ISA Graders?
 

There are a couple of extremely high profile cards (extremely high) up on Ebay right now with Sellers that have a ton of history and success. Who is this company? One of these cards looks overwhelmingly trimmed to me, not even close..

Which cards?

I searched "ISA graded" and found a bunch of cards on eBay - looked like modern cards, mostly baseball and at least 1 football - ironically the seller had "psa" in their eBay name. A google search also showed this was discussed in threads like this: http://forums.collectors.com/message...y&keyword1=isa

Could be wrong but that card looks a tad short and too neat to me.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1953-Topps-8...p2047675.l2557

Brian Drent from mile high cards is on board the ISA train, he gives them a glowing testimonial, so the more competition, the better.

Plus I have never seen a 9 with such a bad looking bottom edge.

If anyone wants to play the high grade game I would suggest staying with a company whose "holder" sells. I don't think ISA is one of them.

There's a reason that someone submits a card to ISA rather than Beckett, PSA or SGC. How many times do we have to answer the same question. Anything else would be illogical unless it was trimmed or altered. Submitting a high value card to any currently UNPROVEN grading service other than the 3 major grading companies can only benefit one party, the SELLER.

typical homerism because they have cards already in slabs with these other companies so a new company scares them so its a threat.

i thought it was buy the card not the holder, now it is the holder that is selling.

Travis, I don't think it's homerism, but just sensible. If you have a high value card it just makes the most sense to use a grader that's proven and known to the market. If you want to try out the new guys then it would be wise to send in some cards that maybe aren't worth much and to see how accurate those are graded. Even though it's "buy the card, not the holder", the holder does help the card sell. Just my two pennies.

Travis why don't you buy some of these cards (by the way why is EVERYTHING in an ISA holder seemingly a 9 or 10??), crack them out, submit them to PSA and SGC, and let us know what happens?

Certainly there is room for competition, but the way to do it is to emphasize the credentials of your grader, the way GAI did, which was successful for a while until something went wrong. Flooding the market with 9s and 10s with no PR campaign oriented around the grader's credentials is only going to invite cynicism.

I dont have a problem with people who like to use the longstanding grading company, but to suggest that the only reason that ISA exists is because it must be a shady company that either overgrades cards or grades trimmed cards (otherwise why someone send them a big name vintage card?) is really unfair.

Some people might submit a high value card to them because that is who they want grading their cards, anybody ever think of that?

Given the history of companies like CSA, PRO, and others I can't even name, it's a reasonable assumption until proven otherwise. Who on earth would leave the kind of money on the table that they just did if they had a Mint 1953 Topps Mantle for example?

You really hit the nail on the head here buddy. Spoken like a real pro. Ignorance is bliss.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1953-Topps-8...p2047675.l4066

This one too

I am not saying they are fantastic at grading cards, i dont know, but for other people's FIRST reaction to be "that looks trimmed, nuf said." and then dismiss the company is really transparent. They want the company to fail so their own cards in psa or sgc holders dont have any competition. If psa slabs a fake magee/magie error card (WHICH they DID.) I dont see these same people cracking their psa cards out of their holders because a company slabbed a fake, which was documented versus a card from ISA they say looks trimmed which isnt documented.

but they instantly try to discredit a company over a card because of the failed logic that because it is a high value, vintage card, it must be trimmed or else someone would never submit it to a company that isnt psa or sgc. It's like saying that if anyone sells a superb rare vintage car at anywhere else but jackson barrett, there must be something wrong with the car.

SAME card. Guess the last sale didn't go through. Funny that.

The logic is not failed at all where the company has not promoted itself, identified its grader(s) and his (their) credentials, etc. When GAI entered the market with Mike Baker, it did very well for a time. What do you know about this company that gives it any credibility at all? Don't you think it's rather odd how many 9s and 10s they have?

Their site looks fine, but according to them they have only graded a little over 100k cards. The president claims 10 years grading experience, but I couldn't find too much on him...

Personally I would rather have this one...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1953-Topps-8...3D381354720156

Just because it has bigger borders? :D

Hey we did this five years ago.
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=121462

Yes.

.

After five years you would think he could have collected some better endorsements. All Brian said by the way, and obviously this was from back in 2010, is that he had had some successful deals with him. He didn't attest to the company's grading.

That 53 Mantle is clearly trimmed. The sum of the top and bottom border aren't nearly enough, top looks like the offender to me looks trimmed. Probably most importantly you can look at some 1955 topps in ISA holders up for sale on ebay now and they clearly have less room in the holder than this 53 Mantle. The Mantle looks to have at least 3/32's of room the ISA Banks 55 topps looks to have 1/16th or less.

What went wrong with GAI..you allude to 'something'

I don't think anyone here thought of that, except for you. Why do you think someone would want their 53 Mantle graded by a company that no one recognizes as legitimate? Because they're rooting for the underdog, or because they want to help a new company succeed?

I am curious as to why you're defending them so much.

you could almost substitute grading companies with 'religions' and its the same thing...the only reason they get credit initially is market share and been there the longest..

real tough to start a new religion or a grading company...most will assume you would be nuts to do that....but if you were lucky enough to be in the beginning you become 'legitimate'

Well ISA's lack of a reputation certainly didn't scare a couple of people away from that 53 Mantle. Not much room for upside at that price unless it crosses to a PSA 8.

The bid pattern does look a little suspicious though.

I am not defending them from normal criticism, just abnormal criticism.

NO ONE finds them legitimate? really? no one? okay.

so auction report just wants to interview illegitimate graders i suppose.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/auction...hosted-by-ryan

I am not defending them from normal criticism, just abnormal criticism.

NO ONE finds them legitimate? really? no one? okay.

so auction report just wants to interview illegitimate graders i suppose.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/auction...hosted-by-ryan

They made compromises and destroyed the brand. Which is too bad because Mike Baker was IMO the best.

if someone had a super super website..for registry and maybe even a chat/posting forum directly on that same site...they could give them their moneys worth...perhaps a case that encapsulates a card but can also encapsulate the PSA case if the customer wanted so you can have dual registry numbers could work.....psa only breaks a case open and cross grades if they are going to give the grade that the customer wants and chose that option..so they can grade while the card is encapsulated , so another company could do that too..

but the problem is the hobby as a whole doesnt look great 10+ years from now...

I think if a new TPG had a case that is tamper resistant and stacks well with PSA and SGC cases would have a good start.

Then build the brand through networking and advertising.

A registry as polished as PSA that counts cards in other slabs would be ideal too. Maybe a small $1 fee for different slabs, so they don't become just a registry.

Honestly if I had the capital I strongly feel I could compete in the TPG market.

yeah those ideas work........even with the capital i just think the way the hobby is going its not worth it...if the hobby was growing and growing i really do like working all the companies together


Coleco Vistion system took Atari and Intellivision cartridges...but they still not do well..but i liked that idea too....donkey kong was good though

Really? A four year old internet radio blog, that few people ever heard, is your criteria of legitimacy?

so you dont think auction report is legitimate source, thats up to you. i do think so.