CSG Ups Its Game with a New Label and Revised Grading Scale!

Certified Sports Guaranty® (CSG®) is excited to reveal its brand-new certification label! The bold yet refined design is the result of months of research and development, including market studies, focus groups and extensive testing. Green is gone in favor of a black, silver and gold palette that will complement — not compete with — the colors of any sports card.

CSG is also updating its grading scale to more closely align with the sports card collecting market. The CSG Pristine 10 grade will be replaced by CSG Gem Mint 10, which corresponds to the nomenclature used by other leading sports card grading services. The next-highest grade will be CSG Mint+ 9.5. To view the CSG Grading Scale, click here.

CSG will continue to assign the CSG Perfect 10 grade to the best of the best, which will have flawless centering, corners, edges and surface. However, now all cards that merit a CSG Perfect 10 will receive sub-grades by default for free, with no special request required. Sub-grades will be discontinued for other grades.

“These updates reflect CSG’s commitment to provide the best possible services to the sports card collecting community,” says Andy Broome, CSG Senior Grading Finalizer. “We listened to collector and dealer feedback and are thrilled with the results of these changes.”

Broome continues, “Fewer than 20% of submitters were requesting sub-grades, so the demand simply was not there. In addition, eliminating sub-grades will allow us to further improve our turnaround times, which are already among the fastest in the industry.”

Click images to enlarge.

A decision not to roll with the punches

CSG experienced an extraordinary surge in submissions soon after it launched in February 2021, resulting in a formidable backlog. Due to a concerted effort to increase capacity and streamline workflow, CSG eliminated its submission backlog and dramatically improved turnaround times. Today, CSG has graded more than 750,000 cards and has the second-largest capacity of any third-party sports card grading service.

CSG now offers some of the fastest turnaround times in the industry at the most affordable prices. Turnaround times range from just 3 to 45 business days, with grading fees as low as $12 per card.

While CSG is stronger than ever, it was clear that there was overwhelming support for a new, minimalistic label design and an updated grading scale. Rather than roll with the punches, CSG decided to take action, conducting numerous surveys and focus groups to gather meaningful market feedback on its label and grading scale. The insightful responses and generous input from sports card collectors and dealers informed every update.

CSG is here to win

With the successful execution of these initiatives, CSG offers the sports card market a vastly superior product: a card-enhancing label combined with CSG’s best-in-class protective holder, fast and accurate grading, affordable prices and more.

“CSG is here to win,” says Steven R. Eichenbaum, CEO of the Certified Collectibles Group, of which CSG is part. “The new label looks fantastic, and we have the sports card collecting community to thank for helping us to step up our game.”

Send in your cards today to experience the new CSG!

CSG will immediately begin encapsulating submitted cards with the new CSG label. Any submissions that are at CSG’s facility will be encapsulated with the new CSG label with no sub-grades (unless the card earns a CSG Perfect 10 grade). The sub-grade fee will be refunded for any submissions that requested but do not receive sub-grades.

Additionally, cards already encapsulated with the original green label can be resubmitted for the new CSG label for a reduced ReHolder fee of just $5 per card until June 30, 2022. If the original green label had sub-grades, they will be removed when the card is reholdered to the new CSG label (unless the card is a Perfect 10).

For questions and requests, please contact CSG Customer Service at [email protected] or 888-CSG-4723.

Never submitted to CSG? It’s easy! Simply become a CSG member (memberships start at just $25 per year), complete the user-friendly CSG online submission form and send in your cards.