Why don't Net54 members start up a TPG

[Snowman]

It looks like Greg Morris is starting a grading company now too...

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Snowman

It looks like Greg Morris is starting a grading company now too...

wait what??? is there anything online about this?

[mechanicalman]

My guess is no one here wants to risk at least $25mm in startup capital or invest the 80 hr work weeks to start a grading company that might be, if all goes well, a viable 3rd player in a relatively small industry.

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by mechanicalman

My guess is no one here wants to risk at least $25mm in startup capital or invest the 80 hr work weeks to start a grading company that might be, if all goes well, a viable 3rd player in a relatively small industry.

This!

[slightlyrounded]

The idea of Net54 starting/administering a TPG is pretty far-fetched for all the reasons mentioned above. There are huge upfront costs and staffing/marketing issues that couldn't be solved by pure 'hobbyists' despite their deep understanding of grading standards. Not to mention physical custody and consistency issues that would come into play with decentralized grading which I'm assuming is the proposal.

All that said: formalizing a collective condition review process would actually be a pretty cool experiment. The idea being you upload card with the best pictures you can (warts and all) and the community offers their opinion on the grade or grading components. Those grades are then averaged and you have a 'report card' on your card....no encapsulation, no guarantee of authenticity, but just a standardized group opinion of your raw card.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by slightlyrounded

The idea of Net54 starting/administering a TPG is pretty far-fetched for all the reasons mentioned above. There are huge upfront costs and staffing/marketing issues that couldn't be solved by pure 'hobbyists' despite their deep understanding of grading standards. Not to mention physical custody and consistency issues that would come into play with decentralized grading which I'm assuming is the proposal.

All that said: formalizing a collective condition review process would actually be a pretty cool experiment. The idea being you upload card with the best pictures you can (warts and all) and the community offers their opinion on the grade or grading components. Those grades are then averaged and you have a 'report card' on your card....no encapsulation, no guarantee of authenticity, but just a standardized group opinion of your raw card.

Someone is already doing a crowd-sourced grading

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by slightlyrounded

The idea of Net54 starting/administering a TPG is pretty far-fetched for all the reasons mentioned above. There are huge upfront costs and staffing/marketing issues that couldn't be solved by pure 'hobbyists' despite their deep understanding of grading standards. Not to mention physical custody and consistency issues that would come into play with decentralized grading which I'm assuming is the proposal.

All that said: formalizing a collective condition review process would actually be a pretty cool experiment. The idea being you upload card with the best pictures you can (warts and all) and the community offers their opinion on the grade or grading components. Those grades are then averaged and you have a 'report card' on your card....no encapsulation, no guarantee of authenticity, but just a standardized group opinion of your raw card.

The countless threads we have where people ask opinions have convinced me there will never be a consensus or anything like it. On your typical post, you have people saying this edge is trimmed, that edge is trimmed, the card is fine, and so on. It's hard even to get a consensus on a fake. I swear there was one where different people opined each edge was trimmed. Even worse with the guess the grade threads. In these circumstances an average is meaningless.