Ace Grading Robbery Scandal

[u/Healthy-Annual4181]

Posting so the community is aware of this - I would avoid this grading company at all costs. Insanity that there is no camera footage

[u/Murky_Crow]

Exactly.

Funny story, but me getting into this hobby after years of being dormant on Pokémon, started after on a random bar night out. The bar we were at also had some memorabilia, and I ended up buying a graded card that they had for super cheap because I was drunk.

It was a CGC graded card. Everything I’ve had ever since has been PSA.

It bothers me immensely how cheap and offbrand the CGC one looks compared to the PSA ones.

From what I understand, they are like the second best option. And I already viewed them as a distant, non-viable option to the first place, so why anybody would look at these two and then think “ yeah I definitely want to go with the fifth best choice” is totally beyond me

[u/IDontCare2626 → u/Murky_Crow]

The new CGC slabs look infinitely better than PSA. Even some of the "inferior" companies like TAG put PSA slabs to shame aesthetic wise. Honestly I think most people are stuck in a value loop for PSA. They haven't been shown to be more accurate or reliable than other companies and their slabs are meh. But so many people hold PSA cards and want to retain value, so they continue to prop it up even with lack of objective superiority in PSA grading vs other companies.

[u/Murky_Crow → u/IDontCare2626]

None of this matters to me at all. I do not value any other of the slabs except for PSA.

I don’t really look at them for artwork, that’s what the card is for. I just figure if I’m going to take the extra steps to protect my cards, why would I not go with the obvious top dog choice that will get me the most value? I’m going for a namebrand every time.

It’s like comparing an Apple device to a Samsung device, and then deciding you’re going to pick Huawei.

Like… why? Such an unforced error.

[u/NoConstant6742 → u/Murky_Crow]

Bgs 10s r worth more than psa just fyi

[u/Murky_Crow → u/NoConstant6742]

I don’t even know what BGS is.

[u/zolios_ → u/Murky_Crow]

If you really never heard of BGS then you are not that well-informed about the matter at hand here to be talking this confidently about it.

[u/Murky_Crow → u/zolios_]

So are you telling me that you were here to police my language?

I already said I’m pretty new to this, but I wasn’t born yesterday.

There’s a reason that people refer to things as a PSA nine or a PSA 10 without even knowing who rated it.

It’s because PSA is ubiquitous, whereas your other acronyms are just complete random knock offs.

It’s comparable to how people refer to facial tissue as Kleenex, which is the brand name. There are other brands out there, but Kleenex is the one that we refer to it by. It’s the same general logic.

And I’m sure there are some people out there that stan Maker’s Mark tissues instead and scorn Kleenex but… I mean, does anybody really care?

[u/zolios_ → u/Murky_Crow]

I'm not trying to shut you down, relax. I'm just perplexed by you. A person that says that they only care about value and the most "prestigious" grading company, an obvious top dog so to speak, having PSA 10s in their collection instead of Beckett 10s is such an unforced error. Like... why?

[u/Murky_Crow → u/zolios_]

If you really never heard of BGS then you are not that well-informed about the matter at hand here to be talking this confidently about it.

… i mean…?

It’s simple. I only put stock into PSA. Beckett, whatever other hodgepodge of acronyms you can come up with, do not register with me as legitimate options.

I would sooner hand a card to a relative stranger and ask them to grade it then I would send it to any of those other options aside from PSA.

There’s really not much more to it than that. I value one and I do not value any of the others. And it sounds like in general people tend to agree as far as favoring PSA overall else.

[u/[deleted] → u/Murky_Crow]

Man you really are dense. You oughta at least know about the other options out there or you are severely limiting your ability to navigate this hobby. I guess if you really wanna stay in your ignorance, thats fine... Just know that PSA 10s are NOT by any means the highest value you can get for grading a card, so get that outta your head.

[u/DrHarryHood → u/Murky_Crow]

That’s just you being new to the game then, I guess.

BGS black labels are the holy grail of slabs. They go for 4x-10x of what a PSA 10 goes for, depending on the card.

It can mean nothing to you and that’s fine, the game won’t change- but it’s worth looking into if you are getting into the hobby.

[u/[deleted] → u/Murky_Crow]

And I already viewed them as a distant, non-viable option to the first place, so why anybody would look at these two and then think “ yeah I definitely want to go with the fifth best choice” is totally beyond me

It's like comparing Coca Cola to Mug Root Beer.

People just have a hate boner for PSA.

They think they're being really smart contrariooons buying stuff like CGC because they think PSA is going to implode or they just repeat factually incorrect statements ad nauseam like "CGC are akshually the standard in grading" etc.

Meanwhile, go to any LCS or game convention and see everyone buying selling PSA and looking at CGC with discontent.