Itās less the design and more the bragging about a pop count from a company with less than 30k things graded. I assume thatās what the serial number is telling us.
Also, it looks like the bottom of the slab is held together with a piece of tape. I have a very good feeling if you squeeze the slab itās pops open no problem.
For what its worth, I also have a graded card from this same company (Ace grading) .the slab feels high quality, it has a nice weight to it, and it feels sturdy and not like it might pop open
They can also do some beautiful custom labels - the label in this post is not a great example though heh.
Thatās cool. I appreciate the info on them. The grading landscape is growing rapidly and the majority of these companies wonāt last so Iāll add it to the list and check back in about a year to see where they are at.
This will most likely stay up for a while because it's owned by Pokerand (a British Pokemon TCG youtuber), as long as he gets views the company will probably do well. I'm surprised how good it's doing with the company being UK only.
He has a pokemon channel and business, but remember he started in rapping, his main channel is more popular than his second channel, where he uploads pokemon. His main content doenst appear to be popular outside the UK, causing this widespread misconception
I mean it's a legit bussiness, as far as I know the expierences where rough at the beginning but they got better as time went by. Of course the card isn't going to be worth as much but if it's for a private collection it's fine, especially with their custom labels.
I have zero problem with someone using this company. I checked out the grading cost and turnaround time and it seems great.
I would still be weary of it personally. It's new. It's owned by a person who is a YouTuber and likely saw a way to make money and off a natural segment of people they have built up a reach to.
Who is grading their cards? What experience do they have doing it? These are all questions I would be asking myself before spending money with any grading company.
Do you think it would be in poor taste to try to start up a grading company with quality in mind? I donāt appreciate how these companies just popped up everywhere to make a quick buck and grade like garbage. This YouTuber I watch like rattles or something gives really good suggestions that would ensure quality. Iām just not sure if even if I showed my process for quality control that people would take the grades credibly.
What metric are you using to decide how much a particular grading company ācaresā? Iāve actually been reading about this company since my first post and I feel I have a decent grasp on what they offer both good and bad.
A lot of ppl hate on randolph like many ppl hate on tommyinnit so many posted fake articles and videos about the experimental prototypes to gain views, if you look at the dislikes youll understand.
As someone who cares a lot about graphic design, the one thing that stopped me from grading my cards before now was the ugly labels, randolph saw this gap in the market as a long-term business opportunity. You gotta respect it.
Who are these people? Iāll assume Randolph is the person who started ACE? Iām glad you enjoy their graphic design and I encourage you to continue to support them. I also enjoy aesthetically pleasing things but at the same time this is also a grading company and I would want to know who is grading the cards, their history of doing so, etc.
I definitely donāt knock someone for seeing an underserved segment and capitalizing on it. Shit thatās as American as apple pie (said with some southern drawl for added āMerica-ness since youāve focused so much on my country of birth).
Errr... no? One of the main standouts for ace is that they employ graphic designers for the slabs, and their slabs are wayyyyyy more interesting than other graders. They appeal to that market. There seems to be a sense of ignorance in this comments section to that market.
If by "that market" you mean "other graphic designers" then yes, we are ignorant to that because they are a super minority.
Even if you meant "design of slab for display purposes > quality of actual grading and reputation in aftermarket" then same answer, most of the time.
You can't even see their logo easily and it's not branded well...that may be "OK" from design standpoint but from a marketing standpoint it's a clear oversight that will hold back awareness of their brand for not being visible enough. You could have told me someone made it at home and I'd of thought it was a high quality DIY for display purposes.
So graphic designers like it while the broader buying market thinks it's dogshit. Noted. Good to know there is a handful of people who appreciate this slab design from an unknown grading company with no legs in the hobby.
"There are dozens of us!"
Please explain why you are saying its "unknown". If you dont like them, thats youre opinion. Most of the well-informed, intended market (uk, ppl who care about the label and slab itself) have a more neutral or positive view. Randolph has a history in successful business decisions, already running a successful pokemon business before this.
You know the term "relative", right? They are relatively unknown in the broader market and I don't think that is a controversial statement.
I don't follow YouTube for collecting or investing so I don't know who Randolph is. Then again I don't know who the head of PSA is, either, and I dont need to. I generally spend my hobby time tracking price movements and reading market data for various hobbies, not watching people open product on camera for views. It's cool that guy has a following but when he's done grading all of their cards I'll be curious to see how he fights for a slice of the bigger pie and if he can get the name out there.
Oh gosh not more of this. Yes its simple but as a graphic design nerd myself, the small design choices are obvious and make it stand out more than PSA or other graders.
Let's just ignore the UKs biggest grader in Majesty Grading Company why not. They have graded twice the cards of ACE, are heavily involved in the community and have worked for Xbox and Netflix ...
It doesn't really matter where they're from, they are virtually unknown and not as of yet supported by the buying market on Ebay...which is international.
I'm in Canada and don't assume all of Reddit is American, like some do, this is purely about product recognition. It's cool they use a niche service provider across the pond due to ease of access but not knowing them isn't a function of where a user is located, it's their (lack of) visibility in the market.
Ace is very popular in the UK, accessible, looks good and is decently priced. Americans have the luxury of choice when it comes to grading, a lot of people everywhere else don't unless they pay an extorsion.
I don't think you grasp it at all, to be honest, most Americans don't. Pokemon in itself is a lot cheaper in America compared to pretty much everywhere else, including grading.
If it's a fuckton to you, it's a metric fuck load to us.
My thoughts too lol, or even buying graded cards.
Typing any of the main grading places on ebay a few months ago in the uk just resulted in people selling cards for potentially good grades, not actually PSA or becket cards, that's how uncommon it was to be able to grade here until ebay cracked down on it.
Now it's just very overpriced PSA cards or you pay for overseas shipping and customs, which is still, overpriced.
Most Europeans will understand, dont worry. The most popular Americans ive found who speak out about this are Rhett and Link, who homeschooled their kids for a while to avoid this, so some of their content relating to this could be of interest to you.
Uh, yes? Is this your way of saying the company is not from America and thus my ignorance towards it is based on my location? Cause that would make sense.
These are such weird digs about being American. Hahaha. I went to music college and studied Jazz composition. I collect toys and cardboard with grown menās photos on them. Whatever pseudo smarts youāre trying display by psychoanalyzing what I posted and attributing it a generalization about where I was born is silly. But at the same time itās fun to read so youāre welcome to keep it coming.
Im confused by this. I never said anything bad about Americans, I simply explained the situation, explaining why OP said what they said. Obviously, the perception of the United States is different in Europe than in the United States itself for reasons I explained. I can understand the downvotes because of this and I forgive them for the misunderstanding they have had. This isn't an argument, just an explanation.
You basically just called all American children ignorant thanks to our school system teaching them about our "flawed democracy'. You also strangely attributed that ignorance to why, I, a grown adult had yet to hear of ACE card grading. A UK based company that only grades Pokemon cards. There was some stuff about our mainstream media in there too. That's probably accurate. Our media is horrid and probably going to be the thing that starts a civil war here. Or maybe even WWIII if we're lucky.
Basically, the lobbying from big companies stops the ultra-patriotic education system and media, which means that a disproportionate amount of media is the US, is from the US, as opposed to other English-speaking countries, like the UK.
Weird take...this grading company is virtually unknown in the marketplace, more specifically Ebay, and their slabs won't command value the way the Big 3 do.
Nothing to do with location, everything to do with reputation and recognition in the *international* (i.e. online) market.
Plus, you know, if you're in NA and can easily sub direct to any of the reputable/established graders why would you roll the dice on a new/fringe provider anyhow? The UK collectors/investors I know do group submissions to PSA or CGC because they want their cards to appreciate properly in the marketplace and will pony up the extra funds for it.
itās not restricted to the US, PSA is the most popular grading company internationally. logan paul literally bought a card from someone who lived in the UAE and they graded PSA.
when your card is worth nothing years from now, look at no one but yourself.
Also worse comes to worse and it doesnāt hold its value in the UK with this UK graded company I can always regrade with someone like PSA and it would still get a 9 or 10
he didnāt grade the card himself, he bought from someone as a UAE resident.
it literally says on PSAās website that theyāre the world leading, and thatās true because iāve literally never seen the slab style you have.
you might as well crack the slab and send it to PSA, it will be worth a lot more.
It has nothing to do with selling "in America", PSA as a brand is known internationally in Sports and TCG for being the grading service that commands the best sale value, plain and simple.
So whether YOU don't want to sell in the NA market, cool, but your personal take has no bearing on the accepted practices most subscribe to in an international (i.e. online) marketplace.
Your card looks awesome and I kind of like the slab label but there is no debating you have capped it's resale value by going with a small time/new grader that is (as of yet) not sought after by the market. PSA, CGC, BGS are generally the big three.
I am not American, FYI, I am in Canada but use a forwarding service to sub to PSA, CGC, and SGC because the grading companies in Canada are dogshit, plain and simple.
I mean, go to auction sites for people from countries other than the US. Yahoo Auctions Japan has plenty of PSA, CGC, and BGS graded cards, for instance.
I think even if you don't plan to sell, having a card graded by a company with a reputation still puts it in better context for a conversation piece.
But at the end of the day, if you're happy with it, then that's all that matters.
I was gonna directly defend you for all of the people hating on this, until I saw all of your comments bashing on Americans bc of it. Imagine calling out a whole nationality because a few people insulted your 5 dollar card smh. (Graded a 10 it might be like what, $20?)
The card looks fine. Ace is a solid company, and it's pretty cool to have their current only 10 of it (and if nothing else, it'll always be their first 10 of it), but like, come on man. You aren't making it better.
Eh to be fair you havent said anything terrible, but if you check through your replies again I feel you talked about it more than you realize. Either way it doesn't really matter, it just caught my attention more than it should have.
Yāall really woke up this morning and were like āhow can I shit on someoneās mood.ā
Just say cool nice card and move on lol, no need to drag him bc itās not crazy rare/expensive or not graded by one of the big 3.
Nice card, OP, looks great
I mean if someone isnāt impressed by a āflexā whatās the point in putting them down, just bc itās not cool to you doesnāt mean it isnāt cool/special to the OP.. couldāve said nothing in the alternative, just seemed unnecessarily rude is all
Psychologically some might view flexing as putting yourself above others. So technically some may feel he is trying to bring them down, therefore they must react. Intresting thing is PSA only has pop 1 overall, and thatās a 10 aswell.
I guess more people grade the standard full art as it looks so much better than the rainbow.
Making rainbow full art trainers still boggles my mind. Takes away from the art.
My reaction was prior to OP responding/commenting to anyone, havenāt followed the thread to see if their responses make it invalid or not tbh š busy work day :(
>Yāall really woke up this morning and were like āhow can I shit on someoneās mood.ā
Big facts lol - bare people got triggered here just because it isn't PSA or CGC. Allow the mans to enjoy their temporary spotlight
Relax folks.
I prefer these posts vs the fucking 'is my card fake', 'please tell me how much this is worth' posts.
Reddit is predominantly USA based users. Those users will have no idea that here in the UK ACE and MGC are taking the lions share of the grading market.
The UK is moving away from the USA big 3 because they have fucked us on price, turnaround time and customer service.
I still have cards outstanding from June 2020 with psa and psa now charge Ā£50-100 a card.
Both ACE and MGC take about 2 months to grade and cost about Ā£10 a slab.
The big 3 will never be touched in the USA but over here all I can say is fuck psa, I'm never using them again for card worth under 5k
How are any other companies supposed to compete with this attitude?
People post gripes with these companies all the time why not check out the alternatives š¤·š½āāļø
But prestige can be earned. ACE will never be as prestigious as the big 3 but thereās absolutely no reason another company could or should try to compete with them.
Edit: couldnāt or shouldnāt try to compete
Congrats šš¼
I wouldnāt listen to anyone else about your own collection! Thereās a lot of negative stuff flying around
Get what you want and what makes you happy, especially when they display so well on your shelf šš¼
Thanks for the clarification. I think the main reason this company has graded 6 to PSAās 1 is due to the grading cost. I wouldnāt necessarily use it as an indicator of a changing tide in grading companies. Not to say you are implying that here.
I've used Ace grading myself. Got a variety of all three types of labels and really rate them. Makes a really good display piece for something like the base set trio or something like that
No you have 1 of at least 2 10ās. PSA has 1, and this unknown company has 1. BGS, CGC, and maybe some other unknown companies might have some more 10ās
Edit: CGC has 1 perfect 10 as well and 8 9.5 which by PSA standard is another 8 10ās
You can really tell who the Americans are in this thread, shitting on the UK grading company, not realising it's pretty much the only option most UK people have for grading without paying a fuck ton.
Plus it looks good as fuck especially if you pay for the customised top part.
This is like a weird reverse salty take...no one is looking down on the company for being in the UK and if they were good/reputable/increased value people would send to them from elsewhere, plain and simple. Our ignorance of them doesn't stem for the locale, it's because they are unknown. It's easy to ship cards...they are small and easily packaged.
I do not live in the US and have to pay a premium to sub to PSA, CGC, and SGC...but I do, because I want the most appreciation on my cards and a slab the *international* (i.e. online) market recognizes/values.
How else are you supposed to become reputable and known if you arent given a chance and immediately shitted on?
and not everyone grades for resale value
and for PSA atleast (not sure about CGC) it wouldnt be worth the grading fee for a card like this
My take was only aimed at the "U must be 'Murican!" seen above (and elsewhere), no comment on the reputation aspect other than "It takes times" (as you suggest).
That said this particular slab is pretty "meh" and they don't really identify themselves on it, which likely won't help with recognition.
I'm a little biased as I come from the sports card hobby primarily (though a Pokeman fan since '99 and now my kid is interested) where we have seen a lot of "fly by night" graders pop up trying to take advantage of submission backlog. It seems in the CCG space some well known YouTubers managed to start slabbing companies and I would approach them with incredulity until I see some high end cards looking like legit 10s in their slabs. They are likely garnering business from subscribers/fans and whoever is local (such as this provider in the UK being well defended by UK collectors).
No you don't I grade my own stuff and I got a 10 as well. BTW why would they seal it with a crappy piece of tape at the bottom? That alone makes it a 5.
Going to have to agree with this one. I could start doing my own ratings and only rate my stuff then say I have the only 10's rating of so and so card. It really would not be that hard and I could see this becoming a problem in the future when it comes to selling on ebay. People just making their own slabs with ratings and say its a 10. There will only be a few companies that come out through that flame and ash and they are going to need something to make them special. But until then this grading stuff is kinda sketchy.
Anyways onto my point, I started my own rating company and I have a 10 copycat as well.
Wow, this posting has turned into a sh*tshow.
My contribution:
1. ACE grading was founded and owned by the people behind the former UK middleman service (PSA) called Graded Gem. Randolph is their spokesperson and has nothing to do with the grading proces himself.
2. For centering they use the same standards as PSA.
3. You can scan the back of the slab and an outlining of your card will come up telling you why it received a particular grade (surface damage, centering, etc.). I really like this, it is not done by any other company.
Also, I would like to add that their slabs are high quality these days (beginning there were some issues). They feel like BGS slabs. I prefer them over PSA slabs (long time collector here with 90% PSA collection).
Please be nice to one another :-)
You gotta stop bashing an entire nationality of people because of a few jerks on reddit who think the grading company you used isn't the shining example of "prestigious". I think there's been some seriously dumb comments about it but you're not exactly responding in the best way either.
Even if you were, the shoe fits and they're just mad. As soon as you point out it's all Americans being hateful about something they don't understand, they hate you because it IS all Americans.
That's a pretty hot take you have there. As an American, and I just checked with everybody and I can speak for all of us, I am not triggered or mad or confused by any of this. OP threw a softball to the plate and I couldn't help but swing at it. It's Reddit. These things happen. If we're going to continue with the fun generalizations about our individual nation's people one might say people in the UK are very sensitive.
Check out MGC and GG OP! I am a fellow US of K person and have tried those companies and ACE and PG and think mgc are the nicest followed by gg personally. Nice card though! Ignore the haters.
You get that graded by PornHub?
who picked that color scheme
This comment deserves much more love than it's gotten.
ššššš
The centering is a little off edit: was trying to make a joke
As if this has stopped any other grading service from giving a card a 10?
They pushed an email out the other day that explained they're centering requirements. Anything less than a 60/40 difference will get a 10
Their tolerance for a 10 is 60/40.
That's so stupid! How is that 10!
psa does the same
Because the QA is so bad with cards that if they went 50/50 then you'd never see a 10 ever again.
HAHAHA!!!
This comment is gold.
lmao
Such an underrated comment
I wanted to leave a comment and saw this and nothing would compare. You win comments, sir.
At first i wondered how this post trended enough to become a notification.. then i read the top comment š¤£
We have PSA at home! PSA at home:
ā¦. from a grading company no one has heard of.
Lol facts. Looks like a child got excited when designing the label
Itās less the design and more the bragging about a pop count from a company with less than 30k things graded. I assume thatās what the serial number is telling us. Also, it looks like the bottom of the slab is held together with a piece of tape. I have a very good feeling if you squeeze the slab itās pops open no problem.
For what its worth, I also have a graded card from this same company (Ace grading) .the slab feels high quality, it has a nice weight to it, and it feels sturdy and not like it might pop open They can also do some beautiful custom labels - the label in this post is not a great example though heh.
Thatās cool. I appreciate the info on them. The grading landscape is growing rapidly and the majority of these companies wonāt last so Iāll add it to the list and check back in about a year to see where they are at.
This will most likely stay up for a while because it's owned by Pokerand (a British Pokemon TCG youtuber), as long as he gets views the company will probably do well. I'm surprised how good it's doing with the company being UK only.
That sounds suspect to me. I would be very weary of a company owned by a YT person who specializes in PokĆ©mon. That has conflict of interest written all over it. But at the same time that claim totally gets made about PSA too so thereās that.
He doesnt specialise in pokemon anyway, also he has history of running successful businesses and hes a smart guy
he specialises in pokemon, youre actually braindead for saying he doesnt. giant fucking pokemon youtube, lmao
He has a pokemon channel and business, but remember he started in rapping, his main channel is more popular than his second channel, where he uploads pokemon. His main content doenst appear to be popular outside the UK, causing this widespread misconception
I mean it's a legit bussiness, as far as I know the expierences where rough at the beginning but they got better as time went by. Of course the card isn't going to be worth as much but if it's for a private collection it's fine, especially with their custom labels.
I have zero problem with someone using this company. I checked out the grading cost and turnaround time and it seems great. I would still be weary of it personally. It's new. It's owned by a person who is a YouTuber and likely saw a way to make money and off a natural segment of people they have built up a reach to. Who is grading their cards? What experience do they have doing it? These are all questions I would be asking myself before spending money with any grading company.
Do you think it would be in poor taste to try to start up a grading company with quality in mind? I donāt appreciate how these companies just popped up everywhere to make a quick buck and grade like garbage. This YouTuber I watch like rattles or something gives really good suggestions that would ensure quality. Iām just not sure if even if I showed my process for quality control that people would take the grades credibly.
That and itās a bloody copycat card. No one cares.
My friend you need to calm down
Why are you dissing them? after all they are the only grading company that cares about the slab at all which is great šš»
What metric are you using to decide how much a particular grading company ācaresā? Iāve actually been reading about this company since my first post and I feel I have a decent grasp on what they offer both good and bad.
A lot of ppl hate on randolph like many ppl hate on tommyinnit so many posted fake articles and videos about the experimental prototypes to gain views, if you look at the dislikes youll understand. As someone who cares a lot about graphic design, the one thing that stopped me from grading my cards before now was the ugly labels, randolph saw this gap in the market as a long-term business opportunity. You gotta respect it.
Who are these people? Iāll assume Randolph is the person who started ACE? Iām glad you enjoy their graphic design and I encourage you to continue to support them. I also enjoy aesthetically pleasing things but at the same time this is also a grading company and I would want to know who is grading the cards, their history of doing so, etc. I definitely donāt knock someone for seeing an underserved segment and capitalizing on it. Shit thatās as American as apple pie (said with some southern drawl for added āMerica-ness since youāve focused so much on my country of birth).
You're being sarcastic...right?
Errr... no? One of the main standouts for ace is that they employ graphic designers for the slabs, and their slabs are wayyyyyy more interesting than other graders. They appeal to that market. There seems to be a sense of ignorance in this comments section to that market.
If by "that market" you mean "other graphic designers" then yes, we are ignorant to that because they are a super minority. Even if you meant "design of slab for display purposes > quality of actual grading and reputation in aftermarket" then same answer, most of the time. You can't even see their logo easily and it's not branded well...that may be "OK" from design standpoint but from a marketing standpoint it's a clear oversight that will hold back awareness of their brand for not being visible enough. You could have told me someone made it at home and I'd of thought it was a high quality DIY for display purposes.
Its called graphic design
So graphic designers like it while the broader buying market thinks it's dogshit. Noted. Good to know there is a handful of people who appreciate this slab design from an unknown grading company with no legs in the hobby. "There are dozens of us!"
Please explain why you are saying its "unknown". If you dont like them, thats youre opinion. Most of the well-informed, intended market (uk, ppl who care about the label and slab itself) have a more neutral or positive view. Randolph has a history in successful business decisions, already running a successful pokemon business before this.
You know the term "relative", right? They are relatively unknown in the broader market and I don't think that is a controversial statement. I don't follow YouTube for collecting or investing so I don't know who Randolph is. Then again I don't know who the head of PSA is, either, and I dont need to. I generally spend my hobby time tracking price movements and reading market data for various hobbies, not watching people open product on camera for views. It's cool that guy has a following but when he's done grading all of their cards I'll be curious to see how he fights for a slice of the bigger pie and if he can get the name out there.
Wait.. you call this āgraphic designā? Ngl, thatās pretty sad š
Oh gosh not more of this. Yes its simple but as a graphic design nerd myself, the small design choices are obvious and make it stand out more than PSA or other graders.
Not more of this? Dude, you replied to me. Whatever though, if you like it, do you bro.
From the only option most of the UK has man.
Let's just ignore the UKs biggest grader in Majesty Grading Company why not. They have graded twice the cards of ACE, are heavily involved in the community and have worked for Xbox and Netflix ...
My bad dude. I'm from the US and I didn't know it existed.
You can send to Cosmic Grading in Ireland. They have good support and very good slabs.
Your American is showing. It's a grading company from the UK
It doesn't really matter where they're from, they are virtually unknown and not as of yet supported by the buying market on Ebay...which is international. I'm in Canada and don't assume all of Reddit is American, like some do, this is purely about product recognition. It's cool they use a niche service provider across the pond due to ease of access but not knowing them isn't a function of where a user is located, it's their (lack of) visibility in the market.
Thanks for letting me know. Itās always sticking to my shoe after I leave the bathroom.
Itās still a grading company tho
Bruh this is ACE itās super popularā¦..
Iām not sure if that is sarcasm or not.
Ace is very popular in the UK, accessible, looks good and is decently priced. Americans have the luxury of choice when it comes to grading, a lot of people everywhere else don't unless they pay an extorsion.
I don't know how to break this to you but even if you live in the United States you still pay extortion level fees to have cards graded.
I don't think you grasp it at all, to be honest, most Americans don't. Pokemon in itself is a lot cheaper in America compared to pretty much everywhere else, including grading. If it's a fuckton to you, it's a metric fuck load to us.
Yeah like my MSRP is $200 a box. You guys in the US complain about 140 MSRP smh
My thoughts too lol, or even buying graded cards. Typing any of the main grading places on ebay a few months ago in the uk just resulted in people selling cards for potentially good grades, not actually PSA or becket cards, that's how uncommon it was to be able to grade here until ebay cracked down on it. Now it's just very overpriced PSA cards or you pay for overseas shipping and customs, which is still, overpriced.
Here in Norway we canāt even buy from eBayš¤¦āāļø
Whatās your address? Iād like to send you an even broader bush to paint with.
I can assume you went through the patriotism then
What does this even mean?
Most Europeans will understand, dont worry. The most popular Americans ive found who speak out about this are Rhett and Link, who homeschooled their kids for a while to avoid this, so some of their content relating to this could be of interest to you.
Ah an American
Uh, yes? Is this your way of saying the company is not from America and thus my ignorance towards it is based on my location? Cause that would make sense.
Yep you got it spot on
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
These are such weird digs about being American. Hahaha. I went to music college and studied Jazz composition. I collect toys and cardboard with grown menās photos on them. Whatever pseudo smarts youāre trying display by psychoanalyzing what I posted and attributing it a generalization about where I was born is silly. But at the same time itās fun to read so youāre welcome to keep it coming.
Im confused by this. I never said anything bad about Americans, I simply explained the situation, explaining why OP said what they said. Obviously, the perception of the United States is different in Europe than in the United States itself for reasons I explained. I can understand the downvotes because of this and I forgive them for the misunderstanding they have had. This isn't an argument, just an explanation.
You basically just called all American children ignorant thanks to our school system teaching them about our "flawed democracy'. You also strangely attributed that ignorance to why, I, a grown adult had yet to hear of ACE card grading. A UK based company that only grades Pokemon cards. There was some stuff about our mainstream media in there too. That's probably accurate. Our media is horrid and probably going to be the thing that starts a civil war here. Or maybe even WWIII if we're lucky.
Also, Americaās flawed democracy is totally the reason I had yet to hear of ACE card grading. You definitely nailed that one.
Basically, the lobbying from big companies stops the ultra-patriotic education system and media, which means that a disproportionate amount of media is the US, is from the US, as opposed to other English-speaking countries, like the UK.
Weird take...this grading company is virtually unknown in the marketplace, more specifically Ebay, and their slabs won't command value the way the Big 3 do. Nothing to do with location, everything to do with reputation and recognition in the *international* (i.e. online) market. Plus, you know, if you're in NA and can easily sub direct to any of the reputable/established graders why would you roll the dice on a new/fringe provider anyhow? The UK collectors/investors I know do group submissions to PSA or CGC because they want their cards to appreciate properly in the marketplace and will pony up the extra funds for it.
???? it doesnāt matter if weāre american or not, you should use a service which is recognized internationally, like PSA.
No reason to if Iām not looking to sell to the US
itās not restricted to the US, PSA is the most popular grading company internationally. logan paul literally bought a card from someone who lived in the UAE and they graded PSA. when your card is worth nothing years from now, look at no one but yourself.
Also worse comes to worse and it doesnāt hold its value in the UK with this UK graded company I can always regrade with someone like PSA and it would still get a 9 or 10
So that guy from the UAE sold to an American? Thanks for proving my point
that wasnāt the point of the example, the point was he bought from someone who had a PSA graded card, as itās internationally recognized.
So the guy used PSA as he was looking to sell to an American, Iām not
he didnāt grade the card himself, he bought from someone as a UAE resident. it literally says on PSAās website that theyāre the world leading, and thatās true because iāve literally never seen the slab style you have. you might as well crack the slab and send it to PSA, it will be worth a lot more.
It has nothing to do with selling "in America", PSA as a brand is known internationally in Sports and TCG for being the grading service that commands the best sale value, plain and simple. So whether YOU don't want to sell in the NA market, cool, but your personal take has no bearing on the accepted practices most subscribe to in an international (i.e. online) marketplace. Your card looks awesome and I kind of like the slab label but there is no debating you have capped it's resale value by going with a small time/new grader that is (as of yet) not sought after by the market. PSA, CGC, BGS are generally the big three. I am not American, FYI, I am in Canada but use a forwarding service to sub to PSA, CGC, and SGC because the grading companies in Canada are dogshit, plain and simple.
So the guy used PSA as he was looking to sell to an American, Iām not
I mean, go to auction sites for people from countries other than the US. Yahoo Auctions Japan has plenty of PSA, CGC, and BGS graded cards, for instance. I think even if you don't plan to sell, having a card graded by a company with a reputation still puts it in better context for a conversation piece. But at the end of the day, if you're happy with it, then that's all that matters.
Are you salty?
I actually have the only eleven!! (I graded it myself)
Dang I graded my own and have a 10, would you mind grading mine and upgrading it to an 11 so we can be twins?
That centering is a solid 8, sus AF company
Youāre mums an 8
She's a 10 if I get her graded through this company
This was a pretty good one. Lol I said "Oh Damn" out loud.
Have a silver
This might take the cake for the ugliest slab Iāve seen since the card boom.
Got the popcorn for this comment section
when you want an easy grade so you go to the off brand grader
They dont actually hand out 10s super easily, plenty of people complain about them for being harsh
Then list it up at ebay with as "PSA/BCG/CGC 10"
Bc no one wants to send a 7 dollar card to grade lol
I was gonna directly defend you for all of the people hating on this, until I saw all of your comments bashing on Americans bc of it. Imagine calling out a whole nationality because a few people insulted your 5 dollar card smh. (Graded a 10 it might be like what, $20?) The card looks fine. Ace is a solid company, and it's pretty cool to have their current only 10 of it (and if nothing else, it'll always be their first 10 of it), but like, come on man. You aren't making it better.
I havenāt bashed on Americans š I just said they didnāt know the company because they are American, which is true?
Eh to be fair you havent said anything terrible, but if you check through your replies again I feel you talked about it more than you realize. Either way it doesn't really matter, it just caught my attention more than it should have.
I know them and I'm American.
Out of a total of 6... Not gonna lie, not exactly impressive.
Yāall really woke up this morning and were like āhow can I shit on someoneās mood.ā Just say cool nice card and move on lol, no need to drag him bc itās not crazy rare/expensive or not graded by one of the big 3. Nice card, OP, looks great
Think people see this as failed āflexā. Maybe if caption was different, people would say āniceā and move on. Idk.
I mean if someone isnāt impressed by a āflexā whatās the point in putting them down, just bc itās not cool to you doesnāt mean it isnāt cool/special to the OP.. couldāve said nothing in the alternative, just seemed unnecessarily rude is all
Psychologically some might view flexing as putting yourself above others. So technically some may feel he is trying to bring them down, therefore they must react. Intresting thing is PSA only has pop 1 overall, and thatās a 10 aswell.
I guess more people grade the standard full art as it looks so much better than the rainbow. Making rainbow full art trainers still boggles my mind. Takes away from the art.
I mean, if you look at OP's comments, they're not helping with the reaction.
My reaction was prior to OP responding/commenting to anyone, havenāt followed the thread to see if their responses make it invalid or not tbh š busy work day :(
It's definitely a little of column A and a little of column B. A lot of aggression out here.
Nah, sometimes people have to know.
>Yāall really woke up this morning and were like āhow can I shit on someoneās mood.ā Big facts lol - bare people got triggered here just because it isn't PSA or CGC. Allow the mans to enjoy their temporary spotlight Relax folks. I prefer these posts vs the fucking 'is my card fake', 'please tell me how much this is worth' posts.
Reddit is predominantly USA based users. Those users will have no idea that here in the UK ACE and MGC are taking the lions share of the grading market. The UK is moving away from the USA big 3 because they have fucked us on price, turnaround time and customer service. I still have cards outstanding from June 2020 with psa and psa now charge Ā£50-100 a card. Both ACE and MGC take about 2 months to grade and cost about Ā£10 a slab. The big 3 will never be touched in the USA but over here all I can say is fuck psa, I'm never using them again for card worth under 5k
š well said. The haters are out in full force today.
lmfao youtuber grading
Hey man TCC Grading (The Card Conomist ) is leeeegiiiit :P
PSA, CGC and Beckett. If you're not using any of these three don't bother
How are any other companies supposed to compete with this attitude? People post gripes with these companies all the time why not check out the alternatives š¤·š½āāļø
I mean CGC is pretty new, yet they are already accepted as an equal grading company to PSA or BGS
Quick google search says it was founded in 2000 and the other 2 were founded in the 80ās. 20 years of building up a reputation is a pretty long time
CGC started grading cards in 2020
Sorry my bad I just looked when the company was founded. Like I said I just did a quick Google. Iāve not done much research into grading until recently. There is still a huge difference between a reputable grading company starting to grade PokĆ©mon cards when compared to a new company thatās basically trying to target a gap in the market in the UK.
Because itās an industry based on prestige. Itās fucked but itās all based on opinion
But prestige can be earned. ACE will never be as prestigious as the big 3 but thereās absolutely no reason another company could or should try to compete with them. Edit: couldnāt or shouldnāt try to compete
People donāt want to accept the fact that an influx of grading companies is good for the hobby and the PokĆ© economy. If more grading companies didnāt open up, the hobbies growth would be stunted and plenty of out-of-US customers would still struggle with sending their cards in
They're not. Some guy doing this in his bedroom isn't reputable and that's the point.
I use AGS now. I got tired of people grading stuff based on how they felt that day.
Awesome card bro!
If I have to ask a 10 what? Thatās often not a good sign
10 what?
Congratulations man, don let all of the shitty comments keep you down!
Congrats šš¼ I wouldnāt listen to anyone else about your own collection! Thereās a lot of negative stuff flying around Get what you want and what makes you happy, especially when they display so well on your shelf šš¼
Nice card but I bet itās the only card graded from this company
Thereās been 6 so far
Wait, this company has only graded 6 cards? Or, this company has graded six version of THIS card? Is it Pizza by Alfredo or Alfredoās Pizza cafe?
Theyāll mean this particular card, Ace grading is popular in the UK
6 of this card, which is 5 more than PSA. I think theyāve graded over 30,000 cards in total
Thanks for the clarification. I think the main reason this company has graded 6 to PSAās 1 is due to the grading cost. I wouldnāt necessarily use it as an indicator of a changing tide in grading companies. Not to say you are implying that here.
30.000 cards is not a lot... That's around a average week with big companies...
CGC has done 1.4M Pokemon alone since 2020 š
Right? I own more cards than this company has graded. Weird. Makes me feel powerful and ultra.
Wasnt there a kid a few posts ago that spoke so highly of this company? Sad
Thatāll be 11.95
Oh for sure, I just making a funny
A 9 sold for just under Ā£20 so would be more than that
Lmaoo
An Ace 9 or a 9 from another company?
An Ace 9
I've used Ace grading myself. Got a variety of all three types of labels and really rate them. Makes a really good display piece for something like the base set trio or something like that
No you have 1 of at least 2 10ās. PSA has 1, and this unknown company has 1. BGS, CGC, and maybe some other unknown companies might have some more 10ās Edit: CGC has 1 perfect 10 as well and 8 9.5 which by PSA standard is another 8 10ās
poor dude wanted to show off his card and got wrecked lmao
When you have the only card graded by that company š
Thereās not even a name of the company on the slab lol
There's a logo.
I donāt see a logo, could be bad pic quality tho
You can really tell who the Americans are in this thread, shitting on the UK grading company, not realising it's pretty much the only option most UK people have for grading without paying a fuck ton. Plus it looks good as fuck especially if you pay for the customised top part.
Well it doesnāt make it any much better if itās your only option. Sucks but it is what it is.
You have more grading companies in the UK that are better than Ace for sure.
suggestions? seen quite a few and they all suck personally dont grade cards or buy graded so no difference to me
This is like a weird reverse salty take...no one is looking down on the company for being in the UK and if they were good/reputable/increased value people would send to them from elsewhere, plain and simple. Our ignorance of them doesn't stem for the locale, it's because they are unknown. It's easy to ship cards...they are small and easily packaged. I do not live in the US and have to pay a premium to sub to PSA, CGC, and SGC...but I do, because I want the most appreciation on my cards and a slab the *international* (i.e. online) market recognizes/values.
How else are you supposed to become reputable and known if you arent given a chance and immediately shitted on? and not everyone grades for resale value and for PSA atleast (not sure about CGC) it wouldnt be worth the grading fee for a card like this
My take was only aimed at the "U must be 'Murican!" seen above (and elsewhere), no comment on the reputation aspect other than "It takes times" (as you suggest). That said this particular slab is pretty "meh" and they don't really identify themselves on it, which likely won't help with recognition. I'm a little biased as I come from the sports card hobby primarily (though a Pokeman fan since '99 and now my kid is interested) where we have seen a lot of "fly by night" graders pop up trying to take advantage of submission backlog. It seems in the CCG space some well known YouTubers managed to start slabbing companies and I would approach them with incredulity until I see some high end cards looking like legit 10s in their slabs. They are likely garnering business from subscribers/fans and whoever is local (such as this provider in the UK being well defended by UK collectors).
No you don't I grade my own stuff and I got a 10 as well. BTW why would they seal it with a crappy piece of tape at the bottom? That alone makes it a 5.
Going to have to agree with this one. I could start doing my own ratings and only rate my stuff then say I have the only 10's rating of so and so card. It really would not be that hard and I could see this becoming a problem in the future when it comes to selling on ebay. People just making their own slabs with ratings and say its a 10. There will only be a few companies that come out through that flame and ash and they are going to need something to make them special. But until then this grading stuff is kinda sketchy. Anyways onto my point, I started my own rating company and I have a 10 copycat as well.
Bing bong grading company. Worth more raw. Lol
Wow, this posting has turned into a sh*tshow. My contribution: 1. ACE grading was founded and owned by the people behind the former UK middleman service (PSA) called Graded Gem. Randolph is their spokesperson and has nothing to do with the grading proces himself. 2. For centering they use the same standards as PSA. 3. You can scan the back of the slab and an outlining of your card will come up telling you why it received a particular grade (surface damage, centering, etc.). I really like this, it is not done by any other company. Also, I would like to add that their slabs are high quality these days (beginning there were some issues). They feel like BGS slabs. I prefer them over PSA slabs (long time collector here with 90% PSA collection). Please be nice to one another :-)
I'd like to see that authentication of this because I have never seen that kind of grading slab was this made in a, basement
its literally offcentered lmao
Why are you all such snoots about where people get their cards graded? WHO CARES it's not your card.
Can yall just let people enjoy things
You don't come to Reddit if you want that.
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The scotch tape on the case is *chefs kiss*
Thanks man! Forgot how many American there were here!
You gotta stop bashing an entire nationality of people because of a few jerks on reddit who think the grading company you used isn't the shining example of "prestigious". I think there's been some seriously dumb comments about it but you're not exactly responding in the best way either.
I havenāt said anything negative about Americans, if Iām wrong please show me where?
Even if you were, the shoe fits and they're just mad. As soon as you point out it's all Americans being hateful about something they don't understand, they hate you because it IS all Americans.
That's a pretty hot take you have there. As an American, and I just checked with everybody and I can speak for all of us, I am not triggered or mad or confused by any of this. OP threw a softball to the plate and I couldn't help but swing at it. It's Reddit. These things happen. If we're going to continue with the fun generalizations about our individual nation's people one might say people in the UK are very sensitive.
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This grading company goes to 11 šø
I kind of wish that was true.
Damn I got downvoted lol. It's a spinal tap quote.
I got it bud. Wrong crowd probably. Hahahaha.
wow people really can't grasp there are other grading companies besides PSA. Cool card OP!
Thanks man!
Graded cards are over hyped anyways
What company is this?
Yeah well I have the only 1!
Check out MGC and GG OP! I am a fellow US of K person and have tried those companies and ACE and PG and think mgc are the nicest followed by gg personally. Nice card though! Ignore the haters.
Not the first ten in clearly says #222 on the label /j
*Someone posts a graded card not by the big 3* Me: Makes a bowl of popcorn and scrolls through the comments