I've never submitted a coin for grading and yesterday I asked the dealer of a coin shop about submitting a coin for me and he said it would $50. He told me he only used NGC and PCGS which was fine, but I didn't know if the price was correct or not. Is that fair or is there another option for one of these two?
PCGS : It depends on the year and the value of the coin. If it is under $300 value, non-gold, non-error-,non-variety, the coins alone is $20 as economy, could be $16 if modern ( 1965v to date) and up to $1000 value. But there is a $8.00 handling fee, and $20 return shipping fee for 1-4 coins, and the postage and insurance to send it, so I could see $50 for a single coin. For varieties , add $24 per coin, such as RPM, DDO. That is reasonable if you want it sent right away, and he doesn't have a group to combine. When I send coins for my club friends, I pro-rate the handling and shipping costs, but it is still expensive as you should mail registered and insured, and that isn't cheap. NGC is similar, but less for varieties last I used them. Rates are on the websites. I wouldn't send for a unknown as the possible problems and accusations if it isn't what they expect ~ "You switched coins on me" isn't worth it.
I've heard of higher and lower. I have a dealer that would send for $40 if it's cheap coins if I'm not in a hurry. But if expensive or fast he said it was a lot more.
My last sub through a dealer was a half eagle. The dealer had one coin from his stock that he also submitted. We split the cost 50/50. My share was $52.50.
I see CT-er's talking about submitting coins that are barely worth $20 on a good day. Trivial mint "errors" and the like. How do they do it??
What kind of coin was it? Value of the coins drives the pricing. Lets say it was a common Morgan Silver Dollar under $300, and you ship it to NGC for grading. You would pay $30 (Early Bird), plus an $8 invoice fee, plus $21 shipping, plus whatever it costs you to ship it to NGC. So $50 isn't unreasonable. If you have lots of coins to grade you can do economy for $17 per coin at a 5 coin minimum, but then the shipping goes up based on value and number of coins. Grading coins is not cheap. Unless you have a high value coin, it may not be cost effective for you. Here is a link to NGCs grading fees: http://www.ngccoin.com/services/services.aspx
My initial response is that the dealer can quote whatever he likes to reflect his time and effort. Other than that, the price will depend on the service level, shipping and if it is going in alone or with other coins.
Only if you are shipping OUT of the country. Within the US it is insured for the amount it is declared for, as long as you can prove the value.
I just mailed an order into PCGS Monday. Modern submission: 17 Coins for grading = $272 Application fee =$ 8 Return Postage =$ 29.95 Total $311.95 Cost per coin, $18.95
Caleb, looks like you forgot shipping there and you should have had insurance both ways too. We just don;t know enough as what the value of these coins are worth to insure or the cost to grade based on that.
It cost 18.25 to mail the package, return postage is insured for $4,250.00 The figures mentioned earlier is what I have to pay PCGS to grade 17 coins, if you want the total cost both way it averages out to $19.42 per coin on the order mailed Monday.
