Originally Posted by Snowman
I'm a very detail oriented person, as I have OCD. I'm also a data nerd, so I find myself constantly studying the differences between TPG grades. I've crossed a lot of cards successfully from one TPG to another, and in both directions (PSA to SGC, SGC to PSA, and the same with BGS and CSG). I've even sent multiple cards to all 4 grading companies as an (expensive) experiment to see how they all handle various flaws. Here are a few guidelines that I have found to be true, and which I use when making decisions about which company to send cards to when grading, or when deciding whither or not to attempt a crossover (or a crack and cross rather).
* If the card exhibits evidence of screwdown damage (glossy squished corners) always send it to SGC, as PSA will flag it as "altered" nearly every time. SGC will often grade it (though not always), as they do not consider this to be an alteration. BGS/BVG will also grade these.
* PSA is considerably more strict than every other TPG when it comes to corners. By nearly a full grade when comparing to SGC in some cases (particularly for grades 2 through 5 in vintage and for 10s with modern) and often by two full grades when compared to BGS for mid grade cards. CSG is strict here as well, though not quite as strict as PSA. For grades 6 through 9, PSA and SGC are pretty similar with corners though.
* PSA is more strict with surface wear than SGC. Particularly with grades in the 3 through 5 range. But that doesn't mean you can just get a bump by crossing a card with surface wear. It really needs to be the only differentiating factor for SGC to want to give it a higher grade. And it can often only be a 0.5 grade higher, though sometimes a full grade or even +1.5 if it otherwise has strong eye appeal.
* SGC is more strict on centering than PSA across the board. They will also often reward you for strong centering. Their half grades are commonly applied to cards entirely because of nice centering. PSA couldn't care less. Their half grades have a very low correlation coefficient with centering, despite their claims to the contrary on their website. BGS is also more strict than PSA with centering, but the way they score a card allows that to not come into play in all cases.
* SGC is more strict than PSA with minor creases. Particularly in the VG to VG-EX range. If a card has a small reverse crease near the corner (within about 1" from the corner or so) but otherwise looks VG-EX, PSA will still give out a 4, whereas SGC will often give it a 3 (though it can still get a 4 if it otherwise looks EX or EX-MT). BGS couldn't give two shits about creases. Hell, I bet you can find "gem mint" cards with creases in BGS slabs (OK, that was a joke). But in all seriousness, you can regularly find BGS/BVG cards with creases in EX+ holders. PSA also cares more about WHERE a crease is than SGC, though both definitely care about that. If a crease runs through a player's face, you're going to get hammered by both PSA and SGC. Also if it's in the middle of the card, it hurts more than it does closer to the edges or corners. Basically, the closer to the corners it is, the more likely you are to benefit by submitting to PSA over SGC.
* Contrary to what some might wish to be true, neither SGC nor PSA cares at all about soaking cards in water. So if you need to remove them from a scrapbook, I wouldn't worry about that at all. It won't affect your grade.
* PSA can be slightly more strict than SGC for edges, though I'm less confident in this one as I've had some head scratchers with edges. I think there's just a lot of variance among individual graders especially with edges. Some graders seem to be really bothered by rough cuts while others aren't. I typically don't let this affect my decision though. At least not by itself. I more weigh this in with other factors when deciding who to send to.
* PSA and SGC seem to be pretty on par with each other when it comes to depth and richness of color.
* If your card has very minor paper loss, you are more likely to get a 2 from SGC than PSA, so long as the card otherwise has very strong eye appeal. Your card could be gem mint with minor paper loss on the back and PSA is still going to give you a 1.5. And yes, I know you can find examples where PSA has given a 2 for these, but good luck getting them to do it today. SGC will hand out 2.5s for cards with tremendous eye appeal on front and minor paper loss on back.
* SGC seems a little more strict with stains than PSA, with the exception of wax or gum stains, as they seem pretty aligned on those. But I'm not quite as confident with this observation as I don't like stained cards in general, so I don't submit them and don't pay as close attention to them as I do with other flaws.
* In general, PSA is more strict than SGC with minor surface defects like tiny dimples and light surface scratches on ultra modern chrome cards. However, they're also very inconsistent with this. You can get PSA 10s with surface flaws sometimes, but it's harder.
* PSA cares more about surface issues on the back than SGC, but SGC cares more about back centering, although this rarely comes into play (I've only noticed it with gem mint grades or miscut cards). BGS cares way too much about back centering. I've crossed two different BGS 8.5s to PSA 10s simply because of back centering alone.
* Pop reports matter. To whatever extent "pop control" is a thing, it definitely seems to occur more at PSA than it does SGC. There are just some cards that PSA simply refuses to give high grades to. It is worth checking pop reports if you have an otherwise close decision.
* PSA and SGC seem to treat surface indents equally in my experience.
* If a card has pinholes, staple holes, moderate to severe paper loss, or tape on it, I would just send it to PSA since it will almost certainly get the same grade at either PSA or SGC (a 1 or 1.5). Same for cards that have had tape removed.
* PSA also incorrectly rejects more cards as "min size" than SGC. This seems to be more of a competency issue to me though.
* If a card looks like it's on the fence between a 2 and a 3, I would send it to SGC every time nowadays. PSA has drastically moved this goalpost in recent years.
One thing that matters a lot to me however, is that SGC just has better and more consistent graders overall than PSA. And it's not even close. PSA will give the same card a 6 one day and an 8 the next. This will almost never happen at SGC. It's somewhat expected though simply due to the fact that PSA just has a lot more graders than any other TPG, and the more graders you have, the more variance you are likely to have as a result. Just remember though, that while PSA may be "better" for some cards, it's still somewhat of a gamble with them, as you are not guaranteed to get a fair and accurate grade the first time. You may have to crack it and pay again to get a fair grade at PSA. I typically will weight PSA's grading fees at 1.5x what they charge because of how often I just end up cracking them out and either resubmitting or sending it to SGC instead. I rarely send anything to PSA though nowadays because of this. I keep waiting for them to demonstrate competency again. Though I've heard that they have started to shift back in the right direction very recently. Time will tell.
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