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Posted By: Ted

As mostly a seller on ebay, I have a slightly different perspective on this issue. I only sell raw cards. I just don't believe in slabbing, but will address that in a separate post someday when I have more energy. I have been very consistant in my grading over the years, and have used the Beckett's description as my guide. My policy has always been, if you don't like your purchase for any reason, return it for a full refund of the purchase price. While receiving praise for accurate or better than expected conditions in most of my feedback there is the occasional customer who has a beef with my grading call. This has never resulted in negative feedback, as I have always offered to take the card back. While being only human and capable of error, I would expect that once in awhile I would screw up.

But what I have really found is that out of the thousands of customers I have had, there is not total agreement on what constitutes a specific grade. Each of us has our own pet peeve that has to be 100% dead on or it loses lots of "points" in their grade. Corners, centering, focus, gloss, you name it, and we all have our preferences for perfection. Some give a little leeway for cards that are over 50, or 75, or 100 years old, and let the scale slide some.

My biggest dilemma in grading is the difference between good, fair and poor. Beckett lumps them together and just says they are well worn, and then lists other issues. Does anybody have any written guidelines they use for these categories, or the better grades for that matter, that have been helpful in grading raw cards?

Ted
He who so shall, so shall he who!