My take as well. The Machamp seems to be off-centre enough that it would be less than 60-40, which is (if I remember correctly) their new standard.
Ah wait, the comment I replied to already named that.
It’s interesting data, but a sample size of 7 is not enough to be statistically meaningful. The PSA 6 → TAG 10 → TAG 5 shows that the TAG 10 was incorrectly graded which sucks, but hopefully they can improve the process given this mistake. The same cherry picking can be done with any grading company and has been done a thousand times over.
I’ve bought a single PSA 10 (for one of the E4 secret santas) and it was incorrectly graded. There was a huge crease down the side so the card was actually a PSA 4. In my personal experience that would mean that PSA has a 100% failure rate, but everyone knows that it’s such a small sample size that it doesn’t reflect the entire company as a whole.
It will be interesting to see how they do over time - that’s the data that’s actually important. I still think their ding transparency beats every other company on the market right now 
If anything, maybe it will push PSA/CGC to add why cards got the grades that they did.
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Wait, if PSA pays out handsomely when reslabs are downgraded, then isn’t the new profit engine to send all the chewed up cards they graded 10’s back in the day to get new slabs?
2 Cert Master Scroll anyone?
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Only if money matters more to you than labelled card perfection.
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While this is true…isn’t the main draw to TAG supposed to be full transparency and consistency from AI / machine grading? Removing the inconsistencies of human element?
That’s their goal, but it’s clear that they aren’t quite there yet
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Did anyone point out that the art on basically all the cards is not flush with the card border? Not sure how that impacts grades but the 10 doesn’t seem to have it have it.
i had this video on my feed yesterday and thought it was interesting. haven’t read the comment section yet
I know someone who bought a clearly misgraded Japanese GS Treecko and did just that..
I mean, the example you use you could use with any grading company ever.
Since TAG is a new company actually having some level of impact, they are obviously going to be under additional scrutiny. There has been egregious grades in my last 5 or 6 PSA submissions but I just suck it up because i know thats how it is currently.
Yes they definitely pushed heavy on advertising to begin, but why wouldn’t you? How many grading companies have been founded in the last 5 years and actually had success. Probably only TAG and ACE. Unfortunate thing for TAG was that the advertising was too successful and they quite quickly become inundated with submissions and could not expand at the same rate.
I don’t really get why there is SO much hate on them as a company. Its a new idea, they have a USP and the slabs look genuinely great (Yes I have submitted!). Half of it comes from the same people who moan about PSA having the monopoly in the space too. I think remarks about Instagram or Facebook comments points to one thing, it’s not shilling, it just genuinely is a more attractive proposition than any other company to the “casual collector” , not just us nerds fixated on numbers and against change in this forum!
- yours,
Leo
(owner of 1 tag slab and many more psa slabs)
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TAG’s attempts to innovate certainly have to be praised. They are infinitely better than so many of the grandma’s basement grading companies that pop up. I truly hope they do well and I commend them for at least trying something new.
The problem is when TAG itself (and many of their fans) grossly misrepresent their services. TAG’s automation is claimed to provide more accurate grades and ensure consistency, but it has exactly the same pitfalls as PSA or any other human grading process: sometimes the algorithm will catch things and sometimes it won’t. As evidenced above and as I have seen many times, cards with obvious flaws (creases, dents, etc.) get missed, flaws are mischaracterized, and there is an overall lack of consistency with resubmissions. My main issue is the claim of some AI-driven grading revolution erasing all human inconsistency when TAG isn’t even close to that.
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tag’s theoretical purpose is transparent and accurate grading. if that is their purpose, and every example of a vintage pokemon card that gets a 10 has scratches and print lines, they are missing the mark. even for some of the examples ive seen they’ve called out the damage on their report but still give it a 10. people like getting 10s, and it benefits a new grading company to give out lots of 10s - ppl will grade more with you, cards will do bigger numbers on auction etc.
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I found it odd that he only submitted Japanese cards. The backs of those cards have variance built into them when you consider how the brown fades into blue. This is in stark contrast to the English backs that have a much more clearly defined box. The box distance from the edge of the card offers an undeniable measurement for centering. The Japanese backs just do not have the same well defined start and end points that English back do.
The only way around this would measuring off the “pokemon” to the edge of the card, but the pictures never made me think that measurement was being used.
Did that make sense?
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In regards to the topic of the PSA Reholder service:
I went to my local card store yesterday where they have a PSA Service/Submission counter manned by PSA employees. I directly told one of the workers that I’d been considering using the reholder service for a few older certs, but that information online for the service had been inconsistent at best, and that I couldn’t get a clear answer about how or why regrades enter the picture. He agreed that the information available was shaky at best, but according to him:
· All reholders get a brief lookover at the very least to ensure slab and seal quality
· High-end cards with a large profile and dollar amount will more than likely be looked at more critically by seasoned graders at the company
· Cards that have been submitted with damaged or compromised slabs (cracks, breaks, gashes) will be cracked and fully reassessed without question, cards that have since acquired sun/light damage from improper slab storage will also be heavily scrutinized
· Your average card, of average to high(ish) value, in a clean slab, will more than likely have ZERO issues unless it’s a completely obvious misgrade (a beat to hell MP/HP card in a PSA 8-10, rare but not impossible)
· By their estimate, 90% of the time you shouldn’t run into any issues with a reholder
Obviously this is just the answer of one single worker, but I found it to be infinitely more insightful than anything on the website, or that customer service would be able to tell you. Make of this what you will.
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the idea of tag isnt really new there are other rando companies that do AI grading and they should be regarded the same as those ones 
and having the AI grade the card entirely would be like generating ur entire essay with chatgpt and then submitting it as is without even reading it
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I knew that TAG wasn’t worth any time after their response to that YouTuber who cracked their slab on camera while simply handling it. Less to do with their slab welding and integrity, everything to do with their brigading after they caught wind of it.
First red flag was that some of the people that frequent/volunteer at an LGS I used to visit were pitching TAG in real time to customers. The social media comment section’s talking points were burned into their memories.
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If we erase PSA/CGC/BGS/TAG 10’s from existence and take 9’s as peak condition standards, the hobby and the world would be a better place.
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1 step further, IMHO, would be mass refrain from sending Pokémon cards to comic book and sports card graders altogether, haha. Those spaces were (and are) long overdue for a federal audit.
Yeah, it’s all pulp product, maybe some aluminum/plastic/whatever for holo cards, but I think grading in general was a service industry that needed to be regulated at an ISO standard before it was brought to market.
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psa 9 is basically the same condition as 10 already same with bgs 10 and BL depending on the day and grader
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