The arithmetic
Grade B or Grade C: doing the arithmetic before you bid
A lower grade is a different deal at a different price. How to work out which grade is the better buy for what you actually plan to do with the item.
The most common mistake in graded liquidation is treating the grade as a quality score and bidding on the highest one you can afford. The grade is not a score. It is a description, and the right grade depends entirely on what the item is for.
What the two grades actually say
Grade B is cosmetic damage that does not affect how it works, or visible signs of use. Grade C is heavier: heavy signs of use, damage that affects use, or a missing part that affects use. One question separates them, and it is the one worth holding on to: does it affect use. A scratch on a panel does not. A cracked housing that lets the lid flap does.
Read those twice, because the difference between them is not "worse". It is complete versus possibly not complete, and that single word is what the arithmetic turns on. The full ladder is at how we grade.
The question that decides it
Not "which is better condition". The question is: what does the missing thing cost me?
For an item you are going to use as-is, a Grade C with a missing accessory is a Grade C plus the price of that accessory, plus the time to find it. Sometimes that is four dollars and an evening. Sometimes the part is proprietary and the item is decorative without it.
For an item you are buying for parts, or to repair, or because you already own three of them and have the accessory in a drawer, Grade C is frequently the better buy and occasionally the only sensible one.
Fees do not scale with the grade
Every lot carries the same structure: the hammer, a 15% buyer premium, handling of $1.50 per lot or $10 for a pallet lot, and tax for your delivery province. The formula is published and the calculator on fees works out any bid.
That matters here because the fixed part of the cost does not care what grade you bought. On a low hammer, handling and tax are a larger share of what you pay, so the gap between a cheap Grade C and a slightly less cheap Grade B is narrower in your total than it looks on the bidding screen. Work out both totals before deciding the cheaper one is cheaper.
What the condition card is for
The grade is a summary. The condition card is the detail: what was checked, how far the check went, and what the inspector found. Two Grade C lots can be very different items, and the card is where that difference is written down.
If you are choosing between grades, read both cards rather than both grades.
Where the line actually falls
New / Overstock, Grade A and Grade B items carry a claim window for major functional defects of twenty-four (24) hours from pickup or confirmed delivery, seven (7) days for accounts verified as resellers, and fourteen (14) days only under a signed reseller addendum. Grade C and Grade D items are final sale as to condition. Regardless of grade, an item that is the wrong item or materially misdescribed is always reviewable. C and D are priced for their condition, and the condition is described before you bid. Returns and claims
That is not a trap. It is the trade: you are being paid, in price, to accept the condition as described. The whole system only works if the description is accurate, which is why the standard is published rather than adjectival. How grading works, in full