[wake.up.the.echoes]

I have gone back and forth on this issue more than I care to admit. Like Leon, I take comfort in knowing that a third party was unable to detect alterations or flaws in high value/high grade cards. In that regard, I can see the benefit of third party grading. Also, if you plan to sell your cards—and think you can sell them for more money than it costs you to grade them + the cost of acquiring them originally—then you might as well have them graded. It has taken years to finally come to some sort of agreement with myself on the subject of third party grading. Only this morning, I think I finally decided the following plan of action re: grading cards.

My mother-in-law bought me a PSA membership for Christmas, and I just received my free voucher in the mail yesterday. So, I have 15 cards to grade. I will try to choose wisely with what I send in with the free voucher, and over the course of the rest of the year. I think I will send in a few of my duplicates in hopes of scoring a few high grades. If i get a few that grade really high, I will sell them for decent money—I hope—and keep the lower graded ones for my collection. I also want to grade my entire w580 boxing strip card set (60 cards in all, hopefully...up to 52 as of now) so that I have a complete documented set of those. I will also use SGC to send some cards in because I don't need to pay a membership fee to do so. However, after I have graded the cards in my collection that I want to grade, I think I am not going to grade anything unless I want to document some sort of rarity. I think, from now on, if I want to own a graded example of a card, I will just buy it graded. I am just a collector, and I don't have to worry about flipping anything anymore. (I was never any good at that anyway.) I really don't want to worry about the hassle of waiting times and insurance and grading fees, so I will just buy the card already graded. Money is tight for the moment, and I don't want to spend it on plastic cases for my cardboard. I would much rather spend what little money I have on the cardboard itself. Nothing wrong with third party grading companies. They are a tool in our hobby—business for some—that can be used for peace of mind, or to make a profit on a card you want to sell. Seeing as after the next year or so I no longer want to sell cards—I just want to collect them or trade them—I will stay out of the third party grading game. When I am dead and gone, if there are still third party graders—or people who want to buy my cards—I will let the living deal with getting them graded/selling them.


Edited: WOW. I just re-read this post, and boy was it long-winded. Sorry for the long read. -Alan