Hi All! I submitted a coin to PCGS through a LCS and recently found out I owe the LCS $75. I was told that the LCS waits before having a group of coins to send out for grading and they do not submit any for rush grading (aka: it may take 6 - 8 weeks, but the LCS tries to keep costs down). Looking at PCGS's website, I believe that the graded coin would fall under the "Regular" category (https://www.pcgs.com/servicesandfees) and cost $35 to grade. I understand that there are shipping and insurance fees, but is $75 a bit steep? I am asking because past coins submitted through this LCS, albeit a few years ago, cost about $50/coin. For this coin, I was quoted about $60 to $65. Thank you for any insight.
If he's sending your coin in a submission with only your coin the price will be higher than if you have others sharing the submission with you. This is the cost of sending in a single coin. Regular - $35 Shipping - $22 (if the coin's value is less than $1000) Handling - $10 Total - $67 It would be less if coins from other owners shared your submission. You would then split the cost of shipping and handling with them.
Your LCS needs to make money too. They assume liability while in possession of your coin, plus it takes manpower to fill out the forms. You can always join PCGS with a basic membership and submit them yourself.
If as you say that includes other coins, then there is some profit that the dealer is building into the price. If you can gather a grouping of coins, it’s often less expensive to send it in yourself (with one coin it will still be expensive-like Robec showed earlier). If the dealer is known to get good grades, then the $75 may be worth it (but then you might have to believe in “conspiracy theories” ).
What is the coin? What is a reasonable value? What other coins were submitted with it (hint look at the surrounding serial numbers)? How many coins did you submit and how many total coins were submitted? The 6-8 week time suggests that he submitted under the cheaper economy tier. It sounds like he is making you pay his shipping both ways for the entire order (including his coins) + the entire $10/submission handling fee and having you subsidize his coins. If that is the case, brick and mortars are totally expendable in the Internet age so it is a bad business move if my theory holds true. You can pay PCGS a yearly fee and submit yourself. On the other hand, it could be perfectly reasonable. We need more information.
The coin was worth $1,000 - $1,500. I do not know the serial number as I have not yet picked up the coin; however, I suspect that there were not too many coins in the submission and/or not many very valuable ($2,500+) ones that went out.
Don't forget there is shipping both ways, we also don't know what method they used to ship to PCGS. If they didn't ship there by Registerd and used priority insured , or express, or overnight, the shipping charges would be MUCH higher.
