The SLAB WARS HAVE BEGUN! C2E2-ECCC only CGC1507

Originally Posted by Loiselle313
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Originally Posted by SteveRicketts
Here is an "official" response about VA Comicon...

CBCS was headlined as the "Official Grading Company of the VA Comicon" but there was no exclusivity for us. CGC was on the vendor list until the last minute. A week or two before the show they pulled out and cancelled. I have no idea why; you'll have to ask them.

CBCS has been offered exclusive access to several shows since we've opened, but we've turned it down every time because we feel it hurts the hobby. We want to gain customers by doing our thing, not by eliminating choices for the collectors. We're here to add a choice. If you like us, send us some books.

And finally, we don't penalize anyone for sending books to CGC. Hell, when customers come to our booth with magazines, we've physically walked them to the CGC booth so they can get their books slabbed. Those happy customers come to CBCS again. It seems to be working for us.

Steve, I'm hope there is a plan in place, or are working on a plan for C2E2.

As it stands, RIGHT NOW, according to ReedPOP/C2E2/ECCC, CBCS Comics is barred from advertising at the shows, and barred from renting booth space.

A response I received from the people who run the C2E2 Facebook page states that "They (CBCS Comics) are still free to come to the show and Fans are still able to work with them if they choose. We do anticipate that CBCS will try to make their presence known in another way - so for that we would definitely recommend Fans reach out to CBCS to see what they are planning to do."

Sounds awfully tough to conduct business when you're barred from having a booth and advertising.

I hope CBCS has some sort of presence at the show. Someway, somehow.

Originally Posted by Chubbyfresh77
I remember when conventions were a place where everyone in an industry would come together and present their products

Originally Posted by TheLiamSturgess
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Originally Posted by CFP_Comics
Time will tell if this move will hurt or help CGC, it always does.

I said it on the Facebook page and I'll say it here - good for CGC for securing a lucrative exclusive contract. It will only help them because the lines are already pretty much drawn. It's ReedPop who should be worried.

Originally Posted by DarthKribs
This is starting down a a crasy road. I see this turnning into apple vs samsung type of thing. a few CBC going with CGC and a few going with CBCS. the crazy thing will be who will win the Wizard World shows or even SDCC

Originally Posted by cloudcloddie
I feel more and more that every decision CGC makes is about money. They've had, IMO, piss poor customer service for years, and the way they handled the frankenslab fiasco just exacerbated it. This exclusivity is just another way for them to get business without actually getting better as a company. I understand that they're a business and their end goal is money - and that worked for them when there was no valid competition. But at this point it's just them doing everything they can to stay top dog without improving service. It's lame.

Originally Posted by cloudcloddie
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Originally Posted by JWKyle
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Originally Posted by cloudcloddie
I feel more and more that every decision CGC makes is about money. They've had, IMO, piss poor customer service for years, and the way they handled the frankenslab fiasco just exacerbated it. This exclusivity is just another way for them to get business without actually getting better as a company. I understand that they're a business and their end goal is money - and that worked for them when there was no valid competition. But at this point it's just them doing everything they can to stay top dog without improving service. It's lame.

CGC has made changes. First thing they did was roll back the modern teir to 1975 probably so they wouldn't lose that five year block from 1975 to 1980 to CBCS. They have also cut the pre-screen number of books from 50 to 25. To say CGC isn't competing on the service side of things is really not true. I'm not saying they aren't trying to buy their way out of this but they are offering their customer base a couple of new things also.

Wasn't their modern tier service '75 back in the day? They could have easily kept it as such over the years, but... money. And the pre-screen 50 number was never a hard and fast rule. I get that they've made a few changes, but I'd take it more seriously if it was to benefit the customers, and not solely as a response to losing business to CBCS.

Originally Posted by PhantomEwan
I'm just sad. Already got my tickets to ECCC and was looking forward to subbing some comics. I don't sub many comics and I really like doing it in person a little old fashioned of me I guess. I also like that it saves me some money on shipping my comics to CBCS. It helps me rationalize the expense of going to the con. This takes some of the luster off my hometown con and leaves it feeling kind of dirty.