Forum Shopping within grading companies

[orly57]

Ford and Chevy CREATE their own product. In the case of grading companies, they EVALUATE an already existing product. And unlike Ford and Chevy, the decisions made by these graders as to the condition of a product could mean tens of thousands of dollars on one card. I didn't mean in my post to imply that they should conduct their businesses identically. I am saying that us collectors are putting too much stock into their opinions by putting too much value on flips. Their divergent grading policies and arbitrary means of valuation was at the heart of my post. It has gotten to the point where we ship cards to particular companies depending on the particular flaw. Trimmed? Send to BVG and cross your fingers. Paper loss? Send to psa. Handcut? Sgc is your company. We are hungrily feasting on their opinions, rather than judging the cards for ourselves. We are paying 200k for a 52 Willie Mays 9 that looks virtually idenntical, and in some cases not as nice, as many 7s or 8s. This Green Cobb was one of many of my observations about the insanity of grade-worship. I, for one, WISH that Cobb were a 2; I would buy it happily at a fraction of the price that it will inevitably sell for.

[irv]

For those that didn't see/read it, I did this little experiment just a short time ago. (These were purchased already graded)
2 were recent/newly graded, which was a surprise to me as I always found older graded to be graded less harsh. From what I have seen lately, PSA has lessened/lowered their standard or they are screwing up bad lately.
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=235854

Regardless, none of my cards will be sent to PSA anytime soon.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by orly57

Ford and Chevy CREATE their own product. In the case of grading companies, they EVALUATE an already existing product. And unlike Ford and Chevy, the decisions made by these graders as to the condition of a product could mean tens of thousands of dollars on one card. I didn't mean in my post to imply that they should conduct their businesses identically. I am saying that us collectors are putting too much stock into their opinions by putting too much value on flips. Their divergent grading policies and arbitrary means of valuation was at the heart of my post. It has gotten to the point where we ship cards to particular companies depending on the particular flaw. Trimmed? Send to BVG and cross your fingers. Paper loss? Send to psa. Handcut? Sgc is your company. We are hungrily feasting on their opinions, rather than judging the cards for ourselves. We are paying 200k for a 52 Willie Mays 9 that looks virtually idenntical, and in some cases not as nice, as many 7s or 8s. This Green Cobb was one of many of my observations about the insanity of grade-worship. I, for one, WISH that Cobb were a 2; I would buy it happily at a fraction of the price that it will inevitably sell for.

Well you dont go by the grade on the holder when you bid..so there are probably others like you that wont bid as much due to the paperloss so the card wont get what other 5s would get. We have seen super 3's sell for 2 grades higher as well so i dont think this is such a big deal. Someone that is just buying the number 5 wont be able to sell it to people like you for a price he likes.

Its still better than no grading company. How many returns would there be when a seller says a card is near mint and the buyer upon holding the card argues its only excellent. Would be ridiculous. People already return graded cards as it is but it would be much worse if all cards were raw in regards to returning cards due to not being described accurately

[orly57]

I agree with you there Jake. There are a lot of smart collectors out there who will pay over vcp on exceptional cards, and often times crappy cards sell under vcp. Even if this were a 2, it would have gotten STRONG bids well over vcp.

[irishdenny]

JuST Because...

I Sent iN my E95 of The "BiG SiX"
About a Year Ago...

To All 3 TPG's!!!

Here is WHaT THeY Thought...

"WHat Do You THiNK!?!?"

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...ale+of+tpg%27s

[orly57]

Look who made his way into a new holder and is currently on eBay. When it sold at Goldin in April, I posted this thread. You can see the pic in the old holder in post #1. The card is gorgeous, but with the paper loss, "there is no way it's a 5 in a NEW holder," we thought!. Looks like psa didn't want to take the hit and pay the difference.

[Peter_Spaeth]

At least it didn't bump to a 5.5.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

At least it didn't bump to a 5.5.

me and 2000 other guys just laughed.

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by orly57

Ford and Chevy CREATE their own product. In the case of grading companies, they EVALUATE an already existing product. And unlike Ford and Chevy, the decisions made by these graders as to the condition of a product could mean tens of thousands of dollars on one card. I didn't mean in my post to imply that they should conduct their businesses identically. I am saying that us collectors are putting too much stock into their opinions by putting too much value on flips. Their divergent grading policies and arbitrary means of valuation was at the heart of my post. It has gotten to the point where we ship cards to particular companies depending on the particular flaw. Trimmed? Send to BVG and cross your fingers. Paper loss? Send to psa. Handcut? Sgc is your company. We are hungrily feasting on their opinions, rather than judging the cards for ourselves. We are paying 200k for a 52 Willie Mays 9 that looks virtually idenntical, and in some cases not as nice, as many 7s or 8s. This Green Cobb was one of many of my observations about the insanity of grade-worship. I, for one, WISH that Cobb were a 2; I would buy it happily at a fraction of the price that it will inevitably sell for.

I'm confused. You're acting like for some reason you disagree with my post, but I'm saying exactly what you're saying. The graders don't use the same standards, so there are always going to be reasons why number-chasing people choose one over the other. And my remark about Ford and Chevy was obviously in regard to the fact that they are both in the same business, yet do things differently (just like grading companies 'do the same thing' but differently). It doesn't matter that they CREATE their own product instead of EVALUATING an already existing product. That has nothing to do with my point.

[orly57]

It may seem that way because I made the distinction, but you are right, we are basically in agreement.

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by orly57

It may seem that way because I made the distinction, but you are right, we are basically in agreement.

Aw, c'mon man, we need a "fight" today on the main board.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

Aw, c'mon man, we need a "fight" today on the main board.

No matter what you are collecting, be it hummells or yadro pieces or Victorian music boxes, people are always going to go nuts and pay a small fortune where someone can say this is 1 of 1 or 1 of 2 graded by so and so agency. Human nature.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

No matter what you are collecting, be it hummells or yadro pieces or Victorian music boxes, people are always going to go nuts and pay a small fortune where someone can say this is 1 of 1 or 1 of 2 graded by so and so agency. Human nature.

I used to get my music boxes slabbed, but it made them hard to hear.

[Stampsfan]

Originally Posted by steve B

I used to get my music boxes slabbed, but it made them hard to hear.

... and comic books are hard to read when they are graded too.

I cannot wait until someone starts grading video games and DVD's, and sealing them in slabs.