If you were to start a NEW grading service...

[D.P.Johnson]

When I'm buying a card I want to know two things:

1. Is it authentic?
2. Has it been altered?

I can personally assign my own "grade" and determine the price I want to pay for the card.

I would support a company that used a simple concept like this...

[barrysloate]

That's a great question Pete. First, I would do away with numerical grades, since baseball cards cannot be graded with the accuracy that the numbers suggest. I know this would not be popular with collectors, but since your question was theoretical only I will stick to it. All of the pretended accuracy of half grades, for example, is just a sham. Graders can't differentiate an 8 from a 8.5 with any sense of consistency. I would just use terms such as Poor, Good, Very Good, Excellent, etc. That would at least presume that the given card was not altered, and would tell the submitter all he needs to know about its condition.

I would also strive to be incredibly consistent and careful with grading, so that resubmissions would be almost entirely unnecessary. If a card was Very Good the first time, it would be Very Good the next ten times too. I believe the regrading game is nothing more than the TPG doing favors for certain customers, not to mention minting money. If you can't get it right the first time and every time, then find a new job.

I realize of course I would go belly up with this business model, but it is nevertheless what I would like to see.

[1952boyntoncollector]

I would allow for suggestions of grade and allow the customer to pay extra (cash preferred) than the normal grading costs.

I would guarantee a week turnaround time.

I would use a hologram or something that makes my holder unique and UV protected.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

I would allow for suggestions of grade and allow the customer to pay extra (cash preferred) than the normal grading costs.

I truly hope you were being facetious.

[ksabet]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

That's a great question Pete. First, I would do away with numerical grades, since baseball cards cannot be graded with the accuracy that the numbers suggest. I know this would not be popular with collectors, but since your question was theoretical only I will stick to it. All of the pretended accuracy of half grades, for example, is just a sham. Graders can't differentiate an 8 from a 8.5 with any sense of consistency. I would just use terms such as Poor, Good, Very Good, Excellent, etc. That would at least presume that the given card was not altered, and would tell the submitter all he needs to know about its condition.

I would also strive to be incredibly consistent and careful with grading, so that resubmissions would be almost entirely unnecessary. If a card was Very Good the first time, it would be Very Good the next ten times too. I believe the regrading game is nothing more than the TPG doing favors for certain customers, not to mention minting money. If you can't get it right the first time and every time, then find a new job.

I realize of course I would go belly up with this business model, but it is nevertheless what I would like to see.

I like this idea very much.


Another terrible business model would be to just have every card scrutinized to the nth degree giving it an authentic/unauthentic plus any indications of trimming etc. To me "buy the card not the holder" is the best philosophy. To let the buyer be the judge of the grade, but alas the general public (including most dealers) and their egos would not let the number thing go.

[barrysloate]

Thank you. I also agree with Daniel that the only thing collectors really need to know is has the card been altered? We can all learn how to grade our own cards with about the same accuracy as a TPG.

[BicycleSpokes]

Originally Posted by D.P.Johnson

When I'm buying a card I want to know two things:



1. Is it authentic?

2. Has it been altered?



I can personally assign my own "grade" and determine the price I want to pay for the card.



I would support a company that used a simple concept like this...

I really like this approach. I am surprised existing TPG companies do not offer this as an option.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[drcy]

I like D.P.Johnson's post

From a practical standpoint, you're not going to compete in the number/registry game, but doing a good job authenticating and identifying alterations would be a good service.

One problem is it would be harder for a collector himself to grade a card in a holder. Letter scans of the card though would mean the card wouldn't have to be entombed in a holder.

For the record, I'm all for collectors collecting low grade raw cards. They seem to be the closest to real collectors, as opposed to number investors and grade re-submitters. If a collector says "I don't care about number, and just want to be sure it's authentic and unaltered," he's my type of guy.

I've had some cards in such low condition that even if it turned out they were altered it wouldn't lower the value. I referred to a particularly rough small collection of Goudeys I once had as "the Devil's coasters."

I also agree with the earlier thread that there are variations in condition within the PSA/SGC Poor grade.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by drcy

I like D.P.Johnson's post

+1 - sorry for duplicating most of his concept. I just copied my post directly over to this thread without actually reading any of the posts here.

[drcy]

Just for the record, starting a trading card grading company would be about the last thing I'd want to do.

[Fred]

No numerical grades.

It's either AUTHENTIC (which means unaltered) or it has been ALTERED.

List ALL detected alterations (added color, bleached, trimmed, rebacked, etc).

List all defects that are not obvious. There's really no reason to list a MAJOR crease if it's very obvious. If it has a difficult to detect crease then note CR (like a qualifier of sorts).


Make a very secure tamper proof package.

Take hi resolution scans/pictures of the card (front and back) and make that information available in a database so people can research it and verify the card in the holder is in fact the card that was graded.

This service will probably be a little more expensive than the existing fee structures provided by the majors because of the extra work/detail involved.

WOULD NOT GRADE ANYTHING AFTER 1979. I might even make that 1960 and cater to a vintage crowd.

I'm sure there's more but those are the basic concepts of a service I'd like to see.

[Fred]

Originally Posted by drcy

Just for the record, starting a trading card grading company would be about the last thing I'd want to do.

+1 - absolutely agree.... what a headache.... If I did do something that crazy, I'd change my name to Joe....

[packs]

I'd institute a blind submission policy. You put your name on the submission form and your card gets a number for reference. A third party grader reviews the card not knowing who owns it. Assigns a grade.

The worst aspect of the grading / authentication business is that it favors certain individuals / companies. So I'd like to eliminate that aspect by having graders who know nothing about where the cards came from.

[OldEnglishD]

Originally Posted by D.P.Johnson

When I'm buying a card I want to know two things:

1. Is it authentic?
2. Has it been altered?

I can personally assign my own "grade" and determine the price I want to pay for the card.

I would support a company that used a simple concept like this...

+1

With these two questions answered and the card slabbed (tamper proof), I would be very happy.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by D.P.Johnson

When I'm buying a card I want to know two things:

1. Is it authentic?
2. Has it been altered?

I can personally assign my own "grade" and determine the price I want to pay for the card.

I would support a company that used a simple concept like this...

Like many others I really like this idea.

I would add that all alterations are listed on the flip and an online database with high resolution pictures front and back of each card.

[Rickyy]

Originally Posted by D.P.Johnson

When I'm buying a card I want to know two things:

1. Is it authentic?
2. Has it been altered?

I can personally assign my own "grade" and determine the price I want to pay for the card.

I would support a company that used a simple concept like this...

I'd be happy with this as well...

Ricky Y

[Econteachert205]

Thanks for the info bobby, cool stuff.

[jsconscum]

Originally Posted by D.P.Johnson

When I'm buying a card I want to know two things:

1. Is it authentic?
2. Has it been altered?

I can personally assign my own "grade" and determine the price I want to pay for the card.

I would support a company that used a simple concept like this...

+1

I don't need a monkey to tell me my card is mint.

[Theo_450]

I didn't read all of the posts.

My card grading company would have 3 categories.
1. Authentic Original
2. Authentic Altered = soaked, trimmed, erased, marked, restored, otherwise tampered with.
3. Fake

Let the buyers decide value/demand.

At the end of the day, it is what it is, and they are what they are, and the grading companies are a middleman that are capitalizing on telling us what "it" is.

I want to know that it is authentic and unaltered, or otherwise. My eyes can do the rest.

After all, it is art and nostalgia. It is kind of like buying an antique coffee table.

Refinished = < value, faked = NO value, and "came from my family" = "I bet you made that up".

edited to add: I just read a few more posts, and I feverishly stand by my concept. Don't let the grading companies dictate what you will collect, or how much you will pay for it.

[toledo_mudhen]

• Lose the Half Grades - Seriously? What a scam.....
• Simple foil seal around couple of edges to show if tampered with
• Integration with the other top 3 TPGs for an accurate population report and registry
• I measure centers with JRuler - I'm sure it wouldnt be that hard to have a computer calculate L/R and T/B - Maybe noted on back of flip
• Grades like Beckett on back for Center, surface, corners
• No membership fees for submitting
• Customer service like SGC

I'm ready - who else is in?

[WWGjohn]

As a collector of low grade cards, I've always hated TPG's but I also like the concept of authentic or altered as designations. As others have said I can assign my own grade to what I buy.

John

[nolemmings]

I used to be among the crowd who wanted just an authentic-unaltered notation-- in fact I probably posted to that effect 10 years or so ago. Upon reflection though I prefer having a technical grade assigned, for it helps alert me to flaws that are difficult to see, especially in a scan when scanners have such variable settings.

I hate wrinkles or creases, certainly more than most other defects, and am no fan of even minor paper loss or stray pen marks. Oftentimes these are very difficult to spot in scans. I would be unhappy to buy an otherwise real nice looking card graded simply "Authentic-Unaltered" only to find these defects when I had the card in hand. I probably wouldn't want the card at all and certainly would not have paid anywhere near as much. I suppose I could inundate the seller beforehand with all sorts of questions as a preventative measure and return it if unsatisfied, but these are major hassles to me. Instead, give the card its proper grade and let me decide when I buy the card not the holder, with a lower grade number serving to tip me off to look more closely.

[nolemmings]

I would internally track who handles which cards and how many complaints emanate from each grader's work. Heads would roll...

I would go even further-- assign a unique number to each grader and make sure that number appeared somewhere on the flip. I don't need to know his name, but I can then establish which graders are associated with what I consider questionable grades and steer clear (or at least take heed) when I see that guy's work.

[freakhappy]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

I used to be among the crowd who wanted just an authentic-unaltered notation-- in fact I probably posted to that effect 10 years or so ago. Upon reflection though I prefer having a technical grade assigned, for it helps alert me to flaws that are difficult to see, especially in a scan when scanners have such variable settings.

I hate wrinkles or creases, certainly more than most other defects, and am no fan of even minor paper loss or stray pen marks. Oftentimes these are very difficult to spot in scans. I would be unhappy to buy an otherwise real nice looking card graded simply "Authentic-Unaltered" only to find these defects when I had the card in hand. I probably wouldn't want the card at all and certainly would not have paid anywhere near as much. I suppose I could inundate the seller beforehand with all sorts of questions as a preventative measure and return it if unsatisfied, but these are major hassles to me. Instead, give the card its proper grade and let me decide when I buy the card not the holder, with a lower grade number serving to tip me off to look more closely.

As much of a beauty it would be to have just "altered" or "authentic" on the slab, I think I'm with Todd...I want a number on the slab. There's too much info that that number represents. With all of the good that having no number on a slab would bring, I think it may be just as bad without a number. Sometimes it's hard to tell the defects on a card through a picture on the internet...imagine if you didn't have a slab number to give you some direction And you think people are crooked now...just take the number away! I believe there are ups and downs to both, but I prefer some direction instead of playing the guessing game.

That being said, I believe there should be an option on whether or not you want a number grade assigned to your card and with that, it needs to state whether it was requested or not so people know it was by choice and not because of an alteration, etc.,

There are three things that need to be a priority IMO if you are starting or running a card/memorabilia/auto authentication/grading business:

1. competent graders...the ones that can give no excuses for absolute shit grades. I know there will always be the human element factor as long as they are doing the grading, but some grades I've seen are inexcusable...can't happen.

2. top notch customer service (duh ). The kind that realizes that we the customers are the reason they are staying in business and treat us as so.

3. a tamper proof slab (kudos to Beckett). And if Beckett could grade pre-war a little better, I would be sending them all of my business. I like all three and I feel like Beckett's holders are probably in last place (I don't hate their holders tho) among the three as far as appearance goes. Their slabs are bomb proof tho and they get bonus points for that!

I know there would be a lot more I would do if I started a grading company, but this is where I would start. Good thread, Pete!

[conor912]

Originally Posted by D.P.Johnson

When I'm buying a card I want to know two things:

1. Is it authentic?
2. Has it been altered?

I can personally assign my own "grade" and determine the price I want to pay for the card.

I would support a company that used a simple concept like this...

I don't do graded but this is spot on. I find much more value in the opinion of authenticity and alterations than I do in the grade assignments. My company would have no assigned grades. I'd also make a cheaper grading option for commons, like in a top loader with a small sticker/seal over the top. The space/weight of all those bulky slabs is a real drag and one of the many reasons I only collect raw. I think current TPG's are missing out on a ton of potential money from people who want their $2-$20 cards looked at, but can't justify paying for the full monty.

[begsu1013]

I would:


1. find a good state for tax credit purposes.

a. hopefully, one w/ no state income tax.
b. a city w/ a direct fedex/ups hub.

2. establish said llc or llp.

3. find a reputable and established IT guy.

4. formulate a computerized scientific program for grading/measurements

a. a lot of cards would get kicked back for measurement discrepancies alone
b. grades would be more consistent
c. this would cut down on labor costs dramatically.

5. quality control check.

6. develop and patent a true tamper proof case.

a. maybe w. a die insert "ring" that changed colors if cracked (not spill out all over the card naturally)

7. establish a user-friendly registry

a. said registry would also track pedigree/provenance
b. notify date graded.
c. allow private messaging option of previous owners, if so wished.

8. construct an aggressive marketing campaign

a. wait for a true beauty to hand out 1st cert
b. hand out 100 free subs at national to each paid entry.
c. extend another initial free subs offer electronically for said amount of time
d. charge a minimal price (in the beginning) for crossovers.
e. kids 15 and under would get 20 free subs a year under $100 declared value.


9. continuously strive for the quickest log in and turnaround time possible

10. customer service would be bar none.

edited to add: you would also get a high resolution scan emailed to you once encapsulated.