Psa, sgc, bgs
 

Hi guys,

I have cards out to all three TPGS and the wait times keep getting longer and longer. Everybody I talk to says they are all backed up. Any insights as to why? Is it just the time of year or have we reached a major saturation point? Curious as to what others think. BGS just raised fees and dropped their guarantee on the lowest price levels......thinking there may be changes with the other two soon enough.

Thoughts?

Good subject and this was moved from the watercooler section as it permeates the whole hobby. I think there needs to be a change in grading companies, personally. I am not super happy with any of them at this point although SGC still gets my business. Maybe it's time for another GOOD grading company? (No, I don't have the answer). Nothing like competition to get companies to do the right things. (*the correct things)

I like SGC. I think they do a great job - soup to nuts. As a collector, I love their service, the look of the holder and the highly accurate grades. I guess I'm the rare collector who doesn't care about the grade. Don't get me wrong - the higher the better - but if it's authentic, I'm happy whether a 10 or a 100 Pristine.

I sometimes think we as collectors (and more so, dealers) redirect our frustration at the TPG instead of the guy who lied about the grade when selling it or our own eyes for deceiving us. Unscrupulous people exist in all walks of life but you can't live in fear of them either.

An educated guess: BGS and PSA are likely backed up due to the start of the baseball season. Most modern sets come out March/April each year. I know PSA's specials didn't have a modern option in March or April, probably for this reason.

I think we as collectors, myself included, are at the root of the major cause here because we steadfastly refuse to accept anyone outside of the Big 3 graders as being remotely valid. The opportunity for someone to come in and start a reputable grading company is extremely thin. There are probably only a handful of names of people who could start one and have the political clout within the community to gain acceptance. Heck, we even eat the one's that are existing and "credible". I cant count how many times Ive read someone here who will never buy a card graded by...

No smart business will ever shoot itself in the foot by keeping too much labor on hand sitting idle. The other side to that coin is that demand is not met as promptly.

Lol.....
 

I don't like any of them....in fact I like to crack them open as soon as I get them ! I have very few cards beyond VG in my collection. In my collecting world it doesn't feel important what some questionable expert grades my cards and I don't collect as an investment. I like them in albums.....I do save the labels for the purpose of keeping the history of the card

Baseball season just hit and they've been flooded with cards.

They simply don't have the man-power available to accurately and appropriately grade the cards in a timely manner.

There is also a lack of properly skilled labor in terms of graders that are available and will work for the wages they offer.

Leon.....

Maybe you should switch my comments over to the water cooler, it's really a different subject and not fair to the gentleman's original post ?????

Don't worry, it's just cuz school hasn't let out for the year yet. By June, all the graders will be out for the summer and back on the job. :D

It is in a similar vein so no worries. I think it is a difficult business and not one easily gotten into....I just wish things were a bit different.

One wrong move and the Hemphill gets it! :eek:

There's a lot of good tips/vids on Youtube about cracking out cards.

I have a few Beckett ones I'd like to crack out as I don't like not being able to see the cards clearly in those holders in those plastic bags.

My PSA cards are a different story, and although I purchased them that way, instead of paying for the grading, I think I'll leave those ones alone as I can see the actual card a lot clearer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzrEsDe7TqQ

Irv, no love for SGC? For display and card beauty enhancement, I really think the SGC holder is the a cut above. I don't really need their opinion of my card - I know what I think it's worth and what the condition is - mostly.

I wish 'authentic' was a service and not a negative connotation. Maybe a card company could offer a grade of genuine. Wouldn't that be great? A service that slabbed it where 'genuine' means that the card is authentic and unaltered but not Graded 1-10. All the beauty of the grading service but the collectors could still haggle and/or speculate as per the grade or condition.

Maybe I should patent this idea - you know you love it...

SGC is my favorite, Tim, and the only reason I didn't mention them, is I have no thoughts whatsoever of cracking those out.

The majority of my cards are ungraded and the only graded cards I own are the ones I purchased already graded.
If I ever get around to getting them graded, SGC will, at this point, receive my business.
With the cost of grading, shipping and namely the current CDN exchange rate, I think it will be sometime before I ever do, however.

I know it depends a bit on your skill level (when there's not a lot of room for error on the sides), but couldn't you just use a table saw to free the cards out of their plastic tombs? Seems like it would be a quick and easy solution.

I could live with a "Genuine Unaltered" designation.
But I am no sure the TPGs would like it. :(