The Giant Professional Grading Thread

[islandcollector]

I can see them possibly creating a niche in the UK for sub £50 cards.

The focus on custom labels tells me they probably aren’t too worried on resale value (custom anything almost always sells for less) .

[shadowless]

Great in theory, questionable in reality imo. I see tons of new grading companies over here in Germany that opened over the course of last year. Ebay is flooded with all kinds of graded cards from those companies that literally don´t sell, I watch around 500 of them and not a single one sold in the last month. However the same card sells multiple times when they are in PSA/BGS cases, most of the time for a substantial premium, at least assuming that the grades vaguely match to PSA/BGS. As it stands now, these cards get financially devalued if you use XYZ grading instead of PSA etc.

Fourthstar already hinted at it, PSA - and to a lesser extent BGS and CGC have a MASSIVE moat and tons of vested interest, it really needs a lot of very influential people and money to shift the perception of the general community that this service actually adds value to a card. Let´s see how it plays out.

[sacari]

@pokemonunboxing

What does people think about Ace grading? Im just thinking in terms of the label now since they have not shown much else. I like the look so im positiv.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfp1Rj0nH2o

I found it interesting how they said they automatically “pause” grading services when that service level reaches capacity to keep turn around times low and accurate. That was about the only thing that really caught my attention, it might be a good strategy.
The custom labels are sorta interesting but I would prefer a single standard label design. Maybe custom labels might look cool for putting cards on display, but I wasn’t particularly impressed with how the custom labels look.

[alienlien]

I’m just going to make a pros and cons list based on how I interpreted the video.

Pros:

• I like the custom label design
• Limiting 60 cards per person at launch
• Apparently have a new and improved case design (keen to see)

Cons:

• Severely overestimates the market and their positioning
• Naive (automatic opening and closing of submission tiers based on submission traffic)
• Information on label placement seems odd (it is a prototype so changes to be expected)
• Obviously Randolph isn’t grading but it seems like he somewhat has vested interest
• Custom label is only available on certain cards

I hope nothing but the best for Randolph and his team and everything I mentioned above are my sole opinion.

[gen2whore]

if any of the uk grading companies are going to somewhat establish itself , it would be ace grading so far. like someone else mentioned it will probably be a niche market. i mean i can see people using a more varied variety of grading services for their collection, depending on the card ( i know i might).

[kpod]

@alienlien

I’m just going to make a pros and cons list based on how I interpreted the video.

Cons:

• Custom label is only available on certain cards

I hope nothing but the best for Randolph and his team and everything I mentioned above are my sole opinion.

Not that I would grade with them, but the custom label thing is a huge turnoff. No one wants to build a set with mixed labels. Really they should have used one standard label off the bat, and maybe moved into custom labels down the road. Imaging needing 1 or 2 cards to complete a set, but the only copies available are on custom labels that don’t match the rest of your set. Re-casing is a PITA these days.

I feel like getting anything graded by them with other than the standard default label is just another way to butcher your potential market.

[jcincy101]

Let’s be serious, all that really matters in the long run is:

-Able to authenticate accurately (aka not grade fakes)
-consistency in grading scale
-turnaround times
-resale value vs PSA

The labels, well nobody’s opinion matters on those as some people are going to like it and some people aren’t. Let’s argue which is better, Coke or Pepsi while we are at it.

I was skeptical on CGC too and they have proven themselves in my eyes at least to be an opinion.

[alienlien]

@kpod

@alienlien

I’m just going to make a pros and cons list based on how I interpreted the video.

Cons:

• Custom label is only available on certain cards

I hope nothing but the best for Randolph and his team and everything I mentioned above are my sole opinion.

Not that I would grade with them, but the custom label thing is a huge turnoff. No one wants to build a set with mixed labels. Really they should have used one standard label off the bat, and maybe moved into custom labels down the road. Imaging needing 1 or 2 cards to complete a set, but the only copies available are on custom labels that don’t match the rest of your set. Re-casing is a PITA these days.

I feel like getting anything graded by them with other than the standard default label is just another way to butcher your potential market.

Yeah you’re right, consistency is key for labels but if they can provide a custom label for every card, it’ll be fantastic. Obviously it won’t happen due to added work. Got to admit, it is an interesting concept.

[zorloth]

There’s a big difference between CGC and Ace Grading. Ace has zero reputation, zero experience in collectibles preservation, and zero experience in collectibles grading. And Randolph admits in the video that even the graders they’ve hired don’t even have grading experience. When both the company and its employees know nothing about collectibles preservation/grading, they add zero value. As it stands, there’s no reason why their grades should be considered any more credible than your or my grades.

[jcincy101]

@zorloth

There’s a big difference between CGC and Ace Grading. Ace has zero reputation, zero experience in collectibles preservation, and zero experience in collectibles grading. And Randolph admits in the video that even the graders they’ve hired don’t even have grading experience. When both the company and its employees know nothing about collectibles preservation/grading, they add zero value. As it stands, there’s no reason why their grades should be considered any more credible than your or my grades.

You’re right that there is a lot to prove.

[Coop13]

I cleaned up their logo

[ferny]

Exciting to have a UK grading company started by Graded Gem + PokeRand, both companies with a decent reputation. I think it gives them some credibility out of the gate, which is obviously very important to the success of a grading company.

Going to be intesting to see how Randolph balances his content with the new company, a lot of his content is grading-focused, grading cards, reacting to grades etc. Surely it’ll be a big conflict of interest to grade his cards through his own company, but will he want to be supporting/promoting a competitor in sending his cards to PSA to keep the content going?

[gottaketchumall]

Market is craving plastic and not surprisingly people are filling the demand. As far as putting cardboard in plastic literally all it takes is a a few grand in equipment and supplies to get off the ground with a “grading company” so this is all to be expected.

There are and will be deals to be had in cases that the market doesn’t recognize/appreciate down the line. Hell I still end up picking up a MAP card here and there and have had luck with their conditions being similar to the same grade at PSA. This isn’t without risk though. Taking the big assumption that the scale is reasonable and the card is authentic… I just don’t get why some people are so opposed to cards in other plastic. Pretty easy to crack and cross down the line if you wish. Grading cards isn’t all that hard, the hard (and valuable) parts that can’t be replicated reasonably or at least quickly are the scale, the financial guarantee, and the brand/market acceptance (secondary market premium).

One thing I worry a bit about is how many of these “grading companies” are going to build a couple month backlog up and disappear.

[Will]

There is definitely a critical mass for number of grading companies that can succeed in a collectibles market, in my opinion. Sports cards have PSA, Beckett, SGC, and probably another couple I’m not aware of. Coins have NGC, PCGS, and ANACS. Pokemon already has PSA, Beckett, and CGC. I just don’t see there being enough long term demand for these smaller grading companies to survive in between collectible trading cards surges.

Eventually the backlogs will be cleared, and bulk pricing at the big 3 will drop to meet demand or competition. Look at trading commissions, competition for the large players caused those to drop to zero when Robinhood got too big for their liking. These small companies will either need to come up with their “Purple Cow”, or will fade into the background.

[swissorican]

@zorloth

There’s a big difference between CGC and Ace Grading. Ace has zero reputation, zero experience in collectibles preservation, and zero experience in collectibles grading. And Randolph admits in the video that even the graders they’ve hired don’t even have grading experience. When both the company and its employees know nothing about collectibles preservation/grading, they add zero value. As it stands, there’s no reason why their grades should be considered any more credible than your or my grades.

Couldn’t agree more with this. My full-time job is as a wedding photographer and just because I’m good at that doesn’t mean I’d automatically be good at other kinds of photography. However, you do have to start somewhere and I wish them the best. Only time will tell how the market responds.

[gengaranimal]

www.ebay.com/itm/384214378348?hash=item5974f6276c:g:HsUAAOSwIndgwZxT

[islandcollector]

@Will

There is definitely a critical mass for number of grading companies that can succeed in a collectibles market, in my opinion. Sports cards have PSA, Beckett, SGC, and probably another couple I’m not aware of. Coins have NGC, PCGS, and ANACS. Pokemon already has PSA, Beckett, and CGC. I just don’t see there being enough long term demand for these smaller grading companies to survive in between collectible trading cards surges.

Eventually the backlogs will be cleared, and bulk pricing at the big 3 will drop to meet demand or competition. Look at trading commissions, competition for the large players caused those to drop to zero when Robinhood got too big for their liking. These small companies will either need to come up with their “Purple Cow”, or will fade into the background.

I agree with most of what you say but a disadvantage all the big 3 share is having no presence outside of the US except through middlemen. Even if prices and turnaround times return to 2019 levels there are still the issues of shipping, customs, etc. That probably explains why companies like: MNT (Canada); PCA (France); CGA (Australia) and a few others have been around for years now.

Randolph mentioned in his launch video future expansion into America but I think Ace grading should focus solely on the UK/EU market, leave the US to the big guys.

[KingPokemon]

That label should be cut down to size on the ACE. It’s about the card.
Otherwise, these are good people and I wish them a lot of success. The uk needs something like this.

[pokecollectoramy]

Cool to see the passion Rand has for the project. It will never be able to compete but I’m sure they’ll be able to get enough demand especially in the UK and EU to keep the lights on. The label/color match stuff seems very similar to hybridgrading.com/ for sports. Good luck to them

[politoed666]

@fourthstartcg

I made a video on new grading companies recently, but even over the month since I made it so many more have popped up. I’ll refine my thinking here with reference to Rand’s company.

The premise of these companies is as close to a false advertising scam as you can get. They market to people who don’t understand the graded card market and assume that “grading” is what makes the card increase in value. In fact, the only thing that matters about the card is the reputation of the company–not condition, not grade number, not name of the grade. It’s why PSA 10s (Gem Mint) sell for more than CGC 9.5s (Gem Mint) even if a CGC 9.5 is arguably a “stricter” grade and they have the same name. I could provide more examples but you get the point. Since these companies have no reputation, they provide little to no secondary market value increase. The people who end up holding the bag here are the customers of these companies, because they have basically thrown money away.

So many of these companies aren’t making even the most basic effort to develop their reputation. There was a new grading company this week started by aDrive, another popular content creator. This company advertises that they’ll grade basically any standard-sized card, but said nothing about what expertise they have to do so, including identifying and authenticating these cards. When you see things like “anything goes” authentication/grading, it’s a clear sign the company doesn’t care about their reputation and just wants to fleece people out of as much money as possible before the actually reputable companies catch up.

I like and respect Rand, and I know he won’t be malicious like some of these other companies. But I do feel like the well has been poisoned here. Starting a new grading company is the new get-rich-quick scheme in Pokemon, and while the startups may lose some money, the people who really get screwed are the ones who submit to these companies without understanding how far off their services are from the big boys.

This is spot on. Really well-said.