What would happen if PSA went out of business?

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by BeanTown

So David what you are implying is that if PSA went out of business we would have bigger issues to worry about! Maybe a good comparison is IF the FDIC had to come in and pay you back money (under 250k) that your bank used because of the economy then we would all have bigger issues to worry about like the US Economy.

Factoid.. FDIC has up to 100 years to pay you back in that unlikely scenario.

Never liked Block Buster video either and with all the late fees on 2 day rentals was a JOKE! They considered it 2 days after 24 hours plus 1 minute. They closed sometimes at peak hours at night so when you returned your video, they could add the fee the next morning!

Yes if PSA went out of business the hobby as we know it would be under serious distress and it wouldn't matter which third party grading company holder your card was in they would all be down. At this point it is hard to call the card grading business an oligopoly and in reality it is more like a monopoly. Losing the flagship enterprise doesn't happen without a serious downturn in demand.

If one is to worry about potential price declines from a grading company no longer doing business it is far more likely that the number two or three player would leave the market with the size share they each have. In the case of SGC they are obviously viewed as legitimate and there are some very expensive cards in their holders. I would think they would take a little hit but many are already trading in a second tier position based on price so I wouldn't think it would be catastrophic. I do believe if BGS went out of business that their cards would take a serious hit as many would want to cross them over and once it became clear to more collectors that their chances are quite low of an equal or higher grade the spread would widen further. Let's face it many modern cards have plenty of supply but are differentiated by grade. That would impact them significantly where SGC has many actually rare cards in any condition in their holders so if the market remained somewhat healthy the interest in those cards wouldn't die.