SGC T206s....It needs to be brought up, it's scary, very scary if you are a collector

[brewing]

I used to send 90% of my submissions to SGC, I now send 90% to PSA.

Outside of turnaround time PSA beats SGC up and down the block in everything else.

In the past 3 years the following actions have taken place by the companies.

SGC:
Revamped registry site, minimal improvement. Still irrelevant compared to PSA.
Changed flip and rechanged after customers voiced displeasure.

PSA:
New case which is harder to tamper with.
New Flip.
Upgraded Registry to allow for photo albums.
Released app that allows you to scan or input the registration number.

To me, it seems like either SGC isn't trying, doesn't want to improve , or is inept at marketing.

Brent Ingr@m

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by brewing

I used to send 90% of my submissions to SGC, I now send 90% to PSA.

Outside of turnaround time PSA beats SGC up and down the block in everything else.

In the past 3 years the following actions have taken place by the companies.

SGC:
Revamped registry site, minimal improvement. Still irrelevant compared to PSA.
Changed flip and rechanged after customers voiced displeasure.

PSA:
New case which is harder to tamper with.
New Flip.
Upgraded Registry to allow for photo albums.
Released app that allows you to scan or input the registration number.

To me, it seems like either SGC isn't trying, doesn't want to improve , or is inept at marketing.

Brent Ingr@m

I agree with everything you said.....plus I wonder how market share is with the 25-45 year olds..who will be defining the buying market the next 20 years..i assuming psa is getting a bigger market share ...

[brewing]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

I agree with everything you said.....plus I wonder how market share is with the 25-45 year olds..who will be defining the buying market the next 20 years..i assuming psa is getting a bigger market share ...

I believe you are correct.

PSA tries to reach the younger demographic. While both have Twitter accounts, PSA uses theirs, while SGC hasn't posted in several years. It's FREE advertising, yet SGC ignores it.

This should matter to collectors with cards in SGC slabs. In 10 years, will SGC slabs be considered equal to GAI or worse? You can say buy the card, not the holder, but I think we can agree that it doesn't happen consistently.

[The Nasty Nati]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

I agree with everything you said.....plus I wonder how market share is with the 25-45 year olds..who will be defining the buying market the next 20 years..i assuming psa is getting a bigger market share ...

I'm 29 and I can say no joke probably 90% of collectors in my age group collect either Beckett or PSA graded cards. You could even argue many have never heard of SGC. When you're getting back into collecting you generally like to collect cards you always wanted as a kid. Most of those cards are graded in PSA as my age group idolized stars from the 80s (if you're 30-45 years old probably 1970s players). From there you build loyalty to PSA especially because of the registry. Registry is so key. For teens they are collecting the modern players, and because modern card collecting is all about autograph cards, Beckett is very popular with teens today. SGC is totally nonexistent to them.

Also, a popular thing to do is to show your PSA submission mail returns on YouTube. You almost never see SGC videos online. People on this forum should post more SGC submission return videos to gain more interest in SGC for the younger crowd...it's all about social media these days.

Personally I collect SGC graded cards as I love the look of them with the T206s and for the simple fact that they are cheaper to submit and buy. That being said if I had to do it over again I would probably go with PSA as the registry is much stronger and like others have said, sell for more.

[ullmandds]

PSA's advantage is in the registry...and the marketing...which create a "perception" as has been stated. They most certainly do NOT offer a superior product to the other TPG'ers.

[packs]

In all honesty, if this is seriously a problem for someone, it's a problem you've created yourself by playing this game in the first place. Unless people start ponying up an extra few hundo for a PSA 1 or SGC 40, this is something that will never affect me.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by packs

In all honesty, if this is seriously a problem for someone, it's a problem you've created yourself by playing this game in the first place. Unless people start ponying up an extra few hundo for a PSA 1 or SGC 40, this is something that will never affect me.

+1 for me too!

[steve B]

SGC

The revamped registry isn't bad. But it's not a whole lot better than the old one.
Relevant? That's sort of silly. If you only collect PSA the SGC registry is just as irrelevant to you as the PSA registry is to me. Relevance is entirely subjective.

The changed then rechanged flip being a complaint is also amusing. They made a change customers didn't like and listened to their customers. I'm not seeing a problem other than a lack of market research that could have saved them some effort.

PSA

I haven't seen one, but from all I hear the new case is pretty good. Unless you use PSAs own storage boxes, then it's not so good. But a more tamper resistant case isn't a bad thing.

New flip?!?!? I didn't notice. really new? or just tweaks to the same design they've had since the start?

HEH! SGC registry had photos when I did my first submission- I forget when, maybe 2010? So much for innovation.

App? Haven't followed that. I'm betting I can't get it for my phone. It's apple/android only right? (Like every D*** app! Can I sue for discrimination? ) Just kidding, I know I probably can't.

SGC does have stuff they could do better. All companies do. I'd use PSA if they didn't have a silly cover charge. Pay me so you get the right to pay me ......for me that's pretty much a non starter.

Steve B

Originally Posted by brewing

I used to send 90% of my submissions to SGC, I now send 90% to PSA.

Outside of turnaround time PSA beats SGC up and down the block in everything else.

In the past 3 years the following actions have taken place by the companies.

SGC:
Revamped registry site, minimal improvement. Still irrelevant compared to PSA.
Changed flip and rechanged after customers voiced displeasure.

PSA:
New case which is harder to tamper with.
New Flip.
Upgraded Registry to allow for photo albums.
Released app that allows you to scan or input the registration number.

To me, it seems like either SGC isn't trying, doesn't want to improve , or is inept at marketing.

Brent Ingr@m

[4815162342]

Originally Posted by steve B

... I'd use PSA if they didn't have a silly cover charge. Pay me so you get the right to pay me ......for me that's pretty much a non starter.

Steve B

PSA hasn't required a membership to submit cards for grading in a long time. Yet, about once every six months or so, someone complains that they do.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by 4815162342

PSA hasn't required a membership to submit cards for grading in a long time. Yet, about once every six months or so, someone complains that they do.

Interesting.

They sure do hide that fact. Not a surprise since the club membership must be a good money maker.

I was just looking at the site, and it's a bit hard to find stuff. Kinda cluttered. Finally found the specials and they're not all that great this month. Nice price, but 25 card minimum and they need to be under $100 value . I think I've maybe done 30 -40 cards over several years. So while I can send in, it would be at the $17 rate which is a lot more than the $10 regular fee at SGC (whose specials this month are more than PSAs specials but with more value allowed and no minimum quantity. )

If I had a loads of modernish cards where the price difference would be worth it, I might join.
But for what I do SGC makes it really easy.

Steve B

[glchen]

Originally Posted by steve B

Interesting.

They sure do hide that fact. Not a surprise since the club membership must be a good money maker.

I was just looking at the site, and it's a bit hard to find stuff. Kinda cluttered. Finally found the specials and they're not all that great this month. Nice price, but 25 card minimum and they need to be under $100 value . I think I've maybe done 30 -40 cards over several years. So while I can send in, it would be at the $17 rate which is a lot more than the $10 regular fee at SGC (whose specials this month are more than PSAs specials but with more value allowed and no minimum quantity. )

If I had a loads of modernish cards where the price difference would be worth it, I might join.
But for what I do SGC makes it really easy.

Steve B

That's right. You don't need a PSA membership to submit to PSA. However, if you want to use their specials, then you do need the membership. I've always found the membership worthwhile because for the Platinum membership, it averages out to ~$17 per card which is about the same for that declared value when there is a special on it. And you also receive a year's subscription to the SMR magazine and the free gift. The current free gift is just a t-shirt, which isn't anything special, but in the past, I've gotten the Cracker Jack and T206 books, which are nice coffee table items.

I do admit this month's SGC $10 special for cards under $500 is especially good. However, PSA's special for cards under $100 are pretty decent also. It's pretty rare for the specials to break $6 these days, and 25 cards minimum isn't bad. (In comparison, this month's Beckett special is $7 per card, and you need to submit 100 cards minimum. Of course, Beckett does not have a declared value maximum for their specials. That's still a lot of cards, however.)

I thought that the ST qualifier for PSA was only for wax stains and not for other types of stains. I could be wrong, however.