The illusion of an objective standard psa, sgc, bvg

[glchen]

One of the main points of grading isn't that they are always correct as they are human too, but that they are an objective third party. For example, when you have dealers selling their own raw cards, they will often more likely "overgrade" their cards because they are trying to sell them for more money. I'm not saying all dealers are dishonest. There are plenty of very honest dealers who accurately self-grade their raw cards. However, they may also have different standards on what is EX, what is Near Mint and so forth. With TPG's they are all supposed to grade according to the same standards and do not take a % of the sale when the cards transact.