Will SGC Over Take PSA

[The Nasty Nati]

Not if SGC continues to make slabs with large numerical grade numbers. Who are they trying to appeal to? 80 year olds with terrible eye sight. Always loved their customer service, the black cases, but the massive grades are such an eye sore. I’ve personally stopped submitting to them as a result.

That and they need to fix their Pop Report...it’s been a work in progress for over 2 years. That’s way too long. I’m pulling for them though.

[rdwyer]

Isn't their turnaround time a year? If they bought out PSA, then it would be a 5 year turnaround.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by The Nasty Nati

Not if SGC continues to make slabs with large numerical grade numbers. Who are they trying to appeal to? 80 year olds with terrible eye sight. Always loved their customer service, the black cases, but the massive grades are such an eye sore. I’ve personally stopped submitting to them as a result.

That and they need to fix their Pop Report...it’s been a work in progress for over 2 years. That’s way too long. I’m pulling for them though.

The large and singular grades now were an effort to fix the mistake of the confusing dual grade system that they used for years with the 100 point scale. (i.e. a 7 NM is also an "84", and 8 NM-MT is an "88" and so on and so forth). So yeah, the grades are large, but that was kind of the point to make things simpler. I'd give them a break there. Are large numerical grades really an eyesore over PSA's tired red folder labels? At least an equal argument could be made over the hokey look there, and some of the old slabs before they had holograms or lighthouse insignia had flips that would twist and wrinkle inside the slabs - not very professional at all.

For my money, I will take SGC for their black slab inserts, overall nicer slabs, and superior customer service and turnaround times. I think so much of the actual look is just perception and preference - oh, BTW - you will see a lot fewer postwar cards "bounce around" in their slabs with the SGC insert than they do in PSA's with their rail system. Older vintage - mainly 1950's and earlier - do fine in PSA slabs, but they have yet to figure out the thickness thing for many 1970's and later issues. This has always driven me nuts. No, unless you go play football with a PSA slab you aren't really apt to damage anything noticeably - but the cards that do move inside the slabs are annoying, to me at least.

Let the large numerical grades grow on you. I have no problems with them whatsoever.

[swarmee]

Despite the fact that SGC has graded a bunch of those issues, those sets are still a niche compared to the overall graded card market. If you want to argue pre-1980s, I have no problem conceding Beckett is solidly in 3rd place. But to overtake PSA, you'd have to overtake them.
But here's a helpful question to gauge the market reaction and whether SGC is actually increasing: How many of those cards in the SGC pop report are cracked out in favor of getting into PSA slabs? How many are going the opposite direction?

I am not lauding any of the companies. They all have major faults that they seem to be sticking their heads in the sand about. But in order for SGC to ever get close to PSA long term, they first have to pass Beckett. Older collectors already have their favorite; it depends on the modern guys currently collecting BGS slabs to convert to SGC for vintage for them to gain any market share.