Peter Steinberg leaving SGC

[Scottish Punk]

Felt like this deserves its own thread. Peter Steinberg who has been the face of SGC since the pandemic and really got SGC to grow is leaving the company.

This is something many of us have feared and predicted. It is the next step of PSA swallowing them up. Sad day, hope Peter the best going forward.

[TXRunner]

Just saw his announcement on IG. Agree, that this feels like Collectors either absorbing/disbanding SGC or changing them completely to what fits their "business model". The company I work for is a growth by acquisition company, and I have seen this all too many times.

[brev87]

Wow. Thanks for the update

[discodanman45]

CGC or BGS should be making offers to him immediately. I have another stack of cards to send in, but may just use CGC after this announcement. Hopefully they are keeping their vintage graders at SGC...

[SandStoneSports]

Its too bad the hobby never shifted towards building up SGC towards a better ROI. Better slab, better customer service, and better turnaround time. Loved sending my cards there. With Pete gone they either go away, or become PSA lite.

[YeahBuddy]

He probably had to stay on for a transitionary time and it ended.

He may have done some good things, and definitely helped them grow, but there is also a lot of things that never happened and it was always just

BIG THINGS COMING

and big things never came.

[Gary]

Originally Posted by discodanman45

CGC or BGS should be making offers to him immediately. I have another stack of cards to send in, but may just use CGC after this announcement. Hopefully they are keeping their vintage graders at SGC...

If PSA was smart they had verbiage in the buyout with non competes for Peter,Scott......if not CGC should hire Peter and grab Scott and as many graders as he can.....Make the announcement all have moved to CGC,Instant credibility in the vintage space....and we have a good alternative to PSA overnight.

[Scottish Punk]

Originally Posted by Gary

If PSA was smart they had verbiage in the buyout with non competes for Peter,Scott......if not CGC should hire Peter and grab Scott and as many graders as he can.....Make the announcement all have moved to CGC,Instant credibility in the vintage space....and we have a good alternative to PSA overnight.

Yes, agree. If there ever was an chance for CGC to start having any legitimacy to sports cards, now is the time to strike. Stating they grabbed SGC graders would do that and give an easy excuse for the "never PSA" or "SGC lifers" a reason to switch over. If CGC does nothing, those graders will erode away or just hold their nose and go to PSA.

[Scottish Punk]

Couple of notes. Out of curiosity, i checked my COMC. The send to SGC for grading is gone. Did they go away recently or was that part of the removal of bulk submitters deal? CGC and PSA are the only two options now.

Credit to NEO for the interview. He has Ryan Hoge (President of PSA). Some take aways.
As suspected, getting rid of SGC bulk submitters was to cut down on SGC submissions/demand.
PSA has no plans on putting any money into the SGC brand. Reading between the lines, I am guessing that PSA wanted to grow SGC, PSA did not.
PSA is currently moving SGC staff into PSA office in Florida - again no surprise
When asked about future of SGC brand, Ryan said SGC will be a "boutique brand" and go back to "2017 SGC". This sounds like he sees keeping SGC open just for the loyal vintange collectors. SGC seems to be dead for anything modern.

Will be interesting to see how the market shakes out. As somebody who has 100's of SGC slabs, I think my overall value has taken a big hit. Cards are still good and accurately graded of course, but resale is going to be less going forward, imo.

[discodanman45]

SGC removed all bulk submissions, including COMC. Any company that offers SGC grading does it at cost now.

[Satan]

Sounds like they want to put SGC out of business

[Gary]

Originally Posted by Scottish Punk

Couple of notes. Out of curiosity, i checked my COMC. The send to SGC for grading is gone. Did they go away recently or was that part of the removal of bulk submitters deal? CGC and PSA are the only two options now.

Credit to NEO for the interview. He has Ryan Hoge (President of PSA). Some take aways.
As suspected, getting rid of SGC bulk submitters was to cut down on SGC submissions/demand.
PSA has no plans on putting any money into the SGC brand. Reading between the lines, I am guessing that PSA wanted to grow SGC, PSA did not.
PSA is currently moving SGC staff into PSA office in Florida - again no surprise
When asked about future of SGC brand, Ryan said SGC will be a "boutique brand" and go back to "2017 SGC". This sounds like he sees keeping SGC open just for the loyal vintange collectors. SGC seems to be dead for anything modern.

Will be interesting to see how the market shakes out. As somebody who has 100's of SGC slabs, I think my overall value has taken a big hit. Cards are still good and accurately graded of course, but resale is going to be less going forward, imo.

SGC vintage slabs wont see a hit imo,everyone knows why SGC went away,there was no scandal......think SCD slabs even today they sell well at a good price.so i wouldn't be concerned.........ultra modern SGC slabs never caught on with the hobby those may see a dip to worthless.

How great would it be to see CGC take Peter,Scott and the best graders from SGC........then buy Beckett and Make a run at PSA.......Win win for us.

[NormHullTX]

Originally Posted by Satan

Sounds like they want to put SGC out of business

I didn’t believe that when Collectors bought SGC, now I still don’t believe it, but they definitely don’t want people to submit to SGC. I believe SGC can still hang on as a niche brand, but the popularity will sink fast. Most of us SGC fans really liked Peter.

[inaka]

Argh.
Terrible news as there's no better grading company evangelist in the business.

That said, if Collector's does phase out SGC, (which would be completely idiotic for sports card grading and vintage in particular) hopefully Pete signs on with CGC or even Beckett.

But again, argh.

[BoSoxFan1999]

Originally Posted by inaka

Argh.
Terrible news as there's no better grading company evangelist in the business.

That said, if Collector's does phase out SGC, (which would be completely idiotic for sports card grading and vintage in particular) hopefully Pete signs on with CGC or even Beckett.

But again, argh.

Hopefully Beckett, as they need all the help they can get right now.

[NEOSportscards]

For anyone wanting the PSA side of things Ryan Hoge President at PSA came on the channel today to discuss the future of SGC and how its in CU's portfolio

https://youtu.be/rT-jvT2l-VQ

[ReggieBush22]

Bad news as i love SGC. All signs seem to point to PSA wanting to shrink market share of SGC to only vintage collectors and incentivize people to PSA. I think they are playing with fire. While PSA is king, SGC is obviously immensely respected for what they do and to threat SGC like it's some newbie, is very short sighted IMO. Perhaps bad leadership at PSA right now. They should be working to increase SGC's brand, not decrease it. If staffing is an issue, hire some more people instead of gutting SGC's staff.

[Empty77]

Originally Posted by Gary

If PSA was smart they had verbiage in the buyout with non competes for Peter,Scott......if not CGC should hire Peter and grab Scott and as many graders as he can.....

Maybe details differ in certain unique cases, for instance if an employee also has ownership stake, but in general I understand that attorneys on the ground consider non-competes just words on a page that are largely unenforceable against individuals. (And that companies know that too, but their attorneys seem to include the wording as not worthless, since it sounds threatening enough to slow down the movement of a cautious employee, which may be all they hope to accomplish.)

However, prohibitions on recruiting other staff away from the same firm when one leaves are real, and are often included in higher-value employment contracts.

[CaptSpaulding]

Originally Posted by ReggieBush22

Bad news as i love SGC. All signs seem to point to PSA wanting to shrink market share of SGC to only vintage collectors and incentivize people to PSA. I think they are playing with fire. While PSA is king, SGC is obviously immensely respected for what they do and to threat SGC like it's some newbie, is very short sighted IMO. Perhaps bad leadership at PSA right now. They should be working to increase SGC's brand, not decrease it. If staffing is an issue, hire some more people instead of gutting SGC's staff.

Ryan Hoge said in his interview today that it took PSA many millions of dollars and almost 4 years to build out the infrastructure and technology and it made no sense to repeat that for SGC.

I am in the camp of not being in favor of fewer choices for TPG and PSA having an even larger market share but I can also see it from Nat's POV, and it makes a lot of sense what they are doing.

[Gem10collection]

Sorry, no one cares about sgc and auction prices have consistently proven that. They got lucky in the pandemic.

[cgjackson222]

Originally Posted by Gem10collection

Sorry, no one cares about sgc and auction prices have consistently proven that. They got lucky in the pandemic.

Many vintage collectors care. I am one of them.

[Gary]

Originally Posted by Gem10collection

Sorry, no one cares about sgc and auction prices have consistently proven that. They got lucky in the pandemic.

Ultra modern your correct,Vintage your wrong,pre war your way wrong,Auction prices prove all this.

[Gem10collection]

Vintage and pre-war provide miniscule revenue for the grading companies. The real story is in modern and ultra modern and that's why i say NO ONE cares about sgc

[discodanman45]

Originally Posted by Gem10collection

Vintage and pre-war provide miniscule revenue for the grading companies. The real story is in modern and ultra modern and that's why i say NO ONE cares about sgc

That is why many people think grading is a scam. Vintage and prewar grading involves expertise in grading and authentication. Modern grading involves getting a 10 to add value for 99.99% of cards. No grading company can tell the difference between a 9 and 10, even companies that use computers and scanning.

I don't mind SGC being a vintage only grader, but costs will rise if they do this. It is harder to grade a vintage card than to randomly put in stacks of 9 and 10's

[towerymt]

Originally Posted by Gem10collection

Vintage and pre-war provide miniscule revenue for the grading companies. The real story is in modern and ultra modern and that's why i say NO ONE cares about sgc

C.R.E.A.M.