Ooof, that’s a hot take. Forcing ISO standards upon PSA, Beckett, CGC will a solution to inconsistent grading (and resubmitting for higher grades) but it will also kill off competition from PCG, TAG and all those new “brands” because getting ISO certified is an expensive and lengthy procedure.
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Was Collectors acquiring Beckett not the same thing? Same same, but different? Monopolization happens with or without industry standards of practice with regard to the service performed.
If there are clear rules to abide by, I’d say it would be easier to set up a new grading company. Once you’ve proven that you’re qualified to grade, you can buy the sonic welder and bulk order the case halves+labels. The incentive to take your operation seriously increases exponentially. Your MEW’s and KSA’s and MNT’s would command comparable prices for comparable grades.
No different than setting up a repair shop for anything, for example. You pass the tests and submit to inspections, you’ll be left alone (assuming you pass).
Edit: the ISO 9001:2015 guide + redline in .PDF and ePub format is ₣215. That’s about $375 where I am.
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Hmm, didn’t look it that way… Is all grading companies have to follow the same standard we’ll finally have an end to the discussion that a CGC9 is not equal to a PSA9. The only outliers would be that we have are the Pristine labels from CGC and BGS. Especially since PSA doesn’t do that, unless an ISO standardisation would “force” them to.
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To be clear, I’m not conflating ISO norms with government standards (my example with repair shops, “qualifying” to grade (licensing), etc.).
Governments do rely on ISO norms to issue licenses though, at least they do in the west. They are often modelled after one another.
Transparency through regulation is the ultimate point that I am trying to make here.
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This is useful info thanks for sharing! Did he happen to provide any context as to what qualifies as ‘high value’?
Unfortunately, no, he didn’t give me an estimated exact dollar amount. By average to high-ish I presume he meant anywhere from the mid 3 to mid 4 digits. But that’s just me guessing.
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