General Forum

I just submitted my first grading request to Beckett Grading Services.  All tolled, it will cost me about $50.  Is that typical?  Any recommendations on grading services other than Beckett?  Or is Beckett an ok way to go?

Thanks, David

Beckett is good.  It's one of the ones I use.  I don't  get cards graded as much any more.  But when I do it's always 40 at a time.  Sent in 4 different directions.  Why?  I have 3 sons.  Each one comes with his own mom.  And each one has there moms personality.  All 3 are complete opposites of each other.  Except for 1 thing.  There stubborn as hell.  To the point where neither will budge on anything.  When grading became popular a couple of years ago, I decided to give it a try.  Of course each son had there own opinion on where the best place to send them was.  Since neither would budge, I just had them pick 10 cards each they wanted graded and send them to the grader they picked.  So 10 went to Beckett.  10 to PSA.  And 10 to SGC.  And since I could'nt show favoritism to either son (shakes head) the 10 I wanted graded ended up going to FGS (yes I know).    

I haven't had anything graded in awhile.  So I don't know what the current prices are.  But Beckett was always the most expensive out of the 4.  FGS the least.  Beckett has the best looking holders.  Nice and thick.   SGC use black inserts in there's which makes it look good.  PSA and FGS use basic holders.  But there thin and an easy to stack

Truth be told I don't see much difference in the quality of work.  Can't even say one is really better than the other one and actually believe it.  But than again a part of me always thought grading was nothing but bulls**t.  

 In Australian we have Card Grading Australia and they are awesome, service and communication are 100%. 

 I would say probably Beckett is the most respected.  If you want a good name to back your graded card, then going with Beckett is probably the way to go.  I don't know anything about the others though so, I can't tell you if people have a good opinion of those companies or not.  My advice would be to do some research and see who has a more respected name among those who collect graded cards.  The other thing to think about is, "Is the price I pay to get the card graded going to increase the value that much?"  What I mean is, if you pay $50 to get a card graded, will that help increase the price of the card if the player doesn't achieve the stardom expected or if the grade is low and other cards are graded higher.  I don't know if grading cards is really worth it in the long run.  Unless you get lucky and get a Mint/Near Mint grade on the card for an established star's rookie card.

 That's a really good question.

I've always been a bit skeptical of grading services. Grading came very close to destroying the coin market and you can argue it hasn't helped trading cards much either. 

Several questions come to mind:

Does someone who submits one or two cards every now and then get the same attention to their submissions as someone who sends in 50 or 100 cards several times a month for grading? Maybe they do...but, generally, companies are much more generous to clients who spend $1000 a month than those who spend $10. That's just the way that business works.

If you take the 10 point scale that most companies use to grade cards, unless the card you want graded is either extremely scarce or what is called "vintage" (I think that's pre-1975 for baseball and pre-1980 for other sports), there is no profit to be made unless it comes back 9 or higher, and only a 10 will really make you any money. Coins have a 70 point grading system and the "cuttoff" grade- the score at which coins take a HUGE leap in value- is 65. We're talking a coin that grades out a 65 might be worth $5000 while one that grades out at "only" 64 might be worth $500. Is anyone's eyes really that good- even with the help of a loop or microscope? And does each grader have the same standards?

Beckett is, as stated above, the most respected grading service. They also happen to have the most respected pricing guides...which include prices for professionally-graded cards. Is that a potential conflict of interest? I say that it is. It is in their best business interest to report that Beckett-graded cards sell for higher prices than those graded by, say, PSA, so might they grade cards higher than they deserve, at least on occasion, so as to be able to report that they're the best?

For me, the only service that I would want from a company would be to certify that my card is authentic and not a counterfeit (and that would go for autographs as well). Past that, in my mind there's just to much room for manipulation.

yokonashiwa wrote:  I would say probably Beckett is the most respected.  If you want a good name to back your graded card, then going with Beckett is probably the way to go.  I don't know anything about the others though so, I can't tell you if people have a good opinion of those companies or not.  My advice would be to do some research and see who has a more respected name among those who collect graded cards.  The other thing to think about is, "Is the price I pay to get the card graded going to increase the value that much?"  What I mean is, if you pay $50 to get a card graded, will that help increase the price of the card if the player doesn't achieve the stardom expected or if the grade is low and other cards are graded higher.  I don't know if grading cards is really worth it in the long run.  Unless you get lucky and get a Mint/Near Mint grade on the card for an established star's rookie card.

 At 47 years old, I just started collecting football cards in December of 2012.  I'm still a novice at collecting, currently I do have up to 4000 cards from various companies as well as types.  I was strongly considering getting my high value cards graded by Beckett (For my Modern cards) and PSA (For my vintage cards).  In general, you must ensure that the cards that you choose to be graded will increase in value or you as the consumer will loose money in such a situation.  A good example is; "My 1992 Topps Stadium Club Brett Favre Card".  Without it being graded, I feel that the card could have the potential of selling in the secondary market for at or around $60.00 on average.  Because I'm not a grader, I do not know the real value of the card.  If this card is graded at a 8 or 9  I would not be able to make my money back.  If it was graded at 9.5 or better yet a 10, then this would be the ideal situation.  But this is not always the case.  It's a chance that the collector takes when grading.  You take a chance in the cost of grading a card as well as it returning with a lower grade.  Sometimes it's in your best interest to keep the card in a non-graded situation.  In my humble opinion; "It's best to place your prized collectibles in a magnetic one touch holder or place it in a penny sleeve and then into a top loader, and keep it in pristine condition for the next generation of sports card collectors !

 You said you spent approximately $50 on the grading.     How many cards did you have graded?