What is a pre-grade service?

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Posted By: James Feagin

I see that GAI is offering this service, and am curious as to what this means? Their website is horrifying and is endlessly confusing.

James

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

For $5 GAI will preview (or pre-grade) a card.

I take advantage of this service of theirs at the Philly Show as it is a fast and
cheap way of having a pretty accurate idea of (1) if your card is "gradable"; and,
(2) what grade you can expect.

In all my cases, if I go ahead and have the previewed card finally graded, they
will give it a grade equal to, or occasionally better than the pregrade #.

The additional fee (ontop of the $5) for the final graded card is $10 by GAI.

Or, you can submit this pregraded card to PSA or SGC (but I wouldn't suggest you
tell them what the GAI preview was).

T-Rex TED

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Posted By: Bob Beyerle

I met some of the fellows from GAI today in San Diego at a card shop. They "pre-graded" a few cards. Basically looked at them and advised on what the grade would be. I agreed to have them slabbed and was fairly impressed by the service. Some examples: I had 5 70's HOFer's auto's authenticated. I had these cards signed in person and the authenticator immediately saw they were legit- These were cards I had signed as a kid almost 30 years ago.
I had 2 vintage signed items looked at, one I have many copies of but the authenticator wasn't familar with so he "passed" on giving in an AUTH. One item he thought may have been "secretarial" so didn't OK it. I was GLAD to see he didn't Green Light things he wasn't comfortable with.
As for vintage items, I had some E90-1's they were Very tough on as well as some T3's and T206's. Again, they looked at these for free, telling me in advance they would be 3.5's, 2's, etc. before I had to pay to get them slabbed. I still did get them slabbed. In closing, after meeting these gents in person, I'm slightly more comfortable buying GAI slabbed product. I still like SGC, but this was today's experience with GAI. I'll report back when slabbed product is in hand.

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Posted By: James Feagin

OK, so they don't slab these cards at the show?

James

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Posted By: Judge Dred (Fred)

I was under the impression that a company that pre-grades them for a fee will place them in a top loader and adhere a label (with a quick grade cert) with adhesive to make it tamper resitant. Is this correct? I've seen a few SCD quick grades like this. I mean the original SCD not the new SCD.

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Posted By: Cobby33

I believe Beckett offers this service as well, calling it "rock hard review" or something like that. It's good for the modern stuff, as you may not want something graded that won't get a 9 or a 10.

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Posted By: edacra

I've also found this pre-grade thing a bit odd. It was explained to me that dealers will bring a stack of cards they're unsure about, and use the pregrade as a cheap way to get an idea of what they should get slabbed out of a group. Basically, you pay a discounted fee to give you a verbal grade - and they apparently put it in a card saver, and write on it with a sharpie. Odd, right? Beckett does the whole sticker deal, but GAI realize that's going to undercut their own business, so they use a sharpie. I have no idea what the paperwork looks like to prove they've even seen the card at all or how much time can pass before you bring the card back for slabbing, but you're supposed to be able to come back to them for the additional fee. It does make the process a lot more appealing, but the problem is they then tack on a shipping charge which is more then the whole grading cost itself. The shipping cost is probably the biggest turn off since they're not doing on-site holdering.

It's probably also a good way to insure a higher grade on cards, because it's in GAI's best interest to encourage you to come back and slab the thing for the additional fee, right? It also allows for a lot more personalized interaction with the grader - which is both really cool, and really scary

I have to say, I'm seeing an awful lot of GAI slabs at shows. I get the feeling that dealers bring material to GAI for softer scrutiny and because PSA grading is such a crapshoot - and that neither company are a first choice for vintage collectors who like seeing their cards graded for personal enjoyment.

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

I forgot to mention in my 1st post here....I do not recommend the "verbal" preview,
as some have noted. Spend the $5 and have them give you a "marked" pre-grade,
which GAI marks on the top-loader plastic that GAI puts your card in.

And, if you like the grade they gave you and want them to finally grade this card,
you MUST re-submit it there at the desk. Understandably, once you walk away with
the pre-graded card, you can not expect them to finally grade it, upon returning at
some later time.

T-Rex TED

P.S.....

I find GAI is tougher on T206 cards than the other Grading Co......But, I find Steve
Rocchi (sp) and his people to be very courteous and professional. Especially, the
big fellow, I think his name is Barry.

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Posted By: jackgoodman

As someone above opined, it may be in GAI's interest to offer a higher pregrade in order to obtain the extra business, but that has not been my experience. I've always felt the pregrades I received from them were correct and even tended towards the conservative. Exactly the opposite of what you would expect if they were just looking for additional income.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

At a show where I had a question about a card's alterations. The dealer and I agreed to let GAI have a look, the card came back trimmed (as I suspected) and the dealer refunded me. Then he put the card back in the case to dupe the next idiot.