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Background
Many years ago, third-party companies like PSA
began evaluating or grading sports cards. This practice was
already commonplace in other hobbies like coin collecting.
Why? Because the condition of a card has a huge impact on it's
value and there was a need for a non-biased company to grade or rate
these cards to help fairly determine their value. Is my card
mint or near mint? Excellent or Very Good? In the eyes
of the card owner, their cards can often be viewed as being of
higher quality than they actually are. In our shop, it is
common for customers to quickly answer "mint" when I ask
them what condition their cards are in. In reality, their card
may deserve a much lower rating or grade. With a neutral
grading company, the accurate condition of your cards can be
determined since they do not stand to gain from the their rating.
The popularity of the Internet has also given a large boost to the graded
card industry. Now, collectors across the world can purchase
cards over the Internet knowing exactly what condition the card they
are buying is in. I personally believe that this is the
biggest reason for the jump in graded card popularity. Should
I get my cards graded?
Very good question. Before deciding on if it's worth
grading your cards, visit your local card shop and look at their
graded card inventory. Look at an 8.0 and then a 9.0 graded
card. Learn why the cards have been graded lower than
another. Discuss the issue with the card shop staff and ask
them their opinion. Remember, a lot of collectors think every
card they own is a Gem Mint 10 since they pulled it right out of a
pack and it went directly into a penny sleeve and toploader.
Many more times than not, this is simply not true. Keep in
mind that the grading card company will be more objective than you
will be about your card's condition. So to answer the
question, I would suggest you read this entire section, then visit
your card store, then re-inspect your chosen cards and then finally
make your decision.
Back to Top What
grading service should I use?
Personally, we choose to use Beckett
Grading Services. Cheap Seats Sports Cards has built a
partnership with Beckett from the day we opened our doors. We
are extremely comfortable with our relationship with them in terms
of reselling their price guides, hosting our web site inventory and
for grading our cards. In this sometimes unscrupulous
business, one's reputation must be considered. I am not
discounting the other grading services by making these comments,
only stating our preference. It's important for me to know
that I can call someone when I have a problem. And using
Beckett Grading Services, I feel I can do just that. Several
other companies are actively grading cards today. PSA is the
leading company in terms of grading the most cards per month.
If they are grading the most cards, the collectors across the world
must feel they are a solid company and a good grading service. I
have no reason to doubt this. To
help you choose a grading service, I would suggest reviewing the
advertisements in any of the leading sports cards magazines, Beckett,
Tuff
Stuff, or
SCD.
Each of these magazines and price guides have ads and submission
forms for several of the leading grading services. Pick 2 or
3 services and submit a couple of cards to each of them. Judge
them on their costs, their delivery time and their overall
service. Then make your choice on who you wish to use. You may decide to use more than 1 service, that's fine if that's
what you want to do. I caution you to not just select a
company because they gave you the best grade! The fact of the
matter is probably you got the best grade because you sent them the
best card.
Back to Top What
do the grading services look for?
Each grading company has their own system or formula for
determining a card's condition. These systems are what
determines each company's competitive advantage. PSA feels
their system is better than Beckett's and Beckett feels their system
is better than the next guy's. Regardless of which system is
used, each grading service will almost certainly consider these 4
areas for each card they grade:
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Corners
-
Centering
-
Edges
-
Surface
I can give you my opinions on how the
above areas would affect a card's final grade, but
Beckett has done it for me. Beckett.com has an excellent web
page explaining how they determine their grade and what they look at
when you send them a card. The web page explains what Beckett
will inspect, how specific defects affect the final grade as well as
a grade by grade analysis which includes a sample condition
description. You can review this information at the Beckett
Grading Services FAQs page by clicking on this link. Just scroll
down the page for questions and answers about card
grading. I could not find similar information on the PSA
web site.
One very important fact to consider
when deciding on what grading service to use; Only one company
will give you a specific grade on each of the 4 condition areas that
they inspect. Guess who? I probably sound like a Beckett
commercial by now (and no they haven't paid me to plug them), but on
the back of each Beckett graded card, they provide an individual grade
for corners, centering, edges and surface. The Beckett
composite or final grade takes into consideration each of these
individual grades. This feature alone, makes it hard to not
chose them for your grading needs.
Back to Top
Rumors
and Nightmares
Over the years, I have heard and read about many horror
stories from collectors who thought they were "ripped off"
by a grading service. Most of these horror stories involve
accusations that the grading service switched cards before they are
sent back to the collector. In theory, the grading service
would replace the best cards with cards of lesser condition - the
old bait and switch tactic. I'm not sure how credible these
stories are, but I'm sure to some degree it has happened. How
do you protect yourself from schemes like this? I don' t think
you can completely, but selecting a reputable grading service is by
far the most important factor to consider. Don't select the
cheapest service or the service that gives you the highest grade,
you're almost certainly asking for trouble if you shop this way.
Another thing that may or may not help you resolve a dispute is to
scan your cards before submitting them. This should show you
if the card you submitted is not the same card that is
returned. If you do get the wrong card back, this may also help you
resolve the dispute with the grading service. The one thing
that this does do for sure is it proves to you that the service is
not reputable. Even if you never get your original card back,
you've learned a valuable lesson and will hopefully start using
another service. A good article on this same topic can be found at
About.com by clicking
here.
Don't let
these comments discourage you from getting your cards graded.
I've only included them because I hear these concerns often in our
store. We have had literally 100's of cards graded and I know
of stores that have had 1000's of cards graded with no
problems. Just protect yourself until you are convinced you've
found the right grading service.
Back to Top
Tips before
you submit
- Read the services submission rules before
shipping your cards
- Package your cards well - most services will
offer tips for how to do so properly
- Insure your shipments
- Keep good records of what was submitted and
when
- Use your head on what cards you get graded -
even if a $2 card is graded a Gem Mint 10, does it add value to
your collection? Does the increase in value even pay for
the cost of the grading service?
- Shop for special discounts and offers - you may
find big discounts for submitting a higher quantity of cards or
find special deals that offer faster turnaround times. These
specials are usually advertised in the collector's magazines and
price guides.
Back to Top
Other
Grading Services
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