The illusion of an objective standard psa, sgc, bvg

[barrysloate]

Originally Posted by glchen

One of the main points of grading isn't that they are always correct as they are human too, but that they are an objective third party. For example, when you have dealers selling their own raw cards, they will often more likely "overgrade" their cards because they are trying to sell them for more money. I'm not saying all dealers are dishonest. There are plenty of very honest dealers who accurately self-grade their raw cards. However, they may also have different standards on what is EX, what is Near Mint and so forth. With TPG's they are all supposed to grade according to the same standards and do not take a % of the sale when the cards transact.

Sure, there are many dealers who might overgrade their cards, but shouldn't a savvy buyer be able to recognize this? If a restaurant consistently serves lousy food, their customers will go elsewhere. Likewise, a dealer who consistently overgrades might find it hard to get repeat business.

That said, a TPG can still provide a very valuable service, and that is to detect altered cards and keep them from being numerically graded. And that was the point of my question to Glyn, who has experience on the inside.

[glchen]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Sure, there are many dealers who might overgrade their cards, but shouldn't a savvy buyer be able to recognize this? If a restaurant consistently serves lousy food, their customers will go elsewhere. Likewise, a dealer who consistently overgrades might find it hard to get repeat business.

The savvy buyers purchase the card, not the flip. However, TPG's allow those who don't trust their own grading expertise to buy cards and not feel that they will get ripped off.