geraldfordfan69

2 hours ago, Christopher M said:

@mattyzeepgam- thank you so much for the reply!

ugh, agree with you about facebook. I've found some cool vintage cards for sale on there, but the amount of grown adults who are trying to scalp cereal boxes and McDonald's happy meals because they have a random crappy promo card is just pathetic. A lot of sketchy people on there lol. 

Agree with your insight on the grading, I'd get it graded just for confirmation it is legit, and also because I like the look of the CGC slabs. Shout out to CGC! This has been my 'chase' card for awhile now, but didn't feel like spending the amount required on a near mint one. Would just be for my personal collection. Understand it won't grade super high

The flippers I dont care about since everyone trying to hustle. I cant stand the lack of respect anyone has. People think just because they have an internet connection means that nobody is human and they can treat people like garbage. Most people on those groups are resellers and instead of minding their own business, everyone wants to attack each other and relive high school drama instead of staying in their lane. I tried using the Virbank group to move some products for market rate but too many tight wads with an attitude. 

And yeah I guess if you really want a CGC slab then it will pass grading. It will just get some low grade like a 3 or 4 probably. Maybe a 2 but Ive sent in some pretty banged up cards and lowest grade Ive gotten is 1.5 (which felt generous).

22 hours ago, Christopher M said:

Hello - would really appreciate some feedback from folks who are familiar with this specific card.

I just purchased a Japanese Shining Gyarados, and it seems like the front of the card is more a 'sticker'. This is unlike any other Pokemon card I've seen, and would normally make me think it's definitely a fake. However I've been trying to research and seems like others have had similar, if not exactly the same questions on this particular card. 

Apparently they made this and the Japanese Shining Magikarp differently with glossy fronts? The front is definitely glossy. The holo pattern seems exactly like the legit card should be, and would be a pretty impressive fake. 

I was planning on sending this in for grading, but if it's fake I need to return and get my money back ASAP. 

Would really appreciate it if a CGC mod could weigh in. (I am certainly not expecting an official ruling on my specific card via the internet, know it needs to be in person...but if you have any insight i.e. "typically this card does have a different material for the front that does seems to be more 'sticker-like' " )

Detailed images/video here https://imgur.com/a/v8rk8BC

Im not a mod but Ive handled Pokemon cards since the game hasbeen  released. Older Japanese cards are glossy. Especially the vending series cards. This card looks like its water damaged.

I dont believe its a fake. The texture is not off along with the foiling. It just looks like its peeling. Ive had lots of older cards that are damaged that feel this way.

And please get the hell off facebook lol. Those people are so clueless and hate everybody. 

And in terms of getting it graded, its not going to get a high grade no matter what since its damaged. I dont think its worth your time unless you plan to send it to consignment and have to get it graded. Its not going to be worth a ton of money no matter what, so if you bought it for resale, its not very profitable unless you bought it for next to nothing.

4 hours ago, ShiningCollectibles said:

Prices above Beckett isn't being transparent. They are new to the game. If they want these kind of prices they should wait a few years. This is really going to stop many people from submitting. I like them but two price increases in a year is nuts.

Yes please stop submitting so I can get my stuff back quicker LOL. I take it that you havent looked at the secondary market since BGS and CGC are basically equal when it comes to resale. There is no universe to where a small price increase will change anything. The market is on fire and they are just cashing in on it.

18 hours ago, Yeahiwasder4dat said:

I'm glad about sports cards though. They were worthless for so long. My brother was born early 80s so all his cards were trash and me in the early 90s all my cards are worth zilch. I don't really collect newer stuff I but I did get a Luzardo 1/5 auto from some topps chrome stadium. Was nice to pull something worth a few hundred. You have Trout selling for insane amounts, Roberts is a hot item. Sports needed that #s.

I'm more into Mantle as it's all my father talked about when I was a kid. When he passed a few years ago it gave me a much more sentimental attachment to some of the greats like Musial, Aaron, Mays, Mantle. A lifeline to those memories I began to understand why people are so attached to some cards and willing to pay small fortunes if they have it.

I haven't seen pokemon in a store since after Thanksgiving. Either you go to the same stores as me or that's what it looks like nation wide because you just described it perfectly. Hockey cards, wwe and mtg out the butt. Absolutely nothing on pokemon cards. Like the vendor hasn't been to any store near me in over 2 months.

 

Yeah the sports card phenomenon going on right now is crazy. Makes me want to try to hunt down some cards once the pandemic is over since there is probably tons of valuable cards out there and people dont know what they are worth. The returns seem even better than Pokemon so its something Id like to learn more about in the future. My dad says hes got some old cards that Im going to check out once I visit him like a Michael Jordon Baseball card. Not sure if hes got anything of value but maybe based on the condition it might be. And yeah, for the longest time sports cards were junk. This whole grading thing has made them so expensive.

And yep, all stores are all sold out. Christmas time there was some stuff but now there is nothing at most stores. The people who do their card stocking (MJ holdings) probably cant get any cards. I go through distributors so Ill be getting shining fates and battle styles, but just mind blowing how Vivid Voltage is nowhere to be found. If I open a few packs Ill send some stuff in as bulk but most of it I just sell sealed. I used to do mass box openings but the price of sealed product is so high now that Id rather not spend days sorting cards and will just put a shipping label on a case and send it to someone else. Then Ill just use those profits to make money off the older stuff since all these new stuff will tank at some point. At some point the market will be flooded with these Sword and Shield sets since they arent out of print and they still have at least 1-2 years worth of standard legality meaning that the pokemon company isnt going to stop printing them.

7 hours ago, Yeahiwasder4dat said:

Mantle rookie, gretzky rookie all that. Collectible cards as a whole have exploded beyond anything before.

I was mainly talking about the new inserts of these modern cards like the Lukas, the Zions and the Mahomes. Yeah the rookie stuff has went up but the pricing on these new guys going for 6 figures is nuts when these cards are not even half a decade old. The whole # insert thing is crazy. Kind of surprised it hasnt happened in the gaming world.

And surprisingly, its mostly only Pokemon and some of the major Sports thats doing well. I been going to Walmarts to see if they got any of the new packs since they been going for a decent amount online and the shelves have tons of MTG and Yugioh. No Pokemon at most places or NBA or NFL, but plenty of the other 2 games along with Nascar, NHL and WWE. 

3 hours ago, DB Cards said:

This is a fair point, and the Test-Print Blastoise was an awesome story that I recognize CGC's value in. However, the amount of people sending in cards worth more than the $2500 limit at PSA's express level is likely not high. The main use case of walkthrough (in my opinion) is to get new ultra-modern cards graded and on the market quickly. I don't know your stats (obviously), and I'm just some random dude on the internet, but if I were working at CGC I would keep an eye on the amount the walkthrough orders decrease after the price change.

Lots of expensive stuff goes through PSA since again, they arent just Pokemon, MTG and Comics. Lots of people here seem to not pay attention to the sports card industry at the moment since it kinda makes Pokemon look like a joke in comparison lol. Lots of modern sports cards are hitting the types of money that we see in 1st ed base set minus Charizard. Modern stuff, as in stuff from only the last few years. Plus all the memorabilia they deal with, auto graphs, and lots of other stuff, thats the reason why PSA is so expensive and backed up. 80% of PSA and BGA's market share is all sports. Pokemon is like a drop in the bucket to them.

All the price increases will be fine IMO. I dont see a few bucks breaking the bank as long as you know what your doing. As long as your not trying to rush to grade newer stuff then I see it barely making a difference in resale profits.

29 minutes ago, Yeahiwasder4dat said:

I have some of my PC graded, but I can't reasonably come up with a reason for why something like this exist. 1st Ed Shadowless or maybe just Shadowless i'll bite. This though? 

I got you beat on that lol. I found this for sale online. The person who graded this has to be a psycho

4 hours ago, PokemanDude90 said:

Can we not turn this board into Efour2.0 where grown men word-vomit sanctimonious, passive aggressive, gatekeeping nonsense? I mean seriously... what did all the self-righteous elitists even talk about before evil flippers realized how cool and rewarding the entire Pokemon TCG is? 

Buy UltraPro One Touch cases if you want to protect your card for your personal collection. End of argument.

 

 

I dunno if this even gatekeeping since nobody is going to stop grading just because one person with some stupid ideas has an internet connection and is being disingenuous.

The real reason for their post is that they are probably butthurt that bulk pricing is going up and want to blame someone for it. Most people dont really care that things are going up a buck or two. Most of CGC's customers dont even post on here. There is like 1-2 people who have a problem with it and cry like its Armageddon. I feel bad that these people have to wake up every day knowing that they are wasting their lives thinking about stupid stuff like that instead of taking control of their lives and worrying about real problems.

2 hours ago, Dom Fonce said:

So, flippers are ruining the system. Some people actually want to keep the cards they get graded, regardless of their value. Those people are called collectors.

You realize what the point of grading is right? Its not so a company can put a card in a plastic container for you since you can do that yourself with way less hassle and cost. The whole point of it is mainly for reselling or sitting on them long term since grading gives the condition legitimacy. Your just wasting a ton of money if your going to hold on to them and never do anything with them.

2 hours ago, Dom Fonce said:

It remains to be seen how CGC will adapt on their way to a PSA backlog. Probably poorly, but maybe they will surprise us.

CGC doesnt not have the same market share as PSA and BGS. They only deal with Pokemon, MTG and Comics. They dont deal with sports cards, sports memorabilia, non TCG cards, misc TCG's, autographs, etc. 

It logistically cant ever be the same thing. Especially when 80% of what BGS and PSA deals with is mostly sports related stuff. Pokemon is not even their biggest priority and probably wont ever be since they have mostly been focused on sports since their inception.

1 hour ago, Dom Fonce said:

Flippers are the ones causing the backlogs and the price increases.

They get upset because some kid wants his favorite Pikachu art graded with subgrades, even though the card's worth $0.50. But they don't consider that the kid, ya know, actually just wants to keep the card. The ones who actually just collect their graded cards are the ones suffering the most.

So, no, I don't really feel bad that the price increases are hurting flippers' bottom line. They call actual hobbyists' cards junk and act as though you're in their way and that their priorities are more important than yours.

Im confused at who this imaginary kid is since I dont know any sane children who want graded commons. Are you just butthurt that bulk pricing is going up lol?

The whole point of grading is to have a 3rd party give a professional opinion about a card, which is mostly only relevant when it comes to reselling expensive stuff since anyone can claim anything but having a company with experienced people give a grade/opinion, it gives the card's condition legitimacy. .

There really isnt a point to grading if your just going to sit on a card forever, especially a cheap one that is mass produced and can be bought for 10 cents on the internet. You can go buy all sorts of plastic and put it away in a safe. Or you can go complain on the internet if thats how you want to spend your life. That is your choice as well.

1 hour ago, Yeahiwasder4dat said:

Camera playing some tricks, something was distorting it there on the Blaine's. Can't get silvering to show up but can come up with dents that aren't lol. Probably because I'm taking pics through a magnifying lamp. I'd say both are probably some of the best I've come across. Between centering being really good and everything else. Gonna see how CGC grades it. I'll be praying from this afternoon when it gets shipped until it pops up online.

 

Don't want to sit on it forever and PSA walkthrough prices are out of the question.

If they are as clean as your saying then they should probably come back at least 9 or higher, maybe worse case 8.5. I doubt you would get a 7. From my experiences with PSA that is something Id expect to happen with them. Ive sent in perfect cards and been given 8's and 9's with them just because some grader was being lazy and didnt wanna grade that day. If PSA had somewhat reasonable turnaround tries Id attempt them, but even walkthroughs Im hearing take at least a month. Any other service, god knows how long it takes. The amount of time waiting is costly as it is, hence why I pass on PSA even if there is a premium. Even if you get 50-100 less bucks, as long as your making some money then its kind of whatever.

4 minutes ago, Yeahiwasder4dat said:

Not crazy high dollar but the ding on the silvering could make a difference in price on these two. Would hate to get dropped because of it. Willing to take the risk and crack it if I have to. Haven't gotten a silvered on back yet so this will be my test run.

The blaine's charizard looks like its got a ding on the side more than pack silvering. The Dark Charizard looks fine but I cant tell if its got scratching on the foiling since that could still lower the grade.

If you feel like taking the risk then go for it. If it was me Id probably just send it to CGC since with PSA with these it just feels like a gamble, which is why I avoid PSA in the first place. Like you can get a 10 on some cards and it increases the value quite a bit, or you can get a 9 and that 9 isnt really much of a difference and when you factor in the time you spend waiting for it to come back and the increased grading fees, well then you were better off with CGC. Its got its ups and downs and risks no matter how you do it and I dont think its wrong to send to PSA, but just not something Id personally do.

2 minutes ago, Yeahiwasder4dat said:

Sounds like pretty much what I do. Newer stuff just isn't flippable to me. I do sometimes struggle to figure out how some things will grade between services. Send vintage with silvering to psa, they dont seem to care. Send it to CGC, wondering if it'll get like a 7 instead. Still in the learning process on how some things will turn out.

I buy new stuff for a certain price. If I get some of it very cheap then Ill pick up a bunch and send it in as bulk, but I typically learn towards stuff that is generally popular and typically secret rares like legendaries, charizards, mewtwos, starters, anything gen 1 or the female full art trainers. Anything outside of that threshold I dont bother with since its not very profitable. 

And CGC really harsh on the silvering? I been hearing about that. So weird that PSA doesnt care but CGC does. For PSA Im assuming you really have to have something with high dollar amounts since their waste times are insane and from my experience Ive dealt with inconsistencies with them for me to really trust them in general.

1 hour ago, Yeahiwasder4dat said:

It's only for bulk, economy and standard. Again, most likely to stop subgrades on trash cards.

Generally speaking there's no reason to get subgrades on a card that's not even worth $100. So I'm assuming they're trying to weed it out by making it unreasonable vs not doing it at all. Why waste egregious amounts of time thoroughly inspecting a $20 card. Waste of resources and time. They still allow people to get it done if they really want it, but it's not prioritized and are going to make them pay.

Subgrades are only relevant if your card has a shot at a grade of 9 or higher, since if you can get a 10, its possible to get a perfect 10 similar to the black label BGS 10 and its only possible when subgrades are involved. Even on expensive cards that are damaged or not close to gem min arent even worth getting subgrades on. 

From my experience, the subgrades only add premiums to cards that have the potential to be perfect condition. The market doesnt care if your 7 or 8 or even a 9.5 has subgrades.  Its only worth it if you think your card can become a black label or in CGC's case, a perfect 10. And typically I dont waste my time on anything newer than Diamond Pearl sets minus a few exceptions such as HGSS Call of Legends or a Plasma Storm Charizard or any Secret Rare Charizard GX or secret rare Mewtwo GX. Everything else just isnt worth spending the extra money.

43 minutes ago, Sawwed said:

I don’t personally send card worth less than 100 but if I want to use the walkthrough option I shouldn’t have to wait an extra 5 days turnaround time when paying $105 to get one card graded that’s bad business imo usually more fees means quicker turnaround time that’s kind of the point.

Its probably not actually 5 days. They give conservative estimates all the time. So far I have yet to have a standard submission take more than 20 business days and its listed as 30 on the website. And that is keeping the holidays in mind.

And its just bad for you. Their business is fine. The grading market is the hottest its ever been. And CGC doesnt have good competition. PSA costs 500 for a walkthrough while Beckett is 125 and both are way slower. Where else do you think your going to go to?

They are probably tired of giving garbage cards subgrades and tired of new stuff flooding the walkthroughs. 

I wish CGC would lose customers so I can get my stuff back quicker LOL. I mean, where are you going to go instead? PSA to where you can wait 6-8 months for a bulk return and have them give you all 9s on your stuff making them worth as much as cgc stuff anyway? 

6 minutes ago, Reg526 said:

I’m saying if cgc doesn’t provide as much or better value than psa/bgs while charging nearly the same price they’re ultimately doomed. The turnaround is all they have going for them at this time and it continues to increase and so do prices. They lose their competitive edge against the companies that have a larger market share and thus more desireable competition and cgc’s approach to maintaining their competitive edge has proven to fail. I’d wager PSA turnaround times come down sooner than CGC does at this point because they’ve had a head start using the same method and then what happens when the turnaround times are nearly identical?

Logicistically speaking, CGC wont ever be slower than PSA since they only handle Pokemon and MTG while PSA deals with sports cards along with every TCG ever made. CGC isnt going to deal with sports cards, they have a seperate company for that.

In the end, they wont need an edge since they will be another player in a highly demanded market. I already explained before that outside of 9.5 vs 10, the card values are similar. Its why SGC cards are also now catching up. CGC also has its perfect/pristine 10s that go for more than psa 10s, so when you submit enough cards it will probably balance itself out valuewise providing your not just submitting junk all the time.

8 minutes ago, Reg526 said:

So how exactly does cgc address this differently to prevent the "Industry Issue" from bogging them down? Oh they took the same approach that doesn't work.

Correct. So why use the company that's going to bring less value to you if they're going to ultimately end up in the same boat..? What value does CGC bring over the competitors other than early turnaround times being lower?

 

Sooo what value do those have other than having slightly lower turnaround times to flip your sick nasty zard pulls before everyone else?

 

Once again you have fastest confused with smaller backlog. They're only "Fastest" because they have less people utilizing their service and they've already shown to be getting backlogged and they took the same approach as their competitors that did not work to the issue. So I ask again, then what value does it bring to use cgc? They're already at 3 month turnaround times for bulk and growing.

You answered your own question. 3 months verses 6-9 months. That alone is the selling point. Im not going to wait 6-9 months when I can have stuff graded in 3, even less since I dont like grading stuff in bulk. I mostly grade newer stuff in bulk and usually pick up anything from XY - on for lower than market value due to that. I usually wait at least 3 months to grade anything newer (if I even bother since I dont like buying much XY, Sun & Moon, or SWSH stuff) since the hype cools off and the market settles on the values.

And your talking about CGC like they just went out of business. They are making plenty of money and have plenty of happy customers. If they lose a few people, well so be it, thats going to happen with any business. Yeah I get it, they arent lightning fast and you cant flip new for easy money, but they work just fine for me. 

2 minutes ago, Sp33dy said:

Why does it matter what ppl want graded. Jus like base set, every card is worth grading and have value. Should just stick to being good on tat.. not rob us for every bit of money and have us take forever 

Because when you jam up the system with a bunch of bulk cards worth a dollar a piece, it takes away from CGC's resources. They only have so many graders to go around and if the system is jamed up with jank, then it will take longer to grade stuff. They cant hire infinite staff to grade everything and anything.

34 minutes ago, Reg526 said:

No their turnaround times are the lowest. This isn't the same thing as saying they're the fastest.

Correct because they're less backlogged. PSA has an entire warehouse of backlog.

There's 0 indication that CGC won't end up like that and there has been little reassurance they have found a solution to the ever increasing turnaround times in fact they've taken the same approach PSA has that resulted in their turnaround times.

Did you not bother to read anything I said lol? Its an industry issue. Its not an issue exclusive to CGC. Grading Pokemon is at an all time high. There isnt ever going to be a reputable company that will be quick and cheap forever. Even GMA has 40 day turn around times and they are the joke of the industry. If CGC gets like PSA then im sure more grading companies will emerge to replace them, but those new companies will probably deal with the same issues since that is how it is across the board. Regardless, I grade with CGC since they are the fastest. Maybe they might not be the fastest forever, but today they are and that is why I grade with them. 

2 minutes ago, PokemanDude90 said:

Raise the price of bulk to $15/card to cut off 20% of current/new Bulk submission customers, easing the back-log bottleneck resulting in quicker cycle times on the higher tiers and bulk as well. CGC will make it back tenfold as more people use a quicker (but more expensive) Standard/Express tier as a logical economic trade off. 

No one wins when piles of low-tier cards sit around collecting dust because every Timmy wants to Bulk grade their common Charmanders from XY Evolutions. Price the Timmy's out CGC! 

 

 

 

LOL yeah I do agree about this actually. Im so sick of seeing stupid being graded. There is no logical reason to be grading regular GX and V cards that are bulk or the 100s of Japanese Charizard V / VMAXes from starter decks that keep getting graded. I had a buyer buy off me 10 Butterfree and Scizor VMAX for the sake of grading. At first I asked him "why the hell do you want to do that?" and he says "oh since Im getting them graded since none are on ebay". I even told him that was a stupid idea (which I probably shouldnt have since I wanted these cards gone) and yet he bought them anyway. Some of these people really should need a license to get out of bed in the morning.

26 minutes ago, Reg526 said:

Just a correction here. They aren't the fastest and aren't proven to be the fastest actually they're the least proven in the hobby. They're falling into the same pitfalls as competitors they're simply the least backlogged which results in faster turnaround times as you can see by the ever growing turnaround times. If prices continue to rise there's no value gained in paying the same fees for a CGC 9.5 for a psa10 in fact the opposite it makes it more likely for me to choose PSA considering the market share ultimately results in higher prices on resell for a dollar more investment per card bulk.

That isnt a correction. CGC is the fastest for bulk right now and fastest for other grading speeds. Everywhere else is almost half a year to a quarter of a year wait for bulk.  And yes with PSA you would make more money on 10 grades vs 9.5, but you have to trade more of your time to do so. Long term, there wont really be a difference outside of 9.5's vs 10s. There will probably be more grading companies in the future and it will be to a point to where the label of the company will be irrelevant, which even right now is starting to be the case. Its getting to the point to where people just care that its graded and a professional gave an opinion on it. Ive seen GMA cards (yes, the place that is ran by 1 guy) have premiums on them now. That is just because the market is red hot and CGC knows it, hence why they bump up their prices a bit in spite of their issues

56 minutes ago, Sp33dy said:

Yeah they went the wrong route is what I'm coming to. If they wanted to stay on top of things they should've fixed their issues then raise prices. But they went the psa route and did nothing but raise price and tat. Its bad for customers which is only gonna have us stop sending in our cards which is less business for them. 

They are probably raising their prices since they are just as credible as any other grading company and have the fastest turn around time. Based on resale values, with the exception of 9.5's vs  PSA10s, CGC is basically the same thing as PSA and BGS except they are fastest. Unless you think your cards can get PSA 10s, there is zero reason to use anyone else right now since resale is pretty similar on similar grades.

And the grading market is just on fire right now. I cant even find any Pokemon cards at any stores near by me since the demand is like nothing I ever seen before. I really wish less people would submit, but thats not the case. The TAT times are getting longer since the system is overloaded. Still better turn around times than any other company and the quality of grading is on par with everyone else. It is what it is. 

7 minutes ago, Ron Churches said:

That's great information @mattyzeepgam.  Would you share, roughly, what volume you do?

I send in a mix of singles and sealed product, so it varies. Just try to not send in too much of 1 card. I did that once and ended up not having the best results. Still did better on some and worse on others, but its just not a good idea to compete with yourself. Sealed product is a bit different since nobody sends that in all the time but when it comes to singles, you cant overload the listings with the same cards.