New Grading Company - CSG

[Picklepete]

I have about 700 slabbed PSA - PSA/DNA & BGS - BAS CARDS.
I was set up at early Dec. show / Tampa, & they had table at entrance to get peeps info. on them.
At least 50% of people told them they didn't like slab & label design..
Oh..oh..its being changed !

No.. it hasn't.
THAT tells me plenty.

[Exhibitman]

Made my first submission today; we will see...

[frankbmd]

All cards in slabs look like SGC slabs if you have a black table.

[Orioles1954]

Originally Posted by Picklepete

I have about 700 slabbed PSA - PSA/DNA & BGS - BAS CARDS.
I was set up at early Dec. show / Tampa, & they had table at entrance to get peeps info. on them.
At least 50% of people told them they didn't like slab & label design..
Oh..oh..its being changed !

No.. it hasn't.
THAT tells me plenty.

I clicked the link and yeah...not good.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by Orioles1954

I clicked the link and yeah...not good.

I went to their site and ... yeah. The slabs look like the slabs you see on Ebay from somebody grading in their basement. Not good.

[3-2-count]

Originally Posted by Tabe

I went to their site and ... yeah. The slabs look like the slabs you see on Ebay from somebody grading in their basement. Not good.

I wonder if the many complaining about the look of CSG's slab would be doing so if they were around before PSA and SGC. In my opinion so many have just grown accustom to what they're used to.

We continue to see the countless threads complaining about PSA and SGC's rising cost of grading fee's, long wait times increasing more by the day and a plethora of tampered cards getting into their slabs yet we bitch about a new comers slab.

I swear some of the things I hear collectors complain about absolutely blows my mind. I truly hope that CSG takes the market by storm and puts huge amounts of pressure on the others to improve their business or potentially lose it. We all deserve better than what we're currently getting. A slab design should be low on the list of expectations from third party authentication if even mentioned at all.

My two cents! Carry on...............

[tab]

Need a grading company that sticks to vintage. Leave all that new shiny stuff and Pokémon cards for others. A company needs to be able to service their customers in a timely manner. The current waiting time for PSA is ridiculous!

[hcv123]

Competency SHOULD matter
Resale value matters (to many)
looks matter
cost/wait times matter


I am hopeful with Nat Turner and Steve Cohen taking over PSA that we will see some desperately needed change happen there.
I agree the CSG holder looks horrible (and it matters). For those who choose to give them a shot, keeping an open mind to see how they do in the other areas.

[Tyruscobb]

Originally Posted by 3-2-count

A slab design should be low on the list of expectations from third party authentication if even mentioned at all.

Presentation matters. There is an entire industry that focuses on it. Take your favorite family photograph and place it into a cheap frame. Now, take the same photograph to a professional framer and I guarantee the new frame will magnify the photograph’s effect and presentation.

Just like your family photograph, you are more concerned with the card than its slab/frame. However, a nice slab/frame significantly adds to the overall presentation and effect.

I agree that there are more important factors, but presentation, especially for cards that I collect for my PC and plan on looking at until I die, is very important.

This post is not expressing an opinion concerning whether this new company’s slabs, or any other TPG’s slabs for that matter, are or are not aesthetically pleasing.

[Casey2296]

Aesthetics are important to pre war collectors. I realize we're not the most important demo to grading companies but having an option for a black apron and a subtle label would have grabbed a lot of market share from that demo.

[perezfan]

+3 (to the three posts directly above). These posts all echo my sentiments exactly.

I am sooooo ready to give them a try, but am having trouble getting past that gigantic flip/slab. Especially with regard to my Tobacco and Caramel Cards.

It's the presentation of the actual card that matters.... not the number. Now that they are an advertiser here, I really hope someone from CSG is reading (and subsequently addressing) this!

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by 3-2-count

I wonder if the many complaining about the look of CSG's slab would be doing so if they were around before PSA and SGC. In my opinion so many have just grown accustom to what they're used to.

I don't follow the logic here. They're not first. They don't get the benefit of the doubt that comes from being first. They should be improving on what's already available not coming up with "well, it wouldn't be that bad if nobody else had done it before".

[chadeast]

Here is my attempt at showing what my WaJo M101-4 would look like in a CSG holder. Again, apologies for my low grade MS Paint skills, all scaling was done by hand. A T206 would obviously be smaller still.

EDIT: added a third with clear/white background

[perezfan]

The second one looks far better to me. Better ratio of card to slab.

I hope also, that they will have slabs that can properly accommodate the size of these smaller cards, without the use of a hideous wrinkled up baggie (PSA style). That is an immediate deal killer for me. I actually display most of my cards, so a clean refined look is far superior to PSA's haphazard tilting cards with baggies.

Thanks for doing the photoshop!