Would you pay extra?

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Posted By: shane leonard

With all the talk on the other thread about making triple sure that the card authenticated is enhanced free from alterations. Would you pay extra if all three grading companies placed their seal of approval on the card? I might be dumb for bringing this up because it could be the future for grading cards, what if the three top companies reviewed the card and was encapsulated by a trusted company that showed all three grades (SGC, PSA and GAI)? Would this bring more money?
Here are the positive things that I see from this idea.
1. There would not be this, "Let's give this card an 8 because it is XYZ auction house."
2. It would call out the companies that are infact losing creditability in the market place or incorrectly grading the cards.
3. A protection or guarantee for the future investment of the owner.

I personally would appreciate and value a card more if I had three opinions from a professional company. Some prefer SGC holder over GAI and visa versa. You could have the card holdered in any holder that you wanted, on the back of the holder the grades assigned by all three.

Shane

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Posted By: Al C.risafulli

Not me.

-Al

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Posted By: Matt

nor I

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Posted By: Steve Murray

Nope.

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Posted By: dstudeba

It is a hassle to get it graded by one let alone 3.

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Posted By: JimCrandell

For an expensive card--unquestionably.

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Posted By: Bill Todd

Shane,

You have the operative word right in your question: "opinion." No matter how many opinions you get, they're still opinions. Some are backed up with more facts than others, but they're still opinions. The fact that some grading companies are willing to put money behind their opinions (by buying back cards about which they've been convinced to change their minds) also doesn't change the situation: they're still opinions. After all, that's why the mantra is, "Buy the card, not the holder."

With that said, I'm sure there are folks out there who would pay more for a collective Seal of Approval. Those are the buyers who lack either familiarity with what they're buying or confidence in their own expertise.

If you know what you're doing, however, you should consider the slab as just one more piece of evidence as you make your decision.

Relevant joke:
A man comes home early from a business trip. His wife is in bed with his best friend. The "friend" hears the key in the lock, and leaps out of bed to hide in the closet. The husband comes into the bedroom, greets his wife, then opens the closet to hang up his jacket. The friend says, "Before you say anything, what are you going to believe, your eyes, or your best friend?"

Bill

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Posted By: JimCrandell

Bill's argument would have held water 5-10 years ago but the best card doctors have gotten so sophisticated that only the best can detect all that a doctor can do to a card. I would doubt that anyone on this board except Kevin fits that description.

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Posted By: Red

Just because you get the opinions of three grading companies on a slab doesn't mean that every collector must now agree with the grade and accept the card. It's like the "grade my card posts" where everyone looks at the same card picture but the grades people give to it are all over the place. Each collector bases their grade on what's important to them. Spending two more grading fees on opinions that really don't matter to you gets to be too much.

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Posted By: shane leonard

Maybe there are very few people who would find three opinions valuable. However, this would end the talk of "is the Wagner trimmed?" (card was graded by PSA 13 years ago by less knowledgable graders than today), "He got that card from Mastro and it should be in a PSA 7 holder." and "this card is a high end card for the 8 grade, should be higher."
I am not saying to have this done to commons or star cards of $400. I am talking about the cards valued over $10K. It protects the consignor, the auction house and most important the buyer.

Shane

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Posted By: shane leonard

Red,
The only difference is that you are asking for an opinion of guys that collect 1999 Donruss and 1993 Topps Finest vs. the opinion of a paid/trained professional. I think this is a big difference in your analogy and I respectfully disagree.

SL
Just to clarify:::
I am talking about the PSA message board and not about the guys here on these boards.

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Posted By: Jason L

That's why, when my latest shipment comes back from PSA, I will have to once again take out the Sharpie and write the correct grade on the flip!

They keep grading my 8s as 5's and 6s, and I am getting tired of it!

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Posted By: Wesley

No.

There are some people who trust their own eyes and there are some who actually prefer to collect raw cards. I personally like graded cards, but I can only imagine how ridiculous the idea of paying for multiple opinions is to raw card collectors.

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Posted By: Marc S.

I tend to buy cards, and not flips. I trust SGC most and PSA second-most in their assessment. I will never buy a card only because SGC or PSA says it is good. As such, I would not pay more if two or three grading companies all verified and signed-off on a grade. Much as I would not pay PSA 8 money for a card in a PSA 8 holder that looks like a PSA 6.

I purchased a PSA 6 caramel card of a Phillie with paper loss on the back. I paid what I thought was fair -- noting that it was the best looking example of that card I had ever seen, despite the slight paper loss on the reverse. The card should not be in a PSA 6 holder -- but I still am happy to have the highest quality example of this card I've ever seen.

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Posted By: shane leonard

Marc-
I have always bought the card and not the holder as well. There are times that I would prefer a nice card in a mid to lower grade than to pay more for a card that does not resemble the assigned grade that it was given.
I guess my point to this thread was to discuss having three companies give their opinion on an expensive card so that the buyer, whether a novice or a seasoned collector, felt comfortable in their investment.
It would eliminate the arguement of having dealers/auction houses responsible after the sale.

Let me ask this question to those that are out there. Would you pay market value on a T206 Cobb that was graded a PSA 7, GAI 8 and an SGC "A" for trimmed? Does the third grade from SGC hurt what the others companies have given?

SL

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Posted By: davidcycleback

In many areas it's a common practice that if you add three different opinions, often wildly different opinions, and divide the sum by three you get one good answer. This is complete hooey, but it's common practice.

If one company says a card is trimmed and the other says it's not, one of them is right and one is wrong.