Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth
When the scandal first broke, Steve Sloan, PSA President, issued a statement telling people who thought they had altered cards to go back to their sellers. Of course the other problem with the guarantee is that it's like the Outer Limits -- we control the horizontal, we control the vertical. If they say your card is good, even if it isn't, you're out of luck.
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Exactly, I remember that. So what good is the guaranty then if they don't plan to honor it?
What gives the supposed extra value to a graded card is that a knowledgeable, independent, and unbiased expert is supposed to have examined it and given their opinion as to its authenticity and condition, based on a recognized set of uniform and consistently applied standards. And even if a TPG is only giving an opinion, if they are unable or unwilling to stand behind that opinion, then that opinion really isn't worth shit. The TPGs fully realizes that people are making financial decisions based on their opinions, and sometimes some very expensive ones. How they can escape liability by hiding behind it only being an opinion they are giving is exactly why the TPGs should ALL be required to follow a similar set of uniform grading standards determined and handed down by some hobby group or authority, not determined separately by each TPG as to what they think/want the grading standards to be, and then changing them to suit their own whims and wishes.
The point where the hobby has gotten to today has made it virtually impossible to ever expect the TPGs to give up their position and control over the hobby, either voluntarily or by force, without there being either some absolutely horrific incident/scandal that totally destroys a vast majority of the people/collectors/sellers in the hobby's current faith and trust in TPGs, or the government decides they need to step in and wrest such control from the TPGs, for whatever reason. I'm not holding my breath though.