Here's why the CGC scandal isn't going awayAs most of you know, CGC is currently embroiled in a scandal in which at least one seller, who has been in operation for 10+ years, has been caught swapping books. For example, he took a Hulk 181 with missing interior pages and managed to get it into a blue label 9.0. CGC has admitted that hundreds of books have been impacted. The scope of this scandal is still being investigated. It could be a one-off, or it could be the tip of the iceberg. If you want to learn more, you can read about it here.
Understandably, discussion of this topic has been heated. Many collectors have a lot invested in slabs, and if the scope of this scandal widens, it could significantly undercut buyers' faith in CGC.
But here's why this scandal isn't going away any time soon: CGC slabs are not consumables.
If Chipotle has an E Coli scandal, it can rock people's faith in the company, but most customers will return once the tainted foods have been removed and the company improves its health protocols.
The problem is that CGC can't remove their soiled products. The graded books are already out there, have changed hands countless times, and will remain out there forever without any ability to identify which ones are fraudulent.
It would be like Chipotle admitting, "Yes, we definitely still have E Coli contamination in our foods, but eat here anyway! Your odds are quite decent!"
Sure, CGC can improve procedures for new books. For example, here are a few things they could do:
Start labeling the inner well
Put tamper proof tape on the sides of the case
Publicly release high-res scans of the cover, back cover, and each interior page
Release detailed grader notes for every slab in which they explain the location of every single flaw along with the mathematics of each deduction
Properly vet their employees and pay them good wages
Make CGC employees go through security checks on the way in and out of rooms where they handle books
Find a way to truly seal cases shut
Release video footage of every book in every stage of the grading process (yes, I know they would never do this).
But even if they take some of the above steps, there are still 10 million already graded books that haven't gone through these more rigorous processes. Improvements could restore trust in CGC, but that trust will only extend to books that have gone through the upgraded verification processes. For old slabs, people will always wonder if that ASM 238 actually has the Tattooz inside or if that blue label Marvel Spotlight 5 might have restoration. And without cracking the slab, there is no way for the owner to know what they actually have.
If CGC actually does make the improvements, it will have the side effect of creating a new tier of graded book. Want top dollar for your book? Well, you better make sure it was graded post-2023 when CGC actually got their
together. Anything pre-2023 could be a swapped book and will therefore be seen as an inferior, less-reliable grade.
I'm sure that CGC is hesitant about tiering their product like this. That's why their first goal will be to assure us that this was the act of a "lone wolf".
But even if it was a lone wolf, the cat is out of the bag. There are YouTube videos showing how easy it is to open and reseal CGC cases without leaving a trace. The equipment to pull this off costs less than $20. Books swaps are just getting started.
It's tempting to wait for this controversy to blow over, but we can't let that happen. The entire purpose of CGC is a guarantee. It's literally in the name! And, as it stands right now, CGC slabs not only do not provide that guarantee, they actually provide scammers with a perfect vehicle to hide and encapsulate their fraud.