Wata Games Before & After Game Submission Conditions

[RH | 4,902]

I know in some of the former WATA discussions, some people (myself included) have found that our games were submitted and did not return in the condition we mailed them off in.

I know we already have a bajillion WATA posts, but I'd like to keep a general census of games and conditions before and after submissions.

So, if you've submitted one game or many, I'd like to know your impressions.  Has it been great, mostly good, terrible?  Also, how have the cases looked or did they contain dust or other particulates.

I'm not looking for carte-blanch complaints about Wata, especially in regards to time.  I just want to know about the condition of your items.  The only caveat I'd like to add is many of us submitted games a long time ago before the full transition and movement to Collectors Universe management.  I would like to know if you shipped your games off before the CU purchase of the company and if they had pre-graded/photographed your game before ops moved to California from Colorado. 

I think they historically did a horrible job of taking care of and managing our goods, but if CU has been improving their quality processes and conditions of submissions are getting better, I'd kind of like to track it.

Oh, and if you do have before and after photos of your games, those are the most valuable and solid evidence that games were not cared for.  Please share.

Edited April 22, 2022 by RH

[Br81zad | 629]

I been out of the grading game for a couple years to be honest. The 2 graded games I have are VGA, and the 2 raw games I have I'm not sure what to do with. 

Definitely interested in seeing some solid feedback on the WATA experience, but I'm not sure I could stomach supporting a GC property.... the thought of my money somehow reaching Jeff's grubby hands doesn't sit well.

Edited April 21, 2022 by Br81zad

[inasuma | 1,203]

Generally I've not noticed any issues. Only one game came back with what I'm 99% sure is legitimate corner damage from the inner clamshell. I'm grateful not to have dealt with any of the horror stories some folks have experienced though, like CoolTrainerRyan's ripped seal on a Pokemon Red.

Edited April 22, 2022 by inasuma

[OptOut | 8,883]

@RH point of information, it is Collector's Universe that acquired WATA, not Go Collect!

I think you must still be having Jeff related NA flashbacks, lol! 

[RH | 4,902]

7 minutes ago, OptOut said:

@RH point of information, it is Collector's Universe that acquired WATA, not Go Collect!

I think you must still be having Jeff related NA flashbacks, lol! 

Thanks, fixed.

[GPX | 1,369]

I haven’t been grading for over 2 years now but have a lot of prior experience with VGA. I just want to point out a very important issue that I don’t think has been emphasized enough.

When you send in an item(s) for grading, possible damages can incur from:

- your poor packaging

- postal manhandling (to and from the grading company)

- customs manhandling

- manhandling from the grader/staff

So generally, don’t expect the condition before and after to be the exact same. Always lower the expectation of the end grade to be slightly less than what you think it would be. For instance, if you genuinely think you have a 9.8 condition game, there is always a chance it could get a 9.6 or even a 9.4. 

The above is the exact reason why even if you send in a case-fresh box, you rarely end up with a perfect score.  Another important point, this is also the reason why 9.8 or VGA90+ games are extremely hard to obtain, not necessarily because they’re impossible to find, but also extremely challenging to get that score once it goes through the postal/grading processes even if it was originally a genuine pristine copy.

[RH | 4,902]

12 hours ago, GPX said:

I haven’t been grading for over 2 years now but have a lot of prior experience with VGA. I just want to point out a very important issue that I don’t think has been emphasized enough.

When you send in an item(s) for grading, possible damages can incur from:

- your poor packaging

- postal manhandling (to and from the grading company)

- customs manhandling

- manhandling from the grader/staff

So generally, don’t expect the condition before and after to be the exact same. Always lower the expectation of the end grade to be slightly less than what you think it would be. For instance, if you genuinely think you have a 9.8 condition game, there is always a chance it could get a 9.6 or even a 9.4. 

The above is the exact reason why even if you send in a case-fresh box, you rarely end up with a perfect score.  Another important point, this is also the reason why 9.8 or VGA90+ games are extremely hard to obtain, not necessarily because they’re impossible to find, but also extremely challenging to get that score once it goes through the postal/grading processes even if it was originally a genuine pristine copy.

My problem was two fold— they graded my game higher than it should have been after the damage, and the second is that the nature of the damage was far higher than anything packaging should have caused.

IMHO, my grade matches my expectations BEFORE the damage.  After the damage though, it doesn’t make sense. Either the missed the big, obvious damage or this happened after it was graded but shelved to be photographed and then cases.

Considering the latter reason, I had tapped it up in bubble wrap and then packed that around packing peanuts.  Not to snug to crack the CD case but not so loose that it could slide around. I am also in the US so I don’t see the USPO opening it for inspection.

The damage to my game is along a bottom edge.  The game looks like the edge was raked/scrapped. I hear your points and if I had dinged corners and such, sure, that could be from games rolling around in a box or something.  But in my case, it’s scraping and that’s hard to justify. As a shipping error.