SGC Delays
 

I made my first SGC submission at the National on July 28th. It was a "take home" submission with a 5-10 day service expectation.

After 2 weeks, the only update that I have is that they received my cards.

I contacted customer service and I was told that they're having delays due to the volumes from the National and moving into their new HQ.

Anyone else experiencing delays at SGC?

I can handle delays but it's not great having no feedback about how long the delay is.

Gary G01db3rg

I turned two cards in to SGC at National on 7/27 and they were graded yesterday. I’m got a shipping notice last night.

Thanks
Chad

Sgc
 

Hi Gary (long time, no talk:)-

I'll come at this from another angle. I did not attend the National this time;
however, I did make a regular submission to SGC (less than 10 cards via
mailing), that happened to arrive at SGC the day before the National began.
I thought it would be an interesting test case, to see if my "normally
submitted" cards got a delay at SGC due to the National intake...

My SGC cards just arrived today. I shipped on July 20 and received on
August 12, a 22-day turnaround. My SGC submissions have consistently
been at a 17/18 day turnaround, so I basically saw a slowdown of 1 business
week. Personally I think that's pretty good, given the glut of cards they likely
took in when compared with the norm. I feared it would turn into a month
or longer delay, which I wouldn't have liked. All in all, not bad. I hope you
see a result next week.

Trent King

Yes, 2 people.must have subbed at the national

Sorry to hear

23 cards submitted on 7/26 at the show. Still waiting at "received" status.

Thanks guys. Hopefully I see some progress next week.

SGC orders
 

I sent in 2 orders on july 28th. Received on August 2nd and Graded on August 11th. Now in post grading processing. Not much if any delay on these. Jeff W

I also submitted on-site on July 28 and haven't heard anything, but I submitted items that need larger slabs. Plus, with the great customer service I received during the submission process, the show specials and the fact that I saved on shipping my stuff to them, I'm happy waiting a little longer.

Last week, I was told by SGC that my order should hit the grading queue this week. Well, at the end of the week...nothing. No update...no change in status.

I can handle a delay but I'm not comfortable with the complete lack of transparency. Anyone else still waiting for their National take home submission?

Here are my last 2 submissions:

Submitted: 6/18, Received 6/21, Graded 6/29, Shipped 6/30
Submitted: 7/14, Received 7/18, Graded 8/2, Shipped 8/3

Just submitted a new order last night, shipping it out today.

Hopefully they can clear out their backlog quickly.

Understandable delay (at this point)
 

Yes, I am in the same boat with my national submissions of 40 cards. I woould expect some movement soon.

Patience used to be a virtue, no?

I guess that's the whole point of submitting to SGC - patience is optional.

I'm still waiting on my PSA submission from early May. It's currently at the "grading" stage. I'm guessing I've got 2-3 months left.

I guess. The point certainly isn't to get an accurate grade.

Hmmm... I think I've been pretty darn patient. SGC offer a service and they market it as a 5 to 10 day turnaround. It's now been between 2x and 4x longer than the service they're marketing.

I've sent polite enquiries and I've been for the last 2 weeks that my order should be graded the week following. This hasn't been the case. At the same time, others have had their submissions received after mind but craded ahead of mine.

Today I was told that my "submission is waiting to be graded." That's neither helpful nor transparent. I'm pretty sure that all submissions are waiting to be graded. :mad: That doesn't fill me with confidence. I'm happy to give more time, but I do expect to receive clarity about where I am in the queue and a reasonablely accurate ETA.

That sounds like their response a few months back about some altered card that was called out that they would take whatever action was determined to be needed. :) The art of the truism.

I think I'm going to start using that.... "can you take out the trash, dear?"

"I will take whatever action is determined to be needed"

And good things are worth waiting for...cept in the case of your Senna card. Wrinkle? Bend? Residue on the back? Screams 9 or 10. Perfect reason to not submit to SGC. See so much of that over the last 18 months or so.

As has been chatted about, PSA and SGC seem to be in a pissing contest over who can screw the submitter deeper. Then you look at stuff that we know was submitting by auction houses and the cards are graded more in line with acceptable standards. Swear these guys grade on a 1 to 5 scale for the common man when it comes to vintage.

Completely circular and meaningless, but it made it sound like they were being responsive. A politician could not have done it better. By the way, no action was ever taken, but that's OK, because people just move on.

Chase, no wrinkle or bend and the back is perfectly clean. Indeed, funny you mention it but PSA also pissed on this card, but at least they gave it a 6 which at least conclusively rules out the wrinkle or bend possibility. IMO the kiddie graders they have hired see mostly perfect ultramodern and have no clue how to grade vintage. My whole SGC sub was badly undergraded.

A 6 is even pathetic and I agree with the theory. 90% or more of what both companies are seeing has to be new stuff. They do not see it as an issue because cards keep coming in. It really needs to be addressed. This is where the human element in grading gets clouded--frame of reference.

Comment about the delays from SGC
https://twitter.com/sgcgrading/statu...32307964796928

Any idea what the announcements he referred to will be? Hope it's a bulk discount.

Thanks Robert.

My current submission (and first since 2019): Submitted 8/3, Received 8/8, Graded 8/17, and is now in post-grading processing. I was hoping the order would ship today, but I guess that didn't happen.

I'd love to hear how well that works for you!

My submission has progressed to Graded now. I've been told it should ship on Tuesday.

Received 7/28, Graded 8/18

Its only a 7 card submission. I can't wait to see the grades.

Good luck with the results!

Show us the results in this thread when they arrive. Would be interested to see them... Thanks!

Almost every video he makes he alludes to announcements coming and how excited he is and to my knowledge he has never followed up with any announcements.

Just wondering...has anyone submitted items at the National and not received any communication at all yet?

I have them in hand today.

Received 7/28, Graded 8/18, Delivered 8/25

The cards look great in the SGC holders. Some of the grades seem a little harsh but reasonable.

I'm a little surprised by the grade on the 1932 Sanella Ruth though. The corners are sharp, the back is clean and there's no creases or surface damage that I can see. I was hoping for at least a 6.

Nice cards - congrats. They look great.

SGC order QUICK!
 

Order of 151 cards received on 8/17. Graded on 8/23. Shipped back to me today 8/25. Not sure if they could do this any faster! Jeff W

They all look great, especially those 55s!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Gary the Babe Ruth & Nolan Ryan look much better then a "4"
How are the card backs?
Nice batch of cards

Maybe its just my computer, but I feel like I see the slightest hint of a diamond cut. I may be wrong though.

No creases on Jackie or Ryan either? If not, those two and the Sanella Ruth make little sense.

The Jackie has some staining on the back lower corner and there's a small wrinkle in the border of the Ryan. I missed that wrinkle on the Ryan before I submitted (Doh!). So those both seem fair.

The grade on the Sanella seems low. I can see now that the back isn't 100% perfect but a 4 still seems harsh.

That makes more sense. Still perplexed about the Sanella Ruth though. There must be a tiny wrinkle on it somewhere.

Or the grader had no clue, see my Senna above.

reading through this thread
 

for many of you - maybe buying cards and then sending them out for someone else to grade them might not be for you....... Some silly claims and downright whining. People looking at a SCAN in a holder in an online chat room and questioning grades. Same people calling balls and strikes from the nose bleed section.

Have a 22 card order that should arrive there today.

All of it is vintage non-sports. Excited for when it returns

Hopefully you will not get the same grader I did on my similar order. Good luck.

It appears they are clearing the backlog:

20 card order

Submitted: 8/17
Received: 8/22
Graded: 8/28

I submitted a 16 card order at the East Coast National 8/19. I really don’t give a hoot but am curious on the turnaround.

My latest order -- Received 8/28, Graded 8/31, and shipped 9/5.

Edit: Received 9/7.

My pre-war were low end, I didn't expect anything but 1s, but a couple got 1.5 bumps for eye appeal, I suppose.

Sent from my SM-G9900 using Tapatalk

I wonder how grading at the National impacted return times (if at all).

The grade on the Sanella Ruth is a travesty. 10 years ago it would have received at least a 7,

Sgc
 

Submitting a small group today, will see if they stick to the 2 1/2 weeks turnaround. Prewar and vintage baseball primarily. Trent King

Not with that staining.

trent- they just dropped to $15 per card and are saying 5-10 day turnaround. interesting to see how that goes.

$15...and that's the regular, not bulk submission, rate? Wow!! And returned in days, not years?? SOLD!!! I guess we finally got the announcement we've been waiting for. Time to start packing stuff up to send out.

My recent submission of a few prewar cards was very fast.

Received 8/18 and shipped 8/28

A bit off-topic, but when I send cards off to SGC, I would like to do one of those before and after 'blind reveal' videos you see on YouTube. (Unlike all of the other ones, mine, of course, will have the names of the old players pronounced correctly.) Knowing that anger is going to fly out of my mouth when I see the resulting (and unexpected) LOW ASS grades, I want the reactions to be unprompted. :D

• So the question is (I've never submitted to SGC before), am I able to NOT know what the grades are after they progress through SGC? In other words, is there a simple way to make sure that until I open the box at home, the grade numbers remain a mystery to me?

Thanks!

Just don't click on your order number if you don't want to see the grades once they're posted. They have a separate link for the tracking number that you can click on.

On your order overview page, you can see where it is in the process, and then once it is shipped, you can see your tracking number. There is a separate tab for "Seller Ready Images" which shows you the front/back scan of every card after it is graded. Just avoid those, and you should be fine if you want it to be a blind reveal.

Thank you, guys!

Submitted 8/19
Received 8/28
Delivered 9/5

Overall pleased with my order. I knew what I was getting for the most part, 2 surprises. One of my cards came back A minimum size not met. How do they measure these things now a days, machine?

Currently SGC 1-2 business day turn around is actually 1 day for review and grading, and shipped next day.

I mailed an order down on 8/21 and they shipped it out on 8/30.

I just sent another 30 down on 9/7.

My most recent order was received 8/23 and shipped out 9/7, exactly 10 business days later. It included a mix of raw cards, reholders, and one crossover.

Here's one of the cards from the order

update on SGC submission
 

Fellow collectors- on Sept 6 I wrote that I had shipped a 5 card group to
SGC, and would pay attention to a) return time and b) grading accuracy.
The results follow...

1) Grades were posted on SGC site yesterday, Sept 15th. That's 9 days
after they left my possession. They will be at my door by the 19th, a
13 day total turnaround at most.

2) I submitted 2 T206s that got exactly the grade I expected. The other 3
cards were 2 1976 Topps and an 81 Fleer Rickey Henderson "rookie".
I am more than pleased with the 8.5 the 76 Topps Mike Schmidt got,
and think they got Rickey right. The 5th card I thought would get a
point higher at most, I'm mildly bummed about it but not enraged.

All in all, I am very pleased- especially that they didn't hammer my
76 Topps/81 Fleer.

Trent King

My latest order was received by SGC in 9/7 and I received them back today 9/16.

.......
 

To SGC that is a "delay" lol

To PSA it would be a Miracle and we all know miracles don't happen.....except in 1980 and that was pre-PSA!

:eek::)

Why is it the SGC cheerleaders studiously avoid responding to posts by people showing SGC misgraded their cards?

these grading companies have literally graded millions of cards. they are always going to undergrade (or overgrade) a percentage of cards just based on volume. if you want perfection, you shouldnt grade cards. ive had lots of cards come back in what id consider "undergraded" and ive had a few come back graded higher than i thought they would. all in the game.

Do you have an example?

Thanks for the education. I am talking about entire orders being 2 grades (or more) too low. Not to mention hearing from many people they are having the same issue.

The worst one in an entire order of undergraded vintage cards. The back is perfect, louped it many times.

"2 grades too low" for a whole order is something i havent ever encountered.

its also pretty hard to post a card online and ask people to critique the grade when they cant actually see the card or the surface, because its a 2d scan.

all the grading companies make mistakes. ive seen lots of random youtube videos of someone getting a 4 or 5, cracking it and re-sending, and then getting a 7 or 8. it happens. but again, we are talking about insane volume, there will be mistakes. plenty of people also dont examine their own cards with a 30x loupe and check the surface for issues before sending.

i've probably graded 500-600 cards with PSA and 300-400 cards with SGC. ive had cards come back that look like they are too low or higher than i thought, but ive never had an order of 20 cards come back where every card is 2 grades off.

Yes, of course one would expect some deviances within any order, I would not have made my statement if that's all it was. As for the scan, I was asked to post it, I am not asking anyone to conclude anything. I think there were 35 cards in my order, all vintage. Nearly every one was 2 grades low. Nothing higher than 6 and I thought many would 8 or even 9 they were gorgeous cards.

this was you an hour ago

what do you want people to say? you seem to imply you expect people to bash SGC when someone posts a card that they feel is undergraded. how is it my place, or anyone's place, to criticize a grade of a card i dont have in hand and cant examine?

When the people doing the complaining have a lot of hobby and grading experience and credibility, the scans just reinforce what they are saying. I think the cheerleaders here ignore anything negative -- including the removal of the guarantee and the fact that the owner and employees submit their own -- but whatever. You can have the last word.

My experience has been the same with both SGC and PSA. It is precisely why I am not submitting nearly as much. Up until recently, snowman was experiencing the same thing and I think that clementefanoh had also alluded several times on his experiences with SGC being more harsh.

Grading standards have gotten much tougher with both companies recently. There are just too many hobbyists I speak with who echo these sentiments...these are the same people who from time to time would say there were certain cards within a sub they felt the grader was more harsh on. Now you are hearing the entire sub got hammered.

Both PSA and SGC are fully capable of misgrading our cards, but if we're comparing the two against each other, SGC is far, far more accurate and consistent on a percentage of cards graded basis than PSA is. It's really not close.

However, if we're comparing either company to grades that cards received 20 years ago, then both have tightened up their grading standards as compared to the early days of grading. But PSA took it an additional step too far during the pandemic, and they have yet to course correct. That isn't the case with SGC. They're merely tighter than they were decades ago, but are still grading fairly accurately for the most part, in my experience. And I grade a lot of cards with both and keep good records.

I'm not a fanboy of SGC per se, but I do think they do the best job currently, of any TPG.

The guarantee means nothing to me. And I think it's effectively just an empty promise with PSA anyhow. Nobody cares about altered cards. It is what it is. And if enough people did, all the TPGs would go bankrupt overnight if they had to pay out on them. PSA wants to keep up the facade and charges us all extra for this "service". SGC is at least being honest by getting rid of the program. The guarantee is what PSA uses to justify its upcharging campaign. And they are vicious about their upcharges. SGC almost never upcharges me, even when they clearly could. I'll take much cheaper grading fees and no guarantee all day over higher fees and an empty promise from PSA. To each their own.

Employees being able to have their cards graded at SGC doesn't bother me either. Nat Turner grades all his stuff with PSA. I grade my own raw cards when I post them on eBay. So does Greg Morris. At the end of the day, it's up to the buyers to determine what each card is worth to them. If something looks over- graded, it generally undersells. If it looks under-graded, it goes for a premium. The market largely corrects itself for most of this stuff anyhow.

To me, it's an obvious conflict of interest for the owner of a purportedly neutral third party grader to grade his own. The very reason TPG slabs sell for a premium over raw cards graded by the owner is that purported objectivity. You can't always tell from a scan if a card is overgraded, and of particular relevance and concern, if an altered card has been blessed.

Sent out a 9 card sub to SGC:

Shipped to SGC 9/13/23
Received by SGC 9/18/23
Post-grading processing 9/21/23 (cert #’s assigned, no grades posted yet.)

Future update will be posted here.