Latest / Sports Card Clubhouse / MidLife Sports Cards Q & A - September 17, 2025

Transcript

MidLife Sports Cards Q & A - September 17, 2025 · Sports Card Clubhouse

0:10
What's going on everybody all right it is I'm recording this
0:14
on Monday. This episode is going to post on
0:20
Wednesday. Now lot a lot of stuff.
0:25
I don't usually record things this early lot of stuff going on
0:31
anyway it First off, let me say everybody out there who is
0:37
already listened to the first episode of my new podcast with
0:45
Mike of junk wax hero called surface issues over on the
0:51
sports card clubhouse, either YouTube channel.
0:55
It posted there yesterday or on Apple and Spotify Podcasts.
1:02
Again, Sports Card Clubhouse. It has been there since I think
1:07
Sunday. Thank you.
1:10
The reception to that concept that we're working on, just
1:15
trying out and see how, seeing how it goes has been
1:19
overwhelming. So thank you to everybody who
1:21
has checked that out. If you haven't yet, again,
1:25
Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Sports Card Clubhouse.
1:30
Thank you. See, I thought it would be
1:32
easier to say SCC sports card clubhouse or on our YouTube
1:39
channel. Again, I had a lot of fun on the
1:42
first one and it's going to be no frills.
1:44
It's going to be just Mike and I talking Hopefully once a week.
1:51
We are likely to be posting it on to podcast formats before
1:58
YouTube, but eventually it will go on to YouTube.
2:02
Again, there will usually be probably a lag there between the
2:06
two. Now it's Q&A week, Q&A day.
2:10
What am I talking about? It's not actually Q&A day
2:12
because it's Monday for me, but this is airing on Q&A day, which
2:16
is Wednesday. So if you have a question for an
2:19
upcoming episode, as always, I encourage you down below in the
2:23
comments to ask the question. Last few weeks I've had a few
2:27
last questions than normal. Maybe I'm not as interesting as
2:31
I used to be as possible. Maybe people are busy watching
2:34
football. My Niners are two and O.
2:39
And by the way, Wednesday, no brain is my brain is completely
2:46
scrambled right now. It was a long weekend.
2:49
Monday this coming Monday Midlife live #9 my panel will
2:55
not disappoint. I will announce the panel on
2:58
Friday. Now I recorded AI will be
3:04
recording but it will air on either Friday or Saturday.
3:09
Is going to be an off topic episode with a really cool
3:13
couple of guests. Excited for that and also I am
3:18
time permitting in the near future, hopefully in the next
3:22
three days or so, going to post the pickups from the month of
3:27
August from all of you, the midlife community show and tell.
3:31
So let's get to the questions again.
3:34
Don't forget below in the comments ask a question if you
3:38
have it for an upcoming episode. I am willing to take on anything
3:42
except for politics and religion.
3:44
That said, let's take a look at the first question here.
3:49
This first one says you're awesome.
3:51
Greg. In your experience, do higher
3:54
vendor table costs at card shows sometimes influence sellers to
3:59
price cards above comps, even unintentionally, as a way to
4:03
offset the expenses? I understand vendors are free to
4:07
set their own prices, but what steps do you think could help
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encourage more consistent pricing around comps at shows so
4:15
both buyers and sellers feel good about the market?
4:21
All right, like this question because I love card shows.
4:23
I love going to card shows. There is supposed to be a card
4:28
show. Well, there's going to be a card
4:30
show this weekend. It's about an hour from me and I
4:35
know Coach wants to go my dad, so we're tentatively planning on
4:40
going to that. It would likely be on Saturday.
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So hopefully I will be attending that card show and in
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California, table prices are not cheap at this card show.
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It's a couple of it's like a 2 1/2 day show.
4:56
I think they charge like 200 or $250 per table, which is a lot
5:02
of money. How do I know that?
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I know that because my dad and I have set up at this show a
5:08
couple of times. In fact, I saw my guy John Eric
5:12
at the one of these shows not that long ago from nerding out
5:17
with cards. Check his channel out.
5:20
He was at one of these shows when he was because he was in
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the Coast Guard. He was stationed in Vallejo,
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which is like, I don't know, 20 minutes away.
5:28
So anyway, I'm not answering the question yet.
5:31
Let me answer the question. Let me first say this.
5:34
I want dealers to be successful at shows because then dealers
5:39
will continue to set up at shows.
5:43
When you think about it, you go, well, let's say a card is $100.
5:47
If if you list it on eBay and you sell it for $100, the
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dealer's going to end up with about 85.
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If they set up a card show, they're going to end up with 100
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if they sell it for 100. So you would think, well, they
6:02
would offered at a discount, right, because it because it's
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they're going to net the full 100 instead of the 85.
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But then they've got the table fees.
6:12
Now, I totally understand that in other parts of the country
6:15
that aren't as expensive, tables aren't as expensive, but I
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personally would say a couple of things.
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First, I try to buy something at every show that I go to, even
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when there are times that there's not really anything so
6:31
much that I'm not interested in because I just want to support
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the dealers. So I look at it this way as
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well. Let's say I bought that $100
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card on eBay. I would be paying about 115
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'cause I'm going to have in California, we have like 8 1/2
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percent sales tax. So there's another 850 and it's
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going to be probably 5-6, seven dollars to ship it.
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So I'm going to be all in $115 if I bought it on eBay.
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So if I buy it at the show for 100, I'm saving 15 bucks too,
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even if I buy it a little bit over.
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So what I try to do is at card shows, I try to buy some less
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expensive cards. So unless there's a big card
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that I find, which it usually isn't the case.
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So like at this show, the Fairfield Card Show, one of the
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best card shows in Northern California.
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Most of the time I bought an 86 Tops, traded Berry Bonds and I
7:36
bought a Leaf Frank Thomas because those are like $2530
7:42
cards. And if I buy those on eBay and
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let's just say it's a $25 card and then I pay, I don't know, 2
7:50
bucks in in taxes and $6 in shipping, it's now a $33 card,
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$34 card, something like that. So the percentage of the
8:03
purchase when you buy a cheap card online is like 3540% of the
8:09
purchase. So I agree that at times,
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sometimes dealers prices are full sticker or even maybe a
8:20
little above, but in most cases we still come out ahead too if
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we buy it in person and don't have to pay for all those other
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things. Unless you live in Oregon where
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there's no sales tax. So I don't really have a problem
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overpaying a little bit at times.
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I also don't have a problem overpaying because at times what
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that means is I'm actually saving compared to eBay, right?
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So, and if I want dealers to continue to set up and pay the
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table fees, then I've got to support them.
8:59
So I haven't really answered your question.
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So what can we do to get dealers do OK, I, I haven't answered the
9:06
question at all, I guess. So let me now, after all that
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preamble Saturday night hashtag Chris Hosh, I will say I think
9:18
that number one, there are going to be table fees and the dealers
9:25
want to cover their fees just like, OK, here I go.
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I know here I go. In my town, there's a brand new
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shop. It's a little town.
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There's like 5000 people that live out here.
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It's it's 25 minutes southeast of Sacramento.
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There's like 2 shopping centers. One was built in like the early
9:48
80s, one is like 3 years old, much newer, much nicer.
9:55
The rent is double at the new shopping center.
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So when I'm choosing to go out to a restaurant, for example,
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out here, it is going to be a little bit more expensive to be
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in the new modern buildings at the new modern shopping center
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because the rent is double. Isn't that say, I mean, that's
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kind of Fair. Like we if we want these
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businesses to be successful, then we have to help them be
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successful. No, you don't have to buy.
10:27
I'm not saying everybody, I'm not saying you need to go
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overpay and pay for overpriced stuff.
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I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is for me, I
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don't mind paying a few extra dollars to help support a
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dealer, a local show, so that they're doing well, so that it
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keeps money flowing in the room so it keeps the show healthy.
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I'm also saying I do understand that they've got to cover their
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their overhead and the old shopping center in town in town.
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The food is genuinely noticeably cheaper at the old shopping
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center restaurants than the new shopping center restaurants.
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And it's not because of the quality of the food, it's
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because of the rent. So I just have to say, is it
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worth it to me? And for me at times depends.
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So I don't blame them when they have a high table fee that they
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charge a little bit more. Do I think the prices are a
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little bit more at an expensive show than a cheap show?
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I do. Do I blame them?
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I don't. I don't know if I answered the
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question, but I tried to answer the question as a whole.
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I try to buy something at every show that I go to.
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I don't always. There's been a couple of times I
11:45
haven't bought anything. I try to buy something because I
11:50
want to be a community member that keeps the community hobby
11:54
thriving. But that's just me.
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That doesn't mean that's what others have to do.
12:00
Hall of Fame commenter Andrew says.
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Greg, question for next week or a future Q&A episode.
12:07
It's getting closer to your three years of posting videos on
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YouTube. I was wondering, do you think
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your card collection, what would it look like had you not created
12:18
your channel? Thanks.
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All right, Andrew Hall of Fame commenter.
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Andrew, you are an important cog in the hobby, in the hobby
12:32
community my friend, and I always appreciate your
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questions. To answer your question, what do
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I think my collection would look like had I not started a YouTube
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channel? Well, there's a couple of
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different components to that. Through the YouTube community, I
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have become what I would consider, at least for me, I
12:55
don't know if I am for them, some really, really good
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friends, some lifelong friends I have met through the hobby and
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through the YouTube community and in tons and tons of
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conversations with those people on camera and off.
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A lot of the times people say why do you have the same people
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on all the time? I tend to have people on that
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are my friends. So why do I keep having Darren
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on 'cause I love him. Why do I have Tony on?
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Love him? Why do I have Petty on?
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Love him too. Did I just tell you who the
13:37
Monday live panel is? I might have.
13:40
I might have. Through conversations with those
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people and hearing their passion and excitement for certain cards
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and certain areas of the hobby, it starts to rub off on you.
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I bought a card last night. I won an auction, won an
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auction. I paid for a card that I
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purchased through an eBay auction.
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That absolutely is a direct influence of a good friend and
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the hobby. It absolutely is.
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So I do think that that is a piece of it.
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When I hear Orlando of A Collector's Dream, when I hear
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him talk about his Goodwin Champions cards, every time he
14:32
does a Goodwin Champions episode, I fire up the the
14:36
different searches on the different auctions about Goodwin
14:40
Champions carts because I'm like, I need to have one of
14:43
these in my collection. They're amazing.
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And I love Orlando's explanation and his passion.
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It's it's absolutely contagious. So I do see the fingerprint of
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other people in the community that I'm friends with in my
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collection. Absolutely.
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The other piece is I, I can't deny that I do earn some revenue
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from YouTube. It's not a ton of revenue.
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Trust me. I don't know what people think.
15:24
I don't know what people think YouTube channels make.
15:28
It's not very much. And I I for almost 3 full years
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I did not have a single sponsor. The only sponsor I have right
15:42
now, the sole exclusive at the moment exclusive at the moment
15:48
sponsor is card ladder. By the way, promo code midlife
15:54
gets you a a month free or $20 off a year long subscription
15:59
Card ladder promo code midlife. It's an awesome promo code that
16:02
gets you a lot. I don't make a ton from that,
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but I make some. I make some.
16:08
Now if I broke it down to how much I make per hour, it's, it's
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a little embarrassing. Cause like for example, the
16:18
community show and tell episode that hopefully will post either
16:22
Friday or Saturday of this week is I will spend I'd say 5 or 6
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hours on that episode. And that episode I might make, I
16:34
don't know, 15 or 20 bucks off of it maybe.
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So what's that breakdown to like 3 or 4 bucks an hour, but it's
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still a few bucks, which goes into my card account.
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Any, any money that I get through this goes into my card
16:58
account. But it's not much.
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So I have to admit when you ask this question, my card
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collection has a few extra dollars in it because of
17:12
YouTube. Had I used the same amount of
17:17
time to do tutoring or extra hour things at work or extra
17:22
duties at work, it would be a absolute mountain more of cash
17:28
over the last three years. But it is a few extra dollars,
17:31
which has helped me to pick up a few extra cards.
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Is that why I do it? If I was doing it for the money,
17:38
then I am the dumbest human being of all time.
17:42
So. But yeah, I would say definitely
17:46
influence and seeing the passion and joy from friends in the
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hobby that I've made from the channel has affected my
17:56
collection. And then a few extra dollars
18:00
that I'm able to spend from time to time has helped as well.
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So I don't know if I fully answered the question.
18:06
I didn't give any exact examples, but if you look at my
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collection now versus 3 years ago, you would go, well,
18:14
something changed here. And a lot of that is the
18:17
influence and a little bit of that is a little bit of extra
18:22
money to spend this one says Greg.
18:26
Why don't PSA and SGC combine their services and give the
18:31
submitter an option of having a tuck slab or not put the
18:36
initials PSA in big bold like SGC does on a tuck slab.
18:42
This is a really good question. And I think a lot of SGC people
18:49
and people who have SGC and PSA slab cards would love for this
18:56
to happen. I would love for this to happen
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if there was permanently an option when I go to the PSA or
19:03
the SGC site where I could click a drop down.
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I say do I want APSA grade or an SGC grade?
19:10
Do I want an SGC tux slab or APSA slab?
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Like could I have APSA graded card in the tux looking slab or
19:23
potentially vice versa where the label would say the greater
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standards 'cause they do have different, slightly different
19:33
standards. PSA and STC do have slightly
19:35
different standards. So a lot of the times when we
19:37
compare them, oh, it crossed from this to this.
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Well, sometimes that's because the standards they are a little
19:43
bit different. If you look at them side by
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side. I think that that would make a
19:47
lot of collectors happy. So to ask to to your question
19:52
then why don't they do it? It must not be cost effective it
19:58
it must not boost revenue more than it would raise overhead.
20:07
If if the margin if the margin of income went up as a result of
20:17
adding this option, I think they would do it.
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And I don't know if they've looked into it, but I'm guessing
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that they don't think that as a whole they will make more money
20:30
as a result of opening that option up.
20:35
I don't know though. I think see this question is a
20:41
perfect example of how collectors view the big
20:45
companies versus how the big companies view the big
20:50
companies. As collectors, we say, I mean,
20:55
we some of us like PSA, some of us like SGC, some of us like the
20:59
PSA slab, some of us like the SGC slab.
21:02
Why not just merge them and give us two options on the same
21:07
platform? I can send in my submission, put
21:11
these in a PSA slab, put these in a tux lab.
21:15
But businesses don't look at it like a collector.
21:21
Businesses look at numbers. And that's why a lot of times if
21:24
you go to a dealer, they'll say, you know, I'll buy anything.
21:27
If the numbers work, I'll sell any of these cards.
21:31
If the numbers work, you know, are you buying?
21:34
Well, if the numbers work a lot of the time for businesses it's
21:38
just about the numbers and they must feel, my guess is at least
21:44
at this moment that they won't come out financially ahead if
21:52
they offer those options. But as a collector, I would, I
21:58
think that would be great. So I have to think that as PSA
22:05
is, is there the, the, the people in charge running PSA and
22:11
collectors and SGCI think that they have to have had some
22:15
conversations sitting around a table and said, here are our
22:21
options. Keep SGC and keep PSA, Keep them
22:27
separate like we have or keep PSA and keep SGC and merge it or
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you have options like this or keep PSA and there's no longer a
22:41
need or a demand for SGC. So we'll get rid of it and we'll
22:45
try to get all those people to stay with PSAI Have to believe,
22:49
I don't know. I don't know anything.
22:51
I'm just, I mean, I'm a teacher. I just got home an hour ago.
22:55
I, I have to believe that they've sat around a table and
23:02
thrown around some ideas. And at this point, my guess is
23:07
they don't think that they'd come out more ahead as a result
23:12
of making that change. But from my seat, from my
23:17
perspective, I don't want STC going anywhere.
23:21
I don't want PSA going anywhere and I want to have the option
23:25
for both. And part of me kind of wants
23:31
them to stay separate because then they're kind of indirectly
23:36
competing. Even though they're not directly
23:39
competing, they're kind of kind of competing.
23:42
There's a little bit of competition between them, like,
23:45
oh, the SGC brand is netting more money than they were last
23:51
month, but the PSA brand isn't. It seems like there would be
23:53
some internal like competition, but I don't know.
23:59
So I don't know. This one says I'm liquidating
24:04
some of my cards to buy a higher end card.
24:07
There's a nice Otani I have my eyes on.
24:10
Or should I buy several cards of some all time greats Aaron
24:15
Clemente. All right, There are definitely
24:20
some channels out there that would tell you what you should
24:25
be buying and what you shouldn't be buying and what has upward
24:29
potential more than other things.
24:31
And this is better than that. And that is the last thing I'm
24:36
ever going to do. I'm never going to tell somebody
24:41
else what they should buy. I'm just not that is that is not
24:46
a lane that I'm ever going to get on board with.
24:51
Now it sounds from reading this question, from going through
24:57
reading this question, it sounds to me like you want the Ohtani
25:02
card. That's what it sounds like.
25:05
And my answer when it comes to a hobby and which cards you should
25:12
be purchasing and adding to your collection in this hobby, the
25:17
answer is always going to be from me.
25:20
Whichever 1 you like best, that's the one I think you
25:24
should buy. And it sounds to me, since
25:27
you've identified this in particular, Otani card, which it
25:30
sounds like you're very interested in, but it's almost
25:35
like you're trying to say, can you talk me out of it because
25:38
there's something I'm missing. I should go over here.
25:41
I think you want the Otani card. And if you want the Otani card,
25:46
I don't blame you. I think Otani is a special
25:49
player. I think he's a generational
25:51
talent now. I think that because Otani is
25:57
still mid career, because Otani is still active, because Otani
26:01
is still alive, there are things that could happen that could
26:07
affect value. But you're it does.
26:11
I mean, let me reread it. I'm liquidating some of my cards
26:15
to buy a higher end card. There's a nice Otani I have my
26:19
eyes on. Or should I buy several cards at
26:23
some all time greats? So you're not asking about
26:26
what's safer. You're not asking about what has
26:30
more potential. You're asking what should you
26:33
buy. You got to buy the card you
26:35
want. It sounds like you want the
26:38
Otani now. I understand why someone would
26:40
want a Hank Aaron card. I understand why someone would
26:43
want a Roberto Clemente card. I also understand why someone
26:46
would want an Otani card now if we're talking about the
26:51
volatility of each. Well Otani's still alive and
26:55
Otani is still playing and Otani is mid career so his his career
27:02
is only part over. Clemente and Aaron, their career
27:06
is over and they have since passed on.
27:10
So they are kind of like, it's sort of like a a done deal, what
27:15
you're getting there. So you're not going to get any
27:18
surprises. You know, Hank Aaron's not going
27:21
to tear his ACL. Hank Aaron's not going to need
27:25
Tommy John surgery. Roberto Clemente is not going to
27:30
have a really bad season next year.
27:34
So there's definitely one has some potential volatility.
27:40
I think one has more potential short term upside and downside,
27:47
but you got to buy what you want, not what I think.
27:51
I'm just a dude with his phone on a tripod on a stack of
27:57
pillows as he sits on his bed after he got home from work one
28:01
day. Buy the card you want.
28:03
And it really sounds to me like you want the Otani, so why not
28:07
buy the Otani? And finally, this one says Greg.
28:11
Great video once again. My question is when will we ever
28:16
have a secure and rapid method to personally grade and
28:20
authenticate our cards without the requirement of PSA being
28:25
directly involved? Technology has to one day
28:28
empower us and therefore eliminate the inconvenience and
28:33
inconsistencies we see today with PSA and others.
28:38
It is time we take back our vintage hobby and gain the
28:43
proper respect we as the community so rightly deserve.
28:47
Technology will be our friend and not the enemy PSA has
28:52
become. Looking forward to that one day,
28:55
Greg. Guessing what's going to happen
29:00
with technology is like, I mean, we've, we've, we've flown people
29:07
to the moon and we did that years before I was even born.
29:14
I never in a million years, never in a million years thought
29:19
I would be able to have a device in my pocket that it's not
29:26
currently in my pocket. It's currently right there that
29:30
I could call people with no long distance fees.
29:35
Then I could watch movies and TV live.
29:39
Then I could talk to people, video conference them live.
29:45
That would be a phone, high end phone, a high end video
29:50
recording device, access the Internet, the Internet.
29:57
I'm, I'm, I am not really a visionary.
30:03
Other people are like, oh, yeah, someday this will happen.
30:07
Like, I don't know, I watch Back to the Future to see what's
30:10
going to happen, right? Like that's, I don't know what's
30:14
going to happen. I'm, I just, I just react when
30:19
it comes to technology. So is it reasonable to think
30:26
that at some point there would be an app or some sort of device
30:33
where we could have a universal grade that is spit out after
30:42
videoing the front and the back of a card or pit taking pictures
30:47
of a front and back of a card? That seems very reasonable to
30:51
me. Now that grade I think could
30:54
change. I think it could change because
30:58
one of the things that card graders do is they grade it and
31:02
then they encapsulate it so it doesn't change.
31:05
But I, I think it's very possible that there's some 100
31:09
point scale, maybe even 1000 point scale.
31:12
I don't know where you video all over a card, flip it over, video
31:18
all over my phone turns on when it recognizes my face.
31:26
How does that, how does it know it's me?
31:29
There's so, yeah, the technology's crazy.
31:36
Do I think that's possible? 100%.
31:39
And I think it's possible that if you put the card in the
31:41
sleeve and you kind of scuff the bottom again and you rescan it,
31:45
that the grade would change. I think that's very, very
31:50
possible. I think that's very possible.
31:54
Will it happen? It seems hard to believe that
31:57
that wouldn't happen. Are we close to that?
32:01
I have no idea. I can't even believe some of
32:05
this stuff AI can do. People are like, hey, have you
32:08
tried this? And I'm like, no, I do it.
32:10
I'm like, whoa, that's crazy. That's that is crazy.
32:18
So we might be closer to that than we think.
32:23
We might be further from that than we think.
32:26
No clue I have heard. Now.
32:30
I have no idea if this is true. I have heard other people say
32:35
that if you take a picture of the front and the back of a card
32:40
and you ask some of the AI software to grade it using PSA
32:47
standards, I have heard that it does a pretty good job.
32:53
I've never tried that, but I've heard people talk about that.
32:56
I don't even know. Is that like a ChatGPT?
33:00
Like I don't know. I have heard people say yeah,
33:04
cover the grain. I've covered the grade.
33:07
I've taken a picture of the front, taken a picture of the
33:09
back, said grade this with PSA standards and it gets the grade
33:14
that PSA said fairly fairly regularly.
33:19
Don't take my word for that. I've just heard that.
33:25
I probably should have tried that or something before I said,
33:28
but again, that's just a rumor and you know about rumors.
33:33
I think it's a good question. I think that we all hope that we
33:38
could get to that point. That would be fantastic if we
33:40
could sit there and scan a card via video or pictures front and
33:45
back 10 times in a row and get the same score 10 times in a row
33:49
from that app or that software. That'd be amazing, especially
33:55
for the people that don't like to have their cards
33:58
encapsulated. That would be amazing.
34:00
Is it going to happen? Hope so.
34:04
Will it happen? Maybe, I have no idea, but I
34:10
like the thought that that might be coming because boy would that
34:16
give the power back to the collectors, wouldn't it?
34:21
If you guys have a question for an upcoming episode, please,
34:24
seriously please down below in the comments.
34:29
Just ask the question again. If you haven't checked out
34:33
Surface Issues yet, my new podcast with Mike of Junk Wax
34:39
Hero, check it out again. Spotify, Apple.
34:45
It is under the network of Sports Card Clubhouse.
34:52
Another episode will drop soon. I need to reach out to Mike and
34:57
see when we're going to record the next one.
34:58
We're going to try really hard to do 1A week.
35:01
It's been fun so far, but we've only done 1, so thanks for
35:04
everybody's support on that and with everything.
35:07
Thank you guys for your continued support of me, this
35:13
channel, this hobby, this community.