This was probably an assumption (unless they know more than what smpratte divulged)
Edit: I realized that I’m probably talking in circles since your original question was probably targeted at asking the poster how they knew that it was rogue employees - my apologies if so!
Anyways… this just shows that we should not simply just take anything at face value. As the hobby grows more lucrative, expect more of this to happen. For sure.
I was posting some comments saying CGC 9s/9.5’s could grade PSA10’s in a lot of cases but even I had some doubts about the prevalence of CGC threads and pro-CGC comments. Just to confirm I have nothing to do with CGC, live in the UK and am yet to get any cards graded, was just commenting on what I had seen occurring (difficulty in grading CGC 10, high prevalence of 9-9.5, people commenting about harshness of grading etc).
On the whole “rogue employee” vs. company-ordained shilling, what incentive does a rogue employee have to shill for his company?
It’s not like there’s much incentive to improve the profit of a big company that one works for as just an average employee. If you’re a cashier at a supermarket or a warehouse worker at Amazon, the only incentives you have to work diligently and improve the company’s financials is so that you don’t get fired or so that your superiors notice and you get a raise or promotion.
The only incentive I can see for a rogue CGC employee–which by my definition means an employee that acted without the company’s persuasion, permission, and knowledge–to advocate for CGC cards is if they had their own significant supply of CGC cards, or if they are a higher-up in the company and thus the company’s financial success will reflect onto their own wallets.
Going off what little we know, I would personally think that it is more likely that this behavior was ordained by the company rather than a rogue employee…unless that rogue employee was a higher-up. But there’s really no way to know at this point.
Regardless, I’m glad this behavior was found out by the E4 staff.
Wait a minute… does this mean Gary is working for psa?!
How did you even conceive that?
This wasn’t:
X person is propping up CGC, therefore X person works for CGC.
It was:
X person works for CGC, therefore their participation in propping up CGC is shilling.
——
Your logic is reversed.
Just want to note that all general posts regarding CGC, such as their grading standards, the endless discussion of labels, and whether or not you will be submitting to them should go in the dedicated CGC grading thread.
Another shill is gone, I wanted to respond to his response post that he was gaslighting people lol.
Smh
Not sure why my 2nd comment was deleted…
Your comment was removed to a more appropriate thread.
laughed out loud at this. Seriously though, !)(%ty situation. Tough decision for @smpratte but seems 100% justified.
Oof, I was out here supporting CGC as a nice alternative to PSA. I wonder what motives the employees would have if it was entirely their own decision other than being really proud employees? I also wonder if there was any repercussions by CGC to these employees. I really hope these were only overzealous employees and not actual strategies by the company but I am very skeptical. Regardless, this is very damaging to CGC. I dont think it’ll catch on to more casual collectors like on reddit or other platforms but damaging your image on the forum that includes many of the most serious collectors in the hobby does not bode well for their future in grading card.
Ah, no worries. Salute!
But does it really damage their image? If the shilling was directed by CGC management, then it’s certainly an unethical practice. This has been confirmed yet, but even if it’s true it shouldn’t really affect anyone’s grading decisions too much. PSA has also had its fair share of controversy in the past. But the most relevant consideration should always be the actual service each company provides. CGC should succeed or fail entirely on the merit of the service they offer.
This does not reflect well on CGC.
My thanks to the team who took the time to uncover this activity.
Not a good look for my original username “eyesofmadara”
Entirely depends on the motive behind it. Rogue employee or company tactic? I doubt the ceo sent some order down to have employees go on forums and shill but it could have been a decision lower down the totem pole. And regardless of what the actual reason was, it doesnt really matter to what people think the reason was, and people will judge the company for contraversies regardless of the merit of their service. The original message is quite vague; multiple employees and admitting about it after getting caught. Was this 2 guys? Was this several? Was the ‘official cgc account’ just another one of the guys? A lot is up to interpretation. Why would several employees feel the need to spend their free time doing this? It would be nice to get an official statement from cgc about this but it doesn’t seem thats going to happen now, at least not on e4 obviously. You can’t deny this certainly doesn’t help CGC.
@fourthstartcg My comment was not meant to be disparaging. I was curious what a trusted and long standing member of the community thought about these recent findings. This wasn’t meant to be libelous or antagonistic. He is the only member of the forum that I know that is affiliated with CGC in any way.
Keep context too.
Alleged misdeeds scorecard
CGC: Employees bad mouthing PSA and BGS while pumping up CGC without disclosing their relationship to CGC.
BGS: Supposed pay-to-upgrade your subs with a Dzjin or whatever it is photo showing quite the glow up over time. Alleged black label favoritism (with the faulty logic and math to back it!)
PSA: Trimmed and doctored card lawsuits. Autograph COA lawsuits. PSA financial incentive to inflate grades.
Our options remind me of a South park election so just keep up on everything that goes on and make your own choices. The market is ever changing and BGS has a lot more market share and acceptance than they used to. Amazing opportunity exists with all 3 companies IMO and IMO they all kinda suck in their own special ways.