Surely, PSA's advantage is a combination of factors. First-mover advantage certainly helps, plus the registry, and having slabs that don't look like they were bought from the dollar store all play a role. The registry is huge though. It creates dual demand which creates pricing separation from SGC on widely collected sets like 33 Goudey, 52-56 Topps, 48 Leaf, Cracker Jacks, T206s, etc. All the key cards in these sets sell for significant premiums over SGC solely because of the added set collector pressure on the market. This has a trickle-down effect on other sectors of the market as newcomers.
I'm really interested in how CSG does in the future though. IMO, they are doing just about everything right. Their slabs are so much better than everyone else's, their new flips are nice, and their grading scale is accurate and consistent in my experience.
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