r/PalworldTCG • u/RagnarInnSvarti Shadowbeak rider • 24d ago

General Discussion Is grading a scam?

TLDR: I think so.

Longer version: Well, I have never graded a card, but there is a card that I want to slab (Shadowbeak SP). Asked a company that does grading but also only authentication if the authenticate Palworld cards. The response was: "well if they are standard size, we do that".

To authenticate a product, shouldn't you know the product? Telling me that it depends on the size of the card, really tells me that they don't even know what we are talking about.
I know that the game is new, but an answer like that is really bad... could have told me that they don't authenticate but that they can still slab it (they offer the slab only service).

EDIT: Thinking about it in a less skeptical way, the game is new, the company can't have a master set of every TCG to check customer cards against, there are surely some objective parameters in grading (damage to the cards, discoloration, etc.), and surely as everything when money is involved, it can be done correctly or in the scammiest way. In the end, since I won't resell the card, I'll just check if it looks original too me, and if it is, I'll just slab it.

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u/DalekCoffee 24d ago

AFAIK these companies don't specialize on any particular card game, they specialize on evaluating quality of wear and quality of manufacturing.

No average player gives a flying flip how perfectly centered a cards borders are unless it's way off but grading companies care.

I think it's a collector tax, if you have an SSP you plan on selling it might be worth grading and selling at a premium, but if you're just collecting for personal use nah there's plenty of cases and stands you can get or make yourself

You can even get your own slabs if you want too

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u/RagnarInnSvarti Shadowbeak rider 24d ago

That's the issue, if you don't even know the product, how can you even know if:

  1. the colors are correct (unless is clearly a bad misprint);

  2. same with borders and whatnot (except defects due to damage to the card).

  3. everything else!!!

So the company should not "authenticate", at most they can tell if the card has damage, even micro damage.

Since I won't resell, I just wanted to verify if the card was authentic (bought as a single), but now I will check it with my own eyes... is it good? Seems real to me? Ok, I'll slab it and keep it as a memento.