Hi all, I wanted to try and get some peoples opinions on the other Grading Services out there mainly SGC and BGS. I feel like within the Pokémon community PSA is widely renowned as the “only” company to get your cards graded from if your looking into being a serious collector or reseller of graded cards. However I and (I’m sure a lot of others) can agree that the consistency with PSA is very lackadaisical. Many of us have seen cards receive 10 grades that were 8s and 9s at best as well as the other side of that where cards have received 9s that were clearly 10s. Never mind the issues that have been occur recently with the quality of cases. Many people have been receiving cracked and damaged cases, and even in some circumstances contents inside of them being poorly packaged (mainly packs) and ruined. Generally speaking I feel that PSA has a lot more issues going on within the company and its spilling out onto us as collectors. I feel like they cant accommodate the mass amount of orders that they receive and its affecting the quality of service they provide. I know from previous personal experiences with other companies (SGC/BGS) that I and several others that I’ve talked to (In and Outside of the Pokémon Community) have had much more pleasant and consistent experiences, and grades that truly reflect what the cards condition is. I personally would love to see the community move more towards and or at least adopt and accept these other grading companies instead of being “married” to PSA and only PSA. Would love to here others thoughts about this.
It most likely will not happen. PSA has been the standard for so many years, collectors understand PSA(mostly) and enjoy uniformity. Most of the time, I know what to expect on an 8-9-10, they are more consistent than people give them credit for. Not to mention, like most reviews, people are more vocal about problems and bad experiences than good ones. BGS has its issues as well, but since less people tend to grade BGS in the pokemon world, you don’t hear as many issues (Their 9s are usually very soft for instance). It would be the equivalent of switching the US to diesel fuel from gas.
Depends man with bgs 9.
If you have a Bgs 9 with ultra high subgrades and centering is only issue it can look absolutely flawless like this:
On the other hand if you have shit subgrades it can look like a psa 8.
Joetehman was spot on. Both companies are capable of making mistakes here and there, and both companies have done some questionable things in the past, but for the most part they are both quality services. Idk why but the pokemon community has settled pretty nicely into the psa camp. There are a few that like beckett and that’s totally cool. Grade with whichever you prefer. Trying to push one over the other seems odd to me.
As for sgc, I haven’t a clue at all. I’ve never seen an sgc graded card and I’ve only heard the name a handful of times. Kinda feel a little bad for them tbh but I assume they are more prevalent with sports cards.
I would love to see more BGS Pokemon cards, I have been purchasing quite a few lately.
A BGS/PSA thread wouldn’t be complete without @pokemonsyndicate 
But you are correct, sometimes 9 can be fantastic with BGS!
xD
I hope this can answer the questionerb for alerntatives for the op @bdw19 
I now have allies like @new2pokemon the bgs vs psa war shall never die muhahahaha.
I reckon it would be cool if BGS pristine 10 gold label became there final label. and there 9.5 became there mint 9 standard.
If Bgs done this, there would be true consistancy on a 10 grade and things would stay very low pop, and there 9 would be more honorable and stronger even with lower sub grades ect. Then PSA might have some competition in regards to pokemon.
Things would change, so i feel like we need to smack the ceo over at bgs.
Thing is, a BGS gold label is still much more difficult then a psa 10, so wed still have people grading for max profit and there collections over at psa to get dem 10’s. SO ANOTHER OPTION WOULD BE TO KEEP THERE BLACK AND GOLD LABEL, BUT MAKE THERE GOLD LABEL Aligned WITH THE PSA 10 STANDARD, AND THERE BLACK LABEL 10 Aligned with THERE CURRENT GOLD LABEL 10 STANDARDS!
I still havent been able to find a Eligible BGS gold label 10 candidate card from GOld stars/older cards that i can send off due to centering or just the factory flaws all cards from those older eras come with. Im forced to send them to psa and they do get 10s, as there GEM, but not pristine I guess… WHAT IS PRISTINE… HOW DO YOU DEFINE PRISTINE!
So Im afraid untill things lower a bit in standard in regards to there gold label… Let alone bgs Black label. The option most collectors and especially sellers will take, will be PSA.
@pokemonsyndicate I would send that bad boy into PSA looks like a shot at 10 as the centering looks to be right on the cuff
Also on topic: if the same volume of Pokemon cards were sent through BGS as PSA you would see the same problems with 'misgrades" it is all relative
IKR! I still cant for the life of me find why the corners are 9.5… And this psa 10 machamp copy has silvering, but its not enough to matter as its so slight. I think most no raritan have a tiny bit of silvering.
If you get the same two graders who looked at that Machamp your Alakazam will be 110% PSA 10
it would be cool to send in for like 17 reviews to psa. xD
I’m going to be that guy…
PSA is the only company with which to grade your cards. There will always be cards that “slip through the cracks” with any grading company. Since PSA is the most widely-used company, these cards are most easily apparent with PSA. BGS has serious issues as well and is by NO MEANS the arbiter of perfect grading. I’ve heard of SGC but I’d NEVER spend any money on a card graded by them.
Putting your money into BGS or SGC and attempting to convince the community to do the same is not going to work. PSA has already been established as the industry standard. The only thing BGS has going for it is the Pristine 10. If you’re going to grade your cards and are looking for the largest monetary value and most reputable and respected company, PSA is the only option.
@fourthstartcg are you sure your not married to psa?
We need competition so the consumer wins, get people talking ect… Ideas. Not PSA being the only option ever. Things could be different, and they might be one day.
If Bgs makes alterations, then they could become number 1 if the consumer is dissatisfied ect. Alot of people do complain about PSA, and if BGS does change things, then PSA might improve to.
I mean there both pretty good, but things could be better.
The way BGS 10 impossible for anyone to achieve, could be altered as I said above, theres 2 options that could make them just as great or even better then PSA… I SAID THE B WORD
The way PSA … The way PSA does something I cant think of could also be improved.
The whole point of these tingz is to acess both companies flaws ect, and make dem improve. IF bgs changes the slightest things, then it could change everything, which will then in turn make psa change to. I refuse to look up how to spell acess on google right now.
I guess for now about 99% of the community is confortable with psa… NOONES doubting that… But we should always encourage competition, and companies like bgs to improve. Not consistantly tout PSA as the greatest in the industry and that the only thing good about the other company is so on… Focusing on strengths and weakness of both companies is essential in making a decision and forcing change to best suit the consumer.
Maybe if BGS reads this, they might change something and those who like bgs along with many others who start grading with them in the future will win. if WE Just stop the conversation with the same old crap, and stop talking and yelling and screaming for change… Then PSA will stay as the monopoly and we dont want that. WE WANT OPTIONS, and We want a good deal, and WE need improvement at faster rate…
LEt me give you an example of AMD vs INTEL in the CPU/TEch industry.
AMD created shit chips for about 5-8 years now, and everyone is forced to buy intel Chips for last 5-8 years and so the chips havent really improved more then maybe 3-5% each 2 years WHILST PRICES CONTINUE TO GO UP AND UP, and this improvement is nothing compared to what they could do. AND consumers are pissed that the improvement is so little, and the price is so high… TIll now. AMD has made better chips and its going to force change because intel has some competition.
Do you want to keep handing PSA to be like INTEL, and never listen to consumers for 5 years… OR do you want improvements from both companies to make things better for us pokemoon peeps. Do you want to have those shitty laser inkjet printed crappy red and black text psa labels… OR do you want some epic brushed 50 carrot golden label text for there gem mint 10s… Do you want PSA to keep folding peoples PAcks and shoving them in those huge stupid cases they use to grade peoples packs… OR do you want change… Cause it seems to me like they havent listened to anybody about that… AND YOU KNOW WHY THAT IS… ITS BECAUSE THEY ARE THE MONOPOLY… THEY TELL YOU HOW IT IS!!!
Its taken me 30 minutes to unravel the deep inner rage i feel towards you right now @fourthstartcg
but hopefully you understand why i believe you need to get a divorce from psa.
You can still drop the kids off there once a week, but a seperation is needed.
PSA has the most history, volume and experience with Pokemon. They are also more strict, specifically with sheet cut cards and cards without proper information.
BGS is softer on cards cut from a sheet.
IMO BGS doesn’t have the consistency for cards under a 9 grade. This could be primarily due to the lack of volume, nonetheless it is an issue in my experience.
Thats it… Both you @smpratte and @fourthstartcg are dead to me.
But aatleast your focusing on BGS weakness so they might improve.
Great discussion to have. I hope it can carry on with more members willing to weigh in with their thoughts, feelings and ideas. It may not be popular to talk about another company outside PSA but it could definitely breathe more excitement into the hobby (in my opinion) if more people were to open up to the idea that BGS grades cards can be just as desirable and of high caliber graded quality as PSA (in my opinion), the Alakazam no rarity card is a great example of being able to get a great card that is encased and graded in a slab other than PSA. I think the 4 sub grades that BGS provides on their labels tells a nice story about the card and it’s always nice to know exactly what a professional grader saw/thought so that we can learn more about the details that they look for in the future or for personal enjoyment.
if your grading for profit then psa all the way the only upside i can see from beckett ias the subgrades is a nice touch
psa is the standard try selling a beckett 9 on the facebook pages your never sell it but psa 9 is easy but recently the 8.5 have sky rocketed which is a joke 
becketts 9s are psa 8s in my experience but beckett 9.5s are in between psa 9/10 standards so could be either one wheres are becketts 10s are better quality than psa 10
Even tho I’m a psa kinda guy I do like the subgrades beckett puts on their labels. I don’t know why psa doesn’t put a brief description of grading factors for cards on their online database. It can’t be that hard or time consuming. Just a simple “one spot of edgewear on back, one horizontal factory line on holofoil” would go a long way.
I feel like in a world where we should have options especially when it comes to grading our cards that we have invested so much into. Simply saying that PSA is the best for reasons 1, 2, and 3 is a bit silly. I love competition in the market place/industry its what keeps the hobby thriving and bringing in interest. I personally have dealt with PSA/BGS/ and SGC and have enjoyed all. I have found myself having less issues with SGC (older baseball cards) and BGS for the newer stuff compared to PSA. Now that’s not me trashing PSA that’s just my personal opinion based off experiences (everyone’s different). I just believe that the competition would be a wonderful thing to have, and its not even about competition as much as variety. I mean common, if asked who do you grade your Pokémon cards through 99.9% of people are gonna say PSA. Me for one I’m not particularly interested in the numerical value of my cards (its not priority). To me my cards have more sentimental value and I would like to have my cards graded with a company that I enjoy working with, enjoy the appeal of the card and case etc. When it comes down to It I would just like to see more variety out there.