SGC is cranking on recent subs....WOW!!!!!!!
 

My hunch is that SGC has slowly been taking advantage of the crazy lag times with other TPGs.


I sent them 3 not so valuable vintage cards that they got on 3/1/21 and they are heading back! I paid $15 per card. (3 days turnaround!)

I submitted 8 (old labels with a range of values) and they logged them on 2/26/21. They are on their way back to me as of 3/4/21! (7 day turnaround)

I submitted 4 T206 cards (with 3 Hall of Famers) at the $15 per level and they logged them on 2/23/21 and they are now on the way back to me!! (9 day turnaround)


I send a lot to all companies based on which I feel is best for the card and this recent turnaround time with SGC is astounding!

Love it!

Peace, Mike

I would like to use them. Unfortunately, the values for their cards just aren't there yet. Maybe in the future though.

I disagree......
 

For high end SGC cards across the board, they compete with PSA all day. I should know, I pay higher sometimes for SGC cards in similar grades. I compete with others that are figuring this out every day.

The secret is out Bobby. I do enjoy less competition however. lol

To each his own though! All good!

Peace,

Mike

SGC Values
 

I agree for post-war, but what about pre-war? I don't buy a lot of pre-war any more so I wouldn't know, but I thought their resale values held up vs. PSA with pre-war? If not, they are definitely in trouble!

SGC is fine.....
 

Their re-sale values vs other TPGs are fine. There is a lot of misinformation out there. In realtion to the "trimming scandal" how many "trouble cards" do you see in SGC holders? Think about that.

I've been collecting since 1976, like a guy like Ted Z, I've seen plenty of cards that are not trimmed. I collect those very cards. Ones that come from original collections or ones that I opened in packs myself etc....

I've NEVER bought an SGC card that ended up on the "scandal boards" so to speak. Never bought another TPG either that has ended up on the boards.

We can argue prices all day but trust me, SGC is healthy pre-war. Newer cards I have no idea! :)

I hate to say this but it has served me quite well over the years...... "Buy the card.......not the holder". It really is that simple. :)

Experience and knowledge is healthy. SGC is a company that is not going away. Trust me on that! :)

Peace, Mike

I have found that people are pretty territorial about their TPGs. If you have spent a bunch of money slabbing PSA, you swear by PSA. if you are up in Canada, you defend KSA to the death. I personally gave my allegiance to SGC, so i am biased there.

What I do know is that SGC grades consistently and an SGC 9 is equivalent to a PSA 9 in terms of card quality. that PSA is some miraculous grader with more stringent standards is a complete myth. if someone wants to pay more for the slab / registry, go for it.

Wisdom....
 

There is wisdom in these words.....well said Wid. PS I was confused by your SGA allegiance! Until you corrected it! It appears others do type as fast as me with typos! lol

Peace, Mike

ha. i had to change it because I think there is an SGA that was basically a garage operation (similar to USA grading, SG LLC, etc). did not want to give anyone the wrong impression.

Correct....
 

I thought that was odd but honestly, why don't these keyboards and phones know what we mean after all these years! hahahaha

Peace, Mike

Awesome news. As soon as prices went up on Monday for PSA I shipped a 7 lower end card order for my PC to SGC.

They logged it in as recieved yesterday before USPS marked it as delivered. So thats a good sign.


Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

That's the kind of thought that makes those of us you don't pay for opinions chuckle.

"Their" cards? Hahahahaa.

Doug "I buy cards, not slabs" Goodman

That's good news thank you for sharing. Time to make a submission!

Are there collectors the defend KSA? Pardon my laughing as I come back to finish typing my comment!

Take off, you hoser!

KSA is real? That's just nuttier than a Tim Horton's maple log.

Lol it’s true. I was looking for a Gretzky rookie and found my way to a few hockey groups. Some disparaging comments were made about KSA and a lot of collectors took it personally and came to their defense vigorously. They are number 1 in volume with OPC Gretzky rookies , and possibly all of hockey. I think they are under new ownership and apparently really stepped up the last few years

Great thread. With that sort of timing I am seriously tempted to submit cards for the first time ever, but no offense to the OP; I seriously doubt they will flip it in a week or two. You must have incriminating photos of the owner in drag or something.

I am not territorial about the grading companies, although I agree a lot of people are. I gladly collect any of the big 3 (PSA, SGC, BVG) as well as raw cards, but have never bought a graded card outside of the big 3. I agree PSA resale value is a bit above SGC, but it is card specific. I would say as the years go from 1940 and earlier up to 1970, the $value spread between like-for-like PSA and SGC increases %-wise. In other words, the pricing can be on parity pre 1950, but by the 70s, PSA takes over. I would presume the price delta between the two widens in the 80s and beyond although I don't collect slabs beyond the 70s.

Personally I think SGC and PSG are = in terms of grading toughness, both now and historically, and BVG is on average around a half to 3/4s of a grade easier. But this is just the average and I have seen cases where the BVG grade is = to what the PSA or SGC grade would be.

Funny you mention it, I looked back recently and realized before I knew anything about grading companies the cards I bought just on aesthetics alone tended to be SGC. I'm glad they're taking advantage of the ridiculous PSA grading times (response times too)/raised prices and building their business!

Lol I love your response; OP has shown me his SGC account submission grading timelines and sadly no owners in drag photos ��... they really have upped their game and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the turnaround time!

I mean, in an industry dedicated to precision and attention-to-detail, if you can't trust a company with a misspelling in their own motto/logo, who can you trust?

http://tabe.x10host.com/upload/KSA.jpg


:D

this seems to be generally true...... if you want a Luca triple-ice pink hologram refractor signed with a piece of jersey (limited edition), then definitely PSA has you covered.

3 day turn! What???
 

A few folks have asked so here is the sub line. It was 3 vintage cards at $15 per card. I was shocked as well! I do not guarantee this for anyone let alone myself again, lol. I think it was an outlier but I'm not complaining! :) I told someone else on here that on March 2nd, the cards were already in "post grading" on the site so I thought there was a problem with them at first. I've never seen anything like it! Very cool!

Peace, Mike

Attachment 444153

Drag photos!
 

Awesome to see a female SGC T206 collector! :p

TTYL Renay! :)

Mike :p

The apostrophe is used differently in Canadianese.

They are rolling for sure! My 2/26 economy order is already in "post-grading processing"!

PSA doesn't even provide sub-grade--pretty well a joke if you want to know why your card graded a 8 versus a 9--really a poor grading system--but appears PSA has done a great job of brainwashing --

Not going to defend them, but if you know the issue they can offer great value. Have bought 100+ and have had no issues. But the cards I'm looking for, I know what to look for. If you need the TPG to guide your decision then they are not a good call, lots of sheet cut, trimmed in KSA slabs but that is pretty common for the TPGs

their new slabs I think inspire a lot more confidence. I think they had issues a long time ago that no one has let it go.

I feel the same way about the high end cards. Not every stupid card needs a PSA holder, though many of mine do. Fact is, I'm not giving my cards away just because they are in SGC holders.:D:D:D If they don't want the cards the way they sit, there is always another one around the corner or someone who appreciates the card, not just the holder. Frankly, if anal Eddies don't want my cards because of the "holder" they can go F themselves. You kids build your collection based on your "perceived values" and I'll just enjoy the cards. How's that?:;)

Lol
 

Chuck,

Good to get that off your chest? I think if that had been on netowrk TV you might have gotten "beeped" a couple times! lol

That made me laugh out loud! Very eloquent! lol, seriously , loved it! Thanks for that! I agree all around! :)

Peace, Mike

Yeah, but the Cy Young in a sparkling tutu and jockstrap swatch is a much tougher card than the Luca.

mine took about a month, subbed in late january, back in last week. pretty happy overall, good customer service response as well.

Not related....
 

Not related ...... kinda ..... lol

Paid for this little Gem on Monday Morn off Ebay. It was mailed 1st Class and I got it yesterday (Wednesday). My mail stream has had some good turnaround times lately! :)


Attachment 444174

I just tried to submit this morning. Apparently, the prices increased overnight. $25.00 a card is now the cheapest option.

Just like cards, I'm now also priced out of having cards graded! Back to the basics - enjoying raw cards!

wow. I got lucky, I just submitted yesterday, going to ship out today

yep, just saw it. I made a submission a few days ago and now they moved up the prices.

and the stated timing is 20 days, and I think that is a real timeline, as evidenced by the experience in this thread.

SGC will continue to get my business but I'm going to have to be more selective on what I send them going forward. I would rather pay a little more and get the cards back quicker...plus I still think that the cards look best in an SGC case!

How do you get $15 per card? Looks like $25 is their lowest price per card that I see on their website.

https://gosgc.com/card-grading/services-pricing

they just changed prices, literally last night.

LOL. I was impressed with Mike's turnaround and figured I would put together some cards for SGC. Nevermind.

Good thing no one here applies "trust" to spelling and grammar from Net54 members... or this site would be in trouble.

I think this is the new normal. Grading is now a premium service. $25 for a 20-day turnaround is the best offering in the business. People have paid hundreds for PSA express that takes longer than that.

And they're now firing shots right on their homepage: "NO BACKLOG, NO BLOATED TURNAROUNDS, NO GAMES"

Agreed. Hopefully over time these services might split into investment grading (a premium service) and economy grading/slabbing for collectors. Hard to say if it will or won't.

I just sent some cards off to SGC. Also going to try a shipment to CSG for both bulk ($8) and economy ($15). Longer turnarounds but nothing like PSA. If I like how they turn out, I may make it a regular occurrence.

What?!? Ugh. I was just planning a large sub 2 days ago. There goes that idea. I thought the PSA price increase was a great business opportunity for SGC. IMO, disappearing the $15 grading option was a bad move. That may work out for them short-term, but the chance to secure a large chunk of the grading business, perhaps for the long term, would seem to have been lost. SGC just can't seem to get out of their own way.

The real winner here may very well be CSG. If they can get their slab for vintage figured out, I'm in.

I saw this too, that SGC raised their prices, if they leave them alone, probably would have seen a huge bump in subs, but now, I doubt it. I'm still very interested in CSG.

I think their plan might be to to increase the normal price and reintroduce the membership and bulk sub deal

If that's the case, they should have announced all of the changes at once. This is clearly a reactionary move to PSA's announcement. It's what 2nd rate companies seem to always do, across all industries. Market leaders are leaders because they show initiative and pave their own path forward.

Smart move on raising prices as disappointing as it is.

They finally got back to a reasonable turn around time and if they kept their prices that much lower would probably have been back logged 2 to 4 months very quickly.

This way hopefully they can keep turn around reasonable. Hopefully.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Wow, I'm glad I did my newest submission last night then.

they posted a page long announcement on the website. they massively expanded their business and should be able to handle the peak daily submissions seen over the year with a 20-day turnaround. if not, they may raise prices again. it sounds like they want to use price to control submissions.

Looks like they continue to expand. Aiming at 6k card per day by end of the year.

I hadn't read that statement yet. Now that I have, I'll admit that I was overly harsh in what I wrote. I am rooting for SGC. I can see now why they've done this, but unfortunately it hurts the world of graded set building tremendously. It was a stretch to grade commons at the previous prices, even with specials, and this new change does not bode well for the future. Perhaps grading commons & building graded sets will become a thing of the past, and only valuable cards will be graded, but I don't think that SGC wants to see this happen.

I'll hold out hope that as the business stabilizes, there will be specials / bulk sub deals made available so that grading common cards makes any kind of sense again.

Gosh, I'm sure PSA will grade over 6000 cards today and have them returned to their rightful owners by the end of the year as well.:rolleyes:

I wonder if it's possible to write off depreciation on cards held captive by a TPG for over 12 months.:eek:

Name three other companies that provide a service that takes over 6 months to perform, or 9 months, or 12 months.

I'll take a crack at the question to get it started

6 months - Snow plowing per annum in northern climates not susceptible to global warming.

9 months - Obstetrics where the end result almost always gets delivered in 9 months.

12 months - PSA where their calendars have the year removed so that express service can be delivered in days.;):D

no one could have been ready for this surge in business... they had 7 employees!!! and they took all their cash flow and invested into the business. now as we sit here, SGC can actually handle the business volume. PSA and BGS basically did nothing to improve the model other than raise prices and give you 8 month wait times.
I do not understand why everyone is not using SGC from here on. And, a minor detail but they are the best and most consistent at the core competency of grading.

SGC care about the customers, I do hope they can hire more than enough people then able to offer monthyly/quarterly/membership special for lower end bulk/set collector to grade the commons

I agree with much of what you said here. SGC has been much more consistent than PSA with their grades over the years. It's strictly the registry and marketing that have created this brainwash amongst collectors/investors that PSA is the king of all TPG'ers. I mean you can't dispute the return from PSA vs others...but It's irrational...imo!

I DO prefer PSA's case as compared to SGC though...give me a psa case with a black background and id be happy.

I'm wondering if it may be worth it for SGC to make a 'SGC Modern' division and use a differently styled holder to try to cheaply and efficiently rebrand for the modern market. They are just as capable of graders as PSA, and BGS. They also have a phenomenal customer service team - Brent always gets back to me quickly (even if it's with answers that I don't like :p). I feel like SGC has backed themselves into a corner as being a Pre-war grading company and that they'll be stuck that way as long as they keep their black holders for modern cards (even though I personally love them).

SGC Update......
 

For those that have not seen this.......it just posted a day or 2 ago on the SGC site:

Hello...

Remember us?

We’re the grading company you heard a ton about not so long ago. The grading company that promised to do things differently than everyone else. The team that was apparently “changing the game” by emphasizing service and collector experience in addition to the accuracy and quality of our grades. The company that had seemed to be the last hope for so many of you. The last hope to turn things around and reverse course from the destructive path our competition was leading you down. The path where you had no say, no respect, and no other options. As services continued to decline, prices continued to increase. Turnaround times became downright outrageous and somehow they got even worse from there. The card collecting community needed help, but seemed to have nowhere to turn. That’s when we came in, screaming and shouting about how our experts were the best in the business and our turnaround times were unmatched. We were proud of our company, proud of our 20+ years of grading experience, and we weren’t shy about it.

We spoke, and you listened. It was as if a hobby lightbulb, dark and pent up for 20 years had finally been illuminated, bolder and brighter than ever before. The card community was finally ready to put not just some of its faith behind SGC, but all of it…and then some.

In the blink of an eye, our 12 man team was absolutely overrun. Over just a 7 day period, our intake had increased 20x what it previously had been. We were not only understaffed by about 70 or so employees, we also lacked the necessary policies, procedures, and infrastructure critical to effectively accommodate the new explosion of demand.

The task at hand was significant, and at times overwhelming. It was difficult choosing where to begin. Hiring was an absolute necessity, rapid expansion of space was a must, and our standard operating procedure that worked for 22 years was now completely obsolete. On top of that, with 20x the amount of cards at SGC, we needed 20x the amount of supplies.

As each day passed, the orders at our facility had inched closer and closer to their deadline, the deadline we had told all of our supporters to count on. Before we knew it, we were running behind schedule and SGC had experienced its first ever backlog. Meanwhile, the cards kept pouring in. Although it was far from the largest backlog in the hobby, the nearly half a million cards that we had in our facility were enormous in relation to the 12 SGC employees we had at the time.

Looking back, I realize that I should have come out and addressed the community much sooner than I did. If I could do it all over again, I would have detailed every challenge we faced and kept all of you completely in the loop so that your expectations would remain realistic. Obviously, this wasn’t the case, and I take full responsibility for the mistakes that I made.

Shortly into the surge, we realized we had some very big decisions to make. With all of the cards rushing in, we were bringing in a ton of money—money like our company had never seen before. Do we act as though everything is great and accept the public backlash in the name of immense profits, or do we reinvest all of these new dollars back into the company so that SGC can deliver the service the card community deserves? Staying true to our team’s core values, our minds were made up.

There was no time to waste, and our team immediately started building. We welcomed our first few new employees and more than doubled our workspace. Hobby talent from across the country believed in our message and decided to take the leap of faith to join the SGC movement. While growing the team, we refused to add more individuals than we had time to properly train. Although the need for bodies was at an all-time high, we chose to avoid the corporate mass hiring route. We had seen others make mistakes like that before. Instead, no matter what was going on at the time, I made sure to conduct these interviews myself, ensuring that only the best suited candidates were given the opportunity to handle your cards.

While the team grew larger and larger, we kept close track of the amount of cards we shipped everyday and we set lofty goals for ourselves, constantly looking to improve on the numbers from days and weeks prior. As the number of passionate SGC team members increased, so did our capacity. The progress we were making was rapid and there was no end in sight. Only 3-4 months after having a daily output of 200-250 cards, that number increased to 1,200. From there, our output hit 2,000. Only a short time and a few key hires later, 2,500, and then the goal became 3,000. The investment in ourselves was paying off and it became clear that the SGC model of scaling was the best in the business.

Finally, turnaround times were stabilized and our output had matched the inflow of cards. This was an amazing accomplishment, however, the stabilization took place about 5 months too late and the backlog remained at around 16 weeks. Growing large enough to keep up was hard enough; catching up seemed near impossible. Despite all of the infrastructure we had worked so hard to build, the SGC community was still not getting a fair shake. A turnaround time of 4-5 months is far from “changing the game” like we had originally set out to do. That’s when we decided to do what so many of you had been asking for, for so long.

We embarked on an unprecedented journey to catch up on our backlog and give the card community the kind of service that you all deserve. In addition to spending every last dollar we had on growth, expansion, and innovation, we decided to end all bulk discounts, immediately suspend marketing efforts, increase grading fees, and inflate posted turnaround times to decrease the inflow of cards. Sacrificing nearly all revenue, catching up was our one and only goal. As our payroll continued to grow and our rent and cost of materials stayed steady, the incoming cash flow completely dried up. We were “all in” on our plan to make things right and there was no turning back. The hardest part about it was that we had to keep the entire plan internal to prevent having the inflow of cards pick up with the community's excitement. This would only elongate the catchup process and would surely set us back from our goal.

As the catchup process had begun, we decided to allocate the money we still had into tangible upgrades that our supporters had been asking for. We made substantial investments across the board that we were hoping to reveal right around the time we announced that we were fully caught up…Well, THAT TIME IS NOW!!!

I am honored to share with you that we have delivered. The SGC backlog is completely nonexistent and it is never coming back. All of the apologies, the updates, the setbacks, the blood, sweat, and the tears have led us to this point. SGC is back and we’re ready. It’s built, guys, it’s ours now. This is our grading company, the grading company of the people, and the grading company of the future. We’re taking this thing back and we’re doing it right. Get ready for a grading experience unlike any other. In addition to your cards being graded accurately, fairly, and on time, you can also expect a level of transparency and insight like you’ve never had before. We’re going to take you behind the scenes to show you how this previously mysterious process works. We’re going to speak to you directly via an SGC podcast, where real life card enthusiasts, who do this for a living, share their unique hobby perspectives.

While we’re incredibly proud of our accomplishments and bursting at the seams with excitement, there is one catch. In order to continue to provide you with the service that you deserve, SGC quite literally has no choice but to raise our prices from a base rate of $15/card to $25/card. As unnatural as it feels to increase prices so drastically, we have already seen a tremendous uptick in business from word of mouth alone. Basically, a submitter got his/her cards back extremely quickly from SGC. They told their friends. Their friends submitted, received the same service, and told their friends. With more people made aware of our current turnaround time, our submissions have substantially increased. Our inflow has skyrocketed and although we’re now built to handle it, an exponential increase after this announcement is received, would mean that everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve would be jeopardized. We refuse to let history repeat itself and we will not take in more cards than we can handle. This means that if our capacity is exceeded in the first few days after this announcement is released, we will be forced to raise our prices once again to bring the inflow back to a manageable level. Having said that, our capacity building is far from over and we will be working day and night to avoid a situation where price is constantly increasing. Just yesterday, we received the keys to an additional 5,200 sq. ft. of work space, putting us at nearly 20,000 total sq ft...so far. Our goal is to surpass a daily output of 6,000 cards per day by year’s end.

We have scaled our operation at a pace far exceeding the competition and our work is only just beginning. We want to win more. We love cards more. And we appreciate your support more than they do. These are facts. I see it, breathe it, and live it everyday. Our team is the best in the industry and I am so proud of the growth that we’ve seen in ourselves. We will continue to scale until all cards submitted to SGC are graded and returned the same day they arrive. That is a lofty goal, but it is our goal nonetheless.

Stay tuned for more positive announcements coming very soon and thank you for everything you have done for this growing team. We would not be here without you and we will never stop working to make this hobby better for all of us.

From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!

Sincerely,

Peter Steinberg

President, SGC

Wow!
 

After reading the SGC President's message I just smiled! My years of faith and support for this company are paying off.

Bravo! Brutal honesty and transparency backed by years of experience and incredible customer service.

I am proud to own SGC cards. I seek them out. The underpaying days are over. You may think SGC prices "lag" but those days are gone!

Don't get me wrong, I send to all 3 main TPGs still as SGC does not do older autos or photos!

They are here to stay and if you doubt that, you are dead wrong!

Peace, Mike:cool:

PS Mr. Steinberg does not know it yet, but when I eventually move to Florida, I'll be working there! :)

Great...now get a registry going!

The hype is real the hype is real!!!

Truth...
 

Truth is real.

Peace, Mike

Let's lighten the mood.........
 

Got this email today about some kind of Natural Disaster on the West Coast. I was caught unaware! :eek:

Dear PSA Customer,

The tidal wave of submissions headed to PSA has turned into a tsunami of shipments coming ashore at our local USPS.

Frankly, too many for the local branch to handle.

So the PSA Security Team has sprung into action. Our team is physically going to the USPS branch to safely deliver the thousands of customer packages directly to PSA headquarters.

This means that your package is safe. You do not need to take any action, despite the messages you may have received from USPS.

Your shipments will be stored at our secure facility and we will diligently itemize each shipment over the coming week, at which time you will receive an email update and your order will appear in your PSA online account.

We thank you for your patience during this period of elevated activity. Your cards are in good hands.

Thank you for your patience,

The team at PSA

PO Box.....
 

What REALLY caught my eye besides all of it was the simple fact that all packages shipped vis USPS to PSA go to a PO Box. Isn't it standard practice to get your packages at the PO Box and bring them somewhere? Furthermore, do these security team members now qualify as Combat Infantryman? Ahhh, the things that keep me up at night......

:D

Peace, Mike

Graded and shipped backed the day of receipt would be something else!! If SGC pulls this off PSA is going to be in trouble.

Thanks for sharing this. As a collector who has never sent a card in to a TPG but owns some of every type of plastic card holder, I almost feel like sending them in a "SUB". Just to watch them "POP".

I always feel left out while others are subbing and pooping and I think they deserve a little shot in the arm for the Mea Culpa moment. Without a registry, how will mine pop though? I am very concerned, signed Anal Eddie.

Wasn't it $10 a sub a few months ago?

I seriously doubt it.

My latest submission was received by them March 3. I'm expecting they will stick to the 60 - 75 day turnaround I submitted them under. If they do better, I'll be thrilled. It's always best to be a pessimist. That way you're never disappointed! 🥴

Yes, I paid $10 per card a few months ago.

You’ll have your cards in 2 weeks

I paid $15 per card in May 2020.

You don't think they'd take some serious market share away from PSA if they were able to do same day turn around for $25 at scale? I know PSA customer's are loyal but I bet a lot of them would opt for a one day turn around with SGC vs 6+ months of waiting from PSA

Mike, may it be so.
I started using them nearly 20 years ago and have pumped for them since.
Some of the people left who made that place tick, and if they've got a new heart transplant that breathes fresh life into their service no one will be happier than I.

They've always been the most competent TPG in my book, while allowing that they make mistakes like anyone.
This industry needs as many valued independent eyes as possible doing the work they do, it's the only chance for standards to reach the highest level.
I'm definitely pulling for SGC.

Well said.....
 

Well said Daniel!

Peace, Mike

Last "Bulk" submission (1959 & earlier on these boards) to PSA is currently sitting at 10 months with no hope in sight on return date. Let me do the math for ya - that's like 300 days now.

Total BS - I am done with them -

I gave up on SGC back in November when my last Sub to them came back, now I will never be back. Its one thing to jack your price if you are adding features but they dont. This Peter went on a similar rant a couple times before and nothing changed, I just dont trust him. I had been subbing with them for 18 years and then I finally realized nothing was going to change and when their website, Facebook page never updated and no return to emails or calls, I seriously thought they went out of business. The only reason they are caught up is probably they stopped getting new subs because people saw the same thing I was seeing, therefore they got their backlog complete and now have limited new business and at $25 a card it will be hard for me to see any reason to submit to them when after this latest rant we won't hear or see anything for 6 months again, as that has been their track record.

they have a business that can now turn around cards in a few weeks. that is something none of their competitors can do, no matter how much money you throw at them. that is definitely worth something. I elected not to submit a few cards to BGS (they grade Star), simply because it's an 8 month turnaround. I can live without it. but a few weeks? that works.

NO RETURN EMAIL OR CALLS? i call that BS. They respond quick, i made a submission mistake the other day, emailed them, customer service brent responded within 24 hours.