Just read this note about panda varieties in the NGC newsletter. To me, it sounds like you will now have to select the VarietyPlus service and they are going to charge an additional $12 fee to have a variety attributed (Large Date, Small Date, etc.) on the label during grading. http://www.ngccoin.com/news/viewart...tm_medium=enews&utm_campaign=ngc_enews_1_2012 http://www.ngccoin.com/VPSubCategory.aspx?subid=60 http://www.ngccoin.com/VPcategories.aspx http://www.ncscoin.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=2527&NCS-services-fees So, if this is the case, now the base cost for a NGC graded panda with a variety will cost $28.50 each. What's more the price for NCS' modern service has increased from $22.50 per coin to $26.50 per coin. So a NCS conserved and graded panda with a variety will now have a base cost of $38.50 each! And that doesn't include the stupid $8 per submission form 'handling fee' or shipping there and back. Take a peek at the links and correct me if I am wrong (which I hope I am). If I'm not, what a disappointment and disservice to their customers. At those rates I'll definitely have to rethink what I am willing to send in.
Kills the chance for a profit on nearly all post 2000 pandas though, and even makes some pre-2000 not worth grading unless you plan to hold them for a very long time. I suppose not having an attribute included is one way of lowering the cost a bit, but still, the 18% increase in NCS modern service and the addition of the $8 per submission form fee are hard to swallow -- at least for me.
the 8.00 form fee has been there for a while, i will check with NGC on the variety issue , i think they are talking more about mint errors such as Vam coins etc that take extra time to verify and grade
The $8 form fee for NCS is new. It has existed for a while for NGC. Also, see this list... http://www.ngccoin.com/VPSubCategory.aspx?subid=60 Says $12 fee to recognize date varieties.
sorry about the last post Denom. MS/PF Date Fee* NGC Label S10Y MS 1990 CHINA $12 PANDA LARGE DATE S10Y MS 1990 CHINA $12 PANDA SMALL DATE S10Y MS 1991 CHINA $12 PANDA LARGE DATE S10Y MS 1991 CHINA $12 PANDA SMALL DATE S10Y MS 1992 CHINA $12 PANDA LARGE DATE S10Y MS 1992 CHINA $12 PANDA SMALL DATE S10Y MS 1993 CHINA $12 PANDA LARGE DATE S10Y MS 1993 CHINA $12 PANDA SMALL DATE S10Y MS 1994 CHINA $12 PANDA LARGE DATE S10Y MS 1994 CHINA $12 PANDA SMALL DATE S5Y MS 1995 CHINA $12 PANDA LARGE DATE S5Y MS 1995 CHINA $12 PANDA SMALL DATE S10Y MS 1995 CHINA $12 PANDA LARGE TWIG S10Y MS 1995 CHINA $12 PANDA SMALL TWIG LARGE DATE S10Y MS 1995 CHINA $12 PANDA SMALL TWIG SMALL DATE S10Y MS 1996 CHINA $12 PANDA LARGE DATE S10Y MS 1996 CHINA $12 PANDA SMALL DATE S10Y MS 1997 CHINA $12 PANDA LARGE DATE S10Y MS 1997 CHINA $12 PANDA SMALL DATE S10Y MS 1998 CHINA $12 PANDA LARGE DATE S10Y MS 1998 CHINA $12 PANDA SMALL DATE S10Y MS 1999 CHINA $12 PANDA LARGE DATE SERIF 1 S10Y MS 1999 CHINA $12 PANDA LARGE DATE PLAIN 1 S10Y MS 1999 CHINA $12 PANDA SMALL DATE S10Y MS 2000 CHINA $12 PANDA MIRRORED RING S10Y MS 2000 CHINA $12 PANDA FROSTED RING * In order to have the above varieties requiring the $12 fee designated by NGC, VarietyPlus service must be requested at time of grading. Designation Review service is also available for coins already encapsulated by NGC. For coins where the fee column is blank, no VarietyPlus charge is required to have your coin designated during grading. For coins marked $12, a $12 surcharge applies to the tier fee during grading, or a $12 fee applies to have the VarietyPlus designation added to any coin already graded and encapsulated by NGC.
Just got off the phone with Lisa at NGC. The fee is confirmed. Even if they don't have to do any research to recognize the variety, meaning you provided it, if you want it noted on the label you will have to pay the fee. This applies to all coins received after the price increases were set to go into effect. Submissions sent in and received before the effective date for new pricing that are still awaiting conservation or grading will be charged the 2011 rates (thank goodness since I have 23 awaiting grading). So, if you don't care if LD, SD, etc. is noted, you can save $12 per coin.
Yep. Unless they decide to automatically include the variety and charge the additional fee even if it isn't selected on the submission form (which wouldn't surprise me). To me the coin is more important than the label. I'd rather save the money or get more coins graded than pay an extra $12 per coin to have the variety printed on the label. I bet the next fee they'll add is for a new label or notation for Conserved coins.
Yeah, I don't care about the variety on the label at all. It makes it easier for noobs though. If they attribute coins in the census correctly, then this isn't such a big deal. Older NGC coins don't have the date varieties identified anyways, so you still have to know what you are looking at regardless. Personally, I wouldn't be opposed to a small (less than $5) fee for identifying conserved coins. At LBC we've been calling for NGC to do that (for free!) for a long time.
I received a cc of an email from NGC to another collector that NGC has reversed the policy and will not charge extra for the Large/Small date labels. Here's an excerpt: "After reading what you and others have said concerning the attribution fee on panda (small and large date) varieties, we have decided to discontinue the $12 attribution charge." There will still be the extra fee for other varieties, however. Best wishes, Peter Anthony http://www.pandacollector.com
I guess they received enough hate mail lol. What a relief, though. Glad they listened to their customers on this. Hopefully they'll start doing so on some of the other concerns/suggestions.
This is like really really annoying... because I had just submitted a lot of stuff without using the variety option (too expensive)... so if I had waited a few hours, I could have had the variety added for free... grr.... compound this error with my 'elite' status...