General Forum

I like their concept of their process of grading, but after submitting 5 cards to them, I'm not pleased. Although I haven't received them back yet, there are already issues with two cards I sent.

• 1998 SPx - Grand Finale #18 Brett Favre
• They are listing this as the Gold parallel... because they did that for another contributer. "We want to stay consistent." This card has a gold hologram on the back. All other parallels have a silver hologram.
• 1992-93 Topps #363 Shaquille O'Neal
• They are calling this a 'Rookies' variation, despite it being from the base set. I explained to them the only other version is the gold foil parallel.

I've looked at their population report and noticed that their set & insert names are all over the place. Where do they get their info from, and if they want to change something... contact the submitter first.

thanks for the heads up!

I finaly got a reply from HGA, which also included their phone #. They use Panini and Cardboard Connection for their referencing. I tried looking up both of my cards that are in question on teh CC site, and neither are listed! I will try my darndest to get them to use our site here. So much more info and easier to navigate. I'll keep you posted.

Based on what I've seen with some of mine I think they also use PSA cards listed on Ebay. But that is just my gut feeling.

They just populate the label with whatever the user inputs on the submission (I typed Ken Griffey Jr. without the comma and that's what is on the pop report and on the label) but they are moving to drop down menus for everything soon that will be populated by cardboard connection and where ever else they are sourcing their info so that everything is consistant. I think at that point they will work back and fix the pop report. Also if they do mess up a label (or you typed it in wrong) they will take the card back and fix it free of charge from what I've seen and their customer service typically gets back to you quickly. I think overall they are doing a good job so far and if they do mess up they are trying to make it right (I got a partial refund because my 60 day took longer than that) and they are trying to be a leader when it comes to customer service. At least you can get your cards back in a reasonable timeframe for a reasonable price unlike PSA. Some of the stuff seems to be selling at simliar prices too depending on the card. I just did mine for my own collection because I liked the way the labels looked and I didn't want my cards sitting at PSA or somewhere else for months and months and months.

Also, PSA makes the same type of mistakes (wrong names/card descriptions on slabs) so it's not like HGA is screwing up in a way no one else is. They have only been doing this since I think February and they've been trying to limit how fast they expand and how many submissions they take and are looking to open several knew locations. I'm hoping they get some of the kinks ironed out because it's always good to have some competition for PSA. Also they don't charge you different fees depending on what the card is worth which I think is great since they are performing the same service no matter what the card is worth. 

Also I have the same Shaq card graded by them and it says "1992-93 Topps Rookie #362.  If they really want to put some kind of subset name on there is should say "Draft Pick" or "'92 Draft Pick" but I agree I'd rather see it just say Topps but it doesn't bother me either way.

They are getting very good reviews on FB and they respond very quickly to posts apparently.  As mentioned before, they have been quick to replace labels.