How easy it would be to start an Ebay Grading company

OK, photoseal isn't a slab, but it is more than just a sticker. It also includes a laminated photocertificate of the stickered slab. But since the "company" already exists it would be a small step from a photocertificate to a slab.

The VAMslab website http://home.comcast.net/~john.baumgart/varslab/vamslab.html
It turns out they are not a grading service, but an attribution service. It would be a small step though to turn it into a grading service. Hmm, I was unaware of their VAMseal product.

 

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On ebay, a 99% positive feedback is a good enough substitute for a good reputation. It doesn't matter if you earned that feedback selling Harley-Davidson T-shirts.

 

Amen!

 

Your mixing apples with oranges . EBAY feedback scores have absolutely no bearing with regards to the discussion of " Reputation " in this matter . I could care less if one has thousands upon thousands of positive feedback totals. For the sake of this discussion, that does not qualify as to having a " Reputation " as an " Authenticating " or encapsulating company.

 

Good idea: CTACS (Cointalk Accurate Coin Service) Partially free coin grading (need to pay for slabs, and the rule below)

We can charge people 60-120% of the PCGS or NGC price, and CT members with over x posts can submit to it, and anybody with y posts can vote, and pass a test to say: I can grade a coin. Accurate, and graded here on CT, the grade with the most votes wins. Whoever guesses the voted amount gets .5 or 1% of the profit or $2, whichever is lower. Sell it on CT, the eBay coin competitor. You can't look at the poll results until after you voted, and you have 1 vote.
The seller determines the price it sells for, and it must fit in with the 60%-120% rule or taken off.

For example: 8 people guessed MS65, for a coin that sold for $50. Each person gets 1% for each MS65 vote, which is -.50 x 8 = -4.00

Subtotal: $46.00- $3 to pay for slab
Total: $50 paid by buyer, which $43 goes to seller, $3 goes to slab, and $4 goes to voters.

The money would not be paid to the voter, but to an "account" that can be used to buy coins. Good deal, with demand and supply.

7 dollars is cheaper than NGC, PCGS, and ANACS

 

Now that I like Cointalk Community Grading Service Sounds better for what your talking about CTCGS

 

I understand where you are coming from, but the OP's original discussion was about self slabbing to sell on ebay. And, as I took it, was to sell coins not necessarily caring if the grade you put on it was correct or not. Reputation matters for knowledgable people, such as most who post on Cointalk. Marketing is what sells items on ebay, such as a flashy coin holder that sort of looks authentic to a beginning collector.
Sorry, no offense to you, coinman, or anyone with the religeous comment either.

 

Actually, he was talking about not being a self slabber, so the reputation factor was completely relevant.

 

This was all I could find. You need a pretty big slab!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Home-Grown-Pota...945?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20b76e0ba9

 

LOL Need one of the those coin roll slabs PCGS is rolling out, but bigger...

 

How about DIMG coin grading?

DIMG= Done In My Garage

 

Roll slab for the 5 oz hockey pucks?

 

Self Slabbing is easy with the BCS products and a good excel designed label. Many show dealers (like myself) do this with their raw stuff but simply put the business name on the label. There is a difference between using these as coin holders for your material vs saying your some TPG. In this way these raw coins will have attractive holders to fit in with your slabbed material. I do this with the nicer raw stuff not worth the slab fee plus I have over 30 yr grading experience; my grading skills are as good as just about anyone in the business if not better than most.

 

I'll be your first customer if you give all my coins ms 68+ even my 300 ad roman coins

 

Any replies to Gordon's inquiry? I have the same question. Jon

 

Creating a grading company would be the easy part. Getting it nationally recognized and accepted to be professional grade by the general public would be the hard part. Frankly if it's not one of the big names in grading, I don't pay heads or tails to any "grade" a coin might have.

Or perhaps I misunderstood?

 

Yep, with the current "temperature" out there, the public immediately stomps on any company that is not NGC, PCGS, etc.

Sorta unfair . . . . . . . perhaps a well meaning guy does wish to do a startup. They are probably beat before they start.

No slabs out there other than Coin World eh? I have some BCS stuff . . . . . those don't "do it for me" either.

Jon