SGC Registry – Why isn’t there one?

[Vintagedeputy]

The old registry was great. The message board was great. I think the registry shit the bed when they changed up the cert numbers.

I have been the squeakiest wheel on this. Won’t stop squeaking until they offer it again.

[Lorewalker]

Originally Posted by Vintagedeputy

The old registry was great. The message board was great. I think the registry shit the bed when they changed up the cert numbers.

I have been the squeakiest wheel on this. Won’t stop squeaking until they offer it again.

And it appeared the whole reason they changed the cert number process was to add more anonymity to submissions to prevent tracking of cards within a submission. At the same time they removed the G from SGC...no more guaranty.

Moves that to me seem to point to a company who is not looking out for their base.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Lorewalker

And it appeared the whole reason they changed the cert number process was to add more anonymity to submissions to prevent tracking of cards within a submission. At the same time they removed the G from SGC...no more guaranty.

Moves that to me seem to point to a company who is not looking out for their base.

In any other business, circling the wagons to protect bad actors and insulate the company from liability might draw some harsh consumer response. Not this effed up one.

[G1911]

Because SGC management acts as if keeping PSA #1 in the industry is at the top of its priority list

[Lorewalker]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

In any other business, circling the wagons to protect bad actors and insulate the company from liability might draw some harsh consumer response. Not this effed up one.

The degree of denial, indifference or tolerance that collectors have is impressive but not in a good way. What elephant in the room, he exclaims, when there are 9 of them.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Lorewalker

The degree of denial, indifference or tolerance that collectors have is impressive but not in a good way. What elephant in the room, he exclaims, when there are 9 of them.

Orlando, Sloan, Turner and Forman read the room very well -- the ostrich act during the scandal worked to perfection. Not even the elephant in the room is visible when your head is buried in the sand, now is it?

[Lorewalker]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Orlando, Sloan, Turner and Forman read the room very well -- the ostrich act during the scandal worked to perfection. Not even the elephant in the room is visible when your head is buried in the sand, now is it?

Seems to be it is the prefect crime because the appearance is that there are no victims. Almost unanimous acceptance that this is just the way it is.

[Bigdaddy]

What if SGC offered a registry where you could enter cards from any of the big 3/4/5 TPGs? Certainly something that collectors would find useful and it would scratch an itch that the PSA registry doesn't.

Not sure how much revenue for SGC that would generate though. PSA has a good thing (for them) going with their registry which drives folks towards PSA-only slabs if you want to play/compete.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy

What if SGC offered a registry where you could enter cards from any of the big 3/4/5 TPGs? Certainly something that collectors would find useful and it would scratch an itch that the PSA registry doesn't.

Not sure how much revenue for SGC that would generate though. PSA has a good thing (for them) going with their registry which drives folks towards PSA-only slabs if you want to play/compete.

That would be great, but the main problem with doing that is all the TPGs do not agree and play by the same grading standards. And going forward, there would be a potential bias in TPGs maybe grading a little easier if such a registry really took hold of the hobby community. If one TPG graded a little easier than the others, they'd soon start getting more submissions than the other TPGs.

Also, what happens if one of the other TPGs then has to decertify a particular card/cert #, will they share info and let the SGC people handling this combined Registry now?

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy

What if SGC offered a registry where you could enter cards from any of the big 3/4/5 TPGs? Certainly something that collectors would find useful and it would scratch an itch that the PSA registry doesn't.

Not sure how much revenue for SGC that would generate though. PSA has a good thing (for them) going with their registry which drives folks towards PSA-only slabs if you want to play/compete.

My brother and I have discussed doing an independent registry that would allow just that. Of course that would have to be in our copious free time. Since running an auction company is so easy we should be able to hop on that some time around never.

[ClementeFanOh]

Since we are all guessing, here's a couple for your consideration:

1) The process of collating all past grades is a logistical nightmare.
Far too much buck, not enough bang.

2) Perhaps SGC is simply sticking with it's specialty- honoring their
service promises over something which, in some cases at least, is
little more than an ego massage for certain collectors.

Trent King

[theshowandme]

SGC could hire a database & web user experience/interface (UX/UI) consulting group any pay them $1-1.5 million to get this done in under 2 years.

But they will not do that.

These companies rarely spend the money on the right tech.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by theshowandme

SGC could hire a database & web user experience/interface (UX/UI) consulting group any pay them $1-1.5 million to get this done in under 2 years.

But they will not do that.

These companies rarely spend the money on the right tech.

They did and those people messed up what they did have.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by theshowandme

SGC could hire a database & web user experience/interface (UX/UI) consulting group any pay them $1-1.5 million to get this done in under 2 years.

But they will not do that.

These companies rarely spend the money on the right tech.

Agreed. And I would bet it could be done a lot quicker than that.

SGC has been asked flavors of the "Where is the Registry?" question now for almost as long as there has been an SGC, which is 25 years. Yes, there were attempts and rough versions in the past that worked or didn't work to some extent, but they have never approached what PSA has.

Why worry about it? If you've watched any of the recent YouTuber videos featuring Peter Steinberg at SGC, it's pretty clear that in the last 2-3 years, SGC has been growing like a teenager on steroids. There was all the knee-jerk stuff during the pandemic where they said "Send us your cards" and the hobby at large called their bluff when PSA shut down, and they got totally buried for months. Then after that they got their feet back under them, but have played a lot of pricing yo-yo games - some of them at least arguably less than professional - since. Can you see why a registry is probably not a priority throughout all of this? Either way and at many different price points, there are plenty of collectors who still seem super willing to send them their cards. Cha-ching, thank you; come again. Honestly for me, if you can enter your cert somewhere with SGC and they can verify the card - even the older slabs - that's good enough for me at this point. They have nice looking slabs and a lot of other stuff going for them. I wouldn't be in a hurry to get back to the registry punchline either...

[Lorewalker]

Originally Posted by ClementeFanOh

Since we are all guessing, here's a couple for your consideration:

1) The process of collating all past grades is a logistical nightmare.
Far too much buck, not enough bang.

2) Perhaps SGC is simply sticking with it's specialty- honoring their
service promises over something which, in some cases at least, is
little more than an ego massage for certain collectors.

Trent King

Meanwhile the registry is what has made PSA far and away the industry leader. Ask PSA if the buck was too much for the bang.

At this point I doubt SGC having a registry would help them with market share. I am not into registries.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Love them or hate them, there is no denying that with the set registry, a robust and user friendly pop report, prices realized, and more, PSA dwarfs S_C in terms of resources available to the collector. I don't know if the original intent of the set registry was just to provide a checklist type service or whether they had in mind all that it would become, but it was pure genius.

[Lorewalker]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Love them or hate them, there is no denying that with the set registry, a robust and user friendly pop report, prices realized, and more, PSA dwarfs S_C in terms of resources available to the collector. I don't know if the original intent of the set registry was just to provide a checklist type service or whether they had in mind all that it would become, but it was pure genius.

PSA offers a lot in terms of extras...extra value...extra resources for the collector but grading costs extra, wait times are extra long and customer service is extra horrible.

SGC has a nicer holder, their customer service is terrific, the turnaround times are great and the lower cost in grading is a huge plus. An easy to use pop report would be nice but I do not care about a registry unless in some way it makes their cards more marketable.

With all the ways they outdo PSA none of it is worth it to me when they continue to grade excessively harsh especially when their cards almost always sell for less than same card in the same grade in a PSA holder.

The PSA Set Registry is what drives the graded card market. There is just no denying that. Unless someone comes up with a new twist on a set registry, the mere fact of having one might not have an impact on that grading company's business.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

My brother and I have discussed doing an independent registry that would allow just that. Of course that would have to be in our copious free time. Since running an auction company is so easy we should be able to hop on that some time around never.

Make it a business venture. Only cards bought from one of your auctions can be added to your registry.

[RCMcKenzie]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Make it a business venture. Only cards bought from one of your auctions can be added to your registry.

...and placed into your vault.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by RCMcKenzie

...and placed into your vault.

Hell no. The idea of a vault is kind of anathema to our goals. We're trying to connect collectors to the cards they want. Hence the name!

[Piratedogcardshows]

Originally Posted by Vintagedeputy

The old registry was great. The message board was great. I think the registry shit the bed when they changed up the cert numbers.

I have been the squeakiest wheel on this. Won’t stop squeaking until they offer it again.

The old message board was a lot of fun I agree and miss it as well. I use to enjoy collecting and using their registry when I first discovered vintage. Good times.