Grading is treated as an automatic upgrade, and that instinct costs collectors money. Encapsulation can multiply the value of a high-ceiling sealed copy — or waste a fee and months of turnaround on a copy that grades too low to justify it. And a slab is permanent: it changes the object, its display, and its future handling. The decision deserves the same discipline as any purchase.
The math is straightforward and routinely ignored: grade only when the expected graded price, minus the grading fee and the turnaround cost, clearly beats the raw price. That requires an honest read of the copy's likely grade — and the humility to admit a copy is a 9.2, not a 9.6. For a high-condition copy of a title with a strong graded market, the math usually works. For common titles, middling condition, or thin graded markets, it usually does not.
A slab is not free even after the fee is paid. It encases the object permanently — you lose the ability to handle, display raw, or ever open it without destroying the grade and the encapsulation. For a preservationist that permanence is the point; for a collector who values the artifact as an object rather than an asset, it can be a real loss. The slab decision is partly financial and partly about what kind of collector you are.
As a rough map: high-grade sealed copies of strong titles are where grading earns its fee, because the sealed market prices grade so steeply. CIB grading is situational — worthwhile for exceptional condition on high-demand titles, rarely otherwise. Loose grading almost never pays. When in doubt, the default is not to grade: a raw copy can always be graded later, but a slab can never be undone.