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Sub Grade Cost
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32 posts in this topic

On 9/27/2021 at 12:38 PM, PunsRTonsOfFun said:

I think the question is are cards graded with subgrades held to a higher standard than those without? If this is case, it would have been nice to know before I submitted and will likely determine whether I submit with CSG again in the future. I've defended CSG on this forum and social media at every turn, understanding that a new company would have growing pains given the current state of the hobby. If there are two different grading standards based on subgrades and it wasn't publicly disclosed, I can't and won't defend that.

That's exactly what it sounded like in the first response on here. Not sure how you can walk that back, but I'd always have doubts from this point forward regardless of what's said tbh.

Also, at the bottom of that response it says they're all individually looked at??? Like what, they just throwing grades on cards arbitrarily without looking at them.

Edited by Yeahiwasder4dat
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On 9/27/2021 at 11:45 AM, Yeahiwasder4dat said:

That's exactly what it sounded like in the first response on here. Not sure how you can walk that back, but I'd always have doubts from this point forward regardless of what's said tbh.

Also, at the bottom of that response it says they're all individually looked at??? Like what, they just throwing grades on cards arbitrarily without looking at them.

I don’t know about everyone else but on my orders (subgrades and no subgrades), I actually got a higher average grade with the subs since they actually have to explain the grade. I got subs since the value of the cards were higher not because they were better condition also. I’m sure that’s not the same for everyone and I’m not known to defend csg but that’s just my experience so far. If having subs does affect the grade it hasn’t been for the worse with mine. Either way it would be great if we could get a better explanation.

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Lots of haters in here. 

Call customer service and get an explanation.  I'm guessing it was an ill-informed employee that either didn't have the facts straight or was told wrong.  You're not going to have one of the leading graders in the industry conducting shady business by having two different standards of grading.  They would've left CSG by now if that was the case.  Beckett Grading Services offer the same service for sub grades.  I'm sure for the same reason:  takes a little bit of extra time to record the information and then place those scores on the label and online.

Or contact the mother company, Certified Collectibles Group, if you are questioning the ethics of CSG.  Posting messages in here aren't providing the answers you're looking for.

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Yeah, I was questioning that at first also.  Beckett actually started that practice with the Black Labels.  You can not get a BGS Black Label unless you pay for the sub-grade service.

Beckett offers same service for $15 on its lower tier of service.  CSG doesn't change based on speed of the service or the value of the card.  BGS premium service will charge you $125 for sub-grades.  $10 seems reasonable.

Going back to the expense of sub grades, I get it.  If you are doing a bulk submission of lower-mid end cards, it's not worth paying for the sub-grades.  You could get 11 cards graded at the bulk submission rate OR 6 cards with sub-grades.  The more you put into the card the more you need to get out of it in order to break even or make money.

All of my PC and high-end cards get the sub grade service.  It's just for my piece of mind and an explanation of why the card scored the way it did.  I look at the sub-grade service as an option.  You either need it for an expense or you don't.

Everyone will look at this differently.  I'm more concerned about people questioning the ethics of a company and their grading standards.  Especially when the parent company is a leader of grading and authentication in other collectible areas.

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On 9/27/2021 at 1:22 PM, jwhauser said:

Yeah, I was questioning that at first also.  Beckett actually started that practice with the Black Labels.  You can not get a BGS Black Label unless you pay for the sub-grade service.

Beckett offers same service for $15 on its lower tier of service.  CSG doesn't change based on speed of the service or the value of the card.  BGS premium service will charge you $125 for sub-grades.  $10 seems reasonable.

Going back to the expense of sub grades, I get it.  If you are doing a bulk submission of lower-mid end cards, it's not worth paying for the sub-grades.  You could get 11 cards graded at the bulk submission rate OR 6 cards with sub-grades.  The more you put into the card the more you need to get out of it in order to break even or make money.

All of my PC and high-end cards get the sub grade service.  It's just for my piece of mind and an explanation of why the card scored the way it did.  I look at the sub-grade service as an option.  You either need it for an expense or you don't.

Everyone will look at this differently.  I'm more concerned about people questioning the ethics of a company and their grading standards.  Especially when the parent company is a leader of grading and authentication in other collectible areas.

Very true that BGS did that first. Also, my order with subs took a month longer at the same tier to get back to me. People are just curious exactly how and why the card is given a closer look. As far as people questioning the ethics of companies that are the leader in their areas of expertise? Not exactly new or worrisome. This forum is actually under “Ask CSG” and that’s what people are doing..

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On 9/27/2021 at 5:51 AM, Prime Sports Cards said:

I think a Pandora's box has been opened here, the cost to sub grade is now secondary. If there are two standards to their grading system, they might as well close the shop. You can't shake people down for sub grades to get "undivided" attention to a card. If that's the case, they need to be real transparent on the website and let people decide for themselves.

I see where you are coming from, and the rest of the people in this thread, and we DO deserve an answer, but if they were really shaking people down for subgrades then I wouldn't have had such a stellar return on my bulk sub orders - on my first 114-card bulk order I received 14 CSG Pristine 10s, which seems to be way, way over what they are normally handing out. 

I just want a clarification on what Nichole meant. I don't think they are doing anything nefarious but think we deserve an explanation. 

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On 9/27/2021 at 1:41 PM, Warner85 said:

Very true that BGS did that first. Also, my order with subs took a month longer at the same tier to get back to me. People are just curious exactly how and why the card is given a closer look. As far as people questioning the ethics of companies that are the leader in their areas of expertise? Not exactly new or worrisome. This forum is actually under “Ask CSG” and that’s what people are doing..

When I opened this thread, I was expecting the "too expensive for sub-grade" and all the rationale for why CSG should be doing this at a cheaper rate or free since they already have the scores from grading.  I did, but immediately saw the double standard for grading based upon the sub-grade service.  I absolutely get wanting answers and that's what some posts were.  Others were venting and ripping.

But you're right.  This is the place where it can happen.  At least you have to be a member to get into the chat rooms so everyone hear has a vested interest and I need to keep that in mind.  Appreciate you pointing that out.

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  • Administrator

Hello Everyone,

We apologize for the confusing response to the original question about charging for sub-grades. There is no double standard when it comes to CSG grading. Cards are graded the same, whether the submitter has requested sub-grades or not. However, sub-grades do take more time during the grading process. When a card is submitted to CSG, it is evaluated by the graders, and all four sub-grades are considered when determining a card's grade. When sub-grades are requested, there is essentially an extra step of confirming and recording the sub-grades, which slows down the grading process. That's the distinction and the reason for the fee.

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So there is an extra step to confirm the subgrades for a submission with subs, but not an extra step to confirm the subgrades for a submission that has no subs? It seems to me like the confirmation step for a nosub submission should also be confirming and recording the subgrades to make sure that the overall grade is accurate. So if a nosub submission does not have its subgrades recorded and confirmed, then what is the confirmation step for these cards? Is it just someone else looking at it and saying "Yep, looks like a 9.5 to me too."

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If you look at the grading scale, not every grade has a Surface or Edges description.  So I imagine that so long as you clear the minimum hurdle w/o subs, it doesn't come into play when grading a card without subs.  Meaning, someone isn't spending time splitting hairs on a Surface or Edges sub-grade if the centering and corners grades have already more or less dictated the grade.  Example, what's the difference between a 7 and 7.5 for surface?  I do see that taking added time.

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On 9/27/2021 at 1:48 PM, Yeahiwasder4dat said:

Can't get a Perfect 10 w/o subs. Seems a little suspect.

5 days, and $10 a card?

not really itll say perfect 10 instead of pristine 10,   5$ a card for subs would be better I like subs especially if ya get an uneexpected grade i wanna see where i got hit,  most likely itll be surface ha 

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