Why are there so many more grading companies now? And which one should I focus on collecting more and which one to avoid?
PSA, BGS and CGC.
The rest are a waste of time, in my opinion
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PSA: gold standard everyone uses. Best choice for resale value and collectible value overall. No sub-grades.
BGS: most reputable, respected, imo. Sub-grades available. Black labels on flawless cards which is an extra special chase for some collectorās. Very hard to obtain. Not the best if youāre grading for resale but nice if you care about sub-grades or are trying to get a 10, as BGS 10 is usually more valuable than PSA 10 (and black label is even better).
CGC: a comic company that got into grading cards. many collectors arenāt interested in CGC it sort of became an option for people because PSA was closed. I think itās mostly used by flippers and people who dont like PSA? Value is under PSA and BGS both. I wouldnāt personally use them but I know people that defend them so dyor I guess.
Other companies: donāt bother.
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There arenāt many grading companies, only a few legit companies, and a large handful of wannabies that are about to go out of ābusinessā even though they were never actually a business.
I donāt collect graded cards, but CGC slabs are by far the most appealing. The case is clear, the label is larger and limits abbreviation. PSA cases are foggy and the label abbreviates words very poorly. I never held a BGS case so canāt provide insight there.
Another note - PSA is a sports card grading company that does PokĆ©mon as a side business, a VERY LARGE side business, so partially joking there. However, they donāt seem too interested in listening to feedback from customers on updating the variants on cards. For example, it took years to get 1999-2000 put on the label for base set, fossil, etc. But CGC does the work for you and does this automatically.
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Thanks for the knowledge. I saw on ebay that thereās so many different labels and Iām likeā¦whatās going on here.
If you care about resale value, go with PSA. PSA tends to hold the most value out of the big three - PSA, BGS, CGC, except for maybe BGS and CGC 10s.
If its for your personal collection and you are not planning to sell, go with the company whose slab design you like best.
In terms of slab design, I agree with @eeveeteam that CGC slabs look the best. The plastic have the best clarity and it feels higher in quality than the other two. Some might find the blue label off-putting though but I think it looks fine.
PSA slabs always have random frosting spots on their cases. Their slabs feel kind of cheap and filmsy compared to CGC and BGS. Not to mention the bad abbreviations on the label as well.
BGS slabs have the lowest clarity in my opinion. Their slabs do provide better protection as it feels the most sturdy out of the three. One thing I notice is that BGS slabs tend to have more debri inside due to having an inner sleeve too.
That being said, most of my slabs are from PSA!
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Something worth mentioning is that a lot of the other grading companies have just popped up in the past couple years due to the increased popularity of slabs and card grading and the backlog at PSA & BGS. The problem is, they are unlikely to build a reputation long-term like PSA or other big graders and will probably go out of business as the bigger companies continue to open up more and lower their prices. It just wonāt make sense to grade with some startup/backyard grading company, and especially as slab prices have continued to drop and stabilize and a supply of PSA slabs continue to flood the market.
At this point within Pokemon, I would say PSA & CGC are your āgo toā for grading, with PSA still being the #1 choice for the majority of collectors. BGS has been around for card grading a while, but they have never had a great reputation among Pokemon collectors specifically until you get into higher end grades (BGS 9-9.5+).
Another factor is the era of cards you are collecting (i.e. vintage vs modern) can have an impact. For example, even though PSA is the dominant grader in Pokemon by a wide margin, some modern collectors have been going for CGC or BGS 10s specifically as people see Pristine, Black Label/Perfect grades as being a higher tier for collecting, so some people like the added chase of these higher tier grades over a PSA 10. It all depends on each collector preference, personally I am happy with a PSA 10 99% of the time, but I can see the appeal of wanting something unique like a Black Label in your collection.
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I totally agree with you 100%. Thatās why Iām chasing only PSA 10 and not the other grades. I saw white spots on a WATA 10 or whatever itās called and I dont think itās a true 10.
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strongly agree with your statement
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Sorry to burst your bubble but you will be disappointed if you expect PSA 10s to be free of white spots.
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I agree with everyone here about the PSA for value retention and liquidity compared to the other two. Personally I donāt really care for BGS, so Iād go CGC as my secondary.
I however want to echo what @jabby was saying about modern vs. vintage. I feel that as time goes forward and the number of modern PSA and CGC pristine 10ās inevitably skyrockets, the standard of excellence for modern cards will shift to CGC Perfect 10 out of demand for a rarer/higher difficulty to attain tier. In other words, PSA 10 modern cards will be too abundant because, on the whole, theyāre too easy to grade.
This is purely a theory though, and only time will tell what happens. But at this point, modern feels quite safe with CGC, may as well try for the perfect 10, while vintage Iād highly recommend PSA.
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Agreed with most everything here, but @pigeonsyndicate (and others?) brings up a good point about the context. I personally prefer the look of CGC but, itās not going to command the value return that PSA will. Especially for vintage. Legacy is solidly on PSAās pop report, but Modernā¦ ?
Someone also mentioned GEM 10 onlyā¦ and honestly, I think you should really consider the value of the slab to you. If Gem 10 or blacklabel, or whatever perfect standard is your need, then go for it, but I personally prefer nice 7-9 copies, and save the 10s for investment ONLY. Just my M.O.
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You right also but cgc 9.5 is a 10. Why not promise the 10? Cgc tries to hard to be Beckett
There are some common statements that are good starting points but need some context.
In comparing them, there is a huge difference in if you are someone who is wanting to grade cards themselves, if youāre making a personal collection, if you want to flip cards or whatever else you want to do.
Some time in long distance past, PSA had an offer for very low bulk cost submissions, this combined with Pokemon Bubble Boom (Does this have a name yet community???) lead to them being hugely over subscribed. They then hired a load more graders and started working through them at an increased rate.
I can only speak for myself, but I would never consider PSA for my personal collection on account of the fact that the label is disgusting. Secondly, because it is an American company, if I am to grade any cards myself I am paying a fortune in shipping and taxes. There are middlemen companies that exist, but there are lots of stories, my quick take away is that PSA customer service is shocking and if you are going through a middleman, itās even worse.
However, lotās of peopleās collections are in PSA, ESPECIALLY for vintage. WOTC era tends to be exclusively PSA.
Since PSA wasnāt grading for however long, CGC took up a lot of the mantle. They had an odd business model, which I can only assume was a carry over from comic books. In Comic Books, very very few CGC graded comics ever get 10, so much so that the CGC 9.8 is an accepted thing. I digress, CGC were very very stingy and there are lots of cross grading experiments showing a PSA 10 getting a CGC 8 etc. This lead to a strange circumstance of CGC having less value than PSA at the same grade, not withstanding that they would likely give a lower grade. They also have a reputation for being ruthless with centering.
None-the less, they picked up a lot of the slack for modern due to their ability to pseudo keep up with demand, and have graded millions of cards since PSA have closed their doors. The article above is interesting, but not confirmed by the company. In my humble opinion, I think that CGC competes with PSA for modern. Whilst most WOTC collections tend to be in PSA, new CGC collections have been forced by necessity due to the PSA closure.
BGS, In my humble opinion is overrated rubbish. They were closed for lots of the time that PSA are. They seem to live on the reputation of having a couple of black graded 10 charizards floating aboutā¦ They may be a good idea for a card that you think is absolutely mint and is a chase card, but I donāt know of anyone who has actually got a whole collection in BGS. (Iām sure they existā¦)
For reference, I personally use Ace Grading which was set up by Randolph and co. Itās one of the new companies set up recently and I use for the following reasons:
- The labels are pretty.
- I trust the grading.
- I live in the UK and the company is based in the UK .
If youāre making a personal collection and have no interest in selling it, go with whatever label you like best.
If youāre trying to make money, then you need to do some maths involving import costs, middlemen fees and the like.
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The cards are for personal collection. Reason why I am a bit upset. I made a video of the cards i shipped out to CGC. Cards are my buddies. Owns a lot of great cards. Been in tournaments and all. But when we got the cards back. They came damaged with lower grades. We were confused. Lucky him he owns a few hundred Tropical Wind cards. Se we are ok.