Hello Collectors!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be at the Toronto Sports Expo in Mississauga, Ontario on November 14, 15, and 16 accepting submissions to bring back for grading at SGC. SGC has exhibited at the Expo in the past, but this will be the first time in several years and will hopefully start a trend of regular appearances for us at the show. Many of you will be familiar with our services, but for those of you who are not, please check out all our information at www.sgccard.com.

I've spoken to several Canadian collectors over the past few weeks who are looking forward to the opportunity to hand cards off to a grading representative and save on some shipping costs. We do have a Canadian Submission Center set up to handle submission from our Canadian customers, and all orders submitted at the show will be eligible to be returned through the submission center upon completion. As is the case with any show appearance, I will be happy to go through cards with customers, answer any questions I can about grading and the process, and help prepare submissions.

This has been a very big year for SGC when it comes to grading hockey cards. We've been fortunate to have been selected to grade several large hockey collections spanning all eras, and as most of you will know, the recently sold V145-1 set was entirely SGC graded. We have a very dedicated base of hockey collectors who are actively submitting and participating on our registry, but we're always looking to add more.

I'll update this thread with booth information as we get closer to the show date, but I did want to spread the word so that collectors can prepare cards to drop off at the show. I will be set up to handle as many cards as you'd like to submit, so feel free to take advantage of the in-person opportunity.

Please let me know if you have any questions by calling me at the office or e-mailing me at the address below.

I look forward to talking with and meeting many of you!

Brian Dwyer
SGC
1-800-742-9212 x114
bdwyer@sgccard.com

hi brian,just wanted to tell you that i think you guys are #1 in grading in my books.
keep up the great work as your graders are number one in consistency among grading sports cards.also your holders are the nicest looking too.
hope you come every year to the toronto show. cheers

Wow, that's great news. For those who don't know Brian, he was a great help to me when I submitted some cards to SGC at the National this past summer in Chicago.

Hey Brian ......

There's a wealth of tremendous opportunity staring you guys in the face @ setting an office "permanently" North of the Border. Not sure why it hasn't been done, or the logistics behind it but many believe there's a great opportunity in Canada, and certainly room for another Grading Co.

Donald and Elliot--Thank you both for the compliments!

Joe--As of right now, I imagine the possibility of SGC Canada is low, but I do hear what you are saying. We're a small company, and we try our best to reach out to Canadian collectors, but there is certainly more that we can and will do in the future. The Canadian Submission Center that we offer has been an option for years and works great on easing the flow of submissions to and from our company. As I mentioned before, we do have many, many Canadian customers now, but the goal for the future will be communicating to more collectors the ease with which Canadians can submit to our existing US facility. Hopefully with that we can gain more acceptance in Canada and continue as a viable option for grading.

Brian

Hi Brian, thanks for the response. I've never submitted any cards to SGC from Canada. Could you please give me a brief synopsis how it works, as like many others I am concerned about the border and the potential for a tax hassle, even though there shouldn't be one.

It's a subjective racket. Cards pulled directly from vintage packs getting a "trimmed" rating, so jackasses will keep resubmitting and flushing their money.

Hi Folks
I have ever only posted once before but the knowledge on the forum is very helpful.
Here is my question,
I want to start getting some vintage hockey cards graded and will be at the Toronto Expo.
Currently my vintage baseball cards are graded by PSA and I want to stay that way.
As I start to have hockey cards graded is SCG recognized by the market as well as PSA for resale purposes.
I would appreciate any information
Thanks
Ron

Ron,

Hockey cards that are grade by PSA are consistantly getting more money on the market than a comparable SGC hockey card in the same grade. That is the way it is and I have seen it time and time again on eBay.

Don't get me wrong - SGC is a very good grading company and is very reputable/well known. So if you think that people will not buy SGC graded hockey cards then that is incorrect.

It looks like for baseball cards SGC seems to be the preferred choice but not for hockey cards.

Hope that helps.

Thanks
Ron

I disagree. I've seen SGC do just as well as psa in a number of cards over the last year. You can't deal in an absolute like PSA gets more money then SGC. Silliness.

for the years I collect, late 1960's....PSA gets the top dollar. PERIOD! However, each card sale depends on the current supply/demand at that moment (ie timing)

However, i have crossed 2 SGC 92's into PSA 9's in the past......I like SGC's grading standards, and in my personal experience submitting 1990 OPC Premier (about 7 years ago) would suggest that SGC is a tougher grader than PSA.....

I think it's great that SGC is making the effort to go to the Toronto show.

i agree with jason,the tides are slowly turning in favour of SGC to be the #1 grading company in the sportscard market. it has happened to baseball and it will happen to hockey too in the future.
if i ever sell my raw cards,i will definetly use SGC as they are the most consistent graders of them all.

I don't think that the tide has turned at all in baseball. SGC has a strong presence in the pre war baseball market but 50's and later is still a psa stronghold. Where sgc graded cards are acheiving equal prices is in the area of key cards(ie. 52 Topps Mantle) and rarities. I would love to do all my grading through sgc for many reasons but until they get their website operating better I will stick with psa. I find their pop reports very difficult to navigate and their registry is a non factor as far as hockey goes. I know alot of people here hate graded cards, pop reports and registries but that is what drives prices. Jim.

"I know alot of people here hate graded cards, pop reports and registries but that is what drives prices."

it is also what will drive prices down as well,the higher the pops get in the future the less the one of one,one of twos etc... will be worth in the future.

also,the more people that register there sets the more the populations go up too.
believe me there are a lot of sweet mint or nrmt vintage raw cards yet to be graded and they will be graded in the future driving the pops up which will make the prices come down.

so really it can go both ways.

Post war stuff will be PSA because of the registry.

Pre war vintage is where the big money is and some of the deepest pockets in the baseball hobby have gravitated to SGC. You look at auction houses like Mastro and more and more of the prewar vintage is SGC. Even in our own much smaller hobby we've seen the complete V145-1 set be graded by SGC and that is probably one of the most important sets to come to auction this decade.

It really boils down to consistency. PSA has a real hard time even following their own guidelines when it comes to grading. I've heard they've tightened the grades up recently but that doesn't do a whole lot for me when they were slack grading the last couple of years prior to that.

I won't say that I won't buy PSA graded cards because I do but its at the point where I have to see really good scans of the card to see if it would get the equivalent SGC grade.

Graded cards have driven the market and they do good things for the hobby. But its a hobby not an investment for me so I could care less about pop reports etc.

I'll give you an example. I completed a 1961 Topps baseball set in PSA 7-8 about 6 years ago. There was one card. I believe it was Don Hoak that only had 11 PSA 8 at the time. (where as most of the commons were around 50-70 pop for PSA 8) A couple guys were paying as much as 2k for that card in PSA 8 and well... that was a bad idea.

If you buy sports cards for an investment then I say collect the key hall of famers of your chosen sport in as high a condition as you can afford and make sure you buy the card and not the holder.

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to this thread. I've been away at a show in Boston since Thursday and just now have a chance to respond. There's obviously been some good discussion about things in this thread. Specifically, I wanted to address Elliot's question regarding the Canadian Submission Center.

Our Canadian Submission Center is in Oshawa, Ontario and a long-time Canadian dealer/collector works with us to handle Canadian orders. He receives the orders and brings them to Niagara Falls to mail on to us in New Jersey. The cards are graded through the normal process and returned to the Niagara Falls area in accordance with his scheduled pickups. No packages sit at that address--we ship very strictly via FedEx to ensure exact delivery. If he is there Wednesday morning, we schedule packages to arrive at that time.

Submitting through the Canadian Submission Center can take a little longer but it is the best way to avoid issues with taxes, duties, or other customs issues. The exact address and costs are outlined at the link below.

http://sgccard.com/canadian_submissions.htm

We do have a number of Canadian customers who elect to ship directly to us which is another option. You may submit to us directly and choose to have your cards returned via the Canadian Submission Center. We also accomodate other Canadian customers who have their cards returned to family or friends in the states.

There's a number of ways to get cards to us, and we do try to make it as easy as possible.

If anyone has more specific questions, please feel free to call or e-mail me.

Brian

I've received several e-mails each of the past few days regarding this show...very glad to see the positive response and looking forward to a great show!

To answer some of the more commonly asked questions, I thought it'd be best to lay them out here for all to see.

- Do I need to have everything completed before coming to the show?

* No, feel free to come with cards and sit with us at our booth and fill out the forms, ask questions, and prepare your submission. There's no rush as we will be there for the duration of the show.

- Some of your prices have changed since I last submitted, can I still use the old forms I have?

* Yes, you can use any invoices that you have if you'd like to fill out forms prior to the show. When you submit at the show, we can adjust pricing accordingly if there are any issues.

- What should I put my cards in for you?

* We prefer cardsavers but will accept cards in toploaders as well. If you bring cards in a screwdown holder, we'll have to remove them at the booth to ensure no damage has been done to the card. We can't take cards back in binders, soft sleeves, or sheets, but if that's all you have, we will have supplies at the booth for you to use.

- Is there a minimum number of cards I must submit at the show?

* No, you can submit 1 card or 1000 cards. We will be able to accomodate submissions of any size.

- Do I have to be an SGC member to submit cards?

* No, there is no membership to use SGC's services. We accept cards from anyone at any time and require nothing beyond the grading fees and shipping charges. We will start a customer account for all new customers which will allow you to track your order online from start to finish.

- Do I need to put different service levels or different sized cards on individual invoices?

* No, you can combine all your cards on a single invoice provided you want them all shipped back at the same time. You will be responsible for the appropriate tier fees and cards will ship back at the slowest level. For example, if you have a $5000 card and a $400 card, you can pay $75 on the one card and $15 on the other and have the cards ship back in two weeks. If you wanted the more expensive card back first, then you would have to pay shipping charges on each invoice.

- Will your prices be in US or Canadian dollars at the show?

* All prices are in US dollars. We will be accepting credit cards and US currency at the show.


That is pretty much a summary of the most commonly asked questions. If there's anything else you may need, please let me know.

Thanks,

Brian

Just wanted to give this thread a bump as the first day of the show is tomorrow.

We will be at booth 726 (corner aisle) for the duration.

I look forward to meeting many of you!

Brian

Hi,

Will you have the sgc graded card storage containers for sale? Also, do you prefer submissions to be boxed already, or can I just fill out and complete the submission at your booth?

-Nathanael

Hi Nathaniel,

Unfortunately we will not have storage boxes available at this show.

Also, you can prepare your submissions at our table. We will box everything up for returning to the office.

Brian

I just wanted to send a thank you out to all the forum readers who stopped by our booth this weekend. It was nice to put faces with names and see all the neat cards submitted for grading. Sean and I enjoyed our time in Toronto and plan to make the Expo a regular stop in May and November each year.

Until the next show, if anyone needs help with grading issues or has general questions, please feel free to contact me at the office.

Thanks again!

Brian

bdwyer@sgccard.com
1-800-742-9212 x114

Hi Brian,
If you're still reading this forum ... just wanted to let you know my cards arrived today in the mail. I'm very pleased with the service received from SGC: it was easy to drop cards off at the show, you were quick to respond to any questions I had, and everything arrived well packaged with a quick turnaround time!

Ray

Thank you, Ray, and other board members who have contacted me by e-mail. I'm glad to hear that you found the submission process quick and easy. As of today, all show orders have been returned to the Canadian Submission Center and should arrive to their final destinations shortly if they haven't already.

We will be adding the Toronto Expo to our show rotation for May and November and hope that each show will see more submissions going forward. The response from the November show was phenomenal which was very encouraging. As time goes on, I am sure that SGC will become a more viable option for Canadian collectors and the availability of SGC graded cards within Canada will increase.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

Thanks again!

Brian