Why Independent Card Grading Matters More Than Ever

In December 2025, PSA's parent company Collectors acquired Beckett. Combined with their 2024 purchase of SGC, one company now controls roughly 79% of all card grading. This isn't just a business story — it directly impacts every collector, dealer, and investor in the hobby.

The Consolidation Timeline

• February 2024: Collectors acquires SGC, the hobby's preferred vintage grader
• December 2025: Collectors acquires Beckett (BGS/BVG), one of the hobby's most historic brands
• Result: PSA + SGC + Beckett = 79% of all cards graded in 2025
• Only major independent remaining: CGC Cards (~18% market share) and emerging companies like EJE

A U.S. Congressman has already urged the FTC to investigate this consolidation, citing concerns about monopolistic practices in what has become a significant alternative asset class.

Why Should Collectors Care?

Pricing Power

When one company controls 79% of a market, competitive pricing pressure disappears. PSA raised prices in 2025, and after acquiring SGC, SGC also raised prices and reduced dealer discounts. With fewer independent alternatives, collectors have less leverage and fewer affordable options.

Conflicts of Interest

When a grading company also operates a marketplace, vault service, or buyback program, the incentives get complicated. A late 2025 controversy involving PSA's buyback program — where cards reportedly received grade upgrades after being repurchased — highlighted exactly this concern. Independent graders have no such conflicts. Their only business is accurate grading.

Innovation Stagnation

Competition drives innovation. When collectors have choices, grading companies compete on turnaround time, technology, slab quality, transparency, and service. Monopoly removes that pressure. The most innovative grading features of recent years — AI-assisted grading, detailed digital reports, transparent centering metrics — have come from independent companies trying to differentiate, not from market leaders protecting their position.

The Case for Independent Grading

Independent grading companies offer something the consolidated giants cannot: unbiased, conflict-free assessment. When EJE grades your card, the only consideration is the card's actual condition. There's no parent company marketplace hoping to buy it back, no vault service looking to custody it, and no auction house relationship influencing the outcome.

Independence also means accountability. An independent grader's reputation is its entire business. One pattern of inconsistent grading and collectors walk. That pressure produces better, more consistent results.

What Collectors Can Do

• Diversify your grading — don't put all your cards through one company. Try independent graders for your personal collection while keeping high-resale cards with the market leader if you need maximum liquidity.
• Support transparency — choose grading companies that publish their standards, explain their grades, and operate without conflicts of interest
• Demand accountability — when grading errors happen, support companies that own them and make it right
• Voice your concerns — the hobby is built on collector trust. When consolidation threatens that trust, speaking up matters

The Future

The card grading industry is at a crossroads. Collectors have a choice: accept a near-monopoly or actively support the independent alternatives that keep the market competitive, transparent, and fair. CGC's 121% growth in 2025 proves that collectors are already voting with their submissions. The question is whether that momentum will continue — and whether enough collectors will discover and trust the next generation of independent graders.

At EJE Cards, we believe the hobby is stronger when collectors have real choices. That's why we grade with transparency, price affordably, and answer to nobody except the collectors we serve.