Play Ball! *PSA Redefines Pre War

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

So where are all these lost revenues you posit going to? The people I know who submit regularly to PSA -- not that it's a huge number -- are still doing so rather than giving their business to another TPG.

I would presume other TPG. I don't know many people at all who submit to PSA anymore -- you can't get your cards back for months. I was at one show recently and a very valuable football card in an SGC holder was sitting at an auction company's booth. Somehow we began talking about how he had gotten the card raw and needed to get it graded quickly for his auction. But because PSA can't return cards for weeks or months, he sent it into SGC instead. Whatever the numbers PSA is doing now they are doing significantly less than they could if they were competent.

I have entire sets of 50s near mint cards that I'd send in to PSA at some point to be graded but won't because it's not worth waiting six months for their return. I'm sure plenty of people feel the same.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

While I don't disagree with the thought that they'd be making more if they were doing things better, have you seen the lines at their booths at the major shows? If nobody is using them anymore someone should tell all those people!

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

While I don't disagree with the thought that they'd be making more if they were doing things better, have you seen the lines at their booths at the major shows? If nobody is using them anymore someone should tell all those people!

Yogi would have said, nobody submits to them any more, they have too many submissions.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by calvindog

I would presume other TPG. I don't know many people at all who submit to PSA anymore -- you can't get your cards back for months. I was at one show recently and a very valuable football card in an SGC holder was sitting at an auction company's booth. Somehow we began talking about how he had gotten the card raw and needed to get it graded quickly for his auction. But because PSA can't return cards for weeks or months, he sent it into SGC instead. Whatever the numbers PSA is doing now they are doing significantly less than they could if they were competent.

I have entire sets of 50s near mint PSA sets that I'd send in at some point to be graded but won't because it's not worth waiting six months for their return. I'm sure plenty of people feel the same.

Maybe people can chime in on what they are doing, it would still be anecdotal but interesting. The handful of folks I know have not switched.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Maybe people can chime in on what they are doing, it would still be anecdotal but interesting. The handful of folks I know have not switched.

Well, probably not a very worthwhile datapoint but....

I only send stuff in very occasionally, and not many cards when I do. So far I'd only used SGC. I've never been keen on the whole "pay us money for the right to pay us more money" club thing.

I had thought I'd use PSA eventually for some more modern cards.

Over the past year or so, I've seen both do things that I just really have a problem with.

PSA- grading a card an 8, folding over the corner, then "fixing it by folding it back and reslabbing still as an 8. If the grading co is doctoring cards, what's the point?

SGC - Went with the "club" model.
And - Slabbed at least two cards that have faked features that would make them a lot more valuable if they were genuine. Wrote a whole explanation about why for someone who was having them reviewed. Total slam dunk on the fakeness. Their decision? Nope, forget the facts we're right.

So now while I'm still interested in getting some cards done somehow - mostly to make it easier for my family to sell them hopefully a few decades from now - I'm totally disillusioned with the entire thing.

I don't see any honesty from either company, nor do I see what I'd want for customer service. SGC can get it right when it's easy, but apparently not at any other time. That PSA can't even do customer service when it's easy is just bad.

I haven't considered Beckett in so long that I can't really say much about them.

Steve Birmingham

[Peter_Spaeth]

Could you elaborate on SGC's mistake that's pretty cryptic what you wrote.