New Grader in Town?
 

I know the topic has been mentioned before, sorry if this one has already been posted....I'm not a fan of grading myself, but others may find the concept interesting.

https://us.yahoo.com/news/sports-car...183200440.html

Grant

Ughhh! Crowdsource grading cards using scans only. Can't see how that could possibly go wrong.


:rolleyes:

Or:

https://nextlevelgrades.com

There was a thread started about this last month already that went nowhere. It just tells you how the card is perceived by others to the naked eye via scan. How does it help for authenticy, potential alterations, etc. when the people reviewing only see a scan? Also, the card goes nowhere so how does someone tie any opinion of this outfit to a particular card? More questions than answers?

Agree about the authentication and alteration identification shortcomings, which to me is more important than the TPG grade opinion.

I don't know how they are doing it, but what I would do is slab the card at the kiosk, with a unique barcode and website URL, and then when the card is graded, link that bar code number to the grade and other relevant data (date graded, kiosk submitted at, possibly name of owner which would of course be optional or owners could use an alias) in a database, and then provide a website where the barcode number on the slab could be searched to access the grade and other info.

So, for instance, I could claim the alias "Yogi Bear" and get my cards graded that way, and use their website to filter on that username to see what's in my collection. Sort of like building a personal registry.

As with shilling, trying to beat your competitor, and all the other nefarious stuff going on by buyers, sellers and collectors, there's no reason to believe the grade assigned by the public will be entirely honest and above board

I also find it highly doubtful this "public grading" will be taken seriously or catch on. Even the owners say it doesn't take the place of professional grading. I doubt many or near any people will pay $16 to have opinions on grade, when they can do it for free in a chat forum.

There's nothing wrong with having a "anonymous public, what do you think is the grade?," but it comes across as a gimmick or game ('Hot or not?').

Been there - Done that
 

Don't believe they are slabbing anything. In fact, think they even mentioned having already graded cards go through their process. This sounds more like that PWCC process where they put their elite sticker on cards that look exceptionally nice for the grade. Plus, they are only putting these in select card shops so, I'm assuming those card shops are part of the network that will handle these for whomever uses it. Can maybe understand a newbie using it to make sure they have a nice card, but I've been doing this long enough that I don't need someone to tell me a card is well centered or the corners are nice. I can see some people trying this as a low cost alternative to current TPG grading, which can be ridiculousy expensive for HOF and star player cards. This sounds like you would pay the same flat fee for a '52 Mantle as you would for a 1980 common. This seems to be an attempt to service a new niche market, low cost/value commons, for which paying large sums for grading fees makes no sense.

Can't see people owning higher-end, more valuable cards getting much use from this, nor bothering with it. Lower-end, less valuable commons could be a different story. How many times have you heard about or seen lower graded cards that can be all over the place as far as eye appeal, yet still get the same technical grade from a TPG? This could be a somewht lower cost way to provide that service. We'll have to see if this starts to get any traction in the coming months. Also wonder why they didn't try rolling this out at the National for the added exposure. Time will tell.

And since you never give up possession of your card, I wonder if the documentation you get back will be something on a par with a JSA cert letter you just keep with a card if you ever go to sell it.

In that case their service is completely useless.

For long time, experienced collectors I agree. But don't forget there are a lot of new people and money jumping into cards it seems. They may see value in this for whatever reason.