wrong with TPGs and nothing wrong with CGS trying to get into that market. 

The problem with CGS is that they are not independent - or not perceived to be independent - of London Coins. There is an inherent conflict of interest with LC's commercial interests which is of concern to the objective collector or dealer.

The second problem is that they are heavily aligned with London Coins auctions as the primary outlet for sales. I had a look at the last DNW auction and there were 12 coins slabbed by CGS compared to 50 slabbed by NGC and 137 slabbed by PCGS. 

The third problem is that they use a different numerical grading system to NGC or PCGS.

The fourth problem is that they have zero acceptance in the USA which is a huge market.

Collectors buy slabbed coins because they take much of the risk out of buying 'sight unseen' or on the basis of photos. However, that means that they need confidence in the company doing the grading, they need a grading standard which is readily understandable and generally accepted, they need to be able to easily check a coin against the certificate number and they need a market where those coins are readily bought and sold (i.e. liquidity).

I agree that slabbed coins are easier to sell than raw ones. If I choose to sell an NGC slabbed coin then I can pretty much do that anywhere. The same, however, is not true for a CGS coin.