What’s going on with TAG?

[varjakpaul]

Originally Posted by rfgilles

What does it matter to you? You aren't using them.

Do you work there? You’re extremely defensive for not being asked your opinion (and previously evasive when I asked sincerely if you’d submitted recently). An awkward ordering experience can’t help new buyers.

We all want to see the hobby succeed. Compared to every other grader, this company has an awkward buying experience on top of prior issues pointed out - it’s valid feedback, and you can tell that up the ladder.

[rfgilles]

Originally Posted by varjakpaul

Do you work there? You’re extremely defensive for not being asked your opinion (and previously evasive when I asked sincerely if you’d submitted recently). An awkward ordering experience can’t help new buyers.

We all want to see the hobby succeed. Compared to every other grader, this company has an awkward buying experience on top of prior issues pointed out - it’s valid feedback, and you can tell that up the ladder.

I’ll definitely bring this up with Steve during our Weekly Status call on Monday........

Focusing on TAG’s website feels like nitpicking when there are far bigger concerns impacting the hobby—especially with PSA’s recent move designating the maximum declared value for submissions, which increases shipping fees and maximizes their profits at the expense of collectors. On top of that, their pricing structure for grading is based on the market value of the cards, which is a blatant conflict of interest.

These practices create far greater barriers for collectors and introduce ethical concerns that should matter to anyone who wants the "hobby to succeed."

[discodanman45]

Originally Posted by rfgilles

I will bring it up with Steve on Monday's weekly status meeting.

You actually discuss grading cards at the meeting? Seems like the only thing discussed is merch and art cards.

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by Ataraxia

Oh, my sweet, sweet summer child.
You do understand that those same individuals have a significant amount of shares in CLCT, right? That's not even including some of the larger VC firms that have notoriously vested themselves across multiple companies (including the Big 4). You have BlackRock who bought out CGC semi-recently, stated that their only goal is PSA-level of profits. You have Collector's Holding, Inc (PSA/SGC) out here taking $100M from D1 Capital and the Cohen VC (Steve Cohen, minority owner of the Mets, GameStop short-squeeze extraordinaire, and overall menace to the card industry) and Nat Turner (another menace).

If that's your criteria for a company being trash, you should probably stop grading cards immediately.

You don’t have a clue who I am talking about kid.

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by rfgilles

Who did they take money from, and was this recent? You keep alluding to things (e.g., being bought) without providing details or context, so it’s hard to see where you are coming from.

If you have spent a minute paying attention to who has pumped TAG the hardest since inception, you would know exactly who I am talking about.

[rfgilles]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

If you have spent a minute paying attention to who has pumped TAG the hardest since inception, you would know exactly who I am talking about.

I haven't so why don't you just say it? Why be obtuse about it?

You are the one "who is connected".

Honestly, I don't really follow and have a pulse on the notorious people in the hobby.

[Ataraxia]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

You don’t have a clue who I am talking about kid.

Let me guess... Sean Bassik.
I might be new to posting, but I'm not new to the industry, kid. For the record, I'm probably some change older than you.

Even so, if that is the magical, terrible investor you're alluding to.. then yes, he's invested in Collector's Holding Inc. (PSA, SGC), Blackstone (CGC), and sprinkle-dusted a few of the lower end of the pool (including TAG). Like I said, you should probably stop grading cards immediately. Cancel all of your orders because all of the companies are trash companies based on your definition.

[JeremyNick]

Originally Posted by varjakpaul

wish some of that dark money would fix their site so you don’t have to buy through Shopify and then head to a second website

Wait.

You have to go through Shopify on their official website?

[Ataraxia]

Originally Posted by JeremyNick

Wait.

You have to go through Shopify on their official website?

Yeah. Their front-end purchasing system is 100% Shopify.
While their whole order/packing list construction tool is a totally separate site embedded into their Shopify site.

It's okaaaay, mostly. But this has allowed some people to sniff out their internal API (as to how their webpage communicates to their scanning/grading tool and vice versa). But from a UI/UX experience, it's far too disjointed at times. It also doesn't help that the way they've designed their "account management" tool for orders in a very poor manner. Hard to find tracking information, difficult to understand how to stack up your shipping/packing lists based on your orders, and there's no intuitive "wizard" process to add a card to an entire order (you actually buy the number of "gradings" you want, then go into the account management post-purchase to add in specific card information).

Needless to say, compared to their competitors, TAG's site is the most cumbersome to navigate and utilize.

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by varjakpaul

We all want to see the hobby succeed.

Do we?

It's putrid at the moment, full of grifters, con men and clueless fools. We aren't collectors, we're marks.

[Ataraxia]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Do we?

It's putrid at the moment, full of grifters, con men and clueless fools. We aren't collectors, we're marks.

One could argue that the hobby has always been like that, but it only got more lucrative to those who wanted to treat the hobby as an investment. In the past, the investor-types were also fans. Which meant they were willing to shell out for rare cards, but they weren't the marks that companies ran at too often. Nowadays? Hobby boxes being anywhere from $300-1,200 and still not getting great products, or people buying singles for $500-600 a piece over hyped players ...

Yeah, it's become a swirl of nonsense.

[pumpkinescobar]

TAG graded 3,457 cards this week.

[pumpkinescobar]

TAG graded 1,279 cards last week

[discodanman45]

Focusing on "art cards." They probably found the revenue of AI art is more profitable than grading cards. They have enough pumpers right now to keep these cards selling. Reminds me of NFT's.

[pumpkinescobar]

TAG graded 244 cards last week.

[Scottish Punk]

Did they close down or didn't update pop reports for most of the week? 244?

[pumpkinescobar]

TAG graded 2,382 cards last week:

[pumpkinescobar]

TAG graded 2,857 cards last week.

[Scottish Punk]

Looks like thd Pokémon repackers have moved on. They didn't get 10k for the month

[pumpkinescobar]

TAG graded 17,483 cards last week.

[rfgilles]

The pokemon repackers must be back......

Originally Posted by pumpkinescobar

TAG graded 17,483 cards last week.

The pokemon repackers must be back......

[rfgilles]

The majority of cards this week are Other TCG. I wonder what they are.

[discodanman45]

Originally Posted by rfgilles

The majority of cards this week are Other TCG. I wonder what they are.

It is most likely a mistake. If you go to their pop report, it shows 9863 graded for TCG 2024. However, if you click on the 2024 pop report, there are less than 100 cards graded.

https://my.taggrading.com/pop-report/Other%20TCG

[pumpkinescobar]

Originally Posted by rfgilles

The majority of cards this week are Other TCG. I wonder what they are.

Look like these 2024 Wonders Of The First Existence: Prerelease Foil Proof Set:

https://my.taggrading.com/pop-report...Foil+Proof+Set

[rfgilles]

Originally Posted by pumpkinescobar

Look like these 2024 Wonders Of The First Existence: Prerelease Foil Proof Set:

https://my.taggrading.com/pop-report...Foil+Proof+Set

Thanks pumpkin

I found this.

https://claim.wondersccg.com/