Do you care about the authenticity guaranty provided by grading companies?

[Balticfox]

This subject came up in another thread:

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I guarantee (haha) you the vast majority of buyers don't even know about the guarantee and if they do they don't care.

So as a buyer do you care about the authenticity "guaranty" that PSA and other grading companies provide?

[bnorth]

I voted NO because they do their best to not honor it so for the most part it is almost worthless anyway. Plus in the real world I have noticed there is a WAY bigger chance of a graded card being altered than a raw one being altered. There is a WAY bigger reward for getting an altered card into a slab than altering one to keep raw.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by bnorth

I voted NO because they do their best to not honor it so for the most part it is almost worthless anyway.

While I agree that the grading companies do everything possible not to honour their guaranties, I think their business was built on these sham guarantees. Why else would collectors/dealers have started submitting their cards en masse?

Originally Posted by bnorth

Plus in the real world I have noticed there is a WAY bigger chance of a graded card being altered than a raw one being altered. There is a WAY bigger reward for getting an altered card into a slab than altering one to keep raw.

I believe it. That's certainly the way it seems. After all, why bother doctoring a card that isn't going to sell for nosebleed prices?

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

While I agree that the grading companies do everything possible not to honour their guaranties, I think their business was built on these sham guarantees. Why else would collectors/dealers have started submitting their cards en masse?



I believe it. That's certainly the way it seems. After all, why bother doctoring a card that isn't going to sell for nosebleed prices?

I have been collecting for longer than the grading companies have been around. I personally don't know a single person who bought a graded card because of the guarantee. At least no one has ever said I bought it because of the guarantee. Every single graded card was purchased because graded cards are worth more money. Funniest part is most collectors don't get how grading really works when it comes to value. Even funnier is many that constantly complain about grading companies only collect graded cards from the company they constantly complain about.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by bnorth

I personally don't know a single person who bought a graded card because of the guarantee. At least no one has ever said I bought it because of the guarantee. Every single graded card was purchased because graded cards are worth more money.

Yes, but that's begging the question. Why do slabbed cards fetch more money? That phenomenon had to start because buyers were happy to get a card guaranteed by an "expert" third-party. This made the buyers confident that they were getting the real thing and they were happy to pay to get this confidence. The phenomenon then snowballed. But what got the snowball rolling for the higher prices fetched was the guaranty.

Originally Posted by bnorth

Funniest part is most collectors don't get how grading really works when it comes to value. Even funnier is many that constantly complain about grading companies only collect graded cards from the company they constantly complain about.

A certain Vulcan would describe such behaviour as "Illogical".

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by bnorth

I have been collecting for longer than the grading companies have been around. I personally don't know a single person who bought a graded card because of the guarantee. At least no one has ever said I bought it because of the guarantee. Every single graded card was purchased because graded cards are worth more money. Funniest part is most collectors don't get how grading really works when it comes to value. Even funnier is many that constantly complain about grading companies only collect graded cards from the company they constantly complain about.

None of it makes any sense, does it? I constantly like to stress to people the importance of becoming your own authority, but we're too late in the game for it to matter. TPG this, TPA that. Ugh.

[Golfcollector]

Originally Posted by bnorth

I voted NO because they do their best to not honor it so for the most part it is almost worthless anyway. Plus in the real world I have noticed there is a WAY bigger chance of a graded card being altered than a raw one being altered. There is a WAY bigger reward for getting an altered card into a slab than altering one to keep raw.

This +1

[butchie_t]

I don't because if I am buying a slabbed card, I typically free the card from the tomb and place it in a binder with the rest of his friends.

Even when I get some slabbed, which is so very infrequent and in the past, they were modern cards and I was moving them to buy other cards anyway.

Now that PSA has sucked up SGC, I am reasonably sure I won't be getting any cards slabbed moving forward. I do have autographed cards but I send them to CAS to get authenticated and placed in a holder. That is about it for me.

Butch

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by butchie_t

I don't because if I am buying a slabbed card, I typically free the card from the tomb and place it in a binder with the rest of his friends.

Completed: 1969 - 2000 Topps Baseball Sets and Traded Sets

Good man! That's what I like to hear.

[Leon]

This thread was moved from the watercooler section to get some more votes, plus it definitely fits into pre-war as well as other niches...
.

[Johnny630]

Nope because once in a holder it's liquid gold....card doesn't matter it's the label.

[Zach Wheat]

I voted no as I generally collect sets I am familiar with...and the guaranty does not provide much value to me. The bigger issue for me is "micro-trimming" as I generally buy ungraded cards. That is a more significant issue

[Casey2296]

I voted no, and is the reason I buy pre-war graded 4 or less, and post war 7 or less. Limits all the shenanigans a bit.

[Johnphotoman]

I do see some value in baseball cards and the like, but not in Baseball photos, or old photo grading, the system is all wrong. Not worth the time.

[Fred]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

This subject came up in another thread:

So as a buyer do you care about the authenticity "guaranty" that PSA and other grading companies provide?

Does it mean anything at all? Doesn't the weasel wording used protect the TPGs from any type of liability?

[glchen]

I voted yes because I've actually received compensation from both Beckett and SGC in the past. (I think someone told me that one of these no longer reimburses anymore.) I've never tried PSA.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by glchen

I voted yes because I've actually received compensation from both Beckett and SGC in the past. (I think someone told me that one of these no longer reimburses anymore.) I've never tried PSA.

My understanding is that SGC dropped their guarantee a few years ago.

PSA did spot me a 5-figure check when they failed to identify some Moser doctoring on one of my cards that was subsequently outed by the BDA. Although it took some doing, as they initially denied my request for compensation, and only after some follow-up from me they recognized their error.