mzdrizzle

Some of the posts on here are completely ridiculous and not based in reality. Yes, CSG grades tough. They are good on the actual grading, no doubt. But the resale market could care less about them and the ROI is atrocious. They did an amazing job with their slabs, but a poor job on the labels especially the ones with no subgrades. I will never send in another card to CSG, or buy one in the market, until they completely change their labels and, in addition, I would need to see their resale market dramatically rise. Otherwise, any investor or flipper is just a fool to use CSG at this point. Just look at the sales comps.

Same here. I have the same view and am doing the same thing.

Well I certainly do not think their position is permanent, but as of right now they are #1. I am hopeful that CSG and others can challenge PSA and bring innovation and consistency to grading, not to mention better security on the slabs. But again, we are talking about changing the mindset of an industry. That takes a lot, and a long time to do. Plus, PSA was just purchased by some pretty smart investors. I think they are going to make some serious, positive changes, but we will not know until it actually happens.

Reverend, thanks for your post. My problem is not subjectivity, but lack of consistency with PSA. That's the issue. But, I do agree: for now the market has spoken and PSA is #1.

While I don't disagree with many of the statements here, I do have to say that after being in business for over 2 decades it is very very hard to overcome the entrenched leader. PSA graded 10's are the industry standard in terms of resale/flip pricing NOTWITHSTANDING their inconsistent standards. I have seen so many obviously off centered PSA 10's its absurd. It is going to take a long time for anyone to overcome them (not to mention competition from digital products now). With that said, I am eager to receive the cards I sent into CSG back. I am going to resell many, and keep a lot for my PC too. To be honest, if the resale is substantially lower than PSA (and, combined with all costs, nets a lower return on investment), then what is a reasonable person supposed to do? Keep sending them into CSG? And, to be fair, I am going to say that I will in fact buy CSG graded cards once they start hitting the sports I invest in, like soccer and basketball. I am hoping for the best, and I am doing my fair share at this time to support CSG. I am up to 450 cards I have sent into them for grading, some with sub grades and many without. Fingers crossed!

I respect your opinion but totally disagree. I love what is happening and hope it continues to grow. Speculative buying and flipping is fantastic and generates significant interest. I wish you the best!

Do you want flipping and speculative buys out of the stock market, too? You fail to realize that flipping and speculation is actually a significant part of the growth and growing legitimacy of the hobby as an alt investment.

PSA doesn't give subs and they are #1. Although, with their new ownership, ill bet they roll out sub grades within the next 6 to 12 months if not sooner. Just a guess on my part.

Also, to be clear, I think CGS is also good for high end cards its just that they also have a more affordable option for more speculative and "lower end". By "lower end", I simply mean cards that are priced less, but they are still good cards.

With the lowest prices for PSA and BGS at $20+ per card (in their +/- 9 month economy turn around time, which is ridiculous), there is no chance to buy, grade, and then quickly flip lower end or speculative cards such as, for example, a second year Donovan Mitchell silver prizm or a, let's say, 10 2017 John Collins Hoops RCs. I am praying that the hobby will see that CSG is equally as good if not better, as it seems they have pulled all of the right levers to start. I've sent in around 400 cards already, single grade service (no sub grades). Time will tell how this pans out for everyone but as of right now PSA and BGS are clearly only marketing to high end cards, which I think is a huge mistake for the hobby in general (but great for PSA and BGS from a short to medium term revenue perspective). After all, the cards I mention above, for example, could be worth quite a bit down the road, so having a reliable, trustworthy, affordable grading option for those cards is important IMO.