SGC Big News of 2023 - Pokemon?
 

SGC released a video yesterday of "exciting news" for collectors. Turns out, it is a $15 Pokemon special :rolleyes:

https://gosgc.com/2023-01-pokemon-special

Pokemon and all those TCG's are huge. And IIRC the numbers correctly, that's a way to grow their market share. As Leon has said in the past, although we are an important part and monetarily a very important part of the sports collecting hobby, we are probably 1-3 percent overall of the collecting world.

Rich

PSA owns that market. Csg is a close second. Sgc I wish would stay focused on its bread and butter, vintage. Oh and hey start grading in person at the National Again.

With all due respect AND as someone who works in the sports card market, any smart company is always going to look for ways to expand their business.

If SCG ups their Pokemon market by 10 percent, I'd wager they make quite a good deal more $$ which allows them to do more things in their bread and butter field.

As for your other point, I can understand the 2021 hesitance in live grading at the NSCC but by 2023 it's probably a corporate mistake not to do in-person grading in Chicago.

Rich

SGC also missed 2022 on-site slabbing grading at the National. I appreciate and respect your comments above however to me SGC's bread and butter is their respected, trusted, and widely utilized by the Collector and Investor Vintage Sports Card Grading. Hopefully they remain focused to their core business.

This is actually quite predictable. The sports card market boom and surge resulted from the Baby Boomers hitting their middle ages, primarily starting in the 1980's, and resulted in things like the junk wax era that came to be and took over the market. At the same time, as the Junk Wax era was raging, wasn't it more often the adults that were now the ones jumping into and buying the majority of these 1980's - 1990's sports cards, and not necessarily their kids? Well, it is pretty well known that kids tend to not always follow their parents thinking and likes exactly. So instead of sports cards, a lot of those kids back then in the 1980's - 1990's got into Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and other such card and card game issues as well. So just as the 1950's - 1960's kids spurred the sports card hobby in the 1980's - 1990's, pretty much right on schedule, the 1980's - 1990's kids are now spurring the TCG (Trading Card Game) card surge that started in the 2010's, and is now carrying over to an even greater extent in the 2020's. Sorry Gomer, no "Surprise, surprise, surprise!" there.

So, for anyone that really wants to be a big-time future investor/collector, and possibly make a fortune in doing so, start paying attention to what today's kids are getting into that is new and just for them. And then wait about 20-30 years to see the prices of whatever it is they were into go through the roof as they try to rekindle their childhoods when they start going through middle age, and feeling their mortality. The problem is picking the correct few things that will stay with the kids from their childhoods and push their desires to own them again.

Things like Beanie Babies were always focused on adults to start off, just as NFTs are now as well. Thus, the chances of such collectible items to sustain and prolong their value over time, let alone have it grow, are somewhat small, at best, IMO. And the often quick collapse that can follow such collectibles trends is not at all surprising as a result either. And remember, there is no perfect way to always be able to pick the item(s) that will eventually come back to be highly valued. POGs are a classic example of a childhood toy/collectible item that possibly didn't stay around long enough at the start, or interest/reach enough children at the time during their childhood, to generate the overall interest that TGC cards have.

Food for thought!

I am not sure any of us from our vantage point can tell how profitable it is for SGC to set up and grade at the National. I would have to assume that if it were they would set up and grade. Same reason they are now trying to pull in a few extra bucks on the Pokemon special.

We forget that it is really not so much about us as much as it is about what we can do for them--just like every business. When we watch Peter's video posts where he wants us to think SGC is a non-profit that is here to serve all collectors, we need to remember that he works for a business with lots of overhead and a desire/need to make money.

How about a $15 prewar special next month? :eek:

I would send them some cards. :)

$10 each gets my attention

How about a registry.

+1 agree but cannot blame them for wanting to follow the money. Since that is their business and they are not a charity

Bingo. I have given up hope on that.

The vintage market is far too small to keep SGC competitive and afloat in today's hobby climate. Like it or not, they needed to do this if we still want them to be around in 10 years.

Also
 

A couple of months ago, SGC ran a $9 special to grade 2022 Bowman Chrome cards. Here is the Blowout forums discussion on that

https://www.blowoutforums.com/showthread.php?t=1539773

Again, ANY smartly run company is going to look at ways to expand their vertical or even phase into new things.

If all SGC did was pre-war/vintage they would end up with the same type of audiences I see at Postcard or Coin shows

Rich

PS I do agree they need to be in-person going forward at the NSCC

At least it’s not NFts. Some people’s idea of exciting news is a real head scratcher.

I agree, but it makes you wonder with the business decisions they have made (or not made) over the last 5 years.

I like SGC, but I think they are content with being second.

There is an ever decreasing market in older sports cards as more and more get graded. Unless you count re-submits, they are slowly, but steadily, working towards a finite limit of the number of cards that might be submitted for grading. As a business, they have to keep targeting new markets.

I'm not surprised.

A few:

I wonder how SGC Modern/Ultra Modern Sell in Relation To PSA?

Do buyers pay the same or close to premium as they do on Pre War?

Depends on the sport, but on average, most SGC 10 slabs sell for around 50% to 70% of PSA 10 slabs for modern cards.

Monday.

I got so excited at the idea of exciting news, I peed, just a little...

Now, that is scary. Last postcard show I went to, I lowered the average age by 20 years. I think showing your Social Security check stub is a membership requirement in most postcard clubs.

[QUOTE=Snowman;2306209]Depends on the sport, but on average, most SGC 10 slabs sell for around 50% to 70% of PSA 10 slabs for modern cards.[/QUOTE

WOW. That's a Huge Disparity

Compared to vintage sports cards, the sheer number of Pokemon cards out there is staggering. If SGC can become a serious player in that space, it would significantly improve their bottom line.

The only upside to the invention of Pokemon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFU2HL-PQNo

If the leaves represented revenue and/or profit, where you wanna put your company's rakes??

Attachment 553635

They would have an uphill climb, CSG presents better and all they would have to do is roll out a registry and they would smash SGC. Oh, and have a phone number on their website where if you called, someone would pick up and address your issue.

+1

Agree with with this as a lot of people my age(mid 20s) are still pretty into Pokemon and other TCGs cause we grew up with them. It's huge nostalgia for us and the new cards are way more popular than vintage and especially pre war cards. Makes a lot of sense for SGC to try and cut in to the Pokemon market like this.

I'll be surprised if CSG doesn't acquire SGC in the not too distant future and then make SGC its vintage division.

I hope not. I like CSG way better for vintage. They have been able to grade my pre war cards that SGC didn't have a clue about.
.

Agree !

Really want a registry
 

A registry would sure motivate me to grade some cards. It's been a long time, but I'm ready to go.

Brian

I don't think it is that close. PSA is grading 1,000,000 total a month right now, including 300,000 gaming cards. SGC and CSG are grading maybe 100,000 total cards a month each, so the Pokémon-type cards would be a percentage of that.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...ering%2C%20etc.)

https://www.gemrate.com/

Big News
 

Yeah, that is not the first time they have come out with "Big News" that turns out to be about as exciting as watching golf or grass grow. I think the first time was they were taking orders at the National or something like that. Oh boy, just imagine what bold move may be on the horizon - would they dare consider 1988 Donruss for the same price?

What's a "TCG"?

Trashy Card Grader

For all that junk wax you've been hoarding

Agree !

PSA IMO owns the Registry regardless if another company starts one or not. They have had it too long. People aren’t switching or crossing. Most people who participate in the PSA Registry have a lot of time, money, and cards invested in it. The PSA Registry is PSA's Most Brilliant Asset with a close second being their Registry. It’s amazing. Mention pop report or Registry to any collector young or old, it’s synonymous, they all know what it is and pay close attention to it :-).

Trading
Card
Game

Pokemon is a popular example. You can buy the packs, collect the cards, and then use them to play the Pokemon card game. The original US version of the card game, launched in the late 90s, was produced by Wizards of the Coast.

Wizards kicked off the current TCG craze in 1993 with Magic: The Gathering. That particular game has been going strong (more or less) ever since. Much like sports cards, there is worthless bulk, cards with six-figure price tags, and everything in between.

Since it's a Pokemon thread....

Do people play the game with graded cards?

Occasionally, a graded card will make it to the table in Magic.

A popular variant of Magic involves one your cards representing the "Commander" of your deck. It's not shuffled in; it spends the game either in play or off to the side.

Because it's not shuffled in, people will often keep their Commander in different holders. I've seen toploaders, one-touch recessed holders, beveled edge inch-thick Lucite screw-downs, etc. And yes, even graded cards.


# # #


Of course, there are some people who do goofy crap just to be different. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before I see one stride over to the table with 60 graded cards, ready to play. To date, though, I haven't seen this. I'm sure it has happened, though.

Thanks, Eric.

https://media.tenor.com/GDN1CUsgRigAAAAC/the-more.gif

Could be. I wouldn’t be surprised if this happens. Little shakeup never hurts.

This, 1000%.

I piss and moan on their social media every chance I get about this. I will not give up the fight and I will make sure that my voice is heard. The competition of the old registry drove submissions, pure and simple. Having an online forum to build sets and compare was wonderful. In the early days, it was great. Almost like how some people open up Facebook as a homepage, we visited the registry daily to see how we were one upping each other to build the best set, or simply to complete one.

Changing the cert numbers was stupid and contributed to the registry’s downfall.

Are you listening, SGC? Fix this.

Before the days of Pokemon, TCG actually stood for “Topps Chewing Gum”

At this point do you think it's worth their time and effort ? PSA overwhelmingly dominates the registry space. Maybe if they merge with CSG..idk.

At this point do you think it's worth their time and effort ? PSA overwhelmingly dominates the registry space. Maybe if they merge with CSG..idk.

Hey folks, remember it's NOT CSG who will make a decision to buy SGC but their owner

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...lackstone-csg/

Just as a reminder as to whom owns CSG and will make any decisions about buy outs of others, mergers, etc.

Rich

Ready Monday...



2031

I'm going to echo this as someone in the age demographic in question (late 20s). Most of my friends who are starting to grow their income rapidly aren't collecting sports cards – instead, I see folks picking up high grade holos/rares/promos from the original Pokemon sets, building out Alpha Magic collections, and getting old video games (though they often just get sealed boxes raw, not going for graded copies). A dear friend just dropped his annual bonus into a Beta Timetwister and our group chat was popping off for him. That's a grail card for our generation, in the way that finally getting a 51B Mays is for most of Net54's gen.

SGC are getting a foothold in a market that they're currently weak in and that makes perfect sense for them. They know that us vintage collectors are going to stick with their services, so their marketing dollars should be focused on building out a market share in a lucrative area.

I 110% think it’s worth it. PSA dominates the PSA registry space.

There are thousands of set collectors with lots of money tied up in SGC and who aren’t going to cross over for a PSA registry.

If you build it…

I think this is some form of English. Google Translate was no help.

LOL. Sorry, generational gap.

Magic the Gathering has an original set of 295 cards that came out in 1993. Beta was the second set, with 302 cards.

Timetwister is one of the best cards in the game, the "Power 9." Since each Power 9 card is a rare, there are only 3,000 Beta Timetwisters.

MtG cards are ridiculously condition sensitive, given that they were actively used to play the game (and in fact, certain cards, including Timetwister, have never been reprinted and thus originals are needed to play certain formats). For perspective, PWCC just sold this BGS 8.5 copy for $8400.
Big card, really tough to complete subset, condition sensitive - ticks all the boxes for millennial Magic nerds.

Timetwister has been printed in six different sets, although only three of those are legal for tournament play:

(print runs approximate)

Tournament Legal
Alpha - 1,000 copies
Beta - 3,000 copies
Unlimited - 17,000 copies

Not Tournament Legal
Collectors' Edition - 9,000 copies
International (Collectors') Edition - 5,000 copies
30th Anniversary - print runs not known with certainty, released in 2022, product launch failed miserably so it's unlikely (but not impossible) they'll print more

As mentioned, they are condition sensitive. Additionally, some percentage of these cards are lost each year to floods, fires, angry soon-to-be-ex-spouses, etc.

Aye, fair correction. I was only thinking in terms of tournament legal sets.

Interesting if this would happen. I had heard that PSA made a similar push for SGC a few years ago.

Why would SGC sell?
They seem to be doing well, so why would they bail?

We heard these rumors last year. I wonder if there is any truth to this?

Gaming cards graded for January. It doesn’t appear the Pokémon Special is getting much traction.

Interesting how CSG and their brother/sister card grading entities seem to be firmly in place as the #2 TPG now.

They’re doing very well Bob….I think SGC is feeling the HEAT

I remember saying when CSG first entered the TPG market how with their corporate background, makeup, and support, along with the worldwide recognition they already had as an industry leader in the grading of comics, coins, and currency, they might just be the ones to finally bring some change to the grading of cards and actually challenge PSA. Of course, in a thread started on the forum announcing how CSG had just agreed to work with PWCC and grade cards for them, I tried to turn that thread toward a civil, intelligent, adult discussion about how from a business standpoint, that decision by CSG could actually be a good move by them, despite the negative publicity and allegations PWCC had hanging over them. But of course, right on cue the usual jack-off trolls on Net54 immediately jumped me, and started condemning CSG as basically being as guilty of the same crimes that PWCC is alleged to be guilty of, by merely agreeing to work with them. Of course, CSG hadn't really done anything wrong to anyone's knowledge at that point, but that didn't stop another of our "brilliant and intelligent" members from comparing CSG to the guy who fixed the toilets in the Death Star from the Star Wars movies. Guilty by mere association, and the poster even went further to publicly declare they would never have anything to do with CSG, ever! Seems CSG, and their brother/sister companies like CGC, are all still doing pretty okay without such an idiots' support and business after all, wouldn't you agree?

Now CSG does have their own Registry that is up and running, but not being a Registry person myself, have never looked into it and have no idea how it compares to PSA's registry, or the depth and volume that PSA's Registry may encompass. I really have no knowledge of PSA's Registry either, other than a LOT of collectors seem to live and die for it, and how it apparently can have a huge impact on market prices for cards. I had also previously said I could see it maybe being a smart move for CSG's parent holding company, CCG (Certified Collectibles Group), to possibly look into acquiring SGC as another subsidiary. It would immediately bring more cache and experience to the CCG family in the grading of vintage and pre-war cards, along with offering another option for CCG's customer base to choose another style of holder that many people in the hobby prefer. It would definitely seem to be able to add a lot more money and advertising to support and back SGC going forward as well. As one other poster pointed out, SGC's $15 per card grading offer for TGCs (Trading Game Cards) looks like an attempt by SGC to try and grow and expand their business, but which by the looks of those monthly submission numbers posted, isn't doing as well as they may have liked. That could be a sign that there is some vulnerability in SGC from a business standpoint, and a possible opening may exist to CCG acquiring them after all. I know if I was involved at CCG that I would certainly be bringing this point up to anyone else willing to listen. And then if such an acquisition was able to be completed, I would next push to expand the CSG Registry so that it covered and included all CSG, CGC, and SGC graded cards in it. Then I think you might start to see even more inroads going against PSA's current dominance of the TPG industry.