[hcv123]

PSA has a stranglehold for sure on the 1950's-1980's market at least. I am less familiar with the pre 50's and post 80's. Their biggest driver is their set registry. At the end of the day many collectors (myself included) love the competition. PSA owns it! I agree their service leaves much to be desired. Their lack of knowledge of many of the issues is at times laughable. I just don't know how that changes. A 3rd party set registry? - allowing cards from beckett, SGC and PSA - how does it become a profitable venture? Who will do it?

Depending on the specific card(s) - there can be HUGE price discrepancies - the biggest I've seen is the 1968 Topps Plak Checklist - The single highest PSA graded - a 7 sold for 22k at auction - The highest SGC a 96! - sold for a little over 3k.

I like SGC a lot and the few times I've used them I have been happy with their service. They just came to the game very late and unless there is a PSA mutiny, I don't know how they catch up. Perhaps offering a short window of time to cross cards from some of the top sets for free (or very nominal charge) and guaranteeing no lower grade excepting for trimmed/altered discrepancies. For example - offering the top 3 set holders from ech set some incentive to cross?

-my 2 cents.