I have read previous discussions about GMA graded cards and have some personal experience to share.
I have been involved with the sportscard hobby since 2000. Like many of you, I have learned how to examine cards and what to look for to get a good idea of approximate grade. As we all know though, grading buy a human will be subjective and error prone and sadly nowadays influenced by large dealer submissions to get better grades,yes that is how it works! I know it can be hard to have people see things with an open mind when they have all been brain washed into thinking a certain way as with in this case grading companies.
Like I mentioned earlier, yes there have been "grading" companies out there that have no business in this hobby. I have also seen like many of you out there mistakes made on ,in my case ,PSA cards not graded correctly but yet people still think they're god and forgive THIER mistakes and move on. I have seen my share of bad cards out there as many of you also have. I have submitted to PSA & BGS as many of you also have and paid the price! We have all seen grading companies come and go but the big 3 have remained. I guess it seems to most people out there no one in the world is capable of grading a card but them. GET REAL PEOPLE! So what you may be saying, (I'm talking to those who think about quitting thier job and going out on thier own because they think they can do the same thing) it's not possible.
Why do people continue to also pay $20 to $35 to have a card examined? That's just ridiculous! I had purchased over a months time a large amount of some rookie cards from packs that I had planned to go through and submit what I thought were my best chances at good grades. They were 2010 thru 2014 modern cards, base and refractors. After careful consideration, I ended up with 47 cards I felt good about. Ok, now I thought who to send them to? Yes I thought about PSA and BCCG. After considering the costs, I couldn't see spending at least over $700 to almost a $1000 PLUS shipping back just to have my cards examined in a minute or so by a so called "expert" and returned to me with thier unquestionable opinion. Why do you think you read about people re-submitting cards and getting a different grades back! This is all just a big expensive scam that I was a part of once.
I currently have some GMA graded cards in my collection which I love so I thought to myself, let's maybe try them and see how they are. I packed them up carefully and shipped them off.......nervously! GMA states on thier website 5 business day service, so I thought, why not. By tracking they recieved them on Monday December 1st and I had my order back by Wednesday December 10th! Talk about great service! My totaI cost with shipping was $115.
Opened the box and they were proffesionally packed to perfection. Now for the moment of truth, what grades did I get back? Surprisingly , they don't just give out 10's like people may think. I got back 27 10's out of 47. The rest were 8's 8.5's and 9's. In my opinion they were very accurate and even surprised me some. Bottom line, those of you doubters out there want to try them and see for yourself, you have nothing to lose but may gain peace of mind that just because they aren't the big 3, don't have the massive overhead that the others do (which believe me you pay for) and have chosen to run thier company efficiently, doesn't mean they can't do a good job.
We all need to be open minded sometimes that just because something is different, it doesn't mean they are bad or inferior. Just wanted to share this with all of you out there as to maybe help someone who thinks that PSA and BGS are the only options and that you can also have your favorite cards graded fairly and accurately and that this hobby doesn't have to break the bank. I will never use the big 3 again. I look forward to seeing what you all have to say about this and maybe hope to hear maybe some of you give it a shot and are pleasantly surprised that there are good options out there.
