So just recapping some information Scott and Jun talked about in their video in a very short spurt. I know Scott/Jun talked about PSA opening a shop in Japan w/ just a sign and doing nothing haha. Do we think that PSA/Beckett should create another Franchise that focuses only in Sports/Pokemon/Yugioh/etc hiring experts in only that specific TCG?
Would it even be possible to start a brand new grading company that focuses on certain TCG’s alone? The hiring process I could imagine would be grueling and would it be Scott or someone else who would do interviews? I mean it is such a plethora of information to really interview someone on… It baffles my mind to even think about it. We have talked about in the past that they need experts in Pokemon. Should they branch out to other countries? Scott/Jun talked about Japan possibly joining the grading seen, which would completely overwhelm PSA by ten-fold. I mention PSA since they have been more of a powerhouse for Pokemon vice Beckett.
What are your thoughts?
The reality with PSA is that it operates best the way it currently exists. There is no way to perfectly scale a professional staff to fluctuating demands for a service.
PSA has been doing a lot behind the scenes to target the Japanese demographic. They are trying to primarily grow baseball, as that is popular in Japan. Not sure how successful that has been.
Starting a new grading company is a massive risk. Similar to creating a new marketplace.
Japan starting a new company is much different. That could be sustainable.
An American company trying to make inroads there with a new product would be tough.
PSA/Beckett opening grading centres in multiple countries would help the massive delay and bring in new business. They would be better able to cater for region specific collectibles, eg NRL/AFL cards in Australia (I’m sure there’s other examples for every country). Additionally, people who do send in the bulk from outside North America would be able to send it a country closer to them, helping alleviate the USA grading centre pressures. While demand may not be as high in other countries; it is all scale-able with the amount of graders you employee.
A down side I can see from this would be getting consistency from centre to centre but this isn’t impossible to work around.
I personally would grade a substantial amount if cards it wasn’t so expensive with shipping, conversion rates, and then the long wait times.
I know that Jun said something in the video a long the lines of the Japanese not viewing the grading service the same as Americans and that they do not really see the value as we do. Also in my interpretation, they rarely even touch their cards and grade anything for that matter or if anything it is new and upcoming.
I think the UK would be the next powerhouse as far as grading. I guess it really depends on the testing waters as far as demand. I am wondering if PSA even takes into consideration the demographics/demand on where the cards are coming from to see if it would benefit them expanding into other countries.
A UK site would theoretically benefit the European market, which surely isn’t small. But given the fact that there is no free trade between the UK and the European continent it still wouldn’t be as appealing to send cards there. What would be the point? There’s Ludkins Collectables as a service, which wouldn’t change (for example becoming cheaper) just because of a PSA location in the UK. So in terms of PSA growing in order to process submissions faster and become more knowledgable about Pokémon a site in Europe doesn’t really make sense. Also there is really no other TCG besides Pokémon that is popular - except YuGiOh maybe - so no perspective of growth, which is why I think it is very unlikely that we’ll see PSA anywhere in Europe.
Opening one in Japan is a whole different thing. This is a case of tapping into a new market thus generating growth, because graded cards haven’t made it as far into the community yet (as Jun said in the video). And here lies another problem, I think. IF they are planing to expand to Japan just in order to expand I think it’s the wrong direction. They should go to Pokémon-land in order to become more knowledgable about the Pokémon TCG. And then they can build up a market for Baseball cards over there as well. For this reason Japan is the only reasonable location outside the US at the moment.
PSA needs, in my opinion, to grow (employ more people) in the US first and foremost and hire Pokémon experts.
Contrary to popular belief but… Magic is more popular than Pokemon in most card shops in Japan. I’m not saying that there isn’t Pokemon sections or that it isn’t plausible but in terms of Pokemon experts in Japan grading or opening a branch in Japan… As stated by say Scott or Charlie the demand just isn’t there for Japan. Pokemon is primarily a kids card game there, whereas if you venture into these card shops close to closing time… it is a lot of teenagers-adults looking at YGO or Magic. Both those TCG sets, as noted the same in North America… Aren’t typically your graded cards because people purchase those to play not to save.
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