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Grade Tech Services, Inc.Thank you for initiating this discussion, Todd. It’s been quite interesting and there have been many good questions raised. Let me start by addressing…
Magnification. I don’t know of an industry standard that actually exists and I can’t speak to our competitors’ use of magnification in their grading methods. We simply did what folks in the hobby asked us to do. Capturing corners under magnification came up in almost every FOCUS group that we conducted. We arrived at 20x because hobbyists that we polled wanted as much magnification as possible without loosing the visual that they were actually viewing a corner. Dan Mathewson made an excellent suggestion to use a pictorial “corner index”, which we will be prototyping. Also, it’s important to note that a Gem corner looks as solid as a ceramic tile even at 20x, so it is quite easy to arrive at this sub-grade through magnification and is an invaluable grading tool.
Effort. Sure, it takes more time for Grade Tech to grade a card but aren’t the hobbyists, our clients, worth the extra effort? They are to us and we put a piece of ourselves into every production. We are fortunate to be very experienced in the technologies and the use of automated work flows to minimize the additional time and we are constantly trying ways to do it better and faster, without compromising our product.
Price. It was erroneously stated in this thread that our price is $7 per card. Our price is $10 per card but discounted to $7 for 5 or more cards submitted. This was our “Summer Special”, good though 9/1/02, as clearly stated in hobby magazine advertisements and our web site. After 9/1, you will need to submit 50 or more cards to realize the $7 per card discount. However, with 25 cards submitted a discount to $8.50 takes effect. Even without the aggressive discounts, we feel that the hobbyist is still enjoying the most for his/her money with the Grade Tech product.
Magnification, large scans; these are important grading instruments, as well as documentation for the customer. The feedback that we have been receiving for raising this standard has been wonderful and we have had numerous return customers as a result. However, I do want you all to know that we hear your observations and they are being noted any we thank you once again for expressing your thoughts.
Best Regards,
Lloyd Glavocich,
Grade Tech Services, Inc.