Its all over for you now
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Great breakdown Amigo. I had never heard of TAG, and now interested.
Congrats on the GRAIL!
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I’m not seeing any hate, rather people questioning what value they add that PSA does not already. The marketing angle is fair game, I just think people can tell when something is being pushed inorganically which is a big turn off. I personally don’t have any strong feelings about them.
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I’m not sure it’s really hate as much as it just seems inorganic. And right now, with the tiny amount of cards they have graded, it’s just a gimmick. When we get a bigger sample size we can see how accurate they really are
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I think there is some doubt and distrust of TAG in this thread, but I think its important to reflect on why that is-- why is this community reacting in the way they are?
In general, i think people are kinda weary of new companies coming into this market these days. Its probably always been this way, but likely gotten worse over the last few years. Especially when these companies appear to be doing distasteful things like as seaside said the inorganic pushing and undisclosed advertising vibe. The value proposition isnt really amazing either.
That being said i dont think anyone here has been unreasonably non-receptive
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I don’t know if it’s hate as much as it is reasonable skepticism. TAG is probably the most innovative grading company I’ve seen but if you’re trying to disrupted an industry where consistency is the #1 value, you will be met with skepticism by default.
No one is saying they shouldn’t advertise. The point being made is that you can’t just conflate stories on Instagram with organic demand because the company is incentived to advertise and people on Instagram are incentivised to keep their audience entertained with whatever the novelty of the month is.
The default response to everything on Instagram and YouTube is to be like “THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING” and the default response of a tempered and nuanced community should be “woah let’s hold on for a second”.
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I don’t think anyone is hating, it’s just that everyone has the same impression, and it’s not exclusive to e4. I couldn’t care less about tag but the amount of recent noise feels very strategic rather than organic.
As for the service itself, it inherently is open to criticism, as we are potential customers being pitched a product. Tag’s level of scrutiny is overkill for majority of cards. Not to mention, part of their pitch is having the most critical grading analysis, yet their 10 is weaker than PSA’s. Most importantly, what’s the added value? Their ai recently updated and already had an issue missing idents. They aren’t the first company to use ai, or the last. Regardless the posts online feel inorganic, and that impression isn’t exclusive to E4. Vocalizing that impression isn’t hate, it’s just consumers correctly recognizing a marketing push.
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How much is TAG willing to pay me as a sponsor?
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They can’t afford you 
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The counterexample for organic demand is actually CGC. When they opened up, they had a similar marketing push of course. But also many people on here/e4 discord tried them out and you can see the listings really show up on pwcc and ebay. They tapped into the general demand for grading because PSA dropped the ball at the time.
I just haven’t seen the same response to TAG. That’s not an opinion on the company or their methods, that’s a reality of the market response.
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Pfm’s post really hits the nail on the head. I agree that TAG is innovative and I commend them for trying something new in the grading department, it at least provides some unique contribution which all the basement grading companies fail to do. Done well and improved upon, it could be a unique addition to the grading marketplace and provide solid value for the people who want to use it. I don’t blame them for advertising, but as is standard on social media most undisclosed ads leave people fairly salty.
I do question whether the service they provide is one people actually want, outside of a small niche. We saw CGC try the nitpicky grading approach with subgrades and difficult-to-achieve 10s, and that didn’t work at all. I’d actually argue that an in-depth analysis of every flaw on one’s card is something that most collectors would actively avoid.
Healthy skepticism is definitely warranted in my opinion, but good on TAG for at least doing something to differentiate themselves.
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This is as true as it gets. For all the things cgc has done. The timing of their grading services being offered was perfect. Before then it was just PSA and BGS. Now it’s known in the card space to have three grading companies
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I would also add that companies like ACE also differentiated themselves with their labels and had a much more natural feeling growth than TAG. Some people like them, some people dont care, but it doesnt feel anywhere close to as forced or desperate to be liked. Tag has literally gone to people who question why their card got a low psa score and offered to regrade the card for free to show them if the grade was fair. which sounds cool but also gives off such hubris for a new company, as though they are business equals to psa. I like the way their slabs can look but not really a fan of how theyve presented themselves. Hope that they grow some though and become another competitor willing to innovate in the grading scene.
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Which begs the question why grade to begin with if the desire is to fish for the outcome as opposed to assess it?
In the end it only comes down to how much it can be sold for and everything else is pretence.
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I disagree with this. Many people grade cards they never intend to sell, yet still want high grades. Resale prices are absolutely a factor, but so too is the satisfaction from knowing you have a copy of a card assessed to be in the highest condition rating possible on a recognized scale. It allows for a sense of finitude and accomplishment, since you cannot get (objectively) any better.
People want that sense of accomplishment, but they don’t want it to be too hard (nobody built blue label CGC 10 sets/builds BGS black label sets) or too easy (nobody built BCCG 10 sets). The issue with TAG telling you every flaw on your card is that it eats into this sense of accomplishment that is completely divorced from resale value: you don’t get to pretend your card/set is perfect even with the 10 grade.
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I have no opinion on TAG but I do feel that having more and more grading companies over time is redundant. Competition is good as improvements can always be made from any company, but to try and capture a large part of the market now seems unlikely when you have 3 or 4 very well known companies dominating the market.
I do believe TAG would have had an easier time back in 2017 with public perception when BGS wasn’t regarded well with Pokémon and CGC wasn’t grading cards.
I just won’t be surprised when another new grading company pops up in 2 years claiming to be different and will change grading forever.
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I’m not sure how much of an improvement bgs has had in public Pokemon perception. That is, I’ve never met anyone who collecta graded sets in bgs besides maybe a couple with base set. When I used to grade with bgs I was responsible for 100% of the pop report on early ex holos (some of them).
They’re really just used for a select few grail cards but their prices and service are prohibitive to actually build large graded collections in pokemon it seems
Compared to 2017, BGS has so many more cards that are available for purchase on any auction platform.
But also you have black label collectors who submit anything just to get it.
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Maybe they’re just not made for pokemon set collectors. Lots of vintage sets still have pop 0 for graded holos at bgs
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