Business Plans for everyone (Graders & Auctions)

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Posted By: boxingcardman

SGC is doing the cheapo nonsports to attempt to gain a foothold in the market for slabbing those cards, not because it is running out of work. If you follow nonsports you know that prices on quality material have exploded over the last year or two as collectors gravitate to it out of frustration at the cost of baseball cards. It is natural that SGC should try to get all the way into that field and the $5 a shot grading special is a good way to achieve market penetration. Heck, if the cards continue to sell well in SGC slabs I may even avail myself of the service for some of my nonsports cards.

As far as 0% commission on expensive slabbed single card auctions goes, Mastro met the market, which demonstrates that the auction world has a market large enough that one house can't dictate the policies of the rest. I see their move as an effort to cut into the Goodwin/MHCC/ML high grade single card niche. I was talking with a senior Mastro rep about it and his comment in essence was that the 0% makes sense because the cards are easy to sell. The collectors who are into them don't require a great deal more in the way of effort than a couple of images and a description of the card. He said it isn't like trying to sell a collection of memorabilia, which requires much more effort, staff time, research, etc., to get the item out there.

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