PSA Raises, SGC Down and the MLB Post-Season E356

·1 hr·3 clips

Cam Schlittler's Game 3 start sent his Bowman First cards surging, including an orange shimmer auto listed at $8,000.

1. Hobby Hotline E356 centers on PSA pricing changes, SGC's grading slump, and the MLB postseason. 2. Dan hosts with Alex and John, and Brody is absent because of illness, while John fills in at the last minute. 3. The episode asks whether grading companies, especially PSA and SGC, are changing the hobby through prices, turnaround times, and market share. 4. Dan reads a Sports Collectors Daily headline saying PSA is hiking turnaround times and prices for select grading and authentication services. 5. John says he still uses PSA and SGC, while Alex says PSA is his preferred company for the clean slab look. 6. Dan argues that PSA behaves like a large corporation that raises prices and reduces service rather than like a hobby-first company. 7. John adds that PSA has increased some prices by only a few dollars but also added five days to estimated turnaround times. 8. The hosts compare SGC and PSA turnaround times, with John saying SGC has gotten back to roughly 12 to 20 days on recent bulk submissions. 9. Dan says his own PSA submissions include an autograph order and a World Series ticket order, and the two had to be separated because PSA would not combine them. 10. The conversation shifts to SGC customer-service changes after Brent, a long-time employee, moved on from the company. 11. Dan says the bigger concern is GemRate data showing SGC down 49% month over month and showing PSA grading twice as many vintage cards in September. 12. John says SGC's vintage category is its bread and butter, so the drop is especially disappointing. 13. The hosts discuss whether Collectors could phase out SGC and whether that would affect existing SGC holders. 14. John says he would still buy an SGC card if the company disappeared, because the grade was assigned while SGC had a strong reputation. 15. Dan adds that SGC would be different from companies such as GAI because any discontinuation would be business-driven rather than because of product quality problems. 16. The show also covers the idea of Fanatics or another card manufacturer owning a grading company, which John says would be a deal breaker for him. 17. Dan mentions antitrust concerns, but the hosts think federal regulators have bigger priorities than sports cards. 18. The tone stays conversational and chat-driven, with a lot of back-and-forth between grading opinions, chat comments, and playoff reactions. 19. Listeners who follow PSA, SGC, vintage cards, and MLB card-market swings will get the most out of it. 20. Listeners who want a tightly edited, non-hobby sports show will probably skip it.

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