Does it Make Any Difference?

[steve B]

I think it really depends on the reputation of the other grader.
GAI was pretty good for a while, then slid into slabbing pretty much anything, altered or not. and at the end it was mostly not. I'm not as into graded stuff, but have one GAI card that was fairly early and it's accurate.

My other off- brand is an old one, Acu-card. I don't recall hearing much good about them, and my one card is obviously trimmed all around. I keep it slabbed as I think that was the first grading company, and a bit of hobby history.

The general opinion is that if it's an expensive card and isn't in one of the current big 3 there must be a reason and that reason is usually that the card wouldn't pass any of them.
I don't think that will change radically, some of the other grading companies were ok at times others were really bad or actively supporting alterations and fakes.
Like that guy who was pop riveting book and magazine pictures into screwdowns and grading them all 10...