Grading Companies (Overview & Opinions)

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Posted By: Judge Dred

"At the risk of opening a monumental can of worms". That about sums it up for the subject matter. Is the horse dead yet or can we still beat it? That carcass will be around for a long time so I'll try and not kick it in this thread.



1.) Which of three major companies do you use and trust the most and why? -

A) I use SGC and PSA. I would purchase BVG and SCD graded cards but I wouldn't submit to them.


2.) Which of the above companies seems to have better resale if any in your opinion?

A) PSA has the best resale value. I don't know why, probably because they have been around the longest and because they know how to promote themselves. I realize that John was hoping that this subject wouldn't degenerate into a thread full of passionate rants about bad experiences or examples of poor services rendered so I'll stop before I get started.


3.) Do you feel graded cards have had a positive or negative effect on our hobby?

A) I feel that grading serves a few good purposes:

- Provides a means of protection for the cards.
- The opinion that a card is authentic (from a reputable grading service) will make it more of a "liquid" asset. It makes it easier to sell and it also provides a buyer with a little more comfort when a purchase is made.
- It gives people a reason to exercise their first amendment rights to debate the credibility of grading services and why each of them should get out of the industry or at least improve their services. Then there are those that might debate that the grading services are rarely wrong and that they are the final word on rendering an opinion on a card (not too many in this category, I'm sure). A good percentage of our posts would be mundane if there wasn't a grading service to poke fun at or call ridiculously absurd in their grading opinions.

Then you have to look at the other side of the coin -

- Grading services are not consistent in their subjectivity. It's hard to train many people to conform to one standard. One man's (or woman's) mint my be anothers excellent. But lets not go there.
- There is no "Industry Standard" as far as grading goes. You have PSA that offers qualifiers. SGC which doesn't offer qualifiers and then you have others that provide their opinions on corners, surface, centering etc. I still don't understand that madness because nothing seems to average out with those numbers. For example, I have a T206 card that has an 8 on centering, 4 on corners \ edges and a 7 for surface (by the way the image is BEAUTIFUL) yet the overall grade is a 4.
- People rely on grades to assign a value to a card. There are just too many cards out there that are overgraded and the buyer ultimately suffers (if they bought the grade and not the card - I hope people understand what I mean by that).
- A legitimate grading service should not be linked to retail sales because within the framework of their business lies a conflict of interest.



4.) Do you feel ultra high-end mega buck cards are a sound investment, or overpriced hype and marketing?

A) I don't collect this stuff thinking that it's going to increase in value. I collect these pieces of cardboard (and other related items) because I love baseball and I love history. What better way to mix that combination. Any "market" can crash. I think there's something called supply and demand that drives a market. If you pay top dollar for a card an nobody else wants it at that price then what is the true value of the item? I suppose if this whole thing went down the tubes and nobody gave a rats a$$ about these things then we could always pour some ketchup on a '33 Goudey Ruth and have a nice stale meal piece of cardboard with a little flavoring - kind of like the food they (used to) serve on airplanes.


5.) Does having your cards graded always assure you better profits when selling vs. non-graded?

A) I'm sure that there could be two sides to this answer but here's mine.

- If the card is graded by a legitimate service then you have a better chance of maximizing your compensation (cash or trade) for the card. In this day and age of collecting I'd be hesitant to purchase a card that has the appearance of being a high grade card because there's a good chance the card may have been trimmed, cleaned or otherwise altered (restored).



6.) Which of the above companies is the most consistent in there grading in your opinion?

A) In order:

- BVG or SCD
- SGC or PSA

I honestly have to think that all grading services were tougher on grades when they started. As they expanded and had to hire more people the ability of the companies to maintain a strict quality control went down. Also, the perception that a grading service was too tough didn't help them because then nobody would want to submit to that service because people were afraid of having a "4" in their collection. You have to wonder if some of the grading services were afraid of alienting their business by being to tough and if so did these services "lower the bar" on their standards to make them look enticing?




7.) Do you feel any of the above companies are biased or give special treatment and considerations to larger customers of there’s. As compared to the avg. consumer?

A) I wont even touch that question.


8.) Do you ever feel graded cards and companies will go away or will they become even more prominent in our hobby?


A) Did anyone here ever collect coins many years ago? Before grading the hobby seemed to be doing fine. After grading the hobby seemed to slow down. I think that coins and baseball cards are different. How many homeruns did George Washington hit? How many strikeouts did Thomas Jefferson have in his career? Ben Franklin didn't steal many bases. Oh yeah, baseball wasn't around in those days.

As long as there is a demand for graded or authenticated material there will be grading services. This hobby has seen some really interesting times in the past 20 years. Highs and lows that would boggle the mind. At one time there seemed to be a baseball card shop "just around the corner." Then reality set in and a lot of them went out of business.

What would be interesting to find out is the demographics of the serious vintage collector.

- How old are you?
- How long have you been collecting?
- How much do you spend on baseball cards (or memorabilia) every year? That last question would be optional.
- What is your level of education?
- Ethnic background (probably a lot of people would think that this isn't a necessary question but I think it could be relevant).

I'm sure that there is more to add. Maybe it's a thread that can be opened in the future.