Do or Dont i get figures graded ?

[steve180179]

Im thinking of getting my complete loose figure collection graded by uk graders as im hoping to come into some money rather soon. My loose figure collection consists of about 120 figures in mint condition including variants, ewok and droid series. Another reason why i want to get them graded is to keep them clean and undamaged. Wot is other peoples verdict on grading should i do it or not ?

 

[burnsy]

How much would it cost you roughly for each figure Steve??

 

[steve180179]

dont know mate im estermating bout £1000 for the lot

 

[Joe]

For 1k you could buy another set and store it away in one big acrylic box, that would keep them mint

 

[Joe]

I do honestly think acrylic cases look nice for whatever is inside them, I don't knock anyones AFA or UKG collections because the toys are still inside them that I collect!

If you look at it as an investment it won't be as good as AFA in the long run (if you can say that with any certainty) as UKG are just not as big as AFA.

(I don't know what the future holds for collectibles and graded collectibles....)

If you just want a snazzy display and to keep them safe then go for it, its your toys and your money at the end of the day

 

[weasel]

If you look at it as an investment it won't be as good as AFA in the long run (if you can say that with any certainty) as UKG are just not as big as AFA.

(I don't know what the future holds for collectibles and graded collectibles....)

If you just want a snazzy display and to keep them safe then go for it, its your toys and your money at the end of the day

What he said, particularly the second part of the last paragraph.

 

[Joe]

Despite my criticisms and my enjoyment of AFA mistakes I really don't care lol, If you want a C9 moc instead of a C5, you will pay for it unless you get lucky, that's how anything works!

AFA bumps that price up (which no-one needs) and tells you how good it is in their opinion, which is something I don't need anyone to tell me but they give you a case and somewhat protect your investment and can help sellers boost their profits ( as their are silly people with silly money ) , as I said acrylic cases are A+ for MOC and loose!

If I came into loads of money I might even go down the AFA route, if I really had a huge bank balance I wouldn't give a toss and it would save me buying everything and then buying loads of cases lol

In reality, I don't have loads of money (who does lately), and even more important I don't really want to spend loads of money on these toys, I am not a salesman or a dealer so flipping them or buying cheap and selling expensive is just not what I am about.

I buy for me, and my enjoyment, if someone wants to help me out by giving me a good deal to help me along I really do appreciate it and I get friendly with people and try to help them in return! (not always succesfully but sometimes I can)

I don't know why I started typing but oh well, there it is

My thoughts on grading and collecting in one post lol

 

[plantman]

you can just buy the acrylic cases which will be cheaper in bulk.

If you are grading to sell on then AFA is the way to go as they are established and its the standard to use in terms of authentication and bumping up the price.
I use UKG as the casing and service is good and no expensive postage fees, im not too fussed what grade they give it if its for my own personal enjoyment.

Andy

 

[Joe]

As it stands , I would only ever buy an AFA graded MOC if it was rare and I couldn't get it ungraded, even then the mark up would have to be reasonable otherwise its just a no go for me!

But, as Del would agree, bargain hunting and budget collecting is far more enjoyable than having loads of money and buying whatever you want!

 

[**Delboy75**]

Well i was in the same situation as you, but mine was a collection of baggies.
I needed to
1. protect them better
2. make them easier to display

So after a lot of thought i decided to go with UKG.
First off the cases are nice, and tamperproof. My little lad (21 months) opened a baggie recently that i left on the side in a clamshell case :? , so i needed something that would stop any further problems.
Also baggies are very hard to display, so the nice square cases solve this problem.

Each figure costs £12 to grade, plus p+p both ways, so it by far not the cheapest option.
But im getting them done a few at a time, so the cost won't be as noticeable.
AFA grading would make them worth more instantly, but the costs involved with sending them overseas put me off. Plus who know's in a few years UKG figures could be worth a lot more than they are fetching right now, remember they are a fairly new company so people are a bit wary.
Being a new company you never know whats going to happen, but im not too worried as the baggie inside the case will still be worth something, where as if they went tits up and i'd had them removed for a U grade then i'd loose out big time.
at the moment i believe UKG are doing very well, and have moved or are moving to bigger premises, the turn around time is about 3 weeks at the moment, so they are fairly busy!.

I don't buy half as much now as i did, so im probably spending about £60-80 a month on grading.
once i have them all done i will fork out for a nice case, and then they can be displayed.

I'm not a huge fan of grading, i've been in the game long enough and had enough things go thru my hands to know what an items grade is, or if its real. BUT, i've gotta be honest and say at the moment im loving the suspence of waiting to see what grade the figures get. I'm predicting the grade each figure will get and so far i've been spot on, so its reasuring that they are inline with my grading standards. They are a not as strict as AFA, you will see that there are a lot of UKG 90's about, but imo thats not them overgrading, its UKG being honest where as AFA undergrade imo to keep 90 grade figures at a premuium!.

Anyway, thats enough babble lol.

Del

 

[gustie]

hasnt there been talk that UKG by mistake graded a fake LL burgundy cape squid head?

 

[Ron]

was there gustie

 

[**Delboy75**]

Don't know mate, thats news to me.

Its a bad mistake if it's true, but the LL squid head fakes are getting better and better so i wouldn't be at all suprised if UKG or even AFA got fooled, i saw one a while back that looked good but turned out to be fake. I wouldn't grade anything like that until i had a god few legit one's pass thru my hands to study.

Del

 

[**Delboy75**]

Saying that im guessing something like a LL burgandy squidhead sent to AFA would go thru Tom Derby first?

 

[steve180179]

cheers for the comments guys. How much do UKG charge for just the cases without grading?

 

[Anonymous]

cheers for the comments guys. How much do UKG charge for just the cases without grading?

Not sure if they offer that but i dont see why not heres there addy

[email protected]

Cheers

Paul

 

[gustie]

hi paul

hows it going?

 

[Anonymous]

hi paul

hows it going?

Good Pete

you?

 

[gustie]

heh yeah man ok

got sidetracked here and there lol as u do...


chat soon

 

[lee gray]

I like UKG although they need to update their website and change the part where it says have your figure back within 5 days... as its always over 2 weeks for me
however saying that I no longer use afa and much prefer the UKG cases as no room for movement for the carded figures unlike the few millimeters that allow the cards to slide slightly in the afa ones causing edge wear
if i had a load of loose figures though i would rather just get the cases than get them graded