It's BIG business. Some figures are getting harder and harder to sell loose as there are SO many really good counterfeit weapons out there. The last 17 Star Wars figures are a line that people really prefer to buy graded as they are hundreds of dollars each and the weapons are 30-80% of the value based on the figure so get stuck with a fake and it was a lot of money you just lost.

So it's not just about the exact grade of the figure, but also authenticating. I have stopped multiple collectors from sending in fake weapons with their figures. Costs me money, but builds up a great customer base that looks to me for authentic items since I can spot the fakes.