I don’t know if I have any other thoughts about this yet except what I’m about to say: the case design is kinda ugly. Especially the labels look like some late 90s web design with hugely unappealing color palette/font/text placement. In terms of how the card looks in the case PSA is still light years ahead. Sure some PSA cards (mostly Japanese) kinda rattle around in the case but even if the size is better those cards do not look good with a chunky baby blue rectangle and a sticker for the grade.
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I’d expect PSA to start recognizing Base 1999-2000 within a year to not allow CGC to own that niche as well as some other potentials they may recognize that PSA currently doesn’t. In the meantime I’d expect a lot of those to go there to start.
High end trophies that one doesn’t intend to sell any time soon are an extremely obvious benefit to grade at CGC.
I for one am happy to have another option and am rooting for them to be an excellent service and to knock off PSA over the next several years. It wont be easy, but inertia and familiarity are the only reasons why. PSA’s extreme ineptitude leaves a window open where one shouldn’t have to be.
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@gottaketchumall , I highly doubt PSA will ever accept 1999-2000 unless they decide to hire dedicated experts. I asked PSA what it would take for them to accept the no rarity Venu and Raichu again they said, an official source with a check list of the cards in question. I sent them a literal 1996 official check list poster with Venu and Raichu on full display and they still won’t accept them lol
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What is the benefit? This would be a half measure imo. If you don’t care about grading a trophy, then just use a one touch case. I did that for awhile with a few of mine.
Overall I think these companies trying to grab market share is smart, but I don’t see anything unique cgc or any other company is bringing to the table. Outside of faster turnaround times, which is entirely because no one is using them, I just don’t see any innovation.
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This is why, regardless of what we think right now about CGS, it’s a GOOD thing to have more competition entering the market. Once companies consolidate and become “too big to fail” service goes down, they pay workers less, standards don’t matter as much. If nothing else, maybe CGC entering the market will make PSA and Beckett step up their game.
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Would their entry into this space afford them the same “pedigree” (for lack of a better term) with the other graders in this space when it comes to value placed on their accessed conditions?
@chrisbalestra, it’s a nice thought but BGS and CGC are just small fries I don’t think PSA cares. Last year PSA graded their 1 millionth pokemon card, BGS being generous maybe 5% of that? CGC has a good chance against BGS I think but you can’t compete with PSA with a 9.5 gem mint grade.
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I agree! I see this as more of a BGS competitor. Especially since they borrowed their grading scale.
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The benefit would be getting the card slabbed with a grade without dropping some benjamins, or?
Well I guess it’s not a massive benefit nor market, but had I not paid $500 to grade my #1 pika with PSA already it would be on it’s way to CGC now.
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Maybe a better way of explaining would be comparing bitcoin to a brand new crypto. 
Ultimately people can chose whatever they prefer, I just don’t see the value in “saving” money by paying for an inferior service. Especially on the most valuable cards in the hobby. Its a weird disconnect spending all that money on one of the rarest cards but then be cheap on grading. Again that’s just me, people can do whatever they prefer.
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charlie told me that when they grade packs they wont fold them! THATS THE REAL GAME CHANGER
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Makes me wonder what PSA said they were excited to announce sometime during July. Hopefully some sort of automation to decrease their turnaround time? As others have said it makes perfect sense that CGC turnaround is so fast because they have no customers yet!
it would literally create a new market immediately
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Awesome. We hoped this was coming! In my mind, just the fact that they have Charlie and other experts already gives them a leg up on the competition.
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it opens up a whole new can of worms, will people open boxes to grade mint packs? Will they grade boxes themselves? Will current pas cases be able to transfer?
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I just bought a card from David Persin, should I submit the card as a “David Persin Pedigree”? 
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They are using computers to assist in the grading, they are grading and recognizing cards that other grading companies wont touch, they are labeling errors and variants, subgrades, fast turn around times, apparently they have years of experience grading other higher end collectibles, no crazy upcharges, and they hired a Pokemon expert who is well respect in the community to consult…What more do you want from a company that just went live today?
Anyways, this has been a great read and awesome to see some potential competition for PSA. Even if CGC ends up being a bust I am sure that PSA will take notice and hopefully work harder to improve the small internal issues and delays that they clearly have going on.
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What specifically are computers doing the grading process? I’d be curious to know that exact process. That is potential innovation.
I agree grading the few variants that psa doesn’t is good, but that is niche.
And turnaround times are entirely because they are brand new = no one uses them.
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Computer scanning for exact border ratios is relatively simple to measure precise centering.
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