What is the Motivation / Enticement for Renewing my $149 NGC CS Membership?

[dragon]

With the recent price increases and benefit changes, it now appears the only tangible benefit of renewing my Premium Collectors Society membership for $149.00 is the privilege of being able to submit coins on my own as opposed to just letting a dealer handle the submission for me.

 

When I used to renew my annual membership the big perk for me was to get a voucher for early bird submissions that was worth more than the cost of the membership thus making it a good deal and an enticement to rejoin. Now NGC charges $149.00 for the premium membership and gives you a $150.00 credit towards their services, so essentially you're just buying a $150.00 NGC gift certificate and the privilege to send in coins by yourself.

 

I'm not sure how others feel, but I've never considered it a privilege to go through the tedious job of filling out long submission forms, carefully placing coins in flips, packaging everything up and driving to the PO and waiting in line to ship it. To me that's more of an unpleasant chore, and it's far easier IMO to just hand the coins over to either a local dealer or a dealer at a show and let them do all the work. Many times they will also give you a break on the postage fees if you're piggybacking along on a submission of theirs thus making it less expensive and less work to submit through a dealer.

 

While I do like and respect NGC very much and still feel they're the preeminent third party service, I am having trouble making sense of their new pricing and benefit structure of joining/renewing the Collectors Society at the $149.00 premium level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rrantique]

As a Premium member, you will enjoy a $150 credit to NGC (excludes shipping and handling fees). The $150 credit has already been posted to your NGC account (if you have renewed your account) and will be automatically applied to your next submission. The credit will expire on the date listed below (along with your membership).

[MarkFeld]

Do the dealers you work with charge you the same fees that you would be paying to NGC on your own, or do they charge a grading fee mark-up? Most dealers I know don't want to do the submission work for free.

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

As a Premium member, you will enjoy a $150 credit to NGC (excludes shipping and handling fees). The $150 credit has already been posted to your NGC account (if you have renewed your account) and will be automatically applied to your next submission. The credit will expire on the date listed below (along with your membership).

 

Mr. Dragon has some very logical points, especially considering the filling out the forms/time/mailing costs, etc. I can see how submitting via a reputable dealer is an advantage, considering his thoughts on his lifestyle/time.

 

I would just mention that there is a thread here from some time ago that dealt with a submission via a dealer, and the process turned south because of the manner the paperwork was filled out by the dealer (including some areas not filled out) grade listing, etc., and the manner the coin was returned and a monetary spat. It wasn't pretty, as I recall. I took a little flack when I mentioned a dealer that piggybacked submissions for collector/customers that had purchased from him and it was as low as a couple of dollars as a pass thru cost, in the same thread.

 

The point of the thread was that the back of the submission form(s) has a gazillion rules, a number of which I think are iffy, and the rules applied in the case of the unfortunate submission in the thread, and the dealer was not exactly Mr. Honor McHonor, more like Mr. Nasty McNasty as I remember.

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

Do the dealers you work with charge you the same fees that you would be paying to NGC on your own, or do they charge a grading fee mark-up? Most dealers I know don't want to do the submission work for free.

 

I know of at least one that didn't seem to mind doing so, without markup, and in fact without cost. .

 

As to dealers that do so, I am familiar with a few that will submit on behalf of the customer purchasing the coin from them.Of course the cost, or a portion thereof is community shared, and the customer has to wait because in order to keep costs low, the dealr builds up a quantity submission. It is a win win.

[RWB]

For coin dealers, submitting coins is also a means of seeing "fresh" coins before anyone else. That gives them first shot and new inventory.

[coinman_23885]

Do the dealers you work with charge you the same fees that you would be paying to NGC on your own, or do they charge a grading fee mark-up? Most dealers I know don't want to do the submission work for free.

 

I don't know about NGC, but I do know of a PCGS authorized dealer that will submit at a discount from the collector prices listed on the PCGS website for the reasons that RWB cites.

 

For coin dealers, submitting coins is also a means of seeing "fresh" coins before anyone else. That gives them first shot and new inventory.

[Nutmeg Coin]

I have always offered it to others as a free service at dealer submission prices. I don't know any dealer who ever charged extra for submissions beyond their direct expenses. However some dealers like Sloats refuses to submit coins for locals. Same thing with CAC. I just give the collector the paperwork and ask them to do the submission properly.

[bochiman]

Are you a member or the ANA?

Don't they have, as a benefit, submission rights to NGC?

 

So, if so, and if you are a member, you don't need to have a direct NGC membership if you don't want, correct?

 

(I am mentioning this all here in a question format as I am not 100% sure as I have never submitted to NGC myself...I have piggybacked on submissions that others have done though)

[Conder101]

Yes if you re and ANA member you can submit to NGC without haveing to buy an NGC membership.

[World Colonial]

I first submitted to NGC in October 2005, also as a Collectors Society member. The cost for the World Standard (?) and World Economy tiers was $27 and $15, with a 10% discount. Today, I believe it is $32 and $19 with no discount for membership. As you mentioned, I received a coupon for five free submissions for World Standard plus (I believe) a second coupon for three sports cards or comic book submissions plus a free ASE. Similar increases have occurred for NCS.

 

The last time I renewed a few years ago, it was what you stated. I don't care about the ASE and second coupon though these were nice perks, but the economics of the membership isn't what it used to be.

 

I acknowledge that NGC (or PCGS) have to increase their rates to cover their costs and stay in business but regardless of the reason, it should be apparent that this increase I describe makes it uneconomical to submit anywhere near as many coins as collectors did in the past or as they might like.

 

In the past, I would submit a lot more coins because it makes it more marketable to sell them, both for myself and my heirs. This isn't remotely true anymore, especially since the prices of many coins are going in the opposite direction. The same applies to the incomes of collectors in the aggregate which have almost certainly increased a lot less than these price increases, though I cannot say if this applies to those who are the primary submitters.

 

I don't know whether submission volumes have decreased or not. My impression is that they haven't. However, if this continues, it should be apparent that both NGC and PCGS are going to eventually price themselves out proportionately out of a lot submissions they received in the past.

[dragon]

Do the dealers you work with charge you the same fees that you would be paying to NGC on your own, or do they charge a grading fee mark-up? Most dealers I know don't want to do the submission work for free.

 

 

 

I've never had a dealer charge me a fee or markup for submitting. In fact, I wasn't aware some dealers even did that. The only thing is.... I really get nervous letting someone else submit for me as I'm always paranoid they may fingerprint or otherwise mishandle my coins. I'm always extremely careful in handling coins for submission and typically wear nitrile gloves.

[Nutmeg Coin]

ANA "gold" membership is only $28 a year now: https://www.money.org/account/join It's worth having if you want the submission privileges.

[brg5658]

Renewal is $129, not $149, so you get $150 in submission credit for $129. I belong both to the ANA and pay for my annual NGC membership at the Premium level. If you know you're going to use the $150 submission credit, then it seems a no-brainer.

 

Not sure what is so tedious about filling out the forms. I find the online NGC form to be pretty straightforward and painless. It seems a lot of your complaints are really blown out of proportion. Really, driving to the post office is a hassle worth complaining about? Putting your coins in flips is painful? Good grief, why don't you just buy all of your coins already graded if it is so painful for you to do these small menial tasks for a submission of your own?

 

[rrantique]

Renewal is $129, not $149, so you get $150 in submission credit for $129. I belong both to the ANA and pay for my annual NGC membership at the Premium level. If you know you're going to use the $150 submission credit, then it seems a no-brainer.

 

Not sure what is so tedious about filling out the forms. I find the online NGC form to be pretty straightforward and painless. It seems a lot of your complaints are really blown out of proportion. Really, driving to the post office is a hassle worth complaining about? Putting your coins in flips is painful? Good grief, why don't you just buy all of your coins already graded if it is so painful for you to do these small menial tasks for a submission of your own?

 

 

[coinman1794]

Yes, membership renewal is $129, which means you do come out ahead. Also, the $150 credit is much more flexible and convenient than the old 5-Coin voucher one used to receive.

[Hard Times]

Renewal is $129, not $149, so you get $150 in submission credit for $129. I belong both to the ANA and pay for my annual NGC membership at the Premium level. If you know you're going to use the $150 submission credit, then it seems a no-brainer.

 

Not sure what is so tedious about filling out the forms. I find the online NGC form to be pretty straightforward and painless. It seems a lot of your complaints are really blown out of proportion. Really, driving to the post office is a hassle worth complaining about? Putting your coins in flips is painful? Good grief, why don't you just buy all of your coins already graded if it is so painful for you to do these small menial tasks for a submission of your own?

 

 

 

 

And further, who walks into a post office and waits in line these days? You can do everything online - set up shipping with USPS and print your label, and you can get private insurance at substantial discounts to USPS - so you don't have to stand in line at a B&M PO. So I haven't seen the inside of a post-office in years. Much more efficient ways to mail things these days.

 

Best, HT