And here Is another grading company!! What in gods name

General
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www.ebay.com.au/itm/RARE-CARTE-POKEMON-PCA-8-DRACAUFEU-SHINY-SECRETE-136-135-TEMPETE-PLASMA/302358486366?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20140106155344%26meid%3D668fe45b6c054a23bb2c9d9ab0dff95d%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D252992538536

Pretty cool as they grade Foreignz

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They only grade French cards, at least for know.

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Pretty cool as they grade Foreignz

They only grade French cards, at least for know.

Hmmptons

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This new french grading company is operating in France for 1 year: www.pcagrade.com/

Their main market is obvioulsy the french cards, as they are the only grading company to grade french cards.
(but you can also grade foreign cards since few months/weeks, and japanese cards soon)

They are doing a very good job :blush:

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PSA UK please!

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It would be so nice if they expand to other languages. Beckett and PSA are missing a huge market.

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I still wonder why PSA doenst get a EU office!! they are missing u huuughe market, not all in the EU get their cards graded because of the send to the US costs , import taxes , etc etc. the moment i can send in the EU to PSA ill get 1000’s of cards graded

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Maybe this is just the kind of pressure they need, that’s how some companies operate. They see someone making money in an untouched market and that’s when they realize that they have a potential opportunity to do the same.

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It will costs a damn fortune to raise all the staff. If you can do that, where do you get your office? The UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy? None are a good option. Everyone of those countries has something against them. And Europe is missing one big thing the USA has; SPORT CARDS.

Yes, we have Panini in Europe. But they do not issue (ok, they started 2 years ago) cardboard football cards. No, they have stickers. Stickers don’t last as good as cards. The only sports big in Europe are football and basketball, and to some degree tennis and hockey (both field and ice) yet none of these sports produce any sport cards, sport collectibles, nothing. Yes, you can collect everything from FC Barcelona but 90% of that is sold by the official Fan Shop and is a shirt, a coffee mug, a hat. Nothing in line with e.g. Rookie Babe Ruth card (good example?).

What would PSA do in Europe? Grade English and ‘foreign’ Pokemon, Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Maybe expand into the collectibles Panini prints but this requires more education for staff.

Although I love the idea to be able to send my cards to e.g. Ireland or Denmark to be graded by PSA it’s still an expensive thing. People in the UK will have a cheaper service, while people in Portugal, Sweden and Greece will have an almost as expensive shipping. The only benefit is no import taxes.

It’s a good thing there are grading companies starting in Europe. Maybe they’ll never be on par with PSA or Beckett, but it’s a start. Especially if PSA recognizes the quality and than accepts grading e.g. French and German old WotC (non-Base) product.

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I’ll say this: Anyone who has experience with a proper business in the EU knows exactly why PSA would never operate there. The taxes are a complete joke. The taxes exceed 40%. Even if PSA opened in the UK, for example, you’d be paying more than existing middleman services cost so there would be no point.

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Shipping wouldn’t be that expensive. It is the same as sending through a grading service. With PSA operating in EU we could get access to the monthly specials and have a better costumer support.

I believe the sticker market, for football specially, would be a wise bet for any grading company who would like to establish itself in Europe, the amount of people collecting those is crazy.

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There is always the Netherlands :grin:

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Great discussion and many thoughtful comments and replies.
After this thread runs its course I’m going to forward it along:)

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Although we have amazing nice tax rates for foreign companies to come to our beautiful country, it’s very frowned upon by Bruxelles. Because of unfair competition etc. It’s a possibility but as I pointed out the European market lacks all the sports memorabilia that made PSA great. They cannot survive on just grading Pokemon, Magic, YGO and Toppz cards. They need to invest and develop a new market which isn’t an easy thing in Europe.

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Well, import taxes will be lost, thats fair… but the company will pay taxes in the country it will be establist in so …
there are so many other companies that have a US and EU HQ, start it off with a crew of 10, heck even 5 ppl…; guarranteed they will always have customers! get those 5 a learning course in the US on how to grade, heck all even go there for min wages/free just to get the experience and knowhow of experts! ill apply for that job in a heartbeat! And all things fair, Belgium, Netherlands are good. but a US company should be in Luxembourg! more central in the EU and a heaven for taxpayers/companies

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U know how much taxes the coca cola company etc had to pay here in belgium?!.. 0 euros!! we got loopholes the size of volcano’s, not even to mention Luxembourg! never compare theory with reality whenn taxes are involved XD

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Glad you mentioned Coca-Cola!

Coke is selling a product. Same with Apple. Same with Intel. Same with those giant names you hear all the time. And they’re getting away with zero taxes by utilizing what is called transfer pricing.

Transfer pricing is feasible for products but it isn’t feasible for services because the “work” or “production” occurs at the place of service. PSA isn’t a good. It’s a service.

So, if PSA wanted to take advantage of those volcano loopholes, they would have to do the work in the United States and ship the goods to the EU anyway. Which is exactly what grading services are already doing. Except PSA wouldn’t be able to compete with the zero overhead/work from home middlemen that currently exist. Or if they could, it would be for almost no gain.

The growth in the EU market for graded cards is nice but it’s child’s play in the grand scheme of things. And incentive for businesses to move to the EU from the United States is virtually nonexistent.

It’s fascinating stuff to research if anyone is curious. Look into transfer pricing, EU taxes, and why businesses hub in the US even if they exclusively serve the EU. I lectured on it in college as an assistant for the ethics course.

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conclution: The US and EU should make a trade agreement, as is done with Canada… i just almost collapsed from my chair wenn i say the import duties i have to pay to get my package… 231 EUR :sob:

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It’s complicated because that can shaft domestic producers. UK is traditionally protectionist.

It’s all a mess and complicated and there are millions of pages of information out there with opinions all over the spectrum. Haha. But the tl;dr of it contextually is that I suspect PSA would not be able to offer domestic services within the EU that pose a significant advantage to the small handful of customers they have there.

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TTIP got voted off. So I guess no trade agreement coming soon, especially not with Brexit going so horribly bad