This thread has played out pretty much as I had hoped; this is a nice, level-headed discussion of these TPAs, the likes of which couldn't happen with a former poster around.
My personal view of the two major TPAs is that they are a product of the natural progression of the hobby moving online, following the steps of third party grading. I view them as a minor annoyance, in that their well-marketed presence has probably made my collecting slightly more expensive overall, and I actually think they are doing a fairly decent job given the volume that they deal with. I have seen evidence of incompetence, but no real evidence of fraud, much like a lot of the players in this hobby (I used to work at Topps and I would say the exact same thing about them).
I will say this: a JSA or PSA/DNA cert will not deter me from considering the auto, which is more than I can say for any other TPA that is not also itself a dealer. Call me jaded, but I actually don't think higher praise is possible for such a company that deals in volume in this hobby. For whatever reason, I can't bring myself to ask more of them, as they are a business working under a business model (one that will most likely eventually lead to their demise). They should refund the price of authentication when something they have OKed can be PROVEN fake. Outside of that, I don't see what they can or even should be held liable for.
Again, great thread guys.
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