New SGC grading fees

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by botn

Posting more out of frustration as a holder of MANY SGC graded cards but here is another example of the disparity in value grade for grade between PSA and SGC when there is no justification for it based on the card's condition. Pretty clear that Dave Forman took SGC the wrong way as the difference in prices on like kind cards have never been greater.

SGC ending tonight in Heritage (not my card) and is sitting at 50K out the door.
PSA example is in Mile High and sitting at 102K out the door with 11 plus days to go. No insult intended to the consignor or bidders but the 7 is not as nice as the 84.

Maybe focusing on increasing the value of the brand name would make more sense than increasing the cost of grading.

The writing has been on the wall for years that the price differential was just going to keep widening. Obviously there is a ton of hate on this board for PSA but lets face it they have done a tremendous job of building their brand. They constantly come out with new features and upgrades to their process. The online submission form is a tremendous improvement. The new holder is the toughest holder to crack of any of the big three. You constantly see them cited when sports memorabilia is mentioned. The holding company has done extremely well and they are in a great financial position. They don't snub their nose at non sports cards as inferior and instead embrace them and capture new markets. When I started looking into getting cards graded myself in 2010 I did a lot of research and it was clear then and obviously even more clear now that PSA was dominating. They are the leader and it isn't even debatable. Almost all of the highest priced cards have sold in PSA holders. This alone is something that is virtually impossible to compete with. The fact that they aren't standing still a top of the mountain and instead are working hard to keep climbing makes it impossible for another grader to catch them. SGC has somewhere between 1.5% to 3% of the market share for new cards being graded. If you remove personal preference and just look at the data no one would be surprised by what has happened. Instead because of position bias some are left scratching their heads. This trend is not over and if anything will continue. I went to the National in 2013 and the line was very long to get in to see PSA. There were two guys sitting twiddling their thumbs at the SGC booth where you could literally approach them. Do you think when you walk into the Apple store and you have to wait to get service this turns away customers? Of course not it makes them want the product more. The same is true here. Over the years I have read about many of the top collections in cards and you guessed it they are in PSA holders. There is heard mentality in life and just reading the message boards online you can see it with your own two eyes. The number of cards trying to be crossed over to PSA is off the charts. As I have said so many times, as the spread widened in price it would naturally attract more business and continue to diminish the other brands. The influx of money that has come into cards in the past five years are business people. If they spoke to anyone about the third party authentication market the conservation would be brief as the choice would be so clear. It is was it is.

[1952boyntoncollector]

I agree. Not sure why there is even any debate. I know its a hobby but as i said before you will see many people in the hobby eventually sell their cards for 'medication, new improvement on house, college' etc. So if you were going to sell your cards, would you rather sell a same graded card thats PSA to get more medication or sell the SGC same graded card and with that money get less medication. I dont care how pretty the holder is.

However, as stated, if you have the chance to get a grade higher on your submission with SGC that would increase interest at least in the short term

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

I agree. Not sure why there is even any debate. I know its a hobby but as i said before you will see many people in the hobby eventually sell their cards for 'medication, new improvement on house, college' etc. So if you were going to sell your cards, would you rather sell a same graded card thats PSA to get more medication or sell the SGC same graded card and with that money get less medication. I dont care how pretty the holder is.

However, as stated, if you have the chance to get a grade higher on your submission with SGC that would increase interest at least in the short term

At the same National an advanced collector I met through the CU board happened to be at the PSA booth trying to get a card from the Black Swamp find bumped from an 8.5 to a 9. No luck so he went back to SGC whom he had discussed it with prior and they did the honors. You are correct that they do get business in this fashion as the person knew that it would garner a higher selling price in the SGC slab as Mint.

[irv]

Does SGC still slab alter/trimmed cards?

I like the fact PSA doesn't, but maybe they also did at one time.

As an aside, I am surprised how much this card fetched.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-2...vip=true&rt=nc

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by irv

Does SGC still slab alter/trimmed cards?

I like the fact PSA doesn't, but maybe they also did at one time.

As an aside, I am surprised how much this card fetched.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-2...vip=true&rt=nc

Yes and no. They will slab them A for Authentic if you want them slabbed. If you do not request them slabbed as authentic then no they will not slab them.

I did send in 1 counterfeit card with my last submission to SGC. They refused to slab it and I got this neat flip with NO on it and the paper checked counterfeit. PSA has been sent 5 of those same exact cards and slabbed all 5 of them.

[irv]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Yes and no. They will slab them A for Authentic if you want them slabbed. If you do not request them slabbed as authentic then no they will not slab them.

I did send in 1 counterfeit card with my last submission to SGC. They refused to slab it and I got this neat flip with NO on it and the paper checked counterfeit. PSA has been sent 5 of those same exact cards and slabbed all 5 of them.

Interesting (your bold)

Thanks for the info, Ben. I appreciate it.