I’m new to this forum but I was recommended by a friend to come and share a recent discovery that I came across. I was seeking some advice from collectors in the community if what I’m going to explain next is an honest thing they should be doing? The company in question is www.p-g-c.com. It started off as I was looking to get a bunch of cards graded over in the UK but didn’t want long wait times to get them back. After looking around I did come across PGC Grade just based off the gold labels which made them look more appealing to the rest of the UK graders but the price to grade 1 card was £50, not cheap. So I was checking on eBay to see if there was any PGC graded cards going for sale to see what kind of prices they was getting to see if it was worth grading with them? Anyway I came across a seller on eBay that sold just graded PGC cards so I checked them out and they have sold quite a lot of PGC graded cards and the majority of them are graded 10’s & 9’s. They are registered as a business on eBay under the name Matthew Silverstone and PGC grade is registered under Carl Silverstone, both are London based. I was just wondering what people’s thoughts are on this? Do you think it’s right to grade then sell your own cards? I mean if PSA could grade their own cards and graded most of them 10’s when they didn’t warrant that grade, then surely people would be outraged as they are just grading highly to sell high and in the case for PGC, just to rise the value of their slabs and to make them more appealing to grade with. I will add all the links and images below.
Here is an example, this base set Charizard they graded 10 but it has some edge wear and a few dings so would be more like an 8 maybe a 9 if graded by PSA. Do you think this is worthy a 10 grade to warrant that price?
The lugia with half a dozen print lines and corner wear being graded a 10 and listed at 5k definitely speaks volumes as to the lack of integrity in that company
Card grading has become a big business and a lot of people has realised this and will continue to exploit the market. Since the start of the year there have been loads of new grading companies that have formed with the sole purpose to extract money from new collectors. There have also been a lot of new collectors as well, which has only helped the new grading companies as the new collectors want to get their new cards graded in the hope to make good money from their shiny new piece of crap!
The scary thing is that people have actually paid those prices which is why I have brought this up so people can stop getting scammed out of getting a card that is not what it is worth. Check the sold listings, mental!
This is how “DSG” started out when they were going by the name of “BSG”. They used to just be an eBay seller slabbing their own cards and selling them, not sure if they still do this since they have turned into DSG though.
I don’t think it matters too much either way, these random grading company’s that have popped up offer very little premium over a raw card since the grades are pretty much meaningless from a company with no history and if they are grading their own cards and giving them higher grades it will only damage their reputation as a grading service.
Im in the same boat as you (from the UK) if you don’t want to go with CGC / PSA / BGS then I’d not bother at all and keep the card In a binder or a toploader/one touch.
Totally agree, I jumped on the Ace Grading hype train when they launched just to see what they was about, never again! I am now just going to wait for PSA to reopen the value service again and send some of my more expensive stuff with BGS from now on, no point in looking for anyone else.
These startups are pure shite of course but selling your own slabs is not the spectacular bit.
The owners of PSA owns Goldin, one of them used to own eBay, Beckett owns Goodwin. Add one or two degrees of separation and all of these companies are either in bed together or profit from each others existence. Only reason we never talk about it is because everyone is either biased, uninterested or oblivious.
Not sure which link specifically you are referring to, but E4 replaces eBay affiliate links. Some are automated some are manually done. The eBay one above has been replaced (after reading your comment).
The occasional affiliate link is the only revenue E4 generates to offset the cost of maintaining the site.
There’s like hundreds of these grading companies in the UK now. Imo the best one is only graded services. However it doesn’t come close to PSA unfortunately. These companies won’t reach the same level of PSA & BGS*.
lol, this thread. Yes I’ve noticed a lot of new grading companies that rep/sell their own cards.
PSA plans to bring back value tier grading in 2022 and if they price it $8-10 with a 1-2year backlog, it should bleed out the newer companies, which new graders are likely turning to since PSA is down.
I believe psa/cgc were planning an expansion for the Europes, I could be wrong.
you can also press up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right, while holding (don’t) select