El Cardquistador

Grading companies often face criticism, and while subjective grading is a topic of debate, I’m focusing on a more tangible issue: misleading turnaround times. Contrary to the perception that grading is a precise science, it’s more of an art, inherently prone to variance. While most companies give reasonably precise assessments of card conditions, the real deception lies in their advertised processing speeds.

SGC, for instance, currently offers a special on 1970s and ’80s cards, boasting a 5-10 day turnaround. Yet, this advertised time frame is fundamentally dishonest. The clock doesn’t actually start ticking until they officially mark the cards as “received,” a crucial detail often buried beneath the marketing hype.

To illustrate, I recently sent cards to SGC. The carrier’s tracking showed delivery on February 12th. Yet, SGC didn’t acknowledge receipt until February 20th—a delay of seven business days, or six if we’re generous. This means half of their advertised 5-10 day window had already elapsed before they even began processing my order.

As of February 28th, seven business days after they finally logged my cards as received, the order remains in the “received” status. Even if we count this day, generously, as the sixth, they’ve already exceeded their quoted time frame. Given that today is Friday, my order will likely extend into March before completion.

This experience demonstrates that the 5-10 day turnaround is, at best, misleading, and more accurately, a blatant lie. They are holding cards for a significant amount of time before the clock even starts.

I’ve encountered similar delays with CGC as well. I suspect the root of this issue is PSA. Despite their higher prices, PSA is the industry standard. If other companies were transparent about their actual turnaround times, they would be competing solely on price, which would likely drive more collectors to PSA, given the impact of grading on resale value.

Until grading companies are upfront about their processing procedures and the actual start of the turnaround clock, their advertised times stay a deceptive practice.