PSA Grading Costs – 2022 Update
Understanding The eBay Sports Card Authenticity Guarantee
It's been a little while since eBay announced the first steps to help alleviate the wrath of counterfeit cards sold on its platform.
I thought it would be a good time to update collectors on some of the feeback from the program, while helping to provide more clarity on the details.
First things first, let's take a step back to discuss the details of eBay's Authenticty Gurantee for sports cards.
SGC Card Grading Review – Is It Better Than PSA?
PSA gets all the fanfare, but SGC is the second oldest grading company in the hobby.
Launched in 1998, about seven years following the start of PSA, SGC has built a reputation as one of the most trustworthy and reliable card graders in the business.
Unfortunately, PSA graded cards still sell at a sizeable premium to both SGC and Beckett graded cards.
My hope is that at some point, SGC graded cards earn the due that they deserve.
As follows is a full review on SGC.
Please let me know your thoughts on SGC in the comments section.
Beckett Card Grading (A Collector’s Guide) BGS, BVG, BCCG
Beckett has long been a powerhouse in the media business.
It's monthly price guide magazines are synonymous with card collecting from the 80s and 90s.
Beckett Card Grading was launched back in 1999 and remains among the top tier of today's card grading companies.
In this piece, we review the history of Beckett Grading and explore some of the details of its different card grading options.
PSA Drops Standard Grading Price To $100, Is It Worth The Premium?
The Best Card Grading Companies: A Collector’s Survey
Is CSG A Worthy Competitor To PSA?
The sports card grading market has witnessed a lot of change over the past few years; excessive demand has led to an extreme shortfall of grading availability at the top tier graders, specifically PSA.Â
Like any burgeoning industry, entrepreneurs have launched into action, attempting to pick up the slack from some of the biggest grading companies. Â
One new entrant – Certified Sports Guaranty (CSG) which is backed by a successful comics and coin grading company launched this past February and is headed by a few former high-ranking card graders from Beckett.Â
But, we’ve seen many new upstart grading companies come and go in the past.
Does CSG have what it takes to compete against PSA?
Disrupting any of the top three grading companies (PSA, SGC, and Beckett) would be a monumental task, but I think CSG at least has a fighting chance to become a major player in the space. Their team of experienced card graders and success in other grading verticals gives them a higher probability of success. In my mind, probably the fiercest competitor we’ve seen in a long time.Â
Let’s explore CSG the company in more detail and discuss some of the reasons they may or may not be successful with their card grading venture.
Note that I did reach out to CSG multiple times to try and arrange an interview, but no one responded.Â
Have any experience with CSG?Â
Let us know in the comments or always feel free to shoot me an email at chris@allvintagecards.com
Step By Step Guide To Valuing Your Collection For Resale
One of the most common questions I get relates to figuring out the value of a collection and how it should be priced if selling it. Â
This is typically a common concern for newer collectors, those that have inherited a collection, or those that are returning to the hobby after a long hiatus.
It can be quite complicated to figure out a card’s value, especially if you’ve never bought or sold a card before.
While we have provided info on valuing cards, I thought it might be helpful to take a ‘live’ look at a collection that was sent to me. Â
Hopefully, this guide will help you determine accurate resale values for your cards, but if you’re still left scratching your head, feel free to shoot us an email at help@allvintagecards.com
How Hard Is It To Get A PSA 10 Grade?
One of the more frequent points of confusion I encounter with more novice collectors relates to card values and why most cards will never ever earn a perfect Gem Mint PSA 10 grade. Â
Many collectors see news articles about big-time PSA 10 graded cards selling for millions of dollars and immediately assume that they’ve hit the jackpot.Â
My conversation usually involves deflating their excitement and instructing them on the nuances of card condition, grading, and the ultimate variation in card values.Â
So how hard is it to actually get a perfect 10 grade from PSA (or any of the other card grading companies)?Â
It’s a complicated answer, but earning a perfect 10 card grade is extremely hard.
There are many factors to consider, however, including the card’s age, the overall population of the card, and whether there were any factory issues for that set in question. Â
In this piece, we’ll examine some of the statistics relating to the odds involved with earning a perfect 10 Gem-Mint card grade.Â
Do Screwdown Holders Damage Cards?
If you got started collecting in the 1980’s you might have kept some of your prized sports cards encased in what is commonly known as a screw-down holder.Â
When protecting your cards starting becoming paramount in the ’80s the screw-down holder was viewed as the premier way to encase your card. What better way to keep your card safe than holding it together with a big, gigantic piece of plastic held together with four tight screws. Â
Although it used to be the preferred way of protecting valuable cards, screw down holders can cause significant damage to sports cards. The pressure applied from the tightening of the screws can flatten out the card over time.Â
This can make it appear as if the card has been altered, and the grading companies will often reject cards stored in screwdown holders, returning them as ‘Altered’. Â
PSA recently announced that 
We’ve written extensively about