New Toy Grading Company!!! Collector Source Grading

Looks like a new toy grading company has surfaced to rival AFA. I just checked the company website and it seems like it could be a good alternative to have your toy graded/cased and the prices seem to be a bit better on certain areas compared to AFA. On top of that their grading scale seems to be more in depth, not just your standard Figure, Bubble and Card. The company's name is Collector Source Grading

Below is their grading system and is much closer to the comic book grading scale

1. Box / Card Quality (BQ or CQ) - this includes warping, tears, creases, etc.
2. Box / Card Color (BC or CC) - this includes fading of color, stains, etc.
3. Window / Bubble Quality (WQ) - this includes cracks, dents, etc.
4. Window / Bubble Transparency (WT) - this includes scratches, stains, yellowing, etc.
5. Figure Quality (FQ) - this includes missing parts (for opened and loose figures) defects, etc.
6. Figure Color (FC) - this includes fading, yellowing, etc.

And their grading scale...

Grading Scale
10.0- GEM
9.9-9.8- Excellent Plus (E+)
9.7-9.3- Excellent (E)
9.2-9.0- Excellent Minus (E-)
8.9-8.8- Above Average Plus (AA+)
8.7-8.3- Above Average (AA)
8.2-8.0- Above Average Minus (AA-)
7.9-7.8- Average Plus (AV+)
7.7-7.3- Average (AV)
7.2-7.0- Average Minus (AV-)
6.9-6.8- Below Average Plus (BA+)
6.7-6.3- Below Average (BA)
6.2-6.0- Below Average Minus (BA-)
5.9 and below- Poor


I think i may start sending some items to them to see their quality of work...perhaps their work is not as inconsistent as AFA's can be at time.Check out their About Us page...
http://collectorsourcegrading.com/index.php?pgid=2

I think this is great for the collecting community to no0t have just one company to grade toys.

I'd like to hear everyone's thought on this I am very excited myself to finally see more choices for us collectors than to stick to one grading source

 

im intriqued since I think AFA personally messes up alot. Are they experts in the field or are they just people doing a job like at AFA?

 

Looks like collectively they have over 100 years of experience.

 

hmm im a little nervous about them now if they cant even spell thundercats right. on the main page its spelled thunder cats and he man is spelled hee man

 

Not only that, matt, on one of their gallery shots, they have "G.I. Joe" spelled "GiJoe". I shudder to think how they must spell "SilverHawks" or "She-Ra"! Do we dare guess? :D

 

Im gonna give them a try and see how their service is, if they provide a good and accurate service then i will probably send out more if only for the cases alone

 

I get nervous sending figures to AFA as it is, let alone a brand new company. Hopefully they produce good service/results as competition is always good, perhaps forcing AFA to lower their prices some. I have a bunch of MOC Silverhawks I am sending out and could sure use some kind of discount, but AFA doesn't really do much in that dept.

 

Plus their wait times are horrible : 11-20 business days??? C'mon that equals to roughly 30 days or more. What i am planning on doing is sending one of my common figures and see what the turnaround is and the quality of work they do. I think anybody that has been in the toy collecting business for a while can tell different flaw with that being said I will send one item to them and compare their results to what I think AFA would grade it as. AFA has become kind of predictable with their grading. You can almost guarnatee a 60 on your item simply because of a bubble crack but how about the other factors???

AFA gives the grade for the lowest fault not an average like these people do. I'll post a review of their services once i send and receive my figures. However if someone can send a figure to test them out and post results here that may work as well

 

Hey Manny, let us know how it goes. I'm really curious about this place. If it weren't for some space and money issues at the moment I'd send something.

 

Just sent in 2 figures yesterday...a Lynx O and a 8 back Tygra. Ill see how the service is.

On a side note AFA's 35-45 business day turnaround (which spells more than 2 months of waiting) cost the same as CSG's 11-20 day turnaround

 

Thanks for updating us Manny. I am sitting here debating whether or not to send in two of my best MOC Silverhawks pieces to either AFA or CSG.

CSG does offer a better alternative price wise, and like you said up top, there grading is much more detailed.

I may just send in my MOC Flashback and see how it goes. I have not looked over their submission form yet, but do you know if you can have the grading sticker placed on the inside like with AFA?:?

 

Their sticker is placed wherever you tell them to...its one of their options they give you. You can have them do it top left, top right, bottom left,bottom right, on the side...check out their submition form and you"ll see.

I mean hell a case alone can cost you over 30 bucks for a custom made for Thundercats so if casing is all you need thier price is still a great deal

 

Cool, is their submission form as complicated as AFA's? I've never sent anything in out of fear it'll get messed up somehow. Also, their form steps seem way too intimidating. Its like tax papers all over!

 

I still haven't downloaded the CSG one, but as far as AFA goes; if you register with them and become a member (free), you can use an electronic submission form that makes it a lot easier to fill out.

But yeah, the manual entry one can be a bit intimidating your first time around.

The most important thing I could say is to make sure you get your figures in the right tier code, or they will have to contact you in order to make the necessary changes, which slows things down dramatically. You need to measure all three sides to get the right measurement.

Maybe we could make a sticky thread with a "how to" on submitting figures to AFA or CSG, in which we could provide a guide showing the right tier codes for the corresponding Thundercats piece(s)!? Just an idea.

 

Easy as can be...matter of fact easier, much easier than AFA plus they give you a choice of were you want your sticker placement, i think you have like 6 choices.

Ill see what i can put together for a "How to" guide. CSG seems to be less complicated than AFA. Hopefully the company will take off and we can see more competition for AFA. You cant have a grading monopoly like they do

 

That my friend is an excellent idea! I have 2 Thundercats I would love to send in at one point. Maybe it can be an extra addition to the board. It will make it a lot easier for fans of not just Thundercats but all toys. Not sure how this really works but maybe by promoting either of the two you can get some $ or discount out of it? Again, don't know the specifics but its a great way to give this place an additional boost and more publicity. Ho!!!

 

Advertising for CSG could be a possibility for the future. I'll see if i can put a guide together to make things easier on people when they submit items. If CSG turns out to be a good and fast service. Ill be giving them my business over AFA.
I know of someone who sent in a few Thundercats at once and they ended up mixing up the labels so now he has to send them back at his cost to get it fixed. Thats simply unnacceptable

 

Yes, I just saw the CSG submission form and it is a million times easier to fill out then AFA's. This is good!

Thanks. The reason I brought up the "how to submit Thundercats" idea is mainly because when I first submitted my first figures to AFA (two Moc Captain Power figures), I got the tier code wrong. By the time they contacted me, I contacted them, and payed what I owed, I probably lost about 4 days. I'd hate to see that happen to others. It be great if we could just reference a "cheat sheet" when it comes to the tier codes.

Honestly, it would take AFA two seconds to add Thundercats and Silverhawks to the "What piece falls under what tier code" list, but they definitely slack off on keeping their web site up to date. One of my biggest gripes is that the population reports are way out of date. Pieces I submitted months ago still don't show up. Only by serial #. :

 

I was just looking at their submission form. Its really simple! Hey Manny, when you get back the figs graded, can you compare the quality of the cases as well as the eye appeal? I'm so use to seeing AFA that CSG just seems weird, especially their sticker.

 

Ill post pics and everything. I do have to say the eye appeal of AFA stickers is slightly better and I tend to like the hologram sticker much better as well. It looks like the cases could very well be identical, I for one do not like AFA cases because it is open on the bottom...supposedly to let air in ( as well as dust so if CSG is completely sealed Im a happy camper...because i hate dust inside my cases