CGC vs PSA

As far as actual slabs, i dislike PSA the most and find Becket to be the best. That will vary from person to person but I dont like the cloudy material used in psa slabs. Others DO like it though because it blocks off everything behind it and they claim it allows you to focus on the card more. CGC and Beckett or more clear and transparent. This can be a good or bad thing but personally I like it more

As a buyer, when i see a domestic seller list a CGC 10, I automatically assume they avoided psa because they know psa wouldnt 10 it… I treat a cgc 10 like I do a psa 9. I would never pay a premium for a cgc 10 over a psa 9 unless I personally inspected it and found it to be phenominal.

There are a lot of ppl who send pack fresh high value vintage cards straight to cgc to get their 10 (if its very clean) because they legitimately believe psa will never 10 it
There might be some truth to that though. There are many big dog $$$ vintage cards that I can ONLY find as a 2 cert - 4 cert… and when inspecting these “10s” on ebay with magnifier you can clearly see whitening on 1 or more edges/ corners/ ext. In modern times, PSA seems to auto 9 these otherwise gem cards while cgc seems to 10 them

As a seller, CGC is a nice way to extract extra premium for a card when you think it’s clean enough to be a 10 but psa wont agree.

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you know what though?
because of sub grades, becket 10 holds less value to ME unless of course its black label

If a card is a 10, i want to only see a ten. Dont show me sub grades that are less than 10 or it reminds me this is a flawed card. Part of the allure of the 10 is that it is the highest it can go

If PSA graded a 10, that same card could theoretically cross over to black label (similar to the very famous 1st gen zard that Logan Paul bought). A psa 10 CAN be perfect. But a Becket Gold Label only reminds you that it is NOT perfect and wears the flawed sub grades proudly and clearly at the top

furthermore
Becket 9.5 does NOT equal psa 10… that is a lie. This is known for fact because of population reports. Its easier to get a becket 9.5 than it is to get psa 10.

I stick with psa because its what i started with and im in too deep to switch it up now. I dont dislike any of the major grading companies, and even newer ones like tag seem pretty interesting. Its just a name i heard all the time growing up (PSA), (im 31) and its instantly recognizable. Plus i always was under the impression that cgcs main game was comics, so i just always have that association even though they do cards. Becketts up on that pedestal, to where i dont even look in there direction because i hear prices of stuff and im just like :exploding_head:. Companies like tag though have nice holders, and stats, which seem kind of cool, but im the type of person to where once i start with something i dont typically switch it up. The upgraded cgc holders are really nice as well. I see a lot of wailmers posts on ig and its got me checking out cgc 10s.

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The pros/cons of grading with either company have been covered quite a bit.

Grading is nothing more than putting cards on a scale. You put cards on the scale to measure them against other cards that have been on the same scale.

The primary reason PSA is the top banana is because they’ve been grading Pokemon cards since 1999 whereas CGC started grading Pokemon in 2020.

Because of that 20 year head start there have been far more Pokemon cards measured on PSAs scale and Pokemon collectors have had plenty of time to grow accustom to it.

The reason I prefer PSA is because it gives me the deepest pool of sales history to reference when I’m buying cards.

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