How can I get my comics graded? Should I get my comic books certified?

These are good questions any person who wants to sell a comic book should ask. The costs involved with having your comic books professionally graded and encased is expensive, so you should only do it when the act of so doing actually makes your comic books much more valuable so it can sell for more.
We have heard countless stories from novice sellers who thought “Dang, these here comic books look pretty good considering how old they are – they is still in the plastic and everything, and therefore it must be worth every penny to get these comics graded.”

Not always the case, fair reader!

Even old 10 and 12 cent comic books can sometimes still be worth only $5 to $25 retail after being slabbed. After the comic grading expense plus shipping, you don’t want to spend $50 to grade a comic, only to have it sell for $25.

Seriously, before blindly sending your comic books out to become graded comics, make sure you have a really accurate sense of what type of grade you’re going to get back, and what the value is going to be. If you don’t have a sense before getting your comics graded, we suggest contacting ComicConnect.com for their free appraisal service. They don’t want to see you spend $15,000 on grading a $10,000 collection. If you have a good collection, they will want you to consign it (they only charge 10%) and their interests are always tied to yours. If it will be more profitable for you and them to get the comics graded, they will make that recommendation and help you with the process of sending them off to CGC.  If it isn’t worth getting them graded, they will let you know and help you with a sales strategy.

Suppose you want to BUY graded comics.  CGC and PGX are both excellent 3rd party graders. If you want pedigree comics, check out MetropolisComics.com for having the best selection of pedigrees such as the Mile High Edgar Church collection, Crowley Copes, D Crippen Copies, Northfords, Suscha pedigree and many more comic pedigrees.


Sometimes it makes sense to spend the money on the costly process of having the Certified Guaranty Corporation ( CGC ) or Professional Grading eXperts ( PGX ) make an appraisal and assessment to grade and encapsulate your comic. Other times, it will be a waste of money. For the economy service of CGC comic grading, you pay $32 plus the expensive costs of shipping the comics to and from CGC for a Golden Age, Silver Age or Bronze Age comic.

Suppose, for example, you have an Amazing Spider-Man #53 from the year 1967 or 1968. A Near Mint Plus copy graded 9.6 might sell for $385, whereas a Near Mint / Mint 9.8 graded comic might sell for as much as $4000! That’s a mighty big different, and an example where it is worth the money to have an assessment by CGC Comics for their certification to have the comic encased in a comic book slab. Now let’s suppose the same Amazing Spider-Man #68 “looks pretty good with no tears”, but is not indistinguishable from a brand new comic book, hot off the press, with a tight glossy cover, razor sharp edges, with not even an eyelash-sized crease anywhere on the spine. Well, the condition and accurate comic grading for that copy may get it encased in a 6.0 Fine holder by today’s grading standards, and the value would be about $20 retail. Clearly, it doesn’t make sense to spend $50 just to sell a comic book for $20!

Before making your comic book submissions to have your comic books slabbed for CGC census certification, we recommend making a list of what you have, and having a comic book expert take a look.