Would the Hobby welcome a new TPG Co.that was high tech?

[steve B]

Originally Posted by conor912

It all comes down to, "what can you reasonably expect someone to pay to get a card slabbed?." PSA has already priced themselves out of the market for a lot of collectors (including me, if I was into slabbing) at $17/card. Granted, there are bulk discounts, blah blah blah, but you get my point.

I think Andrew is on to something. His post about service levels etc. I think is the right way to go about it. The stamp authentication place is $20 for some stuff, $27 or a percentage of the catalog value with a max fee of $625. NO discounts that I'm aware of except APS, one of the other major expertizing services is cheaper for members. (And the membership is inexpensive.) If the item is inexpensive enough that that expense is too much then it shouldn't be sent in.

I have a bunch that should be sent in, but I do my own examining, and I've become confident in getting it right. (Aside from a couple types of paper that give me difficulty) maybe someday if I decide to consign them I'll get it done.
I have sent in some cards, and it's actually sort of fun, in a way as exciting as buying them all over again.

Not rushing the authentication and grading is a big thing too. The stamp places are typically 30 days for Philatelic foundation, 45-90 for APEX, and PSE is 30-40 days. Some special items take longer. The longest I've heard of is around 5 years, and the results were published as a book.
But then, the subjects had been controversial since 1922.

http://www.thestampcollector.net/grinnell.html

And yes, they were found in a trunk in grandpas attic, and the judge in 1922 found that story nearly unbelievable Some things dont really ever change.....

I still doubt that every example of any particular card has unique identifiers from any other, but I figure that's ok.

I'm hoping Andrew makes it work and makes it successful. It'll be a lot of hard work, but even if all that happens is that the bar is raised for everyone and the hobby grows up a bit it will be worth it.

Steve B