Is competition causing the grading standards to lax?

GetSiriusNow

Does anyone think the competition among grading companies is causing them to become more lenient in their standards in order to attract business from people looking to upgrade their cards by crossover? There is a finite number of high grade older cards and in order to continue to attract business, maybe the companies are upgrading in order to keep the submissions coming in. For instance, there is a BVG 9.5 Gretzky for sale on ebay. They accidently put Greztky in the title. Incidently, the price is up to $12,000. This card was graded at the end of October. I have a hard time believing someone had this Gretzky just laying around raw. Perhaps, it was a PSA that was upgraded. I am worried that companies will continue to do this and artifically increase the number of high grade cards, thus diluting the value over time. Also the population reports will show numbers graded, not reflecting the fact that the slab was cracked and resubmitted to another company. You may pay $12,000 for a card of which only two exist in that grade now, but in 5 years there may be 5 ot 10 and the value will be much less. What do you guys think?

Brian48

Dunno about SGC or GAI, but I've definitely seen a more a more laxed approach to grading from both PSA and BGS.

mikeschmidt

People do play the crack-and-resubmit game, surely. But I have not seen ample evidence that PSA has loosened their standards across the board. There have been times during their history that seem to have been somewhat more lenient or somewhat more strict - but I don't think PSA is overall looser now than historically.

Yes - there are great vintage raw cards around. You may not see them often, but it happens. One only needs to look at the Wagner that was graded 3.5 at the National this year, the 1914 CJ set, or numerous other "finds", for evidence of such...

~ms

sagard

I believe that the standards evolve over time and the YES we are currently in a period of slightly easier grading that was kicked off by BGS and GAI. I've seen cards with print snow in PSA 8, that I just can't ever remember seeing in PSA 8 before. This doesn't mean the grades are wrong as slight print imperfections are tolerated on 8s. As for the higher grades, I doubt PSA would change at all but I don't collect or submit them so I can't really say.

It's hard for anything subjective like grading to not change a little with the times. I have MANY cards in seven holders that nobody would blink an eye if it were an 8.