Those are some interesting thoughts.
While I enjoyed my very minor participation in SGCs registry years ago, and yes, it felt weird to be interested in seeing my one or two cards added bringing me from like 70th to 65th, I hadn't considered anyone paying anything beyond the grading fees to use the registry.
I wouldn't be in at a few hundred a set, but I could see some people being into it that much. (I'm not even sure I'd be in at a few dollars a set, I'm cheap)
One thing I have learned being here, is that way more people than I would have ever imagined are obsessed with consistency, having the cards all be the same grade, in the same version of the same companies holder... Totally not me, I'm happy to just "finish" a set and have most of the nice cards in some sort of holder. Stuff is getting pricy enough I may have to buy a couple cases of penny sleeves for the P-F cards.
I wasn't thinking of pop reports either. Just that having some ability to automate by checking with the database like the serial number lookup feature does would prevent a ton of data entry costs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark17
I wasn't thinking about population reports, because in my opinion they are highly problematic, considering all the cards cracked out for resubmitting, and cards cracked out because collectors prefer them that way.
I'm talking about collectors who have completed sets and want to have their accomplishment recognized and compared to other similar completed sets. So they pay some fee, submit proof of the cards they own (maybe something simple like video of their cards on top of a current dated newspaper,) and then their cards are entered into the registry database for that set.
So, you wouldn't need any data from any TPG company - the only data you'd be dealing with would be what was voluntarily submitted by collectors who wished to have their cards and set recorded in the registry.
Yes, minds better than mine would need to figure out the weighted formulas to standardize grades of the different TPG companies, whether some TPG companies are even reliable enough to include, and weighing how much more the Mantle counts vs. a common... stuff like that would all need to be decided.
As to cost and profitability, look at it this way. Suppose someone has a set that is 90% graded PSA, but the rest are BVG or SGC, including a few high dollar cards. Currently, if this guy wants his set in the PSA registry he has to get all those non-PSA cards re-graded.
1. How much will that cost?
2. Will those cards cross at the same grade or be assigned lower grades?
3. How long will the wait time be?
That adds up to a ton of money, time, and some risk. With the Cross Registry, no re-grading is necessary, unless they are in slabs of unreliable TPG, in which case they can be re-submitted to any legit TPG for grading.
A new LLC setting up such a registry could charge a few hundred dollars to register a set and still save the collector thousands. After awhile, with general acceptance, AHs would be listing complete sets with references such as being #12 on the Net54 Cross Registry (or whatever it's called.)
It would involve some work no doubt, but the benefits would be huge, and zero cooperation or data would be required or even wanted from any TPG or anyone else, besides the collectors who chose to pay the fee and register their sets.
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