New CSG label. Pretty slick...

[luciobar1980]

On their front page:

https://www.csgcards.com/

[riggs336]

Certainly an improvement imo.

[luciobar1980]

Definitely. I like it a lot.

[dbrown]

From a CSG email that just arrived:

CSG Ups Its Game with a New Label and Revised Grading Scale

CSG is excited to reveal its brand-new certification label! The bold yet refined design is the result of months of research and development, including market studies, focus groups and extensive testing. Green is gone in favor of a black, silver and gold palette that will complement — not compete with — the colors of any sports card.

CSG is also updating its grading scale to more closely align with the sports card collecting market. The CSG Pristine 10 grade will be replaced by CSG Gem Mint 10, which corresponds to the nomenclature used by other leading sports card grading services. The next-highest grade will be CSG Mint+ 9.5.

“These updates reflect CSG’s commitment to provide the best possible services to the sports card collecting community,” says Andy Broome, CSG Senior Grading Finalizer. “We listened to collector and dealer feedback and are thrilled with the results of these changes.”

“CSG is here to win,” says Steven R. Eichenbaum, CEO of the Certified Collectibles Group, of which CSG is a part. “The new label looks fantastic, and we have the sports card collecting community to thank for helping us to step up our game.”

[BobbyStrawberry]

Much more visually appealing, in my view. Although it still looks to me like there is too much empty white space on the label.

[mrreality68]

Wow I like the look maybe they will start taking market share from the big boys

[BobC]

This could be a game changer for CSG. When they first launched, remember all the negative comments and opinions of their design and labels? Well, they apparently are anything but dumb, and by going through such a process to review, test, and really find out what their customer base wants, they are demonstrating a truly business oriented, give the customer what they want, mentality and way of operating. They appear to have started out using their techniques and procedures from their other collectible grading services, and then have no problem in taking the initiative and feedback gathered since they started this new grading venture and making significant changes in answer to market demand and needs.

Bottom line is, these CSG people are smart, extremely knowledgeable about collectible grading services, willing and able to make changes their customer base wants, and forward thinking. They appear to be taking and combining the best attributes of their competition, such as using similar grading scales and terms, creating their own registry, and now designing a holder and flip to better accentuate the items they are grading. They've already pulled off a major coup on their competitors by aligning with Ebay in partnering with them in their new authentication protocol, which for now seems to be going well. This can set them up to potentially offer their full grading services through or in conjunction with Ebay, and basically cut off a possible large part of the original "big three" TPG's market. They also seem to currently be delivering services at timing turnaround levels and pricing that their competition cannot.

These people at CSG are not playing around, and you apparently don't have to always be waiting till next Monday for them to actually do something. If I were the competition at PSA, SGC, or Beckett, I'd be having meetings galore to try and brainstorm ways to counter, mitigate, and somehow try to stop, or at least slow down, the momentum and favor CSG is building with moves like this.

The major things still in CSG's way, as I see it, are the ingrained and long-term use and familiarity collectors have with the original "big three" TPGs, especially one particular TPG's registry, and the biggest of all, the 800 lb. gorilla in the room if you will, is the perceived pricing differential that one of those "big three" TPGs has over the others. I'm guessing that the CSG people already have plans to eventually supplant PSA as the perceived most valuable TPG service out there, in terms of what prices cards graded by them will bring versus those graded by other TPGs, and will very soon, if they haven't already, put such plans in motion.

And before anyone makes a smart-a$$ comment, no, I don't own, work for, or have anything to do with CSG. I don't even own a single card graded by them........yet! It seems inevitable I eventually will though.

[Natedog]

i didn't mind the green labels, even without the subgrades and all the empty space, but i suppose i am in the minority. Now their label looks like a cross between GMA and SGC. Not a huge fan.

Kudos to them, though. Now they'll have thousands of people rifling through their "old" green label 9.5's that they probably just received a few weeks ago, and for *just* $5 more for each card + shipping, they get shiny new 10's!

These TPG's are such a racket.

[Casey2296]

Old school holder.
_

[insidethewrapper]

It doesn't appear that their grading system has qualifiers, is this correct ? I don't like qualifiers, the card should just be down graded due to being off-centered, etc.

I hate 8 (OC ) etc. If it's off-centered that much it isn't an 8 in my opinion.

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

It doesn't appear that their grading system has qualifiers, is this correct ? I don't like qualifiers, the card should just be down graded due to being off-centered, etc.

I hate 8 (OC ) etc. If it's off-centered that much it isn't an 8 in my opinion.

Correct they do not use qualifiers and as an additional agreeance, That is the single most annoying thing about PSA. To remove the single worst thing about the card and then grade it without that horrific flaw is simply fraud in my mind.

Even PSA states in their registry information that any qualifier is a 2 point deduction. So any 9 OC is simply a 7...but the hyperbolic excitement by sellers that it's a "1 Of 1" graded 9 OC and you can buy it for only the price of an 8.5 is nauseating.

[Oscar_Stanage]

it is a nice label, and I give them credit for making a change. But i'd prefer they were not 2 grades off from the pros.

I am starting to warm up to PSA. don't get me wrong, I am never waiting 10 months for a grade, but I have a bought a number of PSA slabs recently. I prefer the simplicity, correctly-sized label, and most important the thin slab. it makes a difference when you have a lot of graded cards. SGC - your slabs are too thick, wtf man.