WATA Turnaround Times?

[inasuma | 1,203]

17 hours ago, broncofantd793 said:

I think a year minimum is a good expectation for turnaround time for grading anything at this point. 

their turnaround times have been increasing by about 1 month, each month.

ive made four speedrun subs this year so far: right around the 20th each month of 2-3 games each.

January: order back by mid-feb

february: order back by mid-april

march: order went into post grading three weeks ago. Should be arriving this month  

april: expecting to receive around august or sept.

as an added metric, I’ve noticed my orders always being listed with an id about 700 higher from the last. which could mean wata is receiving a linear number of orders and is still losing momentum. I’m assuming the order id correlates to the order number in their system, so this could be wrong. lol

Edited June 8, 2021 by inasuma

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

On 5/28/2021 at 5:36 AM, Murray said:

There’s a third option? 

There is, but they treat what they grade as collectibles and not an easy means to make money. Which makes them worse than VGA and Wata since it is about preservation and not profits with them. Plus I would have said something sooner but I am still in the dark about my own submissions. Including the first one that had my typo "PS one Books" as "PSone Books". With this update being the only thing that has me wonder if my stuff was tier 1, and is now getting a tier 2 turnaround.

If it was not for the fact they offered free photos, and are uber-polite, I'd have used VGA. 

[jonebone | 1,307]

Stuff is actually moving now.  Got a Turbo order back in hand yesterday from September and my 3 Turbo orders from October are all in post-grading.  I think the turnaround times they are quoting through the website right now are pretty realistic, especially with them hiking the CIB grading price to kill all that volume. 

[kell | 102]

I'm seeing it as well. My Turbo from Nov is in post grading as is a speedrun from early April, so good to see movement. Unfortunately, can't see grades. 

Anyone have an idea how long post grading usually takes/till I can see grades? (Already been a week for one order)

Edited June 8, 2021 by kell

[jonebone | 1,307]

2 hours ago, kell said:

I'm seeing it as well. My Turbo from Nov is in post grading as is a speedrun from early April, so good to see movement. Unfortunately, can't see grades. 

Anyone have an idea how long post grading usually takes/till I can see grades? (Already been a week for one order)

You can only see the grades when they ship.  So when you get the shipping notification email then you can log in and check them.  I'd estimate around 3 weeks after post-grading.

Edited June 8, 2021 by jonebone

[inasuma | 1,203]

On 6/8/2021 at 8:03 AM, kell said:

I'm seeing it as well. My Turbo from Nov is in post grading as is a speedrun from early April, so good to see movement. Unfortunately, can't see grades. 

Anyone have an idea how long post grading usually takes/till I can see grades? (Already been a week for one order)

I have a speedrun from mid-april, so good to hear yours is moving along. mine should be soon too then.

as for post-grading turnaround, i think sadly this depends on the QA and encasement teams. i've had an order from march in post-grading for nearly a month now. hopefully that is speeding up now but who knows.

EDIT: spoke too soon - my speedrun order just shipped. Was in post-grading for 23 days.

Edited June 9, 2021 by inasuma

[broncofantd793 | 138]

My 2 game order went into post grading on May 21st, and it just shipped on June 16th.  FedEx tracking indicates Monday delivery.  

All told, I placed my order 3/24, and it should arrive back to me 6/21.  More or less 3 months for 15 business day promised time.

[inasuma | 1,203]

One of my orders (arrived 4/13) went into post grading this morning. Just about exactly their listed turnaround time. Sounds like it’s a few weeks more to get slabbed and shipped.

[kell | 102]

Just got the “send us more money” email from WATA . This business model does not help their turn times... how much time do they spend valuing games. I wonder if they only go after high dollar games. 
 

 

[inasuma | 1,203]

42 minutes ago, kell said:

Just got the “send us more money” email from WATA . This business model does not help their turn times... how much time do they spend valuing games. I wonder if they only go after high dollar games. 
 

What did they want money for? Did you ask for the deep badge upgrade or was your game valued higher than what you declared in the submission? 

[kell | 102]

3 minutes ago, inasuma said:

What did they want money for? Did you ask for the deep badge upgrade or was your game valued higher than what you declared in the submission? 

No idea what the grade is, they are asking for additional value dollars... which ends up being about 4 times what I already paid them.

I asked where the value came from and what the grades are on the two games so I can assess myself.
 

I’m thinking I’m just going to have to suck it up, but not happy that I’ve paid them thousands of dollars and they’ve had games since Nov. I haven’t gotten any games back and now they are asking for more money.

[A_Feisty_Pickle | 244]

I've got games at Wata right now and of course I want high grades, but it's pretty sketchy when they have a financial interest in giving you a high grade so they can charge you more money at the tail end of the process. 

[Gloves | 11,776]

7 minutes ago, A_Feisty_Pickle said:

I've got games at Wata right now and of course I want high grades, but it's pretty sketchy when they have a financial interest in giving you a high grade so they can charge you more money at the tail end of the process. 

Yyyyyyyuuuuuuuuuppppp.

[kell | 102]

41 minutes ago, A_Feisty_Pickle said:

I've got games at Wata right now and of course I want high grades, but it's pretty sketchy when they have a financial interest in giving you a high grade so they can charge you more money at the tail end of the process. 

It is. At first I understood it from a liability perspective, and still do to a certain extent. However, they really need to change how they are compensated. As you stated, there is too much incentive for them to lean higher.

[Gulag Joe | 582]

3 hours ago, kell said:

Just got the “send us more money” email from WATA . This business model does not help their turn times... how much time do they spend valuing games. I wonder if they only go after high dollar games. 
 

 

Wait, so your games enter "post grading" and then how many days after that did they email and tell you they're holding your games hostage?

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

2 hours ago, kell said:

No idea what the grade is, they are asking for additional value dollars... which ends up being about 4 times what I already paid them.

I asked where the value came from and what the grades are on the two games so I can assess myself.
 

I’m thinking I’m just going to have to suck it up, but not happy that I’ve paid them thousands of dollars and they’ve had games since Nov. I haven’t gotten any games back and now they are asking for more money.

 

2 hours ago, A_Feisty_Pickle said:

I've got games at Wata right now and of course I want high grades, but it's pretty sketchy when they have a financial interest in giving you a high grade so they can charge you more money at the tail end of the process. 

 

22 minutes ago, Gulag Joe said:

Wait, so your games enter "post grading" and then how many days after that did they email and tell you they're holding your games hostage?

Wow, I can't believe people continue to send games to this company. I'd rather leave a game ungraded and be unable to sell on HA than pay their ransom. Of course, I've always been stubborn as a mule and I'd never send them a game in the first place, but you get my point.

Seeing this stuff makes me think there is room for another grading company that is actually geared toward improving the hobby instead of lining pockets. If the Wata folks actually cared about their customers, they'd let them decide how much insurance they wanted on return shipping. The customer would sign a contract relieving Wata of responsibility and the item comes back home. Less delays, happier customers... seems like a good thing, right?

[kell | 102]

28 minutes ago, Gulag Joe said:

Wait, so your games enter "post grading" and then how many days after that did they email and tell you they're holding your games hostage?

Two weeks in post grading, then the email. Now I have to send PayPal, send them the receipt that I paid then “we will continue moving the game through our grading process and ship it back to you as soon as it is encapsulated. ”

[kell | 102]

4 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

 

 

Wow, I can't believe people continue to send games to this company. I'd rather leave a game ungraded and be unable to sell on HA than pay their ransom. 

Grading has no value to me unless I’m selling. Only reason I get games graded is to optimize resale. That’s it. Otherwise, I don’t give a shit if you have a 9.8 A++... unless we are talking about boobs.

[LaC | 104]

1 hour ago, kell said:

Grading has no value to me unless I’m selling. Only reason I get games graded is to optimize resale. That’s it. Otherwise, I don’t give a shit if you have a 9.8 A++... unless we are talking about boobs.

I don't collect graded games either.  Would just grade to sell if I was doing that. Are you planning on sending it to HA? Not sure if you are aware, but HA does all the grading for you at no additional charge.  Sending a game to wata and then sending it to HA is a waste of time and money.   But maybe you plan on selling them on eBay which gives you a quicker turn around time as stuff gets listed on HA at their leisure. 

 

[RH | 4,903]

4 hours ago, A_Feisty_Pickle said:

I've got games at Wata right now and of course I want high grades, but it's pretty sketchy when they have a financial interest in giving you a high grade so they can charge you more money at the tail end of the process. 

 

4 hours ago, Gloves said:

Yyyyyyyuuuuuuuuuppppp.

Ooook... I thought the price valuation they were using was just the value of the sealed game BEFORE grading.  So, they can grade your $100 sealed game (not graded) and give it a 9.9+++ MEGA AWESOME GAME!!1! and then say "Well.. we've never seen one graded this high so we think it's conservatively worthe $1,500... so pay up!"

If they do that that's beyond wrong.  They need to value all games at their worth pre-grade.  I mean, this is so shady, I could see this easily being a class action lawsuit.  I'm going to lay my cards out for my personal experience.  Back in October I found a truly mint sealed copy of Riven for the PS1 for a decent price.  Myst is just one of those series I love to collect for, so when it looked fresh off the shelf of Funcoland without scratch, I figured I'd give WATA a try.  Well, now they've had the game over 6 months (which was the initial turn around time) but the game value has gone up.  Ok, they might charge me more than my upward-guessed value of the game if they are trying to figure out a replacement copy that isn't graded.  Maybe instead of $200, today it's $200 or even $300.  But, if it's graded a 9.8 or better (I went for the deep badge upgrade) that may try to pull some BS out their tail that 9.8s of games that have yet to be sold go for an "average" of $1,000.  Uh, no.  You've held onto my game for ages and I can't help that prices have spiked across the board.

I mean, consider that... it is actually to their advantage, under current conditions to sit on games because everything is skyrocketing.  The longer they wait, the more pseudo-valuable your games are and if they slowly cherry pick the expensive games to grade after many months, they are the ones raking in the profit.

I've known they were shady but not this deep.  Seriously, anyone on here a lawyer or have a friend that is one.  A class action might well be worth it.

I don't know what my options are but if they try to get me to fork out the fees for a $1,000 game I shipped in December, I'm going to ask them to crack open the case and send the ungraded thing back to me. I can afford an extra $100 to have it graded, but it's the principle.  It's a bait and switch.

[kell | 102]

1 hour ago, LaC said:

I don't collect graded games either.  Would just grade to sell if I was doing that. Are you planning on sending it to HA? Not sure if you are aware, but HA does all the grading for you at no additional charge.  

 

Actually didn’t know that, so thanks. I’d prefer to selll outside HA, but again, trying to maximize the resale so HA is an option. If they don’t have to grade, I may be able to negotiate a lower fee.

[Gulag Joe | 582]

2 hours ago, kell said:

Two weeks in post grading, then the email. Now I have to send PayPal, send them the receipt that I paid then “we will continue moving the game through our grading process and ship it back to you as soon as it is encapsulated. ”

Wow. The situation I'm facing has me concerned I'm going to get the same email. Thing is, they've had my shit since April of last year. Since then, half the games in my order have been selling upwards to 10k. I'm gonna be real pissed if they try this shit on me because it's not my fault my order has been sitting with them for going on 2 years now (15 fucking months, but still, select was 170 business days way back then). The worst part is, I sent these in primarily to have them encapsulated, hence the cheap route. This action will likely force me to have to sell some of these to make up for the billions of dollars in time I've lost waiting around for them to grade my shit.

[LaC | 104]

4 minutes ago, kell said:

Actually didn’t know that, so thanks. I’d prefer to selll outside HA, but again, trying to maximize the resale so HA is an option. If they don’t have to grade, I may be able to negotiate a lower fee.

I suspect a lot of people don't know that.  Or how the process really works.

 

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

1 hour ago, RH said:

Ooook... I thought the price valuation they were using was just the value of the sealed game BEFORE grading.  So, they can grade your $100 sealed game (not graded) and give it a 9.9+++ MEGA AWESOME GAME!!1! and then say "Well.. we've never seen one graded this high so we think it's conservatively worthe $1,500... so pay up!"

I had a similar situation with CAS when it came to deciding how much I should insure both games. With me including grading costs to it. Before realizing that they recommend that I insure it for the price it might sell for once graded. But this? They should just say "It graded this, and we think you could sell it for me. But if you are OK with the amount you insured it for, we will not ask for more money." to you. Because it is your call, and not their opinion that should matter.

Edited June 18, 2021 by FenrirZero

[AdamW | 713]

I don't think the "liability" thing means "cost of insurance on return shipping" exactly, or not only that. There's also the liability they have while they're holding the game. Their warehouse could burn down or get flooded or burgled, a rogue employee could take all the SMBs and run...that kinda liability. (Of course, who is actually on the hook to whom and for how much in such a situation is presumably in whatever agreement you sign when you ship something to them; I haven't done that so I don't know what it says).

Of course, whether those costs should be paid by a value percentage charge in this way, and exactly how that should work, is up for debate. But I'm just saying I don't think it's purely about shipping insurance.

Edited June 18, 2021 by AdamW