Isa graders?

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

Buy the card not the holder is one thing. To me that's just people saying don't overpay for an off center or poor registration card because it has a certain grade. Or don't be afraid to pay more than a certain grade goes for if the card looks great.

It certainly doesn't mean to pay a lot of money for a high end card graded by a company that no one uses. Everyone knows people use these kind of companies to grade cards that don't make it through PSA or SGC. This means someone would have to know nothing about the current market to send a legitimate card into ISA. The only way I would buy one of these high end cards ISA graded is if the seller will accept a return if it won't cross, knowing I'll only be out my time and grading fees.

This has nothing to do with buying the card and not the holder. I just don't want to end up with an expensive fake or altered card.

so you are saying ISA only encapsulates fake or altered cards and the other big companies have done so? Got it.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by travrosty

so you are saying ISA only encapsulates fake or altered cards and the other big companies have done so? Got it.

uhhh....no...try again.

[bobbyw8469]

i guess when push comes to shove, it's "buy the holder not the card". thats what i can glean from all of this

Buy the card not the holder IS true. However, let's use some common sense here. There is a reason why PRO/GEM/GAI cards don't sell for as much as their PSA/SGC/BVG counterparts.

I equate to finding a Rembrandt. Are you going to pay more for it at Sotheby's or your local mom and pop auction house in a one traffic light town. At least at Sotheby's you can rest easy knowing you are buying the real deal. At the smaller auction house. you have a almost 100% chance that the item is a fake, or if it is not a fake, there is a real good chance the item has issues. I know it is a far-fetched analogy, but it is similar enough that you should get the gist.

[toledo_mudhen]

Couple of random thoughts :

The primary at ISA appears to be a guy named Jason Koonce - Is it my imagination or do I recall Jason being with PSA at one time?

Some of the higher volume consignors appear to be OK with ISA - Probstein (no flames please), Mile High, Rich Gove

It appears top be extremely hard for anyone other than the big 3 to gain a foothold in TPG market as so many have come and gone over the past 20 years. Pretty sure that many of us on the boards have tossed around the idea of creating the next big TPG that would address all of the weaknesses of the existing companies. A cursory look at startup costs on such a venture is quite substantial - add in immediate suspicion of anyone other than the big 3 and you got tuff, tuff, tuff

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by travrosty

so you are saying ISA only encapsulates fake or altered cards and the other big companies have done so? Got it.

That's not what I said at all. I'm saying that no one who knows anything about our hobby would send an expensive card to a company like ISA for authentication when they know it's only going to detract from the value of the card. There's a reason it's in an ISA holder. And unless that reason is someone at ISA graded these cards and then sent them into the market to build their reputation, I'm assuming that someone tried to get it into a PSA or SGC holder and failed.

I hardly think I'm in the minority in my opinion.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

That's not what I said at all. I'm saying that no one who knows anything about our hobby would send an expensive card to a company like ISA for authentication when they know it's only going to detract from the value of the card. There's a reason it's in an ISA holder. And unless that reason is someone at ISA graded these cards and then sent them into the market to build their reputation, I'm assuming that someone tried to get it into a PSA or SGC holder and failed.

I hardly think I'm in the minority in my opinion.

They only seem to grade 9s and 10s too. Odd, that.