Will the other grading companies ever catch up to PSA?

zendude · May 2, 2011 8:37AM

Buy the card, not the holder...right? This is what many people say, however auction results and BIN prices tell a different story. Most of the graded cards I buy are PSA, but there is certainly nothing wrong with SGC or BVG in my opinion in fact they have more tamper proof holders. They are all reputable companies and seem to be pretty consistent graders. There are some good values to be had with nice vintage cards if you go with SGC or BVG instead of PSA (all things being equal). Would you hesitate to drop big money on high end cards from grading companies other than PSA? Can other grading companies catch up or will they forever be a notch below PSA in popularity?

Probstein123 · May 2, 2011 8:42AM

will they forever be a notch below PSA in popularity?
==> and the winner is ..... PSA !!! psa will remain on top as its set registry and the desire for low pop
fuels the industry...

CollectorAtWork · May 2, 2011 8:46AM

SGC is very popular with prewar and Beckett similarly with modern cards. Beckett also grades some oversized cards that PSA and SGC can't handle. However, saying that PSA still has the overall advantage due to the Registry. I would put big $$$ on any PSA high value card. However, I would only do so for SGC for prewar cards. For Beckett, I would do so only for modern cards (e.g., 86 Fleer Jordan).

Sean1125 · May 2, 2011 8:55AM

I wonder why a PSA 10 Walter payton RC is 3.5k and a Beckett 10 is 35k...

Brick · May 2, 2011 9:52AM

"The Registry is a powerful drug." No one will catch PSA on their own. Only a serious screw up or scandal at PSA will tighten the market.

CrazyMind2017 · May 2, 2011 10:02AM

<< <i>I wonder why a PSA 10 Walter payton RC is 3.5k and a Beckett 10 is 35k... >>

Maybe because the average buyer thinks the PSA 10 would likely crossover to Beckett 9.5?

GooshA · May 2, 2011 10:14AM

I subscribed to one of the Becket magazines a couple years ago, and with the subscription came three free card grades. I did send three cards in, and to be honest, the slabs are much finer. Actually very cool. BUT.. those three cards did not fit my collection, seemed icky, and were soon sold off. I doubt I'm in the minority here, am stickin' with PSA until I die. PSA was the first correct ? They are the first I ever sent cards to, and I will only ever send cards in that I personally ripped from packs. (don't buy anyone else's).

Not a big time collector here. I got my collection, all are PSA graded, and ain't nuttin that will ever change it. No chance at becket ot others now. PSA wins for being first. imho

kingnascar · May 2, 2011 10:26AM

<< <i>"The Registry is a powerful drug." No one will catch PSA on their own. Only a serious screw up or scandal at PSA will tighten the market. >>

Logan

ThoseBackPages · May 2, 2011 10:27AM

Nope.

Sethro · May 2, 2011 10:42AM

I am not going to say it would be easy, but of course PSA could be overtaken by another company. Think about Polaroid, Xerox, Citi just to name a few. All industry leaders at some point. Now, not so much.

nendee · May 2, 2011 11:07AM

I still think Goudey's look like little museum pieces in a SGC holder - but PSA has so much consistency going for it. Also, something about SGC's grading scale that just doesn't seem symmetric - I know that you have a 91 - but why isn't that considered a 8.5 or 9 at least?

stevek · May 2, 2011 7:35PM

<<< Will the other grading companies ever catch up to PSA? >>>

The correct answer is "No" - at this point none of the others will catch up to PSA.

Only a brand new company, with deep pockets, and the same competent grading as PSA, along with some sort of new innovative slabbing technique, and priced competitively, could ever catch up and overtake PSA.

jackstraw · May 2, 2011 7:43PM

<< <i>I still think Goudey's look like little museum pieces in a SGC holder - but PSA has so much consistency going for it. Also, something about SGC's grading scale that just doesn't seem symmetric - I know that you have a 91 - but why isn't that considered a 8.5 or 9 at least?

>>

The SGC grading scale was invented by SBC to avoid paying royalties to Alan Hagar who held the
patent for the 1 to 10 grading scale and the arrow head holders. Yes the black insert was
another attempt to dodge royalties but Hagar's lawyers shut SBC doors and when SGC and
Joe Merkle opened their doors around 98 they just used that model and hasn't changed anything
in the way of grading scales or holders since.

nendee · May 3, 2011 1:39AM

Which one do you like the look of? The Goudey in an SGC holder or PSA?

KbKards · May 3, 2011 1:46AM

Both the PSA and SGC set registries have been around for a very long time. PSA's began in early 2001 and by December 2001 it contained 365 sets. It hit 600 sets in February 2002, 1658 sets in June 2002, and 2982 sets in October 2002. When PSA started its registry the concept was new and took some time to catch on and used by collectors. The concept of a set registry caught on and in November 2002 SGC opened up its registry for eager SGC collectors wanting a registry like PSA. PSA was up to 3659 sets registered in December 2002, and the race was on.

Today there are 64,249 sets registered with PSA, and SGC is now up to 4433. Looks more like ketchup than catch up.

richtree · May 3, 2011 1:49AM

A couple things PSA needs to work on:

1. The holder (at least have an option for valuable cards that you want displayed to have UV coat etc.) -- Beckett does this better

2. Grade more errors/variations and label modern last correctly. Too many cards come back ungraded even though they are made by major companies.

3. Website/pop report etc. No company does this well because they don't want to pay for it -- but now PSA wants to charge you, I think they may lose future customers here

4. Pricing --- Getting higher and higher -- never a coupon, contest for anything, a free grade.....

5. Be more knowledgeable / customer friendly -- It feels like PSA doesn't train anyone on the products.....only the process -- maybe have email contacts listed for certain products.

EX. customer support for Vintage/errors/moderns/autos/etc....all with different email addresses and people focused on each niche

olb31 · May 3, 2011 5:58AM

<< <i>A couple things PSA needs to work on:

1. The holder (at least have an option for valuable cards that you want displayed to have UV coat etc.) -- Beckett does this better

2. Grade more errors/variations and label modern last correctly. Too many cards come back ungraded even though they are made by major companies.

3. Website/pop report etc. No company does this well because they don't want to pay for it -- but now PSA wants to charge you, I think they may lose future customers here

4. Pricing --- Getting higher and higher -- never a coupon, contest for anything, a free grade.....

5. Be more knowledgeable / customer friendly -- It feels like PSA doesn't train anyone on the products.....only the process -- maybe have email contacts listed for certain products.

EX. customer support for Vintage/errors/moderns/autos/etc....all with different email addresses and people focused on each niche >>

This post hits on some major and minor items that could hurt PSA. Here are a few more:

1) Modern cards 1981 and up. Beckett seems to have a great say in the market share here for several reasons mainly because of the subs. People like cards that say 9.5 or 10 centering. In my experience these type of cards sell better than PSA's with the same overall grade. Also, they are making a lot cards after 1981, none before any more at this point.

2) Card grade and Auto grade. This is a MAJOR problem for PSA. If you have an auto that would not grade a 10, a lot of people will send it to PSA to get just the card grade. But, if you have an auto that would be a 10, you are stupid not to send it Beckett. Beckett will always sell better with a 10 auto for the same grade. I.E. the more info you can provide for the collector/seller/buyer the better IMO.

3) HOLDER as mentioned above, huge issue for swapping cards and just overall presentation.

4) PRISTINE grade. Rare and valuable. PSA 10 UD Griffey $250, BGS 10 $1,000 and other examples vary more than this.

CrazyMind2017 · May 3, 2011 7:34AM

Any post-war item with an overall grade of 2-9 will almost always be better in a PSA slab. The issues surrounding the generality of a PSA 10 vs. the specific, specialized designations of a Beckett 9.5 or 10 are legitimate.

But personally, I find there is often such little difference between PSA 9 and PSA 10 examples of the same card that it's all moot. The differences between a Beckett 9.5 and a Beckett 10 are usually not visible to the naked eye, which means that before TPG, those differences would be indistinguishable.

In other words, the famous (or infamous) cliché around here of "buy the card, not the holder" is usually more applicable with higher end cards than it is with lower or mid-grade cards. When a Beckett 9.5 and PSA 10 of the same card go for $3,000 and a Beckett 10 of that card goes for $30,000, there's a problem somewhere.

When dealing with lower grade cards, the technical grade isn't always necessarily the best indication of a card's desirability, e.g., a NM card with perfect centering might be "nicer" than a NM-MT or even MT card with less than perfect centering, so in that sense, it's smart to "buy the card, not the holder." However, in these types of situations, we're not talking about a half-point grade difference making one card worth 10 times more than the other.

fiveniner · May 3, 2011 8:14AM

I think SCG is outstanding however due to the registery they do carry more clout.SCG does however does have a registery however not nearly as popular as PSA.I comes down to Advertising PSA is all over the place SCG Ads only pop up on occasion.

yankeeno7 · May 3, 2011 8:22AM

I think for the most part, the registry is becoming less and less important. I think we can see that with the drop off of many prices for high grade commons. Yes, there are examples here and there for crazy high ending sales. People are focusing their collections to what they want and not so much as a competative and/or ego thing that it was 10 years ago. With that, if a company did the right things, they could become at least equals with PSA. Personally, I think SGC could do it and it looks like they are going to make a strong push for it. Just take a look at their modern special this month. Looks like there is a desire for more of a market share.

jackstraw · May 3, 2011 10:03AM

I think PSA should do what Beckett does but label them as sheet cut or trimmed .
I think PSA should also label the serial number on the flip this is so a no-brainer.
I think PSA should also move the cert # and barcode to the back to free up a line
and of course this would stop stolen image fraud.
I think PSA should hire me to head up their post 69 card grading division and I will make sure
all cards are labeled correctly.

Will the other grading companies ever catch up to PSA?

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