Every time a new dime a dozen grading company pops up PSA/BGS/CGC must be thrilled that someone else is taking in bulk while the big 3 get to make clear with no effort on their part that it is their label which will provide a market premium.
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Outside the major players, I donât think these pop up companies even create a dent. Its like they never existed.
Interesting comments but people on the E4 seem to base the views of the entire market based on their own view rather then looking at the entire population of people who want graded cards.
100% agreed you wonât be sending your 1st edition base and gold stars through Ace Grading but I bet you anything they will probably instantly grab 1-5% of the market share of graded cards for modern cards in the U.K.
Even if they get 20,000 cards a year @ ÂŁ10 thatâs ÂŁ200k, with it likely to still involve just 2-3 full time staff and a label printer with the slab press the costs are minimal and itâs pretty easy money.
Not replacing PSA but they donât need to, the markets flooded with all sorts of grading companies and none of which have any big influencer backing. With Randolph and GG behind it , itâs a very shrewd business move.
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The big 3 grading companies probably have like a market share of over 99% in grading in the US, but the further you are from there the smaller the influence and the less appearance they have. For the longest time grading just was not a thing over here and the only convenient way to grade was via middlemen. As said by @islandcollector I would give them a great chance at succeeding if they stay in the UK and maybe branch out to the EU, but the US market is way more optimised, even now with the absurd turnaround times.
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So ive never graded cards but for months im learning about it, i have several questions thats bothering me. They are general questions, ik its different every time but im asking for someone who graded hundreds of times for a overall standart.
1.Are the 4 defining things:
Surface (centering) edges borders
Of equal importance?
Say you have everything perfect and qualify for a psa 10 except some whitening on the borders,ofc it depends on the amount but lets say 3 or 4 very minor whitening (ik that a 10 can have 2 micro dots but what happen if they are 4? ) does it go down to a 6 or do they have tolerance and is more likly to be a 8?
Also what if the surface is a 10 and the edges are more likly a 8 becouse of whitening? Again, are psa often tolerant or very strict?
Is the surface of bigger importance?
2.centering
Say again you have a sexy mint card but it doesnt qualify as a 7 bc of centering. Will you get a 6 (maybe even a 7, so the oc is ignored?!) or a 9 oc? Do you always get the 9 oc in these cases?
3.Is it even worth sending oc cards? I have a big amount clean mint cards that are a little off, i am rly struggling with this decision.
4.And this amazon tool to measure the center, is it any good? I hear, people even send the measurements in addition to the cards and get wrong measurements back (mybe coz of arrogance 
?)
5.upcharges: so if i understand correctly after 500$ value you pay 100$ per card right?
I have cards like pikachu base in 1st which might be a 10, so in germany its 400-500⏠but there is no clear value.
Does psa base their value on ebay sales, are they even looking for value (many ppl told me they dont and its a gamble)?
Thanks if you even read this and even a bigger thanks if you can help me get a better overview !!
Please for the love of god someone give an option to have either Japanese, or romanised Japanese names instead of the localised ones. This drives me nuts, especially given PSA Japan also just use the localised names. Do I have to start my own grading company too to get this done?
- Each grading company has different value of importance to these factors. In my limited experience, generally PSA are more strict on surface and CGC are more strict on edgewear in high graded items. Not to say they donât value other categories but just stricter. Also four micro dots does not instantly make a card from a 10 into a 6, generally it would sit around 8-9 or even 7 depending on severity. The only reason you would get a 6 would be that you missed a small crease that is only visible at certain angles. In your scenario of 10 surface and 8 borders/edgewear youâll end up between an 8-9 depending on grader.
2.Centering is never that bad that it is below an 8. Anything below that would probably classify as OC or in extreme cases MC
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Depends on what youâre sending and what your goals are. If youâre trying to send non holo cards set cards to flip a profit, youâre probably in for a bad time. Unless it is a popular starter or limited release and that isnât guaranteed either. Just follow the basic script of âOlder, Rarer, Minter, Betterâ. Youâll reduce your risk.
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I think most people just eyeball everything and have a feel of centering. Sure if youâre new it is a tool to allow you to learn but after a while I canât imagine you using it on 100+ card submissions. I barely have enough time to give my cards some pregrades let alone take it out of itâs sleeve and slowly mesauring everything.
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Upcharges arenât really a scary thing. Most upcharges only occurs if you blantantly abuse their tier system. For example sending 1st edition base set charizard in bulk tier and declare it as $1. If youâre a few dollars above their $500 tier they realistically wonât flag it.
Thanks mate for your insight, so i have some examples for offcentering, but i dont wanna spam the whole chat. What would you say to these ones? I think:
-pika base is a 9 but oc so it goes down to 8? Also 2 white dots and a micro dot on the right.
-Pika jungle pretty nice but oc so a 9?!
-Charmander 9 becouse oc?
-Omot 7/8 but becouse of oc a 7?
Please tell me your opinions i am very curious!
Pika 1st ed 8
Charmander looks pretty good possible 10
Omrot 8
Probably want to take pictures in a black background next time as it is easier to identify flaws. Also, Iâm not a professional grader so I may be wrong.
You have explained why new grading companies might be easy money for the people behind the company but not why they are of any benefit to the people who spend money submitting to them, which is what I think most of the reaction here relates to. So many of these new grading companies are promising âPSA but betterâ in terms of customer service which might make them more appealing as an option for sellers looking to grade, but that means absolutely nothing for the value of the graded card when it then goes up for sale. None of these startup grading companies can buy PSAâs history or legitimacy, no matter how convenient they make themselves to graders operationally - what is convenient or affordable for sellers grading their cards means absolutely nothing to the majority of buyers who search PSA first and see everything else as off-brand cheap options
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How many grades does a single print line on the holo affect the grade of a card if the rest of the card is flawless? I donât know if youâd need a picture to answer this, but generally would it knock the card down to a 9 or an 8? The card is a japanese jungle holo if that helps
I have at least 1 PSA 10 with a single print line. I think it comes down to how noticeable it is
Quite surprised nobody mentioned zero upcharges from ACE grading and most focused on re-selling/beating PSA. I donât think theyâre expecting to do that, they can make a pretty healthy profit without getting anywhere near that level.
Personally, Iâm in the UK and I have a few of my cards that need encapsulation for protection, so hopefully one day being able to drop them off there and get them graded is a huge plus for me (with no upcharges too, win win). I really like the labels too, so will definitely use them.
I think theyâll outlast the majority of the other grading companies formed this past year.
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I canât wait for all the slick videos Randolph will make with his Sidemen mates and Poketubers, making sure they of course get the special treatment and the service at its best quality. Then of course after all the initial positivity, the profit margins will get thinner and the turnaround times will become longer, the wait times on the website will become longer, features will be cut, there will be the inevitable QC issues like forgeries getting through and case problems, and finally it will all culminate in a âWeâve heard your complaints and weâll try to do better next time.â somber video. I donât hate what they are doing and it would be interesting, if it wasnât all so predictable.
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Grading companies treating people with clout and social media influence differently? Say it aint so
Iâm in the UK too and will try out Ace; the Graded Gem lads at least deserve that much!
All of the higher tier parts of the collection that still need slabbing will be heading off to CGC at some point, but Iâd rather put all mid-low tier stuff under a lesser known label, if the slab & authentication quality is above what PSA vomit out.
Iâm currently waiting for a sub back from UGC within the next day or two. If they live up to their billing (and the AI system works), then they may be one to watch on this side of the Atlantic too.
Hopefully this isnât off-topic:
Iâm just trying to get an idea of current WATA turnaround times:
- When did your game get scanned in?
- When did your game move to âgradingâ?
- When did you receive your game back?
- What tier submission (Turbo, Speed Run, etc.) did you use?
Scanned in:
10/06/2020
**Moved to grading:**4/09/2021
Received Back: (Had them delivered over 2 items, first where received early July, the remaining 11 games on the 23rd of July)
7/23/2021
**Tier:**Turbo
I had them bumped from Turbo â Speed-Run after having waited almost 6 months and when I contacted WATA support I was told I could get free return shipping and a bump to Speed-Run for $10 per game which I took. Then after 15-20 business days the grading state was reached.
Realistically it seems like turbo is without any estimate at this point in time (I have not gotten anything firm from WATA support) and when I asked about Speed-Run the answer was itâs closer to ~50-60 business days currently. I have packaged a new order and will submit under Speed-Run next week then I can let you know how that goes.
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Same/similar questions for anyone who uses VGA. No idea where I am in the queue for 2 games I paid an invoice on back in January
Bit late to the party but my 2cents on Ace Grading;
IMO, theyâve focused on all the wrong things to start with. The point in a grading company is to authenticate a card and utilise their experience to give the card a grade that should be universally accepted by buyers/collectors. Thatâs the bread and butter (people will argue things like the financial guarantee should be paired up here).
Ace Grading havenât done that. Theyâve went and focused pretty much on a unique label to try and stand out. Instead of trying to hire people with actual experience working for the big three, theyâve got people to come in the door that have worked in QC in totally different fields - all well and good for general workers and talent to train up but not for trying to establish a reputation.
The big thing that will continue to fail âstart upsâ in grading is that they donât have people with experience and pedigree. Without getting into boring theory about attaining/sustaining competitive advantage, the difference between PSA/BGS/CGC is that they know what it takes to sustain a long term competitive advantage.
Ace need to look at what makes these companies inimitable and organised and go from there. Go throw money at some Execs or Senior Members of staff from other recognised names, poach talent (maybe easier said than done), give the consumer base confidence that you have the right people there to at least tick off the bread and butter basics.
Without that, theyâll sit at Competitive Parity and be just another Get Graded/Tree Frog/UK Grading/PCA or whatever else is out there. Higher revenue than them sure - since no doubt the social media influence will help them along for a while, but it wonât last. But a different label than competitors is not going to enable them to be taken as seriously as the big grading companies.
Maybe thats OK for them. Maybe theyâre happy trying to just temporarily capture a percentage of the UK grading market. Maybe theyâre OK only grading cards that most people would put in a bulk sub. But that will only last so long - the problems within the grading industry (turnaround) are temporary and when it returns to business as usual so will collectors.