[charnick]

Over at the BlowoutCards.com forums, people are often complaining about their grades, and often decide to blame it on a "bad day" for the grader. I know that PSA has at least 2 graders and in many cases more look at each card:

"In addition, the sheer number of graders assigned to each card can vary depending on the type of card submitted. In all cases, at minimum, two graders are assigned to every card.

Here's an example – if you were to submit a 1965 Topps Willie Mays – this is how the grading process would work:

Each grader receives the order and they will enter the order number into the computer. Once that is done, the contents of that order will appear on the PSA grading screen. Grader #1 will then enter his grade for the card in question (and for each card within the order until the order is completed if there is more than one card) and close the order on his screen. Once that is done and after redistribution of the order, Grader #2 will do the same – not knowing the opinion of the first grader on any of the cards within that order.

If their grades match in the computer, the card would then eventually reach a 3rd grader for verification of the grade. If the opinion of the first two graders does not match, that card will be assigned to a 3rd grader whose opinion is required to break the tie, so to speak. As with the first example, the card would still be assigned to another grader for verification (a 4th grader in the process) to make sure the grade is accurate and consistent with our standards."

http://www.psacard.com/services/psa_grad...cess.chtml

Does anyone know how many BGS graders look at each card? I feel like this is something that one shouldn't be able to chalk up to just having a bad day.

[creativemunky]

I believe just one. I had a discussion or two about my cards that were graded or not graded and the sales rep always spoke of "The grader" as a singular term. Example: Me complaining about a few of my 90's autographs that were not graded-his response: "maybe the grader didnt feel comfortable grading them under his name".

[nolan5000]

I know in some instances, two graders have looked at a card.

[y2hood]

I have nothing official or in writing to back this up, and to elaborate further on Nolan5000's post, I believe I read somewhere at some point here a 10 must be verified by more than one grader.


Beyond that I have no credentials to say one way or the other.

[ricelynnevans75]

I believe I read somewhere at some point here a 10 must be verified by more than one grader.

Feeding off of this and nolan5000's post as well, this would make total sense to me. I really don't think it would make sense in regards to time/money to have multiple graders look at each and every card. However, when you're getting into the cards that are likely to be high visibility such as a BGS 10 or a very desirable/well known card, you're going to want a few people to check it out before it heads out the door just to be certain. We've all seen threads across the internet when a grading company screws up and bad publicity is never a good thing.

[charnick]

Feeding off of this and nolan5000's post as well, this would make total sense to me. I really don't think it would make sense in regards to time/money to have multiple graders look at each and every card. However, when you're getting into the cards that are likely to be high visibility such as a BGS 10 or a very desirable/well known card, you're going to want a few people to check it out before it heads out the door just to be certain. We've all seen threads across the internet when a grading company screws up and bad publicity is never a good thing.

Well, maybe you'r right in regards to time, as Beckett pretty much hits their deadlines every time, while every sub I've ever had with PSA has been delayed, but the more I think about this, the more I think Beckett loses a little bit of luster with me if just one person is the lone arbiter of the grade. You have to have some oversight here. I mean, if a grader's girlfriend breaks up with him the night before, or he stubs his toe on the way to the fridge for a midnight snack, every card he looks at the next day becomes suspect. Maybe he just wants to get out of work for the day, maybe they have quotas like motorcycle cops with tickets, but without a second person to verify those grades, the whole process loses its entire credibility. At least with PSA, at least two people look at each card to verify each other's work, and if one rogue graders has an outlier, they are at least held accountable. I actually can't believe more people aren't interested in knowing the actual process the cards go through once they get to BGS. I hold no one company's water, but at least PSA spells out this process on their web site. As far as BGS goes, all I see on BO Forums are total guesses and complete speculation. But as long as those crazy prospectors get their 9.5's they don't seem to care!

[ricelynnevans75]

Well, maybe you'r right in regards to time, as Beckett pretty much hits their deadlines every time, while every sub I've ever had with PSA has been delayed, but the more I think about this, the more I think Beckett loses a little bit of luster with me if just one person is the lone arbiter of the grade. You have to have some oversight here. I mean, if a grader's girlfriend breaks up with him the night before, or he stubs his toe on the way to the fridge for a midnight snack, every card he looks at the next day becomes suspect. Maybe he just wants to get out of work for the day, maybe they have quotas like motorcycle cops with tickets, but without a second person to verify those grades, the whole process loses its entire credibility. At least with PSA, at least two people look at each card to verify each other's work, and if one rogue graders has an outlier, they are at least held accountable. I actually can't believe more people aren't interested in knowing the actual process the cards go through once they get to BGS. I hold no one company's water, but at least PSA spells out this process on their web site. As far as BGS goes, all I see on BO Forums are total guesses and complete speculation. But as long as those crazy prospectors get their 9.5's they don't seem to care!

Hey, you gotta go with what best suits your needs. I've used both PSA and BGS in the past and can't say I had any issues with anything from either company. All grading companies are going to have errors made, regardless if there is one person grading or 5, and simple internet searches will turn them up

What I do know is that when people show something wrong with a BGS card, at least on these forums, one of the mods here has some sort of "in" with BGS and they will try to do something to fix the problem. At least, I've seen that a few times anyway, don't know how often it happens. Also, IF BGS uses just one grader per card, they apparently aren't doing too bad of a job with it. I've busted cards out of BGS and PSA slabs to cross over to another company before and the solid majority cross over equally, with the occasional dip in .5-1 point.

[hercules21]

I actually can't believe more people aren't interested in knowing the actual process the cards go through once they get to BGS. I hold no one company's water, but at least PSA spells out this process on their web site. As far as BGS goes, all I see on BO Forums are total guesses and complete speculation.

I think lots of people are interested, but Beckett isn't obligated to tell you anything about its proprietary processes. I hope they do have some sort of third party evaluate them from a quality control standpoint.

They do at least offer some guidelines on the sub-grade scales on their website. And you can always send back in for a regrade, albeit for a cost. would be nice if they waived the cost if the card did come back a different grade. like someone else said, some of the local reps can help you out too.

[coimbre 21]

At an open house at Beckett offices here in Dallas about three years ago, the grading team was asked that question during larger audience Q & A. Their response was "at least two". I don't know if that policy has changed any since.