Professional Card Grading Companies
Professional grading companies are service companies that provide consistent and impartial grading of cards. Someone with a card sends it to the card grading company, and that company's expert graders assign the card a grade. The card is encapsulated in a tamper-proof container often called a "slab" or labeled with a tamper-proof holographic label that identifies the grade given to the card, and it is returned to its owner. The fee paid to the grading company, per card, is typically between $4 and $20 plus the cost of shipping it by insured mail. Cards are either "raw" meaning not professionally graded or "graded" meaning professionally graded. If a dealer inspects a card, no matter how expert he may be, the card is not graded because dealers have a conflict of interest due to being a seller of cards. Thus his opinion is not impartial.
Professional grading has changed the card market tremendously. The cards have become commodities and it is possible to buy and sell them sight-unseen with much more confidence. Professionally graded cards command good prices, because people will trust a professional grade and are often willing to pay more for these cards. It is now true that if someone is trying to sell a non-graded premium card, people will wonder why it isn't professionally graded. There is the concern that if it is not professionally graded, there might be something wrong with it. This is a special concern with autographed base cards that were autographed after distribution from the card company where the possibility of a forgery exists. Professional grading virtually eliminates that risk.
There are five grading companies that are well known and respected in the industry. Those companies are: PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator), SGC (Sportscard Guaranty Authority), BGS (Beckett Grading Service), SCD (SCD Authentic), GAI (Global Authentication). Cards graded by these five companies tend to sell easier and for higher prices than those graded by lesser know companies.
Among the lesser know professional card grading companies are: AGS (Advanced Grading Specialists), ASA (Accugrade), CGS (Champs Grading Service), CEX (Certified Express), CSA (Certified Sports Authentication), CTA (CTA Grading Experts), FGA (Foremost Grading Authority), HGA (Holographic Grade Authenticator), KSA (KSA Sports Card Authenticator), MINT (Mint Grading Service), PRO (PRO Sports Grading), PGS (Professional Grading Services), TFA (The Final Authority), USA (Ultimate Sports Authority), WCG (World Class Grading).
All the companies listed above except HGC use tamper proof slabs to encapsulate their graded cards. HGC uses a tamper proof and copy proof hologram to seal and label their grading in a regular top loader protector. Many collectors like this because the graded cards fit right in with the rest of their collection. I have found HGC conservative in their grading and they do not use in between grades like NM+ 7.5.
Although it is true that cards graded by the five well known companies tend to sell easier and for higher prices than those graded by lesser know companies, I have seen no difference in the consistency or quality of the grading of the cards. They all do an excellent job of giving reliable grades to the cards. I believe professional grading is a wonderful thing for the consumer. It assures they are getting what they pay for.
posted by George V. Schubel at 3:57 PM
8 Comments:
I would like to point out the fact that Beckett grades and prices cards. The problem is, they also sell cards. I wounder why it is that some cards are selling so high. Could it be that may be Beckett has a surplus of them and since they price them, they now can drive up the value? As the blog points out, all the grading companyies do about the same kind of work. I find that GMC is a great company to work with and I won't take any price lower then what Beckett prices there graded cards at.That is what is wrong with America...they little compaines never get the chance to jump into the race with the big guys.
They all do an excellent job of giving reliable grades to the cards
You have a very good point about Beckett. Still I believe that their card grading is good. Sometimes I find their price guides a bit off from prices you see at auction sites.
One thing that needs to be understood is, the baseball card market or more broadly, the sports card market is not just made up of ebay or other online auction sites. An educated guess (I've been buying and selling for the last 15 yrs pretty actively)would be 50% of the of all sports cards that are bought and sold are traded on sites like these. James Beckett would probably scoff at the suggestion of such a high precentage.
Generally ebay is a sellers market and if your looking to invest in sports cards you should look else where. There are exceptions of course, if your an educated buyer. If you wanna sell your cards ebay can be a great place. But not necessarily the best, it depends on what your selling. Generally lower end stuff go's well on ebay. You can realize higher sell prices for higher end stuff by locating serious investors of sports cards found else where.
As far as the most reliable valuation sorces for sports cards, Beckett is it. There's been some bad press lately, mainly pointing to the conflict of interest with the Beckett card grading services. There is some merrit to this, but one must remember that while this is a "pontential" conflict of interest it is not necessarily a realized one. I've not done any extensive research into the matter, but currently I feel it's very safe to say that Beckett Publications has maintained a very high level of integrity. I'd be interested in hearing any supported claims that could show me differently.
One very important thing to always remember which is expressed in all of Beckett's publicatons, is the prices given are "retail" prices. The high column reflects the most a dealer could hope to sell a card for to a collector, i.e. a person who is interested in the card to add to his or her collection and keep it there. One who wouldn't be interested in having more than one of the same card. It's a price most investors and dealers wouldn't dream of paying, there are exceptions to this because people learn of selling sources that pay considerably more than current Beckett prices. In which case, of course they will pay more if they have to. Usually they don't have to, but if they find a particular card or cards difficult to obtain they may pay more simply because they have a buyer in mind who they know will pay him a significant enough profit to make it worth his while. Also there are times when collectors who have cash will pay what ever they have to, to get the card they want when they want it, theses are the exceptions not the rules.
There are many different "levels" of the sports card market place. A dealer selling to a collector who never really intends to sell his or her collection. That's the end level, you can't hope to sell your cards for more then what these buyers will pay (excepting some speculative investors who "play" off of collector/investor demand) Then there is the level where "players" in the market buy sports cards to resell to retail dealers. If dealers try to pay 50% or less of current Beckett prices how much do you think buyers will pay that intend on reselling cards to dealers who sell retail? Retail dealers many times pay much less than 50% because they only want to buy what they know they can resell in a relativily short period of time, they need cash flow. The only way they can be enticed to buy cards they can't move quickly is if they are offerd at much lower prices, sometimes at 10% or even less of current Beckett. When you see signs in card shops that state 90% off Beckett it's a dealer trying to move excess inventory. The buyer of these cards are usually investors i.e. people who buy them not to add to their collections but because they can get the cards at such a good value that they feel safe that they will appreciate in value in the future and they can sell them for more at some later date. Or for that matter to other collector/investors currently. Another level of the market place is the buyer who resells to buyers who resell to buyers that sell to retail dealers. Money talks. If some one has 10 or 20 thousand dollars to spend, (all at once) on cards in the $10 to $100 range you would be surprised what some holders of hoards of sports cards will let their cards go for. When you get to this level you have to have time and money. Your average dealer would have the time but most don't have the money. Many who would have the money and interest won't spend the time. When you buy such large volumes of cards it takes a lot of time to deal with them. Only a few have the time and money and they are the ones that are the big players in the sports card market.
I appreciate every ones consideration of my opinions.
I recently bought an unlimited grading VIP package from (CSA) Canadian Sports Authenticators. For under a thousand bucks I've now graded over 1200 cards with them in the first three months of using them. They're holders are similar to PSA's and the labels are completely professional unlike other companies.
If you want to save a boat load of money checkout http://www.csagrading.com
Interesting article. I've been collecting baseball cards for over 25 years, not counting my childhood years. I would like to warn the readers of this article that not all grading companies are alike. I have bought many different cards slabbed by a number of grading companies. I have found that PSA, SGC, GAI, & Beckett are by far the best at grading. Many of the cards by other companies will have a blemish, stain, or will be trimmed, recolored, & many other faults you can not see with your naked eye. Some of these companies were established only to grade cards for TV sales. I'm not saying they're all bad but if you want a consistant grade be careful. To back my words check ebay for prices. The companies I mentioned will always sell for a better price, especially PSA.
For all of you in this conversation. Several years back I sent a card to 3 different graders. Yes the same card. All 3 gave different grades!!! If they are all unbias and using the same criteria. How is it that all were different. They are all currupt. First of all who made them the experts!! They have no official training or certification as appraisers or anything else. Whom ever sends them the most business are the ones that get the most Gem Mints back. Beckett controls the whole industry along with the manufacturers. They all claim 20+++ years expirience in the business. Well all of us who have collected cards and memorabilia for 20+++ years are then all experts according to those standards!!! Sorry but I no longer belive in this system and no longer have cards graded. In fact human factor plays to much a part of this part of the industry and as I write this I am working on a system that will almost eliminate the human factor in the grading process!! How about them apples? Thats right, a true UN-BIAS grading system that has no ties to the company and or a financial obligation to the company. It will merely grade based on the industry standards and do it the same way each time!!! Ill be seeing all of you soon !!!
Does anyone have anything to say about CSA, not the CSA in the USA but the Canadian-based company in British Columbia? At first I thought they were affiliated with PSA but there are not.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Rob
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