[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by packs

The conflict of interest is my biggest contention. Yes, I do think that a TPA can be complicit in giving favorable treatment to individuals, like the Wagner situation you brought up. But that end was for publicity, not to sell a fake Wagner that was holdered as real to generate that publicity. The Wagner was still an authentic card and PSA had no ownership of it.

My main contention is that an individual who certs their own items for their own resale could be a dangerous model for the hobby should one of those individuals find themselves in some trouble. I don't think you run that same risk with the TPA.

The publicity you refer to was worth millions of dollars to PSA. They would not be anywhere near where they are now if they had not fudged the authentication of that card. So even though it did not result in a dollars profit at point of sale it was worth it to them to authenticate a card that is obviously trimmed. Corporate financial interests over integrity, every time.