Here is something the larger grading companies probably won't tell you:  Grading is a lottery.  Plain and simple.  

There are 2 types of people that choose to get their cards graded.  First, there is the collector that simply wants to know how nice, or close to MINT, his or her card is.  They collect this certain athlete (or collectible) and simply want to incase the card and protect it as a part of their personal collection.  Second, there is the investor.  A collector that wants to grade what they feel is a near-perfect to perfect, or even rare, card.  Once they get the card back, they plan to sell it and hopefully for a profit.  Of course the higher the grade, the higher the profit.  We love both types of collectors. 

Grading cards was once affordable.  Now you have the "powerhouse" grading companies charging well over $100 per card and holding your cards for a year or more.  Of course this estimated fee does not include shipping to and from or "rushed services".  

What we have seen and what has become more repetitive in the last 2 years or so is this:  many cards graded by the big guys have been given very high grades and simply do not deserve them.  Even without closely examining them your eye will catch off-centered borders but that card somehow scored a GEM 10.  It seems for many of them the cards value is no longer determined on how nice the card actually is, it is determined by who's sticker is placed in the header of the slab.  And, this usually happens for the large auction companies, or those in business with the grading companies or even owned/business partners of theirs.  Until collectors choose the smaller companies, these fee's and practices will continue to rise and further ruin the hobby, in our opinion.  Plus, do you even know who their graders are?  It seems the large companies are always running ad's for graders. Like there are pools of them just sitting around unemployed.

So, a collector sends his or her card to a grading company, pays $150 and waits a year, hoping it returns a 10, and gets back a 7.  Now the card that may have fetched them $1500 at a 10 is worth $90 or less in today's market, or nothing to the collector as he just lost $60 grading it.  It is a lottery and harder to play with those that have forgotten what they hobby was, and should be. 

Grading is an opinion, and we will gladly give you ours, and make it affordable. Support who you will, and live the hobby.