[mickey7mantle7]

Rare23 had a good point on another site about grading companies becoming more and more shady. Some dealers have it in good with Beckett and PSA to where they might pay extra $$ or work out a deal to get the grade they want in order to bump their selling price online for more profit...especially if cards are graded on site at a show or what not.


That's just an example. There are plenty of scandalous things going on within the grading realm that we don't see until we get screwed, ripped off, etc... unless you are CARD SMART and very aware of past and present happenings, you will eventually become a victim too eventually. You may have invested in a valuable high end graded card and you might not even know if it's been trimmed, altered, etc just so it could have that high grade obtained because of a deal that was cut. Makes you really wonder sometimes.

Is buying raw cards the way to go again because of the "uncertainty" out there within the graded card community?


If you buy a card raw, you might be worried about the realness. If you buy a graded card, not only the realness is questioned but you are/will have that thought about whether or not the grading company graded it correctly too...


Do you guys think examples such as this are continuously happening in the hobby? If so, what are your opinions and what should be done to prevent this crap from happening?


My idea?

Graded cards should have the GRADERS NAME or EMPLOYEE # on the back so if there are issues with sellers/dealers bumping up the grades somehow then you would be able to call that particular company and state your case.

Of course having the evidence to go with your case would be required of course if disputing.


I think this would eliminate graded cards that have been trimmed, crossed over, fixed for higher graded sales, etc...

Good idea? Your thoughts?

[JMF_PR83]

I saw your post on the Forum and that is a great idea... However, I doubt it will happen. This makes me want to get out of the hobby.

Think about it, you purchase a card from eBay thinking is in Mint Condition (b/c is stated in the description) and when you receive it its no where near to being Mint. So, you go an start buying graded cards b/c you would think that the grade is consistent with the card... but, that is not the case for all the cards, specially those that have the potential of selling for Thousands of Dollars.

[tristanrules]

Pretty sure beckett would have some sort of database to know who graded which cards. Would it really matter? Probably not

[jacobystealshome]

Some dealers have it in good with Beckett and PSA to where they might pay extra $$ or work out a deal to get the grade they want in order to bump their selling price online for more profit...especially if cards are graded on site at a show or what not.

that's some pretty libelous suggestions, and you better have SOMETHING to back such a wild accusation up of BGS or PSA

no offense

[vgqv]

And now another reason to add to my list as to why I don't buy graded cards..

Please note,, I'm hoping I do not have a seizure or epileptic shock after that vidfeo file above.. whoa

[rare23air83]

I've heard many shady stories although I would never know if they are 100% true. But with Scammers such as Kevin Burge who's been known and caught producing fake patches, autos and trimmed cards to get slabbed by different Graders... is hurting the hobby considerably.

He's not the only one. At least I don't think so because many cards in PSA 10 and BGS 9.5 slabs have been caught being trimmed and having fake patches being flipped around on the bay. That is a known fact as scans of the card that were slabbed were compared with the same exact card ungraded before they were slabbed with chipped edges and dinged corners that miraculously disappeared with evidence of the card slimming down.

I've also heard from more than one person that some people pay under the table to their local RCR graders to receive favorable grades. Once they are labeled 9.5... all you have to do is send it to BGS and they will have to honor the grade and slab it. Voila. You've now turned a $1.5k card to a $5k card.

I don't particularly blame Grading companies as a whole. After all, they are human beings that grade hundreds and thousands of cards. There's definitely a chance for a few to slip by and get slabbed thanks to evil scammers that constantly submit them until it passes through... but the majority of graded cards are still pretty authentic. Or so I would like to believe. Docking the entire grading system would be a bit unfair. I guess you just really have to be careful before spending the premium on the grades and make sure it's a legit Gem Mint card.

Sad thing is, it doesn't even matter if this continues. People will still prefer high graded cards and still pay for the premium all day long.

[Topgun1983]

I have had an issue myself with Beckett grading services not all that long ago, I sent a #57 Jordan rookie of which I have owned for about 15 years and it was in my eyes a real rookie not a fake, I sent it for grading via express from Australia with a 2 day turnaround which cost me a small fortune only to have it returned ungraded with questionable authenticity on the report, yet I was still charged, so even though I was disappointed, I advertised it on eBay and it sold for $400 raw, a few weeks latter the eBay buyer sent me a message saying Thankyou for the awesome card it graded a psa 8 and was authentic ! Needless to day I felt extremely angry and let down by bgs, I sold a genuine Jordan rookie not knowing if it was real anymore after my experience so I to think Beckett grading needs a massive overhaul and some kind of system to police the grading by there staff so it's consistent !

[quavis]

I see it more as shop owners send in more items too be graded which grading services like of course, so in turn, they are a little more likely to get a better grade. I doubt they are trimming cards for better grades. Its would be obvious in the casing that the card has been trimmed IMO.

[mickey7mantle7]

I see it more as shop owners send in more items too be graded which grading services like of course, so in turn, they are a little more likely to get a better grade. I doubt they are trimming cards for better grades. Its would be obvious in the casing that the card has been trimmed IMO.

Not so much...

What about the infamous T206 Wagner card graded a PSA 8? Turns out it was trimmed. If that can sell for millions and trick 1000's, then why wouldn't any other card? Just sayin'...

[quavis]

That wasnt a standard card size. Most of us werent alive back then, so we wouldnt know what the actual card size would be. Its hard to not be fooled when you have nothing to compare it to. If i had a standard size card graded, I would be able to tell if it were trimmed. The grading company probably didnt know it was trimmed either. I dont think they trimmed the t206. Im sure it has happened in the industry, but not enough to where we need to be afraid.