Starting a Grading Company

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Posted By: Judge Dred

Grading is very subjective and that's probably why an average of three grades would be necessary. Personally, I have very strict ground rules when I assign a grade to a card and I've seen others that would call my VG an EX+. In many cases it's really mind boggling to see such differences. Maybe I'm a tough grader or maybe the others are correct and I'm wrong - I doubt this). I'm a fairly diplomatic type but this isn't politics, this is a hobby (and would be business)and the subject is card grading - how do you tell someone that they don't know how to properly grade a card.

Something else to consider. This bull board may have quite a few readers but this obviously matters little because most of us probably have the same opinion about the grading services but we still use them:

SGC - Best holders (they used to be consistent and accurate but anymore they are like PSA or the rest - there's less consistency and more stupefying grades coming out of the factory).

PSA - You want to sell something for top dollar then have it encapsulated in a PSA holder - they are (and have been) unpredictable in their grading standards.

SCD (now defunct) - I liked them because they were accurate (for the most part) with the vintage stuff. If given the choice of an SGC, PSA or SCD 4 (VGEX) card of the same issue and player, I'd take the SCD4 card.

BVG (now defunct) - nice job but gone under (I think).

GAI - Trying to make a run for the money but I still think the jury is out on them because I see cards graded by them that (although authentic) look like they may have some alteration to the card.

SCD (a respected name) gave up on this so unless someone can come up with a reason why they think they could do better then it would be a tough sell.

What would you call this company? AAA (just kidding). This company could cater to the wealthy - it could be a niche market. Overall, the marketing for such a venture would be enough to kill it in the concept stage. I don't see anything wrong with the idea but there's a lot more to this than meets the eye. I think the idea of large hi-res scans is a great idea, it would allow virtual grading of the cards. Something that has always boggled my mind is that a grading service charges $7+ a card for grading and encapsulation. Just how much time is spent on the actual grading process. I would hope that a company like this would not turn into a company like the others mentioned before (a compnay that looks only at the bottom line and not the responsibility of providing the services offered).

Hats off to the idea - best of luck to those that try.