Posted By:
MattI had a conversation with Michael Goldberg at SGC this morning regarding my first submission to them and he answered a few questions for me that I didn't see on their website Q&A and thought would be helpful to other members on the board. This should in no way be seen as taking a shot at SGC as I can imagine PSA works in a similar manner, but these items weren't clear to me so I thought I would share and perhaps help other SGC first timers. These are not direct quotes from Michael as this was just a conversation, so if I made any mistakes, I apologize.
1)
Q: When paying at a higher tier (e.g. the $20 Grand Slam Tier), what exactly are you paying the premium for?
A: You are paying for both the faster turn around time and the higher company liability in handling the card. In the case that either one of those is not relevant (such as sending in a $3 card for the $20 service where there is no increased liability) the value of the full $20 is seen as payment for the faster turn around time.
2)
Q: When submitting cards at multiple tiers (e.g. 5 day and 20 day service) on the same invoice (to save on return shipping) are are all cards still graded at their tiered times (i.e. 5 day cards graded in 5 days)?
A: In those cases all cards are graded at the lowest tier. For example, if you send in 5 day cards with 20 day cards, the 5 day cards will be graded at the same time the 20 day cards are.
3)
Q: Does the web site update in real time as each card is graded?
A: The Website only updates with the results of the submission once the cards have been shipped back to the owner.
4)
Q: Someone on the board suggested submitting all cards at the lowest tier since the actual grading service provided is the same no matter what. Is this doable?
A: No. If SGC sees a card that is grossly mis-estimated, they will only grade the card at the appropriate tier. (The example Michael gave was if someone submitted a $1000 Ty Cobb at the base grading tier, they would not grade it at that tier).