25 Card CGC Sub Order Reveal! 🦃 My thoughts & review of CGC. Detailing the whole process/experience

LV here with a 25 card CGC grading reveal for you today. Yes, CGC and I feel this video should be very interesting and informative. But first, I want to say happy Thanksgiving. I'm very thankful for all of you out there who have supported my content. It truly means a lot. And I've been honored to make videos for such an awesome community. I really am. So, today I'll be diving in depth with the whole CGC submission process, reveal my grades, then give an honest review and thoughts about my experience after. I feel this is an important video for those people searching for a solid second grading company to use beyond PSA. Or a first primary grading company to use instead of PSA if you are not a fan. So, since 2002, I've been using PSA. And I'm still a fan and I still use them non-stop. That's This is not going to change. But, over those years, I've always wanted and had a second grading company to use and turn to. For a long time, it was Beckett BGS, but I stopped using them because of their poor customer service, poor communication. I absolutely hated sending them them a package for grading and never hearing a thing from them until 6 months later. Uh their prices never got better, their turnaround time never got better, and over the years, I just never saw that innovation, that spark. I didn't see any fight in them. I wanted to see that. So, I moved to SGC, which for years I was a big fan of until they unfortunately sold out to collectors, to PSA. And PSA began the process of ravaging them until they had no independence, no leader, and SGC Pete, and now seemingly completely controlled by PSA, unfortunately. So, that left me searching for a formidable second grading company to use. That brought me to CGC. Will they have what it takes? I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't share my thoughts till the end. Let's start with the whole CGC submission process, the membership, the cost, and the turnaround times. So, first off, go ahead and create an account with them. This is free to do, free to create account. But, if you are going to actually use CGC, actually submit to them, I recommend becoming a member. Here are your three membership options, and all of the options will give you 10% off grading fees, which is great. But, I fully recommend getting the premium $159 membership because of what I circled. You get a $150 grading credit, which if say you are going to submit 10 cards to them for your first order, that $150 credit will cover it pretty much. So, essentially, you're paying nothing for a membership. The membership is free. So, believe it or not, PSA, back in the day, did the same thing. It was so nice. Membership back in the day with PSA was just around 50 bucks, and you would get five free grading vouchers with it. So, it kind of paid for itself. I really miss those days, but it's nice to see CGC doing that. Anyway, that's what I did. I got that $159 premium membership. And just a heads-up, they don't email you a voucher code or anything to use that $150 credit. They just automatically deduct it when they charge you for your first grading order. Now, secondly, I highly recommend using the economy service, not the bulk. The price is $17 per card, but remember, because you are hopefully got the membership, you get 10% off of that. So, you are looking at $15.30 per card. And that $15 price point is right what I'm looking for. But, the best thing about using that economy level is that it gives you a speedier turnaround time. Says 20 business days, but my order only took 10 business days, which I will dive into shortly. And actually, other people I've talked to say economy orders are only taking 10 business days. And 10 days is exactly what I was hoping for. Now, the actual online submission process is very easy. It reminds me a lot of PSA's. It's straightforward and they have a nice website. Uh so, first thing you would do is you click online form, click start new order, click card, click CGC grading submission type, click mail-in or show drop-off, click either quick submit authentication or authentication and grading. Now, the difference here is that if you don't want to take the time to list out every card you are submitting, then you would just do the quick submit. And all you do there is just provide a quantity and a total declared value for the total. But, I'm really old school and I like having a record of things, so I actually click authentication and grading, and that way I get to list out all the cards and the declared value for each card. It's just nice having that reference point. Next, click your service level tier you want. Like I mentioned earlier, I recommend economy. And I'm already signed in and as a member, so you actually get to see that it says $15.30 per card. So, then you go no to JSA services, so just don't click on that box, leave it blank. Then click add card. Then you just add each card like you do on the PSA site, and the next steps are really straightforward. Review Review your order, pick your return shipping you want, and enter your credit card info for payment. Inter- interesting to note, they don't charge you right then and there like SGC did. They charge you after they physically receive your cards in the mail and it gets checked in. PSA doesn't charge you till after your cards are graded. So, CGC is unique in that way. They're kind of in between. Okay, now let's get into their communication and turnaround times because those two are very key qualities that are important to me. I tried to make sure to document everything precisely so you could get a good feel for the time frame. All right, so it looks like I sent them to CGC using priority mail USPS to the to their address, 6802 Energy Court, Sarasota, Florida. Now, just a heads-up, when I printed off my shipping label, I bought it off the PayPal website, the shipping services. The city changed from Sarasota to Lakewood Ranch, Florida. I started to worry, but heads-up, that was totally fine, nothing to worry about. It's kind of same location, it gets there just fine. Okay, so looks like USPS, it was delivered to them to CGC on 10/29, October 29th. Then, CGC acknowledged by email check-in and says it's scheduled for grading on 10/30. So, really only one business days after they received it, I got an email from them. I love how it only took one business days for them to acknowledge that it was checked in and everything was okay because I have that high anxiety whether or not my package arrived to them safe and sound. So, very nice to see there. So, next uh update looks like was on uh November 12th, and that's when it said grading, encapsulation, imaging instead of scheduled for grading, so that's a good sign. Then, on November 14th, it said grading quality control, so that's really good sign, means probably they're already done with grading, they're just doing the quality control. And then, actually, on 11/14, later that day in the afternoon, the grades popped. I got to see the grades, and then it said shipped on it looks like it was actually in FedEx's hands on 11/17. So, kind of grades popped on Friday and then it was in FedEx's hands on that Monday. So, that's a total of only 10 business days. Very happy with that aspect, and the communication throughout was clear and the status updated nicely. Now, let's get into what you've all been probably waiting for, the grades. Let's see how they stack up. But, before I sent the cards off, I made a quick 2-minute video clip showing the cards and what grades I thought and hoped they would receive from CGC. So, let's go ahead and watch that real quick, and then I will reveal the grades. Okay, here they are. These are the cards I will be submitting for my first ever CGC order submission. I'm going to quickly tell you what I think they should grade, and that way we can kind of see how it stacks up to what they actually graded. So, the Drake Maye looks like a clear-cut 10 to me, I'm hoping for a 10. The Caleb Williams, probably a uh 9.5, that's kind of where I would put it. The Bo Nix, somewhere around a 9.5 as well. The Jackson, around a 9.5. The Baker, around a 9.5. The Thurman, I want to test the greening, I'm going to say around a nine. The Payton looked like a nine, some edgewear. The Rob Johnson looked like a solid 9, 9.5. The Emmit looked like a nine or 9.5. The Elway, I'm hoping for a mint nine with a miscut. And the Marcus Allen looks like a solid nine. The Joe Montana, this was the SGC 4.5, I'm hoping for a five or higher. And I'm hoping for like a miscut mint nine on this Montana. Uh the LeBron looked like I'm hoping for a 7.5. It's kind of where I'm at on that one. And then the LeBron I'm hoping for a nine or better. And the Ray Allen looks like a gem and it is an air card, but it looks like a 10. I'm hoping for a 10 on that one. Uh kind of a hoping for a miscut on this Hakeem Olajuwon off-centered. I'm hoping for a nine miscut. The Tatis look like a solid 9.5 or 10. The Griffey's a little off-centered just hoping for a nine. We'll see what they grade it. This is a Pete Rose air. I'm hoping for a uh I don't know, 8.5 with an air. That'll be fun. And the Tony Gwynn look like an eight or higher. And here's that Nolan Ryan that was a PSA two. I'm hoping for a three. Anything higher than a three I'll be happy. Here's that Willie Mays. I'm hoping anything higher than a five. The Clemente, man, this looks like a mint card just miscut. So, I'm hoping for a nine miscut. That'd be insane. And then we have a Ty and Jordan together SP authentic 2014. I'm hoping for a nine or better. That's kind of where I'm shooting at. Okay, we'll see how they grade. Right now. All right, the cards arrived. And for those of you who want to see how they package the return shipping, here you go. And then up and has this cool looking little insert right here. So, we'll just take them out one at a time and go from there. So, first up we got the Drake Maye. Good time to get this back. Patriots still playing well. This one was a true PSA 10. I thought it would be. And uh it it got the 10. It's a nice looking card there. Slab feels pretty good in hand. Feels pretty light. Okay, next up. We got the Caleb Williams. He ended up getting the 10. Very happy there. This one was an in-between a nine or 10. I think PSA would give it a nine. It's a little touch there. So, it's good to know it kind of swings up to a 10 with uh CGC. Really nice looking card. It it was pretty well centered, too. Pulled this card myself. And I I'm not going to put up numbers like I usually did do this time around because I don't really know CGC resale values yet. I got to learn all that and there's not a lot of comp data for CGC sports card resale values, so. Uh that will be in the future, though. Next up. We got a Bo Nix. This one got a 9.5. I think that's pretty accurate. This one was more of a solid nine in my eyes with PSA, so. Cool looking card and the Broncos are still getting it done. And go Ducks. 9.5. Next up was the Jaxon Smith-Njigba. So, what a year he's having on these clear-cut best receiver in the league right now. It's pretty insane. So, 9.5 on this one. Yellow it kind of looks gold to me, so I like this card. This one got this one a 10. It was it was in between a nine and 10. 9.5 there. So far pretty accurate. Next up. We got a lot of debris coming off of these. Uh we got Baker Mayfield. I like this cuz the orange color match. And this is a good test card cuz I think it had uh one little prism touch on one of the corners. I wanted to see. And uh yeah. They give it a 10. So, happy there. Second year card for Baker. Rough time to get this one back because the team is struggling right now. But nice to get a 10 there. This one is another test card. That Thurman Thomas with very slight hint of holking on the knee. Nothing else wrong with it. Flawless and I'm getting eight. So, very similar grading to PSA. It's like an automatic eight now with any kind of holking, so. They're kind of online with PSA there. So, eight there. It's kind of good to see that consistency. So, good test there. Next up. We got the 1998 Score Peyton Manning rookie. This one I thought was a solid mint nine with PSA. So, yeah, maybe like 0.5 a little higher with CGC. I like it. 9.5. Little bit of touch there. That was it. On the Peyton Manning. Next up. The Rob Johnson. Got a 9.5. Yeah, I think PSA would give it a nine, so. I'm impressed so far. Out of 100. Cool looking card. It was clean. Buffalo Bills 9.5 there. Ooh, this one I'm stoked. Look at this 10 on the Emmitt Smith 1990 rookie. I just had one little edge nick that I thought would bring it down to a PSA nine. So, uh I'm happy. I'm getting the bump ups. It's kind of a nice feeling. Kind of refreshing. PSA always get the bump down. Uh 10 here on the Emmitt rookie. Next up. We got a John Elway. We got a three on this one. Unfortunately here is just kind of a test card. I I thought CGC does uh off-center miscut uh kind of qualifiers up in the labels, but uh but no. Um it's good to know. You will see in this reveal there's like three more cards like this. I should have just done one way miscut test, but uh it's okay. I'm learning. That's why I am I'm submitting these. So, I got a three unfortunately when I think this card is like an eight miscut, you know. So, this is definitely going to be a crack out. Throwing them 15 bucks there. All right, next up it looks like we have the the Marcus Allen rookie 1983 well centered. I actually think this one might be the first little undergrade here. Um I didn't see much wrong with it. Uh you can see a little bit of a factory dimple right here. I'm thinking that's what brought it down. I think PSA with that would have brought to an eight as well, so. I I don't know. Pretty on par with with PSA on this one on the on the vintage, so. Got an eight on the Marcus Allen. Next up. We got the first of two Joe Montana rookie cards in this order 1981. This one got a six and you if you remember it was in a recent reveal with SGC and they actually gave it a 4.5. I thought that was undergraded. Very nicely centered. Uh good eye appeal. Just soft corners. So, I thought it should have been a six and uh CGC agreed. So, I'm happy with that six there. And next up we have the second Joe Montana. So, like the John Elway, they are not grading those as miscuts or off-centered. So, they just hammer it. So, 3.5 and it was actually graded by PSA as a four. So, even lower than PSA. 3.5 on the Montana. That's just a crack out. I'm going to put it with the Elway. I'm going to crack those out. I'll figure out what to do with them, but next up is a big one. This is probably one of the bigger cards in the order. It was that LeBron James that I've had raw for years because uh I just assumed it would get a seven or an eight. And uh but I finally just wanted it slabbed up. I want all my LeBrons in my PC slabbed up. I don't necessarily care which grading company um or some of the grades. This one is just rare enough where I'm really happy to get slabbed in an eight, so. I I think PSA would have been somewhere around a seven to an eight. Um just had some touches there and a little edge wear. So, very rare card. I imagine this card is a $1,200 card out of 100. So, they This slabs do come with a lot of debris, but it'll come off with a microfiber, I'm sure. So, eight on that one. Next up. This is a big one. Oh my gosh. The the LeBron got a 10. Ah. Like I said, I'm not used to things going my way you grade cards with PSA. Finally something swung my way and I got a 10. I'm really excited about this. I thought this was more of like a nine 9.5, but I got the 10. And if you remember correctly in the recent reveal, SGC did not grade it authentic evidence of trimming. And I knew that wasn't true. I tried with PSA I don't know a while back and they just said men size and didn't charge me or anything, but uh like I said in my SGC reveal, when they see men size they kind of just do authentic evidence of trimming and still charge you, so it's kind of annoying. Anyway, made up for it here. Uh in a PSA 10 this is probably a $3,000 card. So, to see it in a 10, you know, I'm not exactly sure. I'm really intrigued what this is going to go for. I I maybe could be even 2,000. Could be two grand for this card. We will find out. We'll find out. All right, next up. This was just a really fun card. I've had it in my collection a while as an SGC slab. All they did was slab it as authentic, but I I wanted them to grade it cuz it was such a pristine copy. I knew it would be a a gem at 10. So, they got the error right, wrong back. As you can see, it's the Donyell Marshall back. Should be Ray Allen rookie. And it got the 10. So, I'm happy it's graded and designated as error. It's exactly how I wanted this card to be in the slab. Love that card. Next up was another one of those miscuts, off-centered that they just hammered. So, now I know. It's got a five. This was actually previously graded with PSA, and guess what? They graded it a five. So, very accurate there. So, five. Put that in my crack out file, probably. Next up, we got some baseball. We have the Fernando Tatis Jr. out of 75. Got a 10. This one was close to a PSA 10. Like I I think PSA would have given it a 10, too. I just wanted to fill out the order, see some ultra-modern stuff. Got a 10. Next up we have a Griffey. This is one of my favorite cards of the early '90s. I never submitted it to PSA because it's off-center top to bottom. And I knew they would just pop it as a nine, most likely. But, sharpest can be, clean, pack fresh. It got a 9.5. I think it's pretty accurate there. Love that card. Next up, we have the Pete Rose wrong back error. This one I think is possibly a little bit of overgraded cuz you see some little discoloration. It was pretty clean other than that. You look at the back, I mean. It's like miscut and wrong back. Jerry Mumphrey. So, really cool card. It happened to get a nine. Nice. Is that our first nine? Next up, we're rolling through. The Tony Gwynn 1983 Topps. And I'm not seeing any errors to the the cert labels or anything. So, that's a good sign. This card had some little snowing, and I felt PSA would give it an eight. And they give an eight as well. So, again, pretty on par. Got an eight for the Tony Gwynn rookie. Next up there we go. I went ahead and cracked it. I just wanted to get another company's opinion. This was the PSA two that I bought. And I probably definitely didn't gain any value. I did get a little higher grade, a 2.5, so I'm happy there, but it's kind of a downgrade in resale jumping from PSA slab to a CGC slab, but I'm okay with it. I gave it a shot. And [Music] okay. I was kind of hoping for a three. But, still nice-looking card. 2.5 on the Nolan Ryan rookie. And we got three more cards left. The 1963 Topps Willie Mays finally ended up with the grade that I always thought it should be and could be. And the Willie Mays got there. Got a six. CGC. If you remember this in my past orders, I actually never tried it with PSA because their print just takes forever. And I just gave it a shot with uh with SGC. And SGC originally graded it a 4.5. I always felt it was higher. I really just wanted to see it as five or higher. And I so I retried it with SGC again. And then they put authentic evidence trimming. It was that same order as that LeBron. I was really pissed off. So, I gave it a shot with CGC, and it got a six. And it's right where I want it to be. Very happy with that hit. Two more left. Okay, so the Roberto Clemente, Bob Clemente, is another victim of me not knowing how they grade those miscut off-centers. So, they hammered it. Uh very sharp card, clean, just miscut. I'm going to give this a shot with PSA. I'd like to see what they give it. SGC actually gave this one a five. So, even lower than SGC. I'm going to I'm going to see what PSA thinks of this one. So, I this is I'm learning. I am learning with CGC. All right, final card up. We are going to end with that. Looks like it's snowing. So, it's the debris coming off those white dividers. It's the divider accordion in person. Thank Thank you. Anyway, this one got a this one got a nine. Um accurate. I think PSA would give it a nine. I was hoping for a 9.5, but it swung to a nine. Uh really cool card still. So, there you go. Now, stay tuned for my thoughts and review of this order right now. All right. So, my thoughts. Would I use CGC again? Will they be my number two? And the answer so far is yes to both. Reason being, I love their communication. I love their turnaround time. I love that $15 price point. And I thought the grades were pretty consistent and fairly accurate within a reasonable range of PSA. And I like how they are putting in the work as a company. You see them at shows nationwide, solid customer care. And I And honestly, I'd say so far from my research and the first sub results, I would kind of lean more towards submitting modern and ultra-modern cards with them because it seems like those in between cards, the ones between a mint nine and a gem 10 that PSA almost certainly would always give you mint nines, I feel like with CGC, you have a great shot at those cards swinging up to a gem 10, which is very nice. But, the big question mark is going to be the resale value for these cards. How does CGC stack up in resale compared to PSA? That's what I honestly don't know yet. But, I'm going to get these listed on eBay right away, and I will keep you updated on that front. I'm honestly assuming that they will sell for probably around 60% of PSA, but we will see. So, for now, expect some fun CGC reveals sprinkled in my content. Majority will be PSA still, but you are going to get some CGC. Uh they are officially my new SGC. So, all right. I hope everyone found this video helpful, and good luck if you decide to grade with CGC. And comment down below if you have any questions that I might help you with. All right. See you in the next vid.