I just sent my first cards in ever for grading. Been back in this hobby for two years now and never wanted to wait that long. But with SGC turnaround reportedly 20-25 days, I had five items that I felt barely justified the $30 price tag. Also, it's partly as an experiment out of genuine curiosity.
I agree that pound for pound you get better resale value with PSA, especially after 1960 or so. But I think there are plenty of exceptions to that rule and most (not all) collectors view SGC as legit and on par or even tougher than PSA when it comes to grading standards. Also with the issues surrounding PSA, there's no guarantee their slabs will always carry a premium over SGC.
Anyway, two of my five items are Led Zeppelin 1975 Panini stickers that I just want slabbed, because led zep is the greatest rock band of all time (IMO) and I think the stickers will go up in value after Page and Plant pass away. But really I just want them slabbed because they will be safe and I want them as part of my collection because again it's Led Zeppelin -- although the fact that they are Panini which is a name in the industry made me think they do have collector value. Plus they are just cool and usually if I think something is cool other collectors do which = value.
The other three cards are kind of borderline subs since I hardly ever spend good money for raw. They are a Walter Payton RC that I hope gets a 4 or better (it has color fading otherwise it could be a 6), and a couple of 1941 playballs (Bill Dickey and Jimmy Foxx) that should be in the 2-4 range. In all three cases as long as I don't get "As" for them then the $30 ($35 with tax, shipping etc) will be worth it.
Clearly not getting rich with this move, but turnaround time is a massive factor. Plus SGC customer service got back to me within a couple of hours when I was curious if they would slab my LZ cards. Impressive. This was all enough to get me to pull the lever after I debated doing this for a long time.
Who wants to be without their cards for that long unless you are in this almost entirely to make $?
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