SGC Announcement

[parkplace33]

New video from Peter today:

https://fb.watch/mUWSMxW2FC/?mibextid=m9I3tJ

1. New SGC is out, can submit orders through the app.
2. Sports and non sport cards are now $15, no minimum required.
3. TPC submissions are now $9, no minimum required.
4. Immediate service is now $40.

Interesting about the app, maybe the registry isn’t far behind.

[Casey2296]

Positive announcement. Couple of observations as a devout black apron pre war fan.

I hope SGC isn't sacrificing turn times for price.

Pre war grading still has a value escalator which is basically most pre war.

I'm excited I can get my pre war beat up commons graded now.

And the elephant in the room: Registry

I feel like this guy is one of those cats that has a wife but got his side chick pregnant and is struggling with how to address that. I always thought well they're short staffed and can't commit resources to a registry, but really?, you'll commit resources to a "mobile app" Before a registry? Nobody cares about a mobile app and stop trying to be tech forward so much. PSA is killing you because of registry, is that not clear enough?

Just tell us SGC fans your side chick is pregnant and there will never be a registry so we can move on..

[Peter_Spaeth]

Mobile apps are a big deal to younger folks, maybe they see that as their future customer base.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Mobile apps are a big deal to younger folks, maybe they see that as their future customer base.

Clearly, So by their silence they are conceding to PSA when it comes to registry. Are young people not participating in the PSA registry database?

[Lorewalker]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

Clearly, So by their silence they are conceding to PSA when it comes to registry. Are young people not participating in the PSA registry database?

There definitely feels like there is a move to collectors being more singles collectors and doing so without a common theme like singles of a certain player. Might be different in vintage but even then set collecting seems to have quieted especially for the last 3 years when affordable grading was abolished at PSA.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by Lorewalker

There definitely feels like there is a move to collectors being more singles collectors and doing so without a common theme like singles of a certain player. Might be different in vintage but even then set collecting seems to have quieted especially for the last 3 years when affordable grading was abolished at PSA.

Maybe, but what is driving huge prices for example a Phil Niekro 1969 tops PSA 9 if not the registry?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

Clearly, So by their silence they are conceding to PSA when it comes to registry. Are young people not participating in the PSA registry database?

Phil, they are two decades behind PSA in the registry. They've lost that battle, it's over. They know that.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Phil, they are two decades behind PSA in the registry. They've lost that battle, it's over. They know that.

I would agree with your assessment.

[GasHouseGang]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Phil, they are two decades behind PSA in the registry.

What's a decade or two among friends?

[Vintagedeputy]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Phil, they are two decades behind PSA in the registry. They've lost that battle, it's over. They know that.

The old SGC registry was great. I think they screwed up when they changed cert numbers. I’m sure the original info still exists and it shouldn’t be too difficult to bring back and update/revise.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

Clearly, So by their silence they are conceding to PSA when it comes to registry. Are young people not participating in the PSA registry database?

No, of course not. Registry is pretty much only for the old school set collectors. Nobody is collecting modern sets. And nobody is chasing master sets of modern players. There's like 100,000+ different cards of star players made every year now.

PSA already owns the registry business. If SGC added one, very few people would actually use it. And it would not make them more competitive with PSA anyhow. They missed the bus a long time ago with that.

[Vintagedeputy]

Originally Posted by Snowman

PSA already owns the registry business. If SGC added one, very few people would actually use it. .

I wholeheartedly disagree. Why? Because in its infancy SGC had a registry, and we used it. There were many people adding cards and uploading pics and there was great friendly competition too. We also had a message board and it was lively.

[Lucas00]

Go to sgcs website and click the top to get the app. It's still brand new in the app stores so the search algorithms still seem to prioritize the others. Assumingly because people have been looking for an sgc app for the last decade and one has never shown up 😂.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Lucas00

Go to sgcs website and click the top to get the app. It's still brand new in the app stores so the search algorithms still seem to prioritize the others. Assumingly because people have been looking for an sgc app for the last decade and one has never shown up 😂.

Got it. Thank you.

[Peter_Spaeth]

None of the bells and whistles matter much if a company can't or won't grade appropriately. Small sample size, but my recent SGC sub was a complete disaster from that perspective. I've posted about it elsewhere.

[ocjack]

I went to the SGC and saw that they have a price for TCG grading. Maybe it's just too early this morning, but what does "TCG" refer to? Thanks.

[53toppscollector]

Originally Posted by ocjack

I went to the SGC and saw that they have a price for TCG grading. Maybe it's just too early this morning, but what does "TCG" refer to? Thanks.

trading card game.

pokemon, magic the gathering, etc.

[chadeast]

Originally Posted by ocjack

I went to the SGC and saw that they have a price for TCG grading. Maybe it's just too early this morning, but what does "TCG" refer to? Thanks.

I was wondering the same thing. I even went to the SGC website where there appears to be no definition of what 'TCG' is, which I found rather weak. I was hoping it was some kind of membership since I've been waiting a long time for sub-$10 grading. I can probably make up some kind of '33 Goudey trading card game if that would qualify

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

None of the bells and whistles matter much if a company can't or won't grade appropriately. Small sample size, but my recent SGC sub was a complete disaster from that perspective. I've posted about it elsewhere.

My most recent sub (just arrived today) was more than fair. Perhaps even a hair generous. Was a welcomed surprise for once.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

Got it. Thank you.

At least they knew what your cards were!!
.

[todeen]

Updating with my returned submissions.1936_R311_Leather_Finish_Rogers_Hornsby__SGC-Grade-1pt5_Auth-7681399_Front.jpg1912_T202_Hassan_Cigarettes_36_Close_At_Third_Wood-Speaker__SGC-Grade-1_Auth-4318726_Front.jpg1921_Exhibits_Grover_C_Alexander__SGC-Grade-2pt5_Auth-8294099_Front.jpg

Sent from my SM-G9900 using Tapatalk

[jchcollins]

I just hope they based this most recent decision on a little more factual supply and demand input than their famous “We’re open, send us your cards” fiasco back at the beginning of Covid. For the first time ever, collectors called their bluff when PSA temporarily shut down, and they were snowed under bad until at least the fall. After that, there was a series of unprofessional yo-yo price adjustments (card used to be $30 to grade, whoops now it’s $60…) while they attempted to right the ship.

Since sometime in late ‘21 or so they have more or less got the hang of it, but that snap during Covid was rough. Continuing to pull stunts like that will not earn them more respect long term in any collector’s eye.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[53toppscollector]

I just submitted another order end of last week, I'm interested to see how the turnaround times are post-announcement.

I've tracked all my orders to PSA and SGC over the last few months to figure out durations.

SGC definitely processes orders received much better than PSA does. The order I submitted on 9/6 (last Wednesday) was shipped on Friday, and it got logged into the system today, after being delivered to their facility yesterday. PSA took 3 weeks to even "enter" my last order, it arrived on 8/16 and wasn't processed until 9/8. The column on the right for PSA labeled "65 days" is the calculation of the 65 business days, which is the top end of their estimate for value bulk.

My last SGC order was submitted a few weeks after the national, they graded the order in less than a week (on the 4th business day) and it was shipped a few days later.

[BobbyStrawberry]

I can't figure out why PSA seems incapable of providing accurate turnaround times. Yes, SGC has made a ton of pricing and turnaround time changes in recent years, but at least they are trying to give their customers accurate information...

[raulus]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

I can't figure out why PSA seems incapable of providing accurate turnaround times. Yes, SGC has made a ton of pricing and turnaround time changes in recent years, but at least they are trying to give their customers accurate information...

I suspect their volume and the haphazard nature of how they process submissions makes it very difficult to estimate with any precision.

You feed raw cards through one end of the factory, and they bounce around inside for a long time, and eventually they magically come out the other end. But in-between, they just seem to languish forever, and the order of processing is highly randomized at each step in the process. One step might fly right on through in 24 hours, while other steps take 2 months.

[53toppscollector]

SGC already graded my 7 card order received on September 12th.

2 days for grading. That is pretty crazy.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

I can't figure out why PSA seems incapable of providing accurate turnaround times. Yes, SGC has made a ton of pricing and turnaround time changes in recent years, but at least they are trying to give their customers accurate information...

It's a forecasting problem. PSA receives around 25,000 to 50,000 cards per day, with massive amounts of variance from one day to the next, and from one month to the next. SGC recieves around 3,000 cards per day and has lower variance. It is much easier to project turnaround times for a smaller operation like SGC than it would be for one like PSA, simply because of how the math works out.

There are just simply too many things outside of their control that make it difficult to predict future grading demands like product release dates, changes in market values of cards, etc. These all affect grading demand. PSA is effectively guessing at how much demand will be generated by monthly specials and changes to the pricing structure as well. It's a never ending battle of push and pull.

Predicting their future demand with the sort of precision that the hobby wants is nearly impossible. The best they can do is guess, throw a big-ish number out there and hope they don't go over. Then, if they do, they can make adjustments to their pricing, hiring, and monthly specials that help to chip away at that demand. Some levers work more quickly than others. Hiring more talent, or perhaps I should say more "talent", is the one that takes the longest, of course.

[vthobby]

Originally Posted by 53toppscollector

I just submitted another order end of last week, I'm interested to see how the turnaround times are post-announcement.

I've tracked all my orders to PSA and SGC over the last few months to figure out durations.

SGC definitely processes orders received much better than PSA does. The order I submitted on 9/6 (last Wednesday) was shipped on Friday, and it got logged into the system today, after being delivered to their facility yesterday. PSA took 3 weeks to even "enter" my last order, it arrived on 8/16 and wasn't processed until 9/8. The column on the right for PSA labeled "65 days" is the calculation of the 65 business days, which is the top end of their estimate for value bulk.

My last SGC order was submitted a few weeks after the national, they graded the order in less than a week (on the 4th business day) and it was shipped a few days later.

Spot on comparison. It's like the NFL playing against Pop Warner kids.

SGC just delivers. Always.

[theshowandme]

A bit frustrated with SGC right now

I sent a 22 card order at $20 per card. It was marked as received on Monday 8/28

They announced their new $15 fee just a few days later. I emailed 3 times asking if they would honor the new fee. Nothing came back.

The order sat in Received status until 9/13 when I was emailed that I was being refunded $20 because they could not identify one card (rare c. 1800s non sports card).

They graded the cards on 9/14 and shipped on 9/15.

At this time I sent my 4th or 5th email asking for clarification on what took so long and if they would honor the $15 fee.

SGC responded on 9/15 saying they wouldn’t honor the pricing change and that more research was needed for my order.

Plenty of people submitted orders after me and got their cards back swiftly at the $15 price. Just really disappointed here

booooooooo!

[Vintagedeputy]

Originally Posted by theshowandme

A bit frustrated with SGC right now

I sent a 22 card order at $20 per card. It was marked as received on Monday 8/28

They announced their new $15 fee just a few days later. I emailed 3 times asking if they would honor the new fee. Nothing came back.

The order sat in Received status until 9/13 when I was emailed that I was being refunded $20 because they could not identify one card (rare c. 1800s non sports card).

They graded the cards on 9/14 and shipped on 9/15.

At this time I sent my 4th or 5th email asking for clarification on what took so long and if they would honor the $15 fee.

SGC responded on 9/15 saying they wouldn’t honor the pricing change and that more research was needed for my order.

Plenty of people submitted orders after me and got their cards back swiftly at the $15 price. Just really disappointed here

booooooooo!

I'm sorry that happened to you, but I understand that as a business they have to make a decision and must have a cut off point on refunding monies already paid to them. Tough situation.

[theshowandme]

Originally Posted by Vintagedeputy

I'm sorry that happened to you, but I understand that as a business they have to make a decision and must have a cut off point on refunding monies already paid to them. Tough situation.

Understandable.

The communication aspect is what rubbed me.

They should have reached out much earlier saying they were having trouble identifying a card. I would have told them to put it to the side.

Many folks have posted of their cards being back in hand after SGC received them a full week later.

I’m glad I’m getting the order back, but I use SGC for speed!