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Originally Posted by oldjudge
This is an insurance policy. If dealers or auction houses do this they will have to incorporate the cost of this guarantee (money back I assume) into their product. How much are you willing to pay for an authenticity guarantee from a dealer? My guess is that it will add 15-25% to the cost of everything you buy.
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How many problem TPG cards have been identified, and how much in claims have they paid out? In other words, what is this "insurance policy" you speak of?
The concept I am proposing could involve a disclaimer on the LOA that it is only an opinion. The producer of the LOA - the dealer - will have his reputation behind it, and a money-back guarantee, which reputable dealers already have.
And, for that matter, if a dealer has a better reputation than the TPG, and many do, they would save the money otherwise spent for that TPG service by doing it themselves.
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Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth
The great virtue of a market economy is that if dealers see an opportunity for profit in this, they will do it. Like Jay, I'm skeptical, but we'll see.
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Exactly. Solutions can often be found by going back to the basics of the free market.
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Originally Posted by steve B
It's most likely a matter of scale. How many game used items does a dealer typically handle in a year? A couple hundred?
How many cards does a dealer handle in a year... PWCC usually has a few thousand at all times, running lets say 4000 a week is 208,000 a year. Lets say someone handles 1/10 the volume. That's still close to 21,000 items a year. So they'd have to write 57 letters a day.
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A dealer might just want to offer LOAs on the higher-end stuff, and something much simpler on low-end cards.
Quote:
Originally Posted by steve B
I do think that a TPG that gathered the same information could do very well. But it's a hard thing to try to get started, with three major competitors.
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In theory, yes, but if the graders working at tables, grading card after card and just waiting for the weekend, miss an alteration, how much do they really care? The company cares, but does the guy who made the mistake have any vested interest? A dealer protecting his hard-earned good reputation sure does.
All good comments! Not saying I have the answer, just saying I trust some people more than others when it comes to assessing baseball cards.