Why I'm Subbing With CSG (kinda)
Something a little different today… This is almost more like a Top 100 email that I’d send to my 100 most active readers (judged by clicks etc…) compared to an article I’d usually write, but I’ll give a little Champions League wrap up tomorrow.
Anyway…. As an Aussie, most hobby news drops overnight for me.
So, often, when shit goes down, my morning feels a little like this:
Especially when the news is grading related. So you can imagine the double-header of chaos that I woke up to last week with PSA halting a large percentage of future orders, and then SGC tripling their prices overnight.
My general thoughts on the matter are:
If you can get paid more to do less work - then go for it. Would you rather sell one card for $1000 profit, or 100 cards for $10 profit?
People complain that they want the grading service and experience to be better but complain when the price increases
If PSA’s 12-million card backlog (or whatever it is) is true, then that’s fucked. I worked retail and if I had three people in the line I’d get anxious
PSA take on a lot of the risk in your transaction with them. They basically hold your cards for free and you don’t have to pay until the cards have been graded. If, for example, the card market was to completely bottom out and people had a bunch of $10 cards in the que that they wanted to turn into $100 cards with a PSA 10 - then I’m sure a bunch would just cancel orders/not pay/whatever they needed to do to bail on paying a few grand grading costs for cards worth next to nothing. If you’re paying $300 to get a card graded, odds are it’ll be worth that even in a bottomed out market
That’s not even to mention the insurance and storage costs.
I’m sure with PSA, like in any business, it’s the people who pay the least that complain the most. I’ve done some freelance writing work on the side and the clients paying me peanuts would always complain about some useless shit and be emailing me a minute past the due date if it wasn’t in their inbox (and sometimes if it was) - whereas the ones paying top dollar had better things to do
SGC were not ready for the absolute avalanche that was going to come their way… and we all know how that turned out. And, refer to point one.
I’m not saying my thoughts on the topic are right or wrong, but that’s where I stand on it with the info that I’ve got.
One added bonus in this whole grading fiasco is that it gives you a chance to check out other options.
I know a lot of people have been heading to HGA for their cards, and they were someone that I looked at - but new(ish) company that I’ve been sussing out is CSG.
I’m already a CSG member due to their affiliation with comic grader, CGC (more on that soon).
CSG - The (not so) New Kid on the Block
I say kinda new because CSG are the sports leg of the Certified Collectibles Group - which is basically an organization that’s made up of independent companies that grade and certify a range of collectibles.
They’re the biggest (or one of the biggest) player in coins, paper money, magazines, non-sport trading cards, and comic books.
CSG are their foray into sports cards.
You may have seen their slab images when they were released last year - or maybe you’ve spotted them on eBay recently (there’s more and more popping up).
The slab design copped a lot of flack when it first released, and while it isn’t my favorite thing out there (it’s 100% not the worst I’ve seen though) - it’s actually kind of grown on me a little.
And anyway, that’s purely an aesthetic thing that can be updated in the future.
So, I thought I’d give CSG a try
What I’m Subbing and Why I’m Doing It
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not subbing in $10,000 cards here yet. However, I have completed the order for, and tomorrow will post fifty cards tomorrow morning Australian time (for some of you, by the time you read this).
There’s a wide range of cards though, including, but not limited to:
Some Jamal Musiala’s first Topps Now cards
Some Haaland Topps Crystal, and some FIFA 365 Norway stickers
A few older stickers, like a 91 Panini Calciatori Gabriel Batistuta
I’ve also thrown in some Stone Cold Steve Austin Living Set cards too because Wrestling rocks
There was a bunch of random stuff in there too - nothing too expensive, but enough to test them out!
And I mean test them out - One thing I wanted to try with CSG was their quick submit tool. For $2 a card, you don’t have to submit any card details and they’ll do it for you.
When you add that to their super-cheap bulk submission price of $8 a card, I’ll happily pay $10 a card to get it graded without having to manually submit the details for every card into their system.
In fact, all their pricing levels are great from what I can see.
How those prices look once they start getting more cards in, I don’t know. However, their CGC’s (CSG’s sister company) non sport trading card prices are a little more expensive with longer waiting time.
So that’s something to potentially go off.
Along with the pricing (and convenience), another main reason I chose CSG is because I believe in their pedigree. They have the backing of an organization that can make some real waves in the hobby.
I don’t know what their full service experience is like yet or how many graders they have/intend on having, but I see Sports collectables are almost the final frontier for Certified Collectibles Group - and I can see them really doing all they can to make this work.
However, as we all know, it’s up to CSG to try and work themselves out of the viscous cycle that competing grading companies have:
A new grading company’s re-sale prices won’t increase until more and more people start using a them, but people won’t use a new grading company until re-sale prices increase.
If CCG can work that out, then I think they’re on a winner.
Should You Grade With CSG
Fucked if I know… Maybe. But doing it just because I’m doing it is a pretty dumb reason to start.
Over time we’ll see how people take to CSG and if they can get a foothold in the hobby.
In the meantime, I’m still sending big cards (and all my tickets) to PSA.
Regardless, I’m excited to find out!
I’m also really excited to hear what you think. Let me know.
Your Next Steps
Let me know what you think. Agree? Disagree? Think I’m an idiot? Let me know either by replying to this email, or finding me on Instagram @soccercardsrock
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