Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred
The reason I think it's plausible is because of greed. Simple one word answer.
There have been so many issues that people have found out about TPG's (let's just call it as it is - PSA because they are without a doubt the king of grading). PSA does not appear to be doing anything about the issues, but one thing is for certain, they appear to be about fully capitalizing their business (which is what businesses are supposed to do) and if it gets to the point where profitability begins to wane, then it wouldn't surprise me to see some bonehead exec putting two and two together and coming up with a million (greed).
The truly sad part is that people just don't seem to care as long as they're making money or the appearance of making money (by holding cardboard for it's current valuation).
A point to consider (which has been widely discussed in other threads, no new revelation here) - why are they charging so much to grade high end cards? They can sit back on their "subjectivity". There's no guarantee with the service they provide, so why stick it to the collecting public and charge so much for their opinion? Why, because they can because there are a lot of people whose main concern is the Benjamins and making more off this thing that used to be a fun hobby. PSA will figure out more ways to make money off the collecting public because that's what they do.
Do you feel it's not plausible? If so, I bet there are a few readers that would love to read your thoughts on why not.
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They have completely cornered and dominate the third party grading market which is absolutely thriving. They authenticate all sorts of stuff like type 1 photos, balls, autographs, who knows what else. PCGS is a dominant player in coins. They surely have other sources of revenue as well such as their authentication deals with ebay. PSA as an entity does not "own" cards and I can't imagine that fits in the business plan. And even if it did, they could easily sell through auction houses, they don't need to sell through an ebay account. Why would they, to shill cards up a few bucks? They can do that anyhow, believe me. If you are saying Nat Turner would do it to sell his own cards, that makes no sense to me either.
Even if they were ruthlessly greedy, that doesn't mean they want to expand to every corner and level of the hobby.