UKGraders policy question

Hi there,

I have just had a couple of my items graded by UKGraders. They were graded yesterday and then marked as shipped under my account. I asked them how they faired and if it was possible to view the results on the site, but recieved no reply (up until now the communication has been excellent, I have to say - might have just gone home for the day). I can understand why they might not want to get into such discussions, though; I bet they have had some very angry collectors in the past not liking their grades From my limited experience so far it appears you don't actually get to know the grades until they turn up at your door. Is this right? Does anybody out there know if this is their policy? It would have been nice if the grades appeared in a section under your account. Perhaps they do and I just can find them.

Just a little impatient here
Thanks in advance,
Gerry

I think it would be far better if they emailed you before entombing them in acrylic.

"Figure x and y will be UKG85 and figure z will be UKG75 - do you want to proceed sir?"

Grading is expensive, and no matter what people say they do collect numbers to a certain extent, and that way you avoid disappointment. I appreciate it takes their time to appraise and decide on the grade, perhaps they could charge a modest 'appraisal fee' for figures that are appraised but not entombed, but its better for the customer because if you're made aware that your figure will grade lower than you anticipated then you have the opportunity to withdraw it. It becomes a more honest and open process.

I bet they don't as they would almost certainly lose cash but it would be good if they did adopt that approach.

Thanks guys.

Yes, I agree. I think they should inform you of what they are about to do before they go ahead and do it. I spoke to them about this about a month ago, and they agreed to do this. Unfortunately, I think they are snowed under just now - might be a new movie or something about to happen so they might have forgotten Perhaps it should be part of their process to do this if the grade is below a level that they think isn't worth grading - that would be a nice addition to the process. Have any of you guys had any experience of UKGraders? I've heard nothing but good things about them lately, that's why I thought I'd give them ago. Steve seems a really nice guy.

Thanks,
Gerry

I have only dealt with Steve when he made me some shelves and he was really nice to deal with and could not have been more helpfull. As said before they are probably super busy at the moment as well. I know AFA will send you the Grades if you ask for them. I don't agree with the whole thing with only gradeing them if they get a certain number or above it's just compicating thing's at their end and they still have to look at each item and decide what grade it should get so why would it be any cheaper? Just buy sliding bottom cases, much cheaper.

Hi there,

Yes, that's what I was saying. They could look at the items and just recommend sliding bottom cases if they thought the item wasn't worth grading, or if it didn't add any value to it. That would be a nice service. If you had to pay a little extra on top of the case that would be fine with me

Gerry

Has anybody had anything graded from UKGraders before? I just really wanted to know if it was their general policy not to say anything about the grades prior to you receiving the items back. I'm fine with it, just really wanted to know if this was the done thing.

Thanks,

I had a boxed AT-AT graded earlier this year and asked the same question about what grade it received. They emailed me back and said it graded an 80. The funny thing with the AT-AT grading is it costs £90, but to purchase a sliding bottom AT-AT case is £90 too so grading would only be worthwhile on top condition items.

Mike

I have stuff grade regularly as I am slowly getting all my baggies done in small batches as & when funds allow, FYI Steve gets over 30 emails a day to answer as well as working full time on the grading, they are not a huge company like AFA with loads of staff, so for them to let everyone know their grades pre grading would mean extra staff I assume, which would equate to higher grading costs, I don't think AFA do either from what I know though, personally I like the wait, always nice when something does better than expected.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm fine with that. I like surprises Just wanted to make sure that it wasn't out of the ordinary.

Thanks,

I had my Vectis items graded by AFA, and asked them for both the grades and population reports. They happily emailed both to me.

You will be charged the full price even if your item is not graded (repairs/ink touch ups/TTs). The cost is for the preparation and grading/authenticating. That's why you get get offered a sliding bottom acrylic case for just a few dollars if it fails to be sealed. The cases probably cost them hardly anything due to them being mass produced.

One major advantage with UKG IMO they don't charge if your item won't grade & they don't have that stupid tier system, if you want an item graded it's a set price, so if you send a 5 quid beater in for grading you get charged loose figure price, if you send in a Toltoys VCJ or rocket firing fett (I wish) you still get charged the same, never got that about AFA, why should one lose or MOC be a different price according to its rarity or value :?

Frunkstar said:

One major advantage with UKG IMO they don't charge if your item won't grade & they don't have that stupid tier system, if you want an item graded it's a set price, so if you send a 5 quid beater in for grading you get charged loose figure price, if you send in a Toltoys VCJ or rocket firing fett (I wish) you still get charged the same, never got that about AFA, why should one lose or MOC be a different price according to its rarity or value :?

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I think the cost is purely for speed, and postage for insurance. When they ask you to specify a fair market value, that's so they can insure it to cover it's value. Say you sent a £5000 figure to be graded, well the return postage for it to be covered would be insane. Especially if it's going overseas. The value would be on the outside of box, and customs/import charges would be in relation to that, even if it's a just a figure you already own being returned. The more you pay also speeds up the process. I had my Vectis items go through on the archive tier, and the side benefit to that was that from the day of posting from the UK, to the day it got returned, was only about 2 weeks. When I've sent stuff over to go on the standard tier, the time between sending and getting back is usually around 3 months.

The extra cost for rare submissions was to pay for Tom Derby's work, which is not offered any more, until further notice. :roll:

http://www.toygrader.com/

I always assumed the extra charge for rare items was exploitation. Pure and simple.

Items being graded, shouldn't be liable for customs when they are returned to you, as you already own the item. Plus apparently the grading doesn't add value, although we all know graded items sells for more (generally) than ungraded.
I agree rarer or at least more expensive, items will require higher cost for postal insurance but my first point still remains.

Hi all,

Just to say my items arrived today. The grades were better than I expected I'll leave a little review of my overrall experience of the whole process - very pleased in the end

Thanks for all the replies,
Gerry