Hello everyone,
I figured Iโd come up with a quick guide on which CGC membership tier makes the most sense depending on how much money you intend to spend on grading. This guide is specifically for submissions and does not account for the 10% discount from the CCG Store.
Happy collecting!
Associate - $25 yearly
Yearly Submission Cost: $0 - $148
Seeing as how this tier costs $25 to sign up for and you get nothing of monetary value in return, this tier should only by used by those who are submitting less than $150 worth of cards per year. This only makes sense for those who wish to submit a few cards.
Since bulk requires 25 cards or more, this tier does not make financial sense for those wishing to submit in bulk.
Tier | Cost for Tier | Min Number of Cards | Max Number of Cards |
---|---|---|---|
Bulk | - | - | - |
Bulk w/ subgrades | - | - | - |
Economy | $25/card | 1 ($25) | 5 ($125) |
Economy w/ subgrades | $40/card | 1 ($40) | 3 ($120) |
Standard | $35/card | 1 ($35) | 4 ($140) |
Standard w/ subgrades | $50/card | 1 ($50) | 2 ($100) |
Express | $70/card | 1 ($70) | 2 ($140) |
Express w/ subgrades | $85/card | 1 ($85) | 1 ($85) |
WalkThrough | - | - | - |
WalkThrough w/ subgrades | - | - | - |
Premium - $149 yearly
Yearly Submission Cost: $149 - $1499
Unlike any of the other tiers, this tier is completely recouped by store credit. At a cost of $149/yr, you actually end up getting one free dollar, due to the $150 store credit that this tier gives you.
For anyone submitting in bulk (25 cards or more), this tier or higher is a necessity.
Tier | Cost for Tier | Min Number of Cards | Max Number of Cards |
---|---|---|---|
Bulk | $15/card | 25 ($375) | 99 ($1485) |
Bulk w/ subgrades | $30/card | 25 ($750) | 49 ($1470) |
Economy | $25/card | 6 ($150) | 59 ($1475) |
Economy w/ subgrades | $40/card | 4 ($160) | 24 ($1440) |
Standard | $35/card | 5 ($175) | 42 ($1470) |
Standard w/ subgrades | $50/card | 3 ($150) | 29 ($1450) |
Express | $70/card | 3 ($210) | 21 ($1470) |
Express w/ subgrades | $85/card | 2 ($170) | 17 ($1445) |
WalkThrough | $150/card | 1 ($150) | 9 ($1350) |
WalkThrough w/ subgrades | $165/card | 1 ($165) | 9 ($1435) |
Elite - $299 yearly
Yearly Submission Cost: $1500+
This tier is quite costly, and the average submitter will probably not use it. If you happen to be spending more than $1500 on grading in a year, then this tier is for you.
Tier | Cost for Tier | Min Number of Cards |
---|---|---|
Bulk | $13.50/card | 112 ($1512) |
Bulk w/ subgrades | $27/card | 56 ($1512) |
Economy | $22.50/card | 67 ($1507.50) |
Economy w/ subgrades | $36/card | 42 ($1512) |
Standard | $31.50/card | 48 ($1512) |
Standard w/ subgrades | $45/card | 34 ($1530) |
Express | $63/card | 24 ($1512) |
Express w/ subgrades | $76.50/card | 20 ($1530) |
WalkThrough | $135/card | 12 ($1620) |
WalkThrough w/ subgrades | $148.50/card | 11 ($1633.50) |
Math for those interested
When figuring out when it is more beneficial to buy Elite instead of Premium, we have to determine at what price point getting 10% off of the total order is worth the additional $150/yr charge.
Let t = total submission cost
Premium:
p = t + 149 - 150
p = t - 1
Elite:
e = 0.9t + 299 - 150
e = 0.9t + 149
Finding the intersection:
t - 1 = 0.9t + 149
t = 0.9t + 150
0.1t = 150
t = 1500