Thoughts on getting a console graded?

[Matthewnimmo | 113]

Since i got my recent nib sega 32x. I have zero plans of ever taking it out of the box. What’s everyone’s thoughts on getting it graded?  I believe VGA is my only option as it doesn’t seem wata does consoles. 

Now in some of the random graded console pics on the internet i see some that its hard to actually see the console behind the case due to what it seems to be a clear plastic bag wrapped around the console before going into the case. That looks like crap. But then ive seen some consoles that dont look like that and they look good. Does anyone know what that bag is and if i can tell vga to not use the crappy bag?

thoughts?

[B.A. | 1,139]

The bag is held on with a single piece of scotch tape. It's to protect the acrylic when shipping. It's about as hard to remove as taking your groceries out of the grocery bag would be. 

[Matthewnimmo | 113]

32 minutes ago, B.A. said:

The bag is held on with a single piece of scotch tape. It's to protect the acrylic when shipping. It's about as hard to remove as taking your groceries out of the grocery bag would be. 

It looked like it was inside the case but im going to double check that. Do you have a grade console?  Thoughts on it and the process 

[hyrulevyse | 151]

4 hours ago, Matthewnimmo said:

It looked like it was inside the case but im going to double check that. Do you have a grade console?  Thoughts on it and the process 

As BA said it's not, all vga submissions come with plastic around it to guard against scratching during return.  Some people leave it on to continue to protect it, and some take it off to display.

I think most consoles actually look great slabbed but you'd really want to be sure that it hasn't been used before submitting it. 

[cgfeelit | 25]

Before I sold it I had a graded Mario Maker Wii U bundle and it looked incredible. As the others have stated the bag is there to protect the case and honestly in pictures it may not look good but as for being displayed it's hardly noticed. I had games and the console some with and without the bags and the bag is really not that noticeable. The ones that weren't bagged ended up getting surface scratches on them from shuffling them around and IMO looked worse than being bagged. The only thing I didn't like about the case was that the grade was in the back and didn't look as good to me as it would had it been closer to the front. Here's the only pic I have of it still and the bag was on it 

[Matthewnimmo | 113]

1 hour ago, cgfeelit said:

Before I sold it I had a graded Mario Maker Wii U bundle and it looked incredible. As the others have stated the bag is there to protect the case and honestly in pictures it may not look good but as for being displayed it's hardly noticed. I had games and the console some with and without the bags and the bag is really not that noticeable. The ones that weren't bagged ended up getting surface scratches on them from shuffling them around and IMO looked worse than being bagged. The only thing I didn't like about the case was that the grade was in the back and didn't look as good to me as it would had it been closer to the front. Here's the only pic I have of it still and the bag was on it 

This is extremely helpful!  So i plan on calling vga on Monday to ask them some questions. Specifically what category do I submit my console under “standard or qualified”. The box has never been opened but there are no seal stickers (don’t think there ever was and i see no evidence of seal stickers either).  So im not sure which one to put it under and id hate to say “standard” and then have them charge me an extra $25 to re categories it to “qualified” as their policy states they may do

with that said perhaps you can help answer some questions since you’ve went down the vga console grading path

1). Do you know which category i need to use?  Standard or qualified?

2). I have that shrink wrap on my console that the store owner put on it when he aold me the unit to help keep dust off. do i need to remove that before i ship or will they remove it. Or will they reject it because it has shrink wrap on it?

3). Any issues you had with vga and your console?

4). Did you chose the classic label or the clear view one and whats the big difference?

5). Any guess on the wait time?  If i chose the 7-10 day option most expensive (i think that also includes the uv protection in the price as well). Is it 7-10 days after all their delays due to covid or does it no longer matter on which service you choose now because there is no way in hell anyone is getting anything back in 7-10 days due to covid?

6). They say to insure it for the value the item would be after a grade. How can i find that out?  I cannot find any history of sega 32x graded sales anywhere 

7). Oh are any of the extras worth it?  Like the cleaning or the detail summary?

8 )  guess its normal to worry that vga will not return my system lol?

thanks again,

[cgfeelit | 25]

23 minutes ago, Matthewnimmo said:

This is extremely helpful!  So i plan on calling vga on Monday to ask them some questions. Specifically what category do I submit my console under “standard or qualified”. The box has never been opened but there are no seal stickers (don’t think there ever was and i see no evidence of seal stickers either).  So im not sure which one to put it under and id hate to say “standard” and then have them charge me an extra $25 to re categories it to “qualified” as their policy states they may do

with that said perhaps you can help answer some questions since you’ve went down the vga console grading path

1). Do you know which category i need to use?  Standard or qualified?

2). I have that shrink wrap on my console that the store owner put on it when he aold me the unit to help keep dust off. do i need to remove that before i ship or will they remove it. Or will they reject it because it has shrink wrap on it?

3). Any issues you had with vga and your console?

4). Did you chose the classic label or the clear view one and whats the big difference?

5). Any guess on the wait time?  If i chose the 7-10 day option most expensive (i think that also includes the uv protection in the price as well). Is it 7-10 days after all their delays due to covid or does it no longer matter on which service you choose now because there is no way in hell anyone is getting anything back in 7-10 days due to covid?

6). They say to insure it for the value the item would be after a grade. How can i find that out?  I cannot find any history of sega 32x graded sales anywhere 

7). Oh are any of the extras worth it?  Like the cleaning or the detail summary?

8 )  guess its normal to worry that vga will not return my system lol?

thanks again,

1.  I would think standard if your sure it hasn't been opened. I don't believe they came sticker sealed but I am not positive on that. Best way to tell is to look at the opening taps and make sure there are no creases that would show its been opened if there are any creases then it would be qualified. 

2. I don't know on this. That's something I would ask them about I wouldn't think it would be a problem but am unsure.

3. Only issue I had was my case got damaged in shipping back to me. I contacted VGA and they had me a new return label the same day and I believe I had the console back within a week from shipping it back. The CS was extremely helpful and had both labels done as next day delivery. 

4. Clear View is I believe the one that you see the most with the label on top. Ill attach a picture of what I think the classic view is. Its more the style you see on action figures which they do also so I'd guess that's why its an option. 

5. I'd say with Covid even if you pay for the quicker tier its still going to be delayed more than the 7-10 days

6. When I did mine it was when that bundle had just came out and there weren't any sales either so I just ballparked it on the higher side. So a new 32x is around $300 so I'd say at least 4-5 times that to be safe. 

7. I'm not sure on this I didn't get any of those. I know with the summary is will let you know the problems and why it got the grade it did so if that would be something your interested in then I'd say yes. If you don't care about that then no 

8. I'd be more worried about the post office taking forever to deliver or losing in transit than I would be with VGA. They deal with millions of dollars in collectables probably daily and I haven't heard of a lost item from them yet. If you do decide to submit it I would definitely ship through UPS over USPS  

[Matthewnimmo | 113]

On 1/23/2021 at 11:45 PM, cgfeelit said:

1.  I would think standard if your sure it hasn't been opened. I don't believe they came sticker sealed but I am not positive on that. Best way to tell is to look at the opening taps and make sure there are no creases that would show its been opened if there are any creases then it would be qualified. 

2. I don't know on this. That's something I would ask them about I wouldn't think it would be a problem but am unsure.

3. Only issue I had was my case got damaged in shipping back to me. I contacted VGA and they had me a new return label the same day and I believe I had the console back within a week from shipping it back. The CS was extremely helpful and had both labels done as next day delivery. 

4. Clear View is I believe the one that you see the most with the label on top. Ill attach a picture of what I think the classic view is. Its more the style you see on action figures which they do also so I'd guess that's why its an option. 

5. I'd say with Covid even if you pay for the quicker tier its still going to be delayed more than the 7-10 days

6. When I did mine it was when that bundle had just came out and there weren't any sales either so I just ballparked it on the higher side. So a new 32x is around $300 so I'd say at least 4-5 times that to be safe. 

7. I'm not sure on this I didn't get any of those. I know with the summary is will let you know the problems and why it got the grade it did so if that would be something your interested in then I'd say yes. If you don't care about that then no 

8. I'd be more worried about the post office taking forever to deliver or losing in transit than I would be with VGA. They deal with millions of dollars in collectables probably daily and I haven't heard of a lost item from them yet. If you do decide to submit it I would definitely ship through UPS over USPS  

Thanks again for your help. I pulled the trigger and shipped it off today!  I saw on their website they said for receiving and invoicing expect 3+ weeks. So im guessing my turn around will be 3+ weeks and then the 7-10 days. So would it be safe to say end of February or beginning of March i may get a shipped notification from them

i went ahead and removed that beautiful shrink wrap just to be safe. I couldn’t get a hold of anybody to confirm if it was ok, so i wanted to be safe than sorry

also, I noticed a checkbox on the forum that said if they believe that my submission doesn’t meet the “standard “ category that its ok for them to try to grade it in the “qualified” category. So i went ahead and checked that box. I think that any system that doesn’t have a seal or tape seal they’ll automatically put it in that category (even though the sega 32x consoles never shipped with seals). Which is unfortunate as id rather them not open a box that has never been opened. Now i did make a note on the form for them to consider the tabs and how they haven’t been moved before just automatically grading it as qualified 

ultimately, ill be happy to have it returned graded in one category or another. Im hoping for a silver grade but there were some blemishes (very light) on the surface. So no telling what it will grade at