Slab Sharks

[ThatGuyPal]

Are they a preferred consignment destination for Canadians? I ask because I saw a video by Zeeree (Canadian) saying he consigned almost his whole collection to them to acquire a Mcdavid (Cup RPA). If this sounds familiar someone posted on here awhile back almost an identical story except that person acquired a McDavid YG High Gloss /10. I don’t really consign so I always just saw the name in passing and assumed it’s slabs only but as some may know Zeeree rarely grades so most of his submission was raw.

I guess my main question is since both used some kind of service where you sell to trade up to a card they have listed or for sale, is it good if you are using that particular service or is it just a good consignment choice? Do they only run auctions? Definitely doesn’t seem like a destination for low-end cards but what consignment is these days after fees. I also remember both of them mentioning not sure if promo or what but a very high payout for some cards. Just wondering if anyone has dealt with them and how you’d rate them compared to other consignment COMC or otherwise.

[Satan]

I've used them a few times if I'm going out of town for an extended duration. No issues with their service- although I have seen mistakes in titles before, which are actually quite easy to catch now with their app. They make everything really easy to do and the convenience is awesome.

In terms of results, I've had more auctions end for under what I expected than go above. Maybe I've sent the wrong cards or something but I think consignment shops have tipped the supply/demand scales for hockey cards on eBay. There's quite a few consignos up and running now and there's a lot of market saturation.

Based on my experience, I've began sending more cards to comc or listing on my own eBay account rather than sending to other eBay consignment shops- the convenience was awesome but I think with a little more patience on my end, I can put more money in my pocket.

[JanuaryRains]

The McDavid Cup RPA consignment was a service they provide for high value items - $10,000 or more on their page if I remember correctly. Not really relevant for most people and definitely not for me haha.

They're a good consignment choice if you're Canadian and primarily deal in hockey. Definitely suited for $50+ items - their payout rates reflect it. I've used them a couple times now - got about what I thought I would get in total with some items lower and some higher. The way it goes - content with how everything ended. Maybe I could've gotten more if I took time but that's the tradeoff and I didn't want to spend that time.

I've used DCsports, COMC, I find Slabsharks comparable in most respects with the added bonus of being in Canada so shipping/dropping off is easy. Good visibility of their auctions, easy to fix title errors/corrections, payouts are straight forward. In my experience, they respond to emails very quickly as well. I really don't have any complaints about the service I got.

Only issue as Satan says is that there's just so much volume overall nowadays that auctions can get very risky if you're unlucky. That's not exclusive to Slabsharks though - I'd rather sell hockey through them than anyone else at present.

[stoopid]

Originally Posted by JanuaryRains

Only issue as Satan says is that there's just so much volume overall nowadays that auctions can get very risky if you're unlucky. That's not exclusive to Slabsharks though - I'd rather sell hockey through them than anyone else at present.

As a buyer from these services, I wanted to echo this issue. I've snagged cards for less than comps more often than not, and have also seen people cashing out their player collections and over the course fo a few weeks buyers budgets run dry and the final items go for less than maybe they should because the consigner is not trickling the cards out to maximize resale/properly.

I would never consider these solutions as I have my personal sales on eBay dialed in and set to sell over time mode/buy it now.

[ThatGuyPal]

Been away but these were some good, informative answers def have a better idea of them now. Seeing them used for two recent large purchases just got the questions rolling lol the interface shown in the videos also seemed pretty cool that showed the auction results.

I also wondered about multiple high-end cards of the same player auctioning at once likely hurting sales

[Triple B]

I've used them a few times with ZERO issues. Their app is amazing as is the ability to edit titles. If they're NOT the go-to for Canadians, they should be.

[ZappBrannigan]

You can’t list your own cards on ebay?

[stoopid]

Originally Posted by stoopid

As a buyer from these services, I wanted to echo this issue. I've snagged cards for less than comps more often than not, and have also seen people cashing out their player collections and over the course fo a few weeks buyers budgets run dry and the final items go for less than maybe they should because the consigner is not trickling the cards out to maximize resale/properly.

I would never consider these solutions as I have my personal sales on eBay dialed in and set to sell over time mode/buy it now.

As an immediate recent example, yesterday's auction resulted in me snagging a platinum preview for a rainbow I'm working on for 300+% less than I expected to pay. There was also a Hellebuyck emerald surge ( /10) that sold for ~$20 more than the same year, similar condition seismic gold ( /50). If Slabsharks had spread out the 3 or 4 same year OPC platinum listings for the same player over a few weeks I bet they would have maximized the sale of each card, instead they just dumped them all into the same week's auction.

"Properly" running a business is difficult, requires a lot of knowledge (aka 'expertise') about the thing you're selling. But that also means when you fail, you fail in front of everyone and potentially pass some of that fail on to your customers. I feel like Slabsharks (and other consigners like Hoody's, Savage, 4SharpCorners, etc) are often failing their customers with these listing practices. While it helps me, as a hobbyist in the immediate short term, when I go to sell or trade things down the road (especially rarer/low numbered cards) these low outlier comps are a current I have to swim against.

[rohara99]

As a seller I had 10% cards go for more than expected, 20% as expected and 70% below expected… with quite a few way less then expected. I was shocked honestly but that’s how auctions are I guess. I also had some bigger Ovie cards go unpaid for the week he was breaking the record (which I timed based on when I submitted them) so they were relisted 2 weeks later and sold for way less the second time around.

As a buyer I have gotten some amazing deals as they have way too many auctions ending at once. Its way over saturated the hockey market on Thursday nights. The people unloading player collections are nuts, way over saturating their market.

Their selling platform is great, super easy to follow along. Payment was quick and easy. Not sure I’d consign again though, exponentially better $$ on listing myself with BIN prices.

[slightlyrounded]

I enjoy the service and have used it myself, but there's definitely a risk that too many listings are beginning to dilute demand. As a buyer I've gotten some great deals.

From a seller's perspective: I would love to see the top 100 listings per month get a separate night and have greater time-spacing. Similar to what MC does with the monthly showcase.

[stoopid]

The other thing to consider are the current micro and macro economics. There's many more sellers than buyers at the moment. This isn't the best time to be a seller if you want to maximize profit. I'm intentionally holding off listing some things as a result of what I'm seeing.

[ThatGuyPal]

People are selling out of season or people are selling current playoff guys? Like imo there would be no reason to list a Cale Makar right now, doing so would kind of ask for lower prices.

[stoopid]

Originally Posted by ThatGuyPal

People are selling out of season or people are selling current playoff guys? Like imo there would be no reason to list a Cale Makar right now, doing so would kind of ask for lower prices.

Even accounting for stupid, things are notably tight right now. Seller beware.

[PeteD]

Don't know why it's a flat $12.50 Cdn on lower valued cards. I get cards from the states shipped for a fraction of that.

[stoopid]

Originally Posted by PeteD

Don't know why it's a flat $12.50 Cdn on lower valued cards. I get cards from the states shipped for a fraction of that.

They use a courier to get them across the border then shipped usps. Tracked and insured shipping isn't cheap, at least it's not from US to CAN. It's $0.50 for each additional card, so it stands to reason this (common on eBay) shipping cost strategy incentivizes people to bid on multiple items to distribute that shipping cost across more cards.

[PeteD]

Originally Posted by stoopid

They use a courier to get them across the border then shipped usps. Tracked and insured shipping isn't cheap, at least it's not from US to CAN. It's $0.50 for each additional card, so it stands to reason this (common on eBay) shipping cost strategy incentivizes people to bid on multiple items to distribute that shipping cost across more cards.

I'm in S.Ontario...and have used the multi card option.

[rohara99]

Originally Posted by stoopid

They use a courier to get them across the border then shipped usps. Tracked and insured shipping isn't cheap, at least it's not from US to CAN. It's $0.50 for each additional card, so it stands to reason this (common on eBay) shipping cost strategy incentivizes people to bid on multiple items to distribute that shipping cost across more cards.

Except having so many cards end all at once, or only seconds apart, it makes this extremely difficult hah.

[stoopid]

Originally Posted by rohara99

Except having so many cards end all at once, or only seconds apart, it makes this extremely difficult hah.

Rumor has it there's methods of bidding and setting rules based on winning/not winning prior scheduled bids.

https://www.gixen.com/main/index.php
https://www.auctionsniper.com/mysnipes.aspx

[slabsharks]

Hi Everyone,

Karn from Slab Sharks here.

First off—thank you. It's truly awesome to see Slab Sharks mentioned here. I’ve been reading these forums since 2014, so seeing a company I helped build discussed by the community feels both humbling and exciting.

I wanted to provide some context and personally address a few of the concerns that have come up.

Slab Sharks was born out of a personal frustration: as a longtime Canadian hockey card collector, I found it extremely difficult to source and sell cards within Canada. Most of the action was happening through U.S. auctions, even though the majority of the hobby’s heartbeat—for hockey—was here in Canada.

There were three core problems I wanted to tackle:

1) Building an ecosystem in Canada:

I constantly found myself bidding on cards in the U.S., which meant higher costs, longer shipping times, and more logistics headaches. It didn’t make sense to me that a hockey-centric country like Canada had no equivalent auction ecosystem.

2) Lack of Sales Data:

Because sales volumes were so low in Canada, it was nearly impossible to price cards accurately. This created seller hesitation and inflated asking prices—ultimately stalling the market.

I found that transacting in other sports was much easier due to the clear understanding through data to come to a deal.

3) More Variety of Sales:

For a while there, a lot of the auctions in the United States were of the same sets and cards, continuously recycled. I was looking to fill in holes for specific sets and subsets. Most of these hockey cards were locked away in collections in Canada looking for new homes, but no avenue to sell.

I was confident that by opening up a Canadian channel we could bring out many of the items I sought after, and many items other hockey card collectors were looking for.

4) Poor Consignment Experience:

The eBay consignors at the time (many of whom have since improved!) didn’t offer the transparency or tools I wanted. Sending cards in felt like throwing them into a black hole.

The idea was to open up business for hockey cards. While we want to be Canadian centric in our vision, we truly believe we open up buying opportunities for hockey collectors across the world. We have just recently started sourcing hockey consignments from the U.S, Finland, Czech and Sweden. Soon, we will find a way to ship cards outside of North America for a low cost.

We built the Slab Sharks Portal directly to solve consignment transparency issues. Today, consignors on the Slab Sharks App can:

1) View our full suite of auctions directly in our app

2) Track live, scheduled, and completed listings

3)Review their listings before they go live and request edits

4) See weekly reports of paid/unpaid cards of the entire auction

5) Get real-time bid/payment notifications

6) Access clear payout reports and payment schedules

7) Earn loyalty points.

8) And even preview listings a few hours they go live in our auctions

We’ve poured our energy into this because we believe hockey cards deserve a stronger infrastructure. The result? We’re seeing the beginning of a hockey card data revolution.

More collectors and investors are active, and prices are responding to real-world player performance—something that simply didn’t exist before. Floors are forming quicker, and price swings are sharper. This is meaningful change, and I believe we're just getting started.

A Bit About Us:

We’re 100% bootstrapped—no investors, no loans, no debt, no outside financing. My co-founders and I left stable corporate jobs, started this from my parents' garage, and reinvested every dollar we’ve made into building our app, our operations, and our people. We now employ 17 part-time/full-time individuals in our 4000 sqft warehouse in Mississauga Ontario.

It’s been a grind, but also incredibly rewarding. While I've been in the space for 22 years (my first Toronto Sports Card Expo was as a 10 year old in 2003 - shopping my newly pulled Rick Nash YG), my co-founders were new to the hobby, but we’ve all been equally committed since day one. We care deeply about this space, and we’re in it for the long haul.

Addressing Your Concerns

1. Shipping Costs

This is by far the toughest challenge we face. Shipping in Canada is simply not the same as in the U.S.—especially when it comes to tracked options.

Early on, we offered $3.50 letter mail shipping to U.S. buyers. But after shipping thousands of packages this way, we were told it was no longer compliant with Canada Post business rules. We risked losing our profile entirely.

Now, shipping 4,000–6,000 items per week, we’re required to use tracked shipping. For a) Seller Protection, b) Operational Efficiency c) Lack of eBay tools for large scale sellers d) Labour efficiency (Canada Post does not have an automatic labelling process for letter mail. e) Inability to ship items letter mail over a certain weight f) Lack of dynamic shipping options provided by eBay (we need to set shipping costs prior to the sale).

We purposely charge an additional $3 for cards under $50 by design to ensure our auctions have higher end cards where tracked options make more sense. Despite this, we still have collectors that want to liquidate their items, and point towards our combined shipping rates as a positive avenue to get most of the value for their lower end items. We will still sell them, but it is important to get across that we do prefer those who want to maximize their sale prices send cards $50+ in value. We actively reject lower end cards in-person or at shows, but of course, this is harder to do when items are shipped in. This under $50 tier is where most of our shipping price concerns come from.

Here's why our shipping costs are what they are:

Base tracked shipping starts at $8-$9 (and can be $12–$18 depending on the region)

Labour: We have 8 full-time shipping team members

Materials: Custom boxes, bubble mailers, and packing materials—all scaled to tens of thousands per year

Insurance: All shipments are insured, and cards over $1,000 are shipped via FedEx or UPS with signature

We’ve also built in protections: If a card under $1,000 is accidentally routed through a higher-tier shipping method, we refund the difference. Our pricing is blended across Canada—whether you're in Toronto or Nunavut, we eat the cost variance.

We also cover any cost-variance for a card over $1000. We ship FedEx/UPS with signature required, even if the buyer only paid for the lower shipping option.

Our shipping prices equal our costs.

We’re watching this closely. If Canada Post provides better letter mail options or more scalable rates, we will absolutely adjust our prices accordingly.

2. Auction Curation

We’ve heard the feedback on auction timing and card overlap.

While we’d love to space everything out perfectly, a few limitations exist:

a) We are not a vault, and insurance coverage restricts how long we can store cards

b) Consignors typically want quick turnarounds

c) There’s a challenge in fairly deciding which consignor’s cards to hold back versus feature now - is it our decision or do we reach out to every consignor with a duplicate card? How do we figure out the list of each duplicate card and consignor? Who contacts the consignor? What if the consignor doesn't reply in time? This is a costly and impractical endeavour without an online vault system.

That said—we’re happy to collaborate. If you have player sets or timing preferences, let us know. We’ll do what we can to support strategic auction scheduling. Add this information to the form, and we have internal processes to help solve this.

3. Auction Volume

As we’ve grown, auction volume has naturally increased. Originally, we chose Thursdays to “own the day” for hockey cards in Canada. But now, more sellers have joined the space—and many have chosen the same day.

Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. It still pales in comparison to the daily auction volume in the U.S. (upwards of 5x more auctions per day in the US as compared to Canada), and we’ve brought in significantly more buyers to compensate. We have the data to back that.

Still, we understand the need to evolve.

a) A Premier Auction tier is in the works

b) Additional auction days are being planned

But—and I want to be transparent—our entire system, from payouts to in-person drop-offs to app features and automated tracking, has been engineered around Thursday night auctions. Changing that is not as simple as flipping a switch. It will take time. But it is on our radar.

We’re actively planning this transition and will roll out updates when we are ready. This requires a complete overhaul of our warehouse logistics, employee scheduling, app development and automations.

We do encourage buyers to bid as early as possible. This ensures no auctions are missed.


We do a great job in my opinion, doing our best in combatting shill bidding, as noted by our 95%++ paid rate on a weekly basis. We have humans monitoring bidding to the best of our ability. We message bidders to confirm intention to pay, and use unpaid strikes/blocks to ensure repeat offenders have trouble.

I also wanted to quickly address our payout rates. It is important to note that we fall under the eBay Canada umbrella, which is significantly different than the eBay US umbrella. Our rates for Canadian sellers are great, because it is the same cost or less to use us over listing cards yourself - with Slab Sharks offering time-savings, marketing, and in some cases quicker payouts (no holds).

Our rates for US consignors are competitive, but not the best offered in the country - we do not get the same tier of savings as the top sellers in the US get. However, we have noticed higher auction prices for hockey cards specifically - in our auctions. While the US has trouble shipping to Canada, we do not have trouble shipping to the US. Hence, we have the advantage of A LOT of Canadian bidders (That wouldn't bid in US auctions), and US bidders (that don't see much of a difference). The De Minimis threshold for tariff-free shipping is a lot higher threshold for shipping to the US ($1100CAD), than it is, shipping from the US to Canada ($130CAD)- resulting in 90%+ of our items being shipped tariff free. Most product is also manufactured in the US.


In Closing

I know auctions carry risks. But I believe we run a fair, efficient, and market-leading platform. We regularly hit record prices. We continue to invest in innovation. And we never take your trust for granted.

We’re a high-energy, high-velocity, high-volume marketplace—and your support fuels every step forward.

Thanks for reading and for being part of the journey.

— Karn
Co-Founder, Slab Sharks

[stoopid]

Originally Posted by slabsharks

...

2. Auction Curation

We’ve heard the feedback on auction timing and card overlap.

While we’d love to space everything out perfectly, a few limitations exist:

a) We are not a vault, and insurance coverage restricts how long we can store cards

b) Consignors typically want quick turnarounds

c) There’s a challenge in fairly deciding which consignor’s cards to hold back versus feature now - is it our decision or do we reach out to every consignor with a duplicate card? How do we figure out the list of each duplicate card and consignor? Who contacts the consignor? What if the consignor doesn't reply in time? This is a costly and impractical endeavour without an online vault system.

That said—we’re happy to collaborate. If you have player sets or timing preferences, let us know. We’ll do what we can to support strategic auction scheduling. Add this information to the form, and we have internal processes to help solve this.

3. Auction Volume

As we’ve grown, auction volume has naturally increased. Originally, we chose Thursdays to “own the day” for hockey cards in Canada. But now, more sellers have joined the space—and many have chosen the same day.

Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. It still pales in comparison to the daily auction volume in the U.S. (upwards of 5x more auctions per day in the US as compared to Canada), and we’ve brought in significantly more buyers to compensate. We have the data to back that.

Still, we understand the need to evolve.

a) A Premier Auction tier is in the works

b) Additional auction days are being planned

But—and I want to be transparent—our entire system, from payouts to in-person drop-offs to app features and automated tracking, has been engineered around Thursday night auctions. Changing that is not as simple as flipping a switch. It will take time. But it is on our radar.

We’re actively planning this transition and will roll out updates when we are ready. This requires a complete overhaul of our warehouse logistics, employee scheduling, app development and automations.

We do encourage buyers to bid as early as possible. This ensures no auctions are missed.

...

Thanks for reading and for being part of the journey.

— Karn
Co-Founder, Slab Sharks

Hello Karn, thank you for directly addressing some of the issues/needs. The one I highlighted in particular is the only one (and an important one) that needs addressing sooner than later IMO for the reasons previously posted in this thread (and probably reddit, etc). And worth reiterating that auction timing/listing/ending seems to be an issue for most consigners. If you can get out ahead of it, you might actually end up with higher final auction results even if that means spreading out cards for an extra week or three. I would urge your company as well as 4sharpconrers, Hoody's, etc to work with your insurer to extend that time, if necessary. Whatever duration the insurer set is mostly arbitrary, based on very generalized algorithms. They still need to work within the realistic needs of their clients. Remind them of that. Or send those greedy aholes my way.

[slabsharks]

Originally Posted by stoopid

Hello Karn, thank you for directly addressing some of the issues/needs. The one I highlighted in particular is the only one (and an important one) that needs addressing sooner than later IMO for the reasons previously posted in this thread (and probably reddit, etc). And worth reiterating that auction timing/listing/ending seems to be an issue for most consigners. If you can get out ahead of it, you might actually end up with higher final auction results even if that means spreading out cards for an extra week or three. I would urge your company as well as 4sharpconrers, Hoody's, etc to work with your insurer to extend that time, if necessary. Whatever duration the insurer set is mostly arbitrary, based on very generalized algorithms. They still need to work within the realistic needs of their clients. Remind them of that. Or send those greedy aholes my way.

Appreciate the reply!

Definitely. We are trying our best to expedite this as soon as possible.

Thank you everyone for the feedback.

[creasecollector]

Thank you Karn for coming on here and giving everyone here a nice breakdown of Slab Sharks!

[ThatGuyPal]

Wow, yeah shoutout Karn for that extensive reply. It’s always great when the guys behind the scenes of a company don’t hide from the public, here there are some big cards in upcoming auctions look forward to seeing the results!

[larsfrommars]

As a collector who buys cards on slabshark eBay auctions, I’d first like to say I appreciate the detailed message from Karn regarding many of the issues that they deal with every week. It’s quite refreshing for a big player in the hobby to be so forthcoming. I enjoy the weekly auctions and the fact that it is a Canadian company. As a Canadian collector, buying from US sellers is becoming untenable with the US dollar, shipping and now import fees/taxes on EVERY purchase. Plus the time it takes to get my cards is ridiculous. With slabsharks, I get my cards in a week with tracked shipping and combined shipping and they are packaged perfectly.

My only concern is the lack of quality images of the cards. Many cards are pictured in scratched up top loaders and one touches and every card is labeled as ‘excellent.’ I know it would be time consuming given the sheer amount of cards up for auction, but you would sell more cards and get bigger prices if it were easier for the buyer to see the cards’ condition.

Thank you for your auctions.

[slabsharks]

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for the kind words and private messages lately — hearing that our auctions are helping collectors reach their goals truly means a lot. It’s a privilege to curate cool stuff for you each week, and I’m grateful for your trust.

I have some exciting updates — a little insider scoop.

Auction Format Expansion (4-6 months)

We’re rolling out some new auction formats designed to better serve different segments of the hobby:

-Saturday Night Auctions: Featuring non-sports, TCG, and hockey cards under $250

-Release Day Auctions: Quick-hit, 1-day auctions. Starts Wednesday, ends Thursday

-Apex Auctions: Our monthly premier auction for items $1500+

-and of course; our popular Thursday Night Auctions.

Consignors will be able to choose on the consignment form.

This will take time to fully implement — we’re curating and transitioning gradually — but development is officially underway.


A Note on Image Quality

We've internally discussed image quality, namely, our flatbed scanner having scratches, as well as, consignors submitting old or damaged top loaders/one touches. We’re working to address these with long-term solutions. Unfortunately, it is easier said than done when handling 4000-5000 items per week on a quick turnaround basis. Sometimes we get caught in the whirlwind of day to day operations, it takes a pause in the action to implement new procedures.


Here’s the reality:

-We spend over $1,500/month on scanners. We use flatbeds for optimal slab imaging. But top loaders and one-touches? Tricky. The scanner bed picks up everything. We rotate our our scanners every month to ensure a fresh scanner glass.

-Scanning thousands of cards weekly causes wear and scratches on the scanner glass, even with constant rotation.

-We’ve encouraged clean holders being submitted from our consignors, but speed and convenience often take priority for submissions (and that’s okay). We’re a service that’s meant to be easy to sell, we understand swapping out cards into new holders would be costly and time consuming for our consignors.

-Swapping every scuffed loader in-house? Not scalable — too slow and costly given our Tuesday drop-off → Thursday auction model. We’ve tried this model before, and it just didn’t work with where we are right now. We’re a small team. We would need full-time staff solely to swap out damaged holders. Add on the cost of having top loaders, thick top loaders, one touched and thick one touches - it becomes tricky.

We could remove holders, image raw, and re holder - but we’re still trying to figure out the best way to do this.

⸻

Solutions We’re Implementing

We’re making real progress to improve image quality:

-High-end photography system: We’ve purchased a high production photo product, this is now used for our super high end cards, our goal is to start using this technology for every $1000+ cards (like the Ultimate Bedard Shield 1/1). Goal: eventually use for all high-end cards. This includes a 360 video of the card.

Example:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/205570452495

-Flatbed scanning robotics: Automates slab scanning, reduces scratches, and improves consistency. The robotics will remove human intervention and allow for gentle and consistent placement of slabs on the flatbed scanner. We’ll be receiving this technology in August. It’ll speed up our scanning operation, and give us much needed time to work on raw card imaging.

-DSLR station testing: We’re exploring DSLR cameras at scan stations to cut through top loader scratch noise and improve card clarity.

⸻

Why We Aren’t Like Greg Morris (Yet)

We’re often inspired by companies like Greg Morris Cards, who’ve nailed pre grading and image presentation at scale. But to be completely honest, we do not know how they do what they do. It must be sheer labour. They have the following;

-They operate with 40+ staff and 8,000+ sqft. We’re still growing into that. We are a 4th of the staff, and a half of the sqft.

-Most of their cards are owned by them. We’re 99% consignment-based. Having ownership of cards allows you to spend more time prepping the items.

-Vintage is easier to handle. Modern has fingerprints, thick stock, autographs, etc. Vintage is easier to take out of top loaders and card savers.

They have cited issues with modern cards and their business model, and I completely get it.

When it comes to assigning condition to cards, it’s not an exact science. We’re trying to get there as best as we can. As Greg himself said:

“It’s just the nature of the subjectivity… There are a million things that could be wrong with the cards. Not only do you have to see it… you have to interpret it consistently. It’s really hard.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Final Thoughts

On our standard conditional ratings: eBay recommends we label most cards as “excellent” due to AG policies.

Full pre-grading (SSG/SSA - Slab Sharks Gold and Slab Sharks Average stickers) is a future ambition, but we’re not there yet. We’ll have to hire pre-grade staff at scale.

Blanket listing as “Excellent” allows us to ensure 99% of our cards pass eBay AG, and gives us a minimum standard to adhere too. Meaning, our cards are atleast excellent, and usually near mint.

We’re proud of what we’ve built — from quick turnaround times to curated weekly drops — but we’re also honest about where we can do better. The good news? We’re actively investing to improve across the board, from automation to imaging. I think we do a lot of things other companies don’t, but still need to master a few foundational things. We’re three years in and not close to rounding out our product.

And yes, on top of all of the above, we are working on making our portal better, shipping faster (and cheaper), and hopefully one day our rates even better.

Appreciate everyone reading!