Grading/Authenticating Companies--Experiences

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mystical_tutor
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Grading/Authenticating Companies--Experiences

Post by mystical_tutor » Sat Aug 13, 2011 2:38 pm

This thread is to provide a location for information about grading and authenticating services.

It is not a place for rants. Please stick to facts.

For a person who has never used a grading service the first attempt can be a little frustrating as the industry uses it's own set of terminology and abbreviations (as does this forum and most any specialized group).

I would ask board members to record their experiences here and share what they have learned in order to assist collectors who might want to use a service for the first time or avoid a service that is unsatisfactory.
Gary Adkison
Father of a former Wizards of the Coast janitor.

Knowledge is proud because it thinks it knows so much; wisdom is humble because it realizes it knows so little.

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mystical_tutor
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Post by mystical_tutor » Sat Aug 13, 2011 3:16 pm

PSA:
My expierment with PSA was awhile back and the details are not clear but the bottom line was that from a spectrium of what I considered different card grades I got back one 10 one 9 and a bunch of 8s. Most likely this is because I am not sure what they consider for differences.

Lesson for me. Try hard to understand how they grade. With only one number for the final answer there is a lot of factors to consider.

I never sent a second bunch.

BGS: I just completed a trial run with BGS.

First I went to the web site. IMHO it is a disaster. They have a caviot that they are working on it but I waited a week for things to change and they didn't. As of this post nothing has improved (that would be over a month now).

This is most relevant for new users because the FAQ link that is required reading when printing out your grading submission form results in a "error 404 page not found" or some such. As a result of this I lacked valuable information about what was required to submit my cards--such as the authentication process (yes I am assuming that would be covered on the FAQ but am not sure).

Their on line submission form will not work for MTG submissions "because they don't have it in their data base".

On their submission form there is no reference to JSA (John spence Authentication) service which is required if you wish to submit autographed cards.

My 11 cards went in fine (of course I sent them registered as the value was around 4K) and came back a little early but only 4 cards were graded as the reast needed authentication for signatures.

They have a real nice email notification that gives you a link to check the status of your grading. This link did work on two occasions--the rest resulted in a notice that the order had not been shipped.

I have now been in contact with JSA as it seems the authentication process has a small concern for the serious collector. Their compensation policy states that they will not consider compensation unless a "proof of purchase" for the item is provided. I sent an email for clarification of this and got a call back the same day (yes, I am impressed). The person insured me that they meant proof of purchase of their service and not proof of purchase of the original item. They encouraged me, however, to take a valuable item to one of their shows and have it done on the spot. Their web site lists these and they seem to be mostly in the East but at least once a year they are in different parts of the country.
Gary Adkison
Father of a former Wizards of the Coast janitor.

Knowledge is proud because it thinks it knows so much; wisdom is humble because it realizes it knows so little.

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Post by Tha_Gunslinga » Sat Aug 13, 2011 4:18 pm

For whatever it's worth, I have seen a PSA-graded rebacked Beta Sapphire where the back was bubbling apart from a poor glue job. I have seen a lot of mislabeled PSA cards, whether it's the wrong set or wrong cardname on there. I would trust BGS a lot more, though it's a moot point, since I think grading is stupid and refuse to get my cards graded.

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