(02-26-2012, 01:03 PM)rusty222 Wrote: Well I knew you would disagree with me but for me its easy decision. Assume we have a card that is really great condition with no apparent flaws. Do I send card to BGS to get a 9.5? Or do I send to PSA to get a 10 AND then have option to be able to sell it for 20-50% more? Hmmm. I think I am going to send it to PSA. In the process BGS has lost my business as PSA 10 will make the card more VALUABLE. But if you want to keep paying BGS to keep giving you those 9.5's then go right ahead.
The short version of why I'm in the BGS camp despite the $$ associated with PSA: PSA really p*ssed me off the first time I sent cards to them for grading...
The not really that long version: I couldn't decide to go with BGS or PSA for my first submission and they were both (as they always are) at the 2009 GBSCC show outside of Boston, MA. I chose PSA because they had more customers, were the original grader, and seemed most likely to be around/hold value for the next 25+ years. So I submitted 3 Arod 94 SP cards and 1 Jeter 93 SP, all personally pulled by me from packs(the Arods all from the same killer box!). Because I wasn't a member it set me back $60 total. It seemed really steep but I figured what the heck. My anxiously awaited cards finally came back in the mail. The results? Arod 7, Arod 8.5, and two evidence of trimming. WTF!! was my first reaction, and pretty much every other reaction after that. As Chris has pointed out many times on these boards, every grader can have a bad day, and eventually everyone will have their cards graded by a new grader. But to find evidence of trimming when I know there couldn't me really got me. It seemed to me at the time that either PSA graders were incompetent or someone wanted to leave early on Friday. Either way I basically paid $60 to have 2 cards graded with no chance of a refund. I haven't touched PSA since.
In retrospect the reverse could have easily happened, but my reality is I burned $30 with PSA and got a BGS 8.5 Arod and 9 Jeter for the same two cards. Eventually I'll try PSA again, especially since I have a bunch of clean HOF cards from 70-79, but for now I'm still holding my silent protest.
Maybe this wasn't so short; thanks for reading if you got this far...
Doug