CBCS offers impartial grading and certification for comic books. From the moment your books enter into our facility they are handled with the utmost care by our highly trained professional staff. We have taken every precaution to safely house your comic books while in our care. Our facility boasts a heavily fortified, climate controlled vault, and state-of-the-art security cameras that record and save, the actions of every CBCS employee in every room where your treasured comic books will be during the certification process.
RECEIVING
Every invoice of comics submitted to CBCS enters the receiving department where each shipment is carefully opened and fully inspected. The comics are checked against the submission order form to ensure all comics are accounted for.
A barcode is generated from your invoice number for your specific order tiers which are tied to your personal account. The barcode is scanned at every step of the certification process. This insures that the order is always easily tracked through our system at every stage of the process it is at. Each comic in your order will also have a barcode sticker placed on the mylar or bag in came in, which also allows us to track any single comic in your submission.
Once receiving has finished processing the books, the comics either enter our secure vault to await grading or is brought directly into the grading room.
RESTORATION AND CONSERVATION DETECTION
Before a comic book is graded, it is checked for restoration and conservation by our restoration detection experts. If restoration or conservation is found, CBCS will include a list of all the work detected on the label, classifying it as either conserved or restored.
CBCS has one classification level for conservation and five levels for restoration; slight, slight/moderate, moderate, moderate/extensive, and extensive. The more restoration that is detected, the higher the level becomes. Once the book has been checked for conservation and restoration, it enters the grading phase.
GRADING
Each book is checked to make sure they are complete, as each page is counted, checking for missing panels, coupons and pieces. The grader will then take notes of any defects that could affect the books grade or will note any defect that may be hidden or hard to see. The grader will also do another check for restoration and then choose a page quality and a grade from ranging from 0.1 up to 10, with 10 being the highest grade a book can receive.
To make sure one grader does not influence another grader, any grade chosen remains hidden from all of the next graders. When the finalizer gets the book, the process is repeated, and compares the chosen grade to the other grades already assigned to the book. If the grades match, or are reasonably close, the book will receive a final grade. If the grades do not match, the book will be passed to another grader (or even other graders) until a consensus of the final grade has been selected.
The invoice is then sent to encapsulation.
ENCAPSULATION
At this point in the label for the book is printed, an encapsulator then makes sure each CBCS label matches the assigned barcode for each book. The CBCS label lists all the information about the book such as title, issue number, publisher, artist information, key comments and more. The label also includes very specific information about the particular copy that was submitted, including the assigned numerical grade as well as pedigree, variant, signatures, tape, missing pages, restoration, and any other pertinent information.
The books are then sealed into CBCS’s archival safe inner holder. The inner holder, along with the CBCS label is then inserted and sealed into CBCS's cutting-edge, tamper evident outer case. Once every book in the invoice is encapsulated the books enter the quality control department.
QUALITY CONTROL
Each label is checked for spelling mistakes or any other problems. Each case is checked to make sure the comic is secure, that the label matches the encapsulated book, as well as being checked for any major scuffs and/or abrasions.
Although mistakes will arise, we do our best to make certain that each comic that passes through our QC inspection is properly graded and labeled, and completely meets our high standards before leaving CBCS.
SHIPPING
Now that all the books have entered the shipping phase, each order is either held in the vault for customer pickup or ready for shipment.
All invoices are scanned out with each book being checked against the original submission form, assuring each individual book that was submitted is now being sent back.
All invoices are securely packed and boxed. CBCS ships books Monday-Friday via USPS, FedEx & UPS.
COMICS WE GRADE
CBCS grades mainstream comic books that will fit into our holder. The maximum size is 7.625" x 10.5" and .24" thick.
There may be exceptions for comics that are unusually heavy, even though they may fit into the size parameters. These are determined on a case-by-case basis.
RESTRICTIONS
Currently, we do not certify underground comics. A general rule to determine an "underground" would be if the comic is listed in the underground portion of the "Official Underground and Newave Comix Price Guide" published in 1982 by Jay Kennedy. CBCS does not consider most independent comics published after 1982 to be "underground," though there may be exceptions.
CBCS reserves the right to not certify certain comic books, including those that contain content that we consider "questionable," or that depicts sexual situations involving minors. This is at our discretion, and our judgement is not debatable.
We do not certify comics that have gems, jewels, beads, or other such items glued to the cover.
Polybagged comics must be removed before they can be certified. If you do not remove the comic from the poly bag, by submitting it to CBCS for certification, you are authorizing us to remove it for you. Comics with loose items such as detached 3-D glasses, poly-bags, certificates of authenticity, or other loose materials that can damage a book will not be encapsulated with the comic. These items will be sent back to you at no extra charge.
Currently, we do not certify magazines.
If you have a question regarding any of the restrictions listed above, please contact customer service at 844.384.4777 or customerservice@cbcscomics.com, prior to submitting your books.