• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

CSG Ups Its Game with a New Label and Revised Grading Scale!
1 1

140 posts in this topic

On 3/25/2022 at 4:36 PM, oluckydayo said:

I thought of this too, and considered the low-end grading angle.

I think you have to use a fairly neutral color or pick a defining color.  Gray/Black might invoke those companies, but that's where the name of CGC/CSG matters in driving the quality of the brand recognition.

Green was a bold but divisive choice, red is already used by PSA, and blue is used by CGC.   There aren't a lot of other directions to go when designing in a 1" x 4" space (unless they want to basically commit brand suicide and become HGA).

I think the label looks good all things considered and was a smart choice.

you see on the brady rc the csg part with blue n teal, is that a team card match? I agree i thought the green was a powerful brand color and reminds ya of sports but new one is nice and with there slab it more then works, is that card matching or are all slabs have that blue n teal? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/25/2022 at 4:43 PM, micky 8 said:

you see on the brady rc the csg part with blue n teal, is that a team card match? I agree i thought the green was a powerful brand color and reminds ya of sports but new one is nice and with there slab it more then works, is that card matching or are all slabs have that blue n teal? 

I think that is just how the light is hitting the foil in that area of the label.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/25/2022 at 4:27 PM, micky 8 said:

kinda sux i really liked the subgrades I was learning exactly how they grade and how to improve, im curious about the perfect 10, it reads like you have to request a shot at the perfect 10 and if you do get the perfect 10 there will be subgrades with it? does that come at an extra fee with each card? I liked the green but new labels arent bad whatever but what you think about the scale change? I think its gonna be a total game changer for csg and the hobby It was absolutely nessacary because when psa opens bulk csg cant be giving out 9.5 gems its absolutley whats needed to compete with psa, i say psa because sgc cant compete with csg prices and sgc dont have the resale like psa does, major power move by csg they got the price point the slab and the man power to keep turn around times fast. Congrats Csg there goin for that number one spot and i think there gonna take it in the near future, but bring back the subs like ya said wtf so hard bout sub grades 😂

Yeah I’m with you on that and as I said previously I don’t really understand what’s really going on there.. in terms of the scale change, yeah I get why this would appeal to people that like the visual stimulation of seeing “10”. But with that in mind, their other company CGC is definitely not changing their scale. And you know who else isn’t.. BGS. And a BGS 10 as of now holds more value than a PSA 10 as it should. They could have chosen that path also, would have been my preferred but I still will stick with them either way  

Edited by JohnBurke
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/25/2022 at 4:11 PM, JohnBurke said:

Yeah I’m with you on that and as I said previously I don’t really understand what’s really going on there.. in terms of the scale change, yeah I get why this would appeal to people that like the visual stimulation of seeing “10”. But with that in mind, their other company CGC is definitely not changing their scale. And you know who else isn’t.. BGS. And a BGS 10 as of now holds more value than a PSA 10 as it should. They could have chosen that path also, would have been my preferred but I still will stick with them either way  

I wish they included CSg 10 pristine into consideration and not juast bundling it with gem mint 10. Its very hard to get a CSG 10 and am very proud of my only one with more than 200+ subs. I am disappointed there but will definitely not reholder that and keep the old green label here. Plus, those of us who paid subgrades should not be charged a reholder fee since we paid the extra for subgrades

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/25/2022 at 5:36 PM, jdmtdcollector said:

I wish they included CSg 10 pristine into consideration and not juast bundling it with gem mint 10. Its very hard to get a CSG 10 and am very proud of my only one with more than 200+ subs. I am disappointed there but will definitely not reholder that and keep the old green label here. Plus, those of us who paid subgrades should not be charged a reholder fee since we paid the extra for subgrades

100% agree with your last statement. I literally just got my recent sub shipped back too, wish they would have given a heads up on this (although if I would have held off then my pristines from that order would have only been gems haha so I guess I’m happy) 
 I feel good to have some pristine 10s though too, def not sending those in as they are clearly superior to any future gem mint 10s of same card. And as time goes on they will be even more rare unless someone happens to land a perfect 10 of said card. Top pop secured :) really hope they still keep that category in the pop report and don’t lump them into gem

Edited by JohnBurke
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/25/2022 at 5:11 PM, JohnBurke said:

Yeah I’m with you on that and as I said previously I don’t really understand what’s really going on there.. in terms of the scale change, yeah I get why this would appeal to people that like the visual stimulation of seeing “10”. But with that in mind, their other company CGC is definitely not changing their scale. And you know who else isn’t.. BGS. And a BGS 10 as of now holds more value than a PSA 10 as it should. They could have chosen that path also, would have been my preferred but I still will stick with them either way  

It could be argued that of the 4 major players right now (BGS, PSA, CSG, SGC) that BGS is falling behind the others slowly as time goes on.

They are grading less cards per month/day, they just finally re-opened an affordable tier a couple of weeks ago.  They have a pretty severe backlog still with an ETA of a few months from now.    And they haven't had an acquisition or influx of investment like PSA/CSG has.

SGC has even overtaken them in many people's opinion as it relates to public perception, resale value, and vintage grading.  

Whether we like it or not, I think the hobby and public have spoken that the BGS method is less preferable than the others.   CSG here has at least found a bit of a of a balance.  Give a 10 Gem Mint that compares with every other company's 10, and also retain the 'Perfect 10' to give a chase grade that is rarely seen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/25/2022 at 6:01 PM, oluckydayo said:

It could be argued that of the 4 major players right now (BGS, PSA, CSG, SGC) that BGS is falling behind the others slowly as time goes on.

They are grading less cards per month/day, they just finally re-opened an affordable tier a couple of weeks ago.  They have a pretty severe backlog still with an ETA of a few months from now.    And they haven't had an acquisition or influx of investment like PSA/CSG has.

SGC has even overtaken them in many people's opinion as it relates to public perception, resale value, and vintage grading.  

Whether we like it or not, I think the hobby and public have spoken that the BGS method is less preferable than the others.   CSG here has at least found a bit of a of a balance.  Give a 10 Gem Mint that compares with every other company's 10, and also retain the 'Perfect 10' to give a chase grade that is rarely seen.

Fair points when thinking about the big picture. What about CGC though do you think they will eventually move to the new scale also? There are way more cards already graded with them so it’s a bit different

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/25/2022 at 3:33 PM, oluckydayo said:

You don't have to request subs on a perfect 10, they will be included for free if the card gets four 10 subgrades.

Did this apply to old csg labels also? I thought you had to pay for subgrades for a chance to get a “perfect 10”. I have a pristine 10 graded card with no subs. Does that mean it had no chance at a Perfect 10?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/25/2022 at 5:29 PM, Warner85 said:

Did this apply to old csg labels also? I thought you had to pay for subgrades for a chance to get a “perfect 10”. I have a pristine 10 graded card with no subs. Does that mean it had no chance at a Perfect 10?

You are correct. The only way you had a chance at a perfect score was if you paid for sub grades. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a question about the removal of subgrades from the label (something I agree with generally, though I would have placed them on the back).

Will those subgrades used to determine overall card grade still be available on the certification and pop report, even if not added to the slab itself?

I know part of the effort of what slows things down is the data entry of each into the report (a small amount of time per card, but multiplied by soon to be millions in total), but I think having the subs on the cert itself is a great benefit in this industry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Two quick questions

If I have a green label pristine 10 and reholder to new label would that become a Perfect 10 rather than a Gem Mint 10 on your new grading scale?

Card that are 9's and 8.5's do they automatically get same grade when reholdered or is there a chance they move up or down with the new grading scale?

 

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/25/2022 at 10:31 AM, CGCRyan said:

Just in time for The MINT Collective, CSG is delivering a one-two punch: a fresh label along with market-friendly updates to its grading scale.

Certified Sports Guaranty® (CSG®) is excited to reveal its brand-new certification label! The bold yet refined design is the result of months of research and development, including market studies, focus groups and extensive testing. Green is gone in favor of a black, silver and gold palette that will complement — not compete with — the colors of any sports card.

LEAN MORE

03_March23_CSG_Social_UpdatedLabel_Libby_c1_v2.jpg

How about you let us re slab for free if we already paid for sub grades that are now obsolete?? We paid $10 for the cost of ink for the service before and now have to pay another $5 PLUS shipping to get re slabbed? And you didn’t think anyone would be upset about this??? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/25/2022 at 3:47 PM, JohnBurke said:

How is eliminating sub grades going to speed up turnover times? Come to think of it, how did it ever slow them down? Don’t graders need to take into account all 4 sub grade aspects to arrive at the final grade anyway?

Gotta think of the overhead that comes with sub grades.  They probably have to record each one and pass it to another stage or company rep for slabbing.  Seems small when looking at one order, but scrapping the mandate of filling out 4 columns of data per order and probably doubles speed and saves hundreds of man hours per year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/26/2022 at 9:06 AM, Prime Sports Cards said:

Scrolled through many comments and questions here, not sure if I missed a particular response or not. If you send a 9.5 GM back in for a re-holder will it come back with a 10 GM? 

That appears to be the case, yes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a pristine 10 without subs I would like to reholder. Will they bump it up to Perfect if it qualifies? Is that considered a Crossover instead of a Reholder then? If notes would have been kept about the certification number when first graded wouldn’t they already know that it is Perfect and I wouldn’t have to pay a regrading fee? Should just do me a solid and not charge a crossover fee since I have paid for subgrades that are no longer relevant with new labels and will be removed..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrator
On 3/25/2022 at 11:03 PM, Rocklin65s said:

@CGCRyan about the grading scale, can you please clarify how CSG cards will cross with the new system?

It's unclear to me what will get Mint+ 9.5. For example, would a Mint 9 with subgrades 9/9/9.5/10 bump to Mint+ 9.5? What about with subgrades 10/8.5/10/10? Or 9/8.5/9.5/9?

Perfect 10 > Perfect 10
Pristine 10 > Gem Mint 10
Gem Mint 9.5 > Gem Mint 10
? ? ? > Mint+ 9.5
Mint 9 > Mint 9

I confirmed with our graders: For the ReHolder Service, all green label CSG cards graded 9 or below will get the same grade when crossed to the new black label. Gem Mint 9.5s in the green label will cross to Gem Mint 10 in the new black label. Pristine 10s would also be Gem Mint 10 in the new label.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
1 1