Breaking News: SGC President Peter Steinberg Stepping Down
Just this morning (July 24, 2025), Peter Steinberg announced that he is stepping down as President of SGC. His resignation casts a different tone on the rest of this article, published weeks ago. In typical fashion Steinberg plays it close to the vest, without much detail provided. Steinberg offered no specific future plans for himself or for the SGC brand.
It’s worth noting that it is common in merger / acquisition deals for high-level execs to stick around for a defined period of time to help transition. Such deals often involve noncompete agreements and hefty compensation packages. There’s no indication of either in this case–just speculating.
Later in the day, PSA president Ryan Hoge appeared on Neo Cards and Comics here and stated an intention to shrink SGC and return the brand to its former niche as a “boutique vintage grader.” It seems at least likely that Peter would have preferred to keep growing the brand. It seems likely that Hoge will assume President duties for SGC, a capacity in which he serves for all PSA grading enterprises.
Many current SGC employees are being cross-trained to PSA, which will enable them to start accepting submissions at the Boca office sooner than later–likely this fall. But for now, the “official” word is that a smaller, leaner SGC will remain, with a focus on what SGC always did best: vintage, fast, and affordable.
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(The following content of this article was published in June 2025:)
As one who only grades vintage with SGC, the timing of two separate recent developments at PSA and SGC respectively have me nervous about the future of SGC. I don’t want to sound hyperbolic or alarmist (yet) so let’s start with some facts:
PSA Opens a Hub in Boca Raton Florida
First, PSA announced late last month that they have moved into the same building as SGC in Boca Raton, Florida. The full PSA press release is here. The release touts the Boca location as a move to scale capacity. PSA dubs the Boca move as “expansive,” but the release is light on specifics.
The announcement notes that “while submitting directly to the facility is not part of the initial plan, PSA customers may receive orders shipped from Boca Raton starting in the fall.” So presumably PSA will be receiving cards elsewhere, and shipping them to Boca, where they will be graded and shipped back out. This does not sound like ideal “operational efficiency” and the move into the same building as SGC is obviously not coincidental.
It could be that PSA and SGC owner Collectors envisions both companies utilizing a centralized shipping department, with both PSA and SGC outgoing orders processed by one staff. That would make some logistical sense. But time will tell regarding the true intentions behind the move.
SGC Drops Bulk Submitter Discounted Rate
More troubling to me is the very recent news that as of June 20, SGC will no longer offer discounted rates to its approved bulk submitters. In an announcement on June 11, my go-to group submitter (and, full disclosure, Cardhound advertising partner) Boca Card Subs announced that all bulk submitter discounts will be discontinued. The result is that group submitters will actually need to charge more than the SGC rate–not less. Boca states that:
“Our rates for SGC submissions will go up because we will be paying the same rate the public pays. To build in some value to our SGC submitters, we are going to include card wiping, replacement Card Savers (or switching if you send in top loaders), and a video of your cards pre-submittal. Also remember our return shipping prices are lower than SGC’s . . . We can’t offer any other volume discount. You also have the option to send to SGC directly for $15/card without the above-mentioned perks. SGC itself is not going away. Just the bulk submitter rates.”
Analysis: What is the Future of SGC?
Troubling Recent Developments at SGC
- SGC has been much slower than advertised for many months now. Some claim this to be an intentional / mandated slowdown to erase a benefit of grading with SGC vs. PSA. I have not been on board with that theory, but . . .
- SGC volume has not been increasing recently, so they should be catching up to advertised turn times. And they simply are not.
- PSA has rolled out many innovations in the last year. New slabs. Grader notes.
- SGC has been crickets in terms of innovation. Still no set registry. A middling app. Fun announcements from SGC prez Peter Steinberg have been fewer and farther in between. If Collectors’ plans to use their cash to up the level of SGC’s offerings, we have not seen it yet.
I’m not necessarily sounding the alarm, but I would be lying if I said I’m not really concerned about the future of SGC right now.
Good take. The lack of innovation is the most telling of a sad future.
SGC is inferior to PSA in almost every respect — but, SGC provided a cheaper, faster alternative. Those aspects were seen as advantages to many collectors who enjoy saving a buck and are in a hurry — but they are got what they paid for — quicker and cheaper does not equal better. SGC is the school teacher who is nice and grades easy. C papers become B+ papers. It’s fun to pretend your paper deserved a B+, but you know it didn’t. Meanwhile, PSA is the more cantankerous, exacting teacher who has high standards and gives you the grade you earned — maybe you even get a grade a bit lower than you should have received. The kids hate that teacher, but they also know that if they earn an A in that teacher’s grade book, it’s meaningful.
SGC is known for tougher grades than PSA, at least for vintage. Quicker and less expensive might not equal better, but it also does not equal worse. I would guess the deviation from stated standards is at least as high at PSA as SGC. Maybe you collect modern which gives a different perspective.
That analogy is so ridiculous. SGC is more of a brand than you care to admit. Do you like hearing yourself talk/text? Lol . SGC is my preferred and will never use PSA. PSA did clearly influence the turnaround times yes amongst other things coming it’s because PSA is scared of them. SGC will fall eventually it will be long and drawn out .PSA clearly does not want to piss off SGC customers because when it comes time,eventually customers because when want their business.
PSA is the worst; if i don’t have SGC to go to I will go AGS or hell even HGA before i submit anything to PSA. Putting a vintage card in a PSA slab is the equivalent to hanging the Mona Lisa in a single wide trailer!
Does this mean the rise of CSG?
You mean CGC? : ) I’m not sure. They mostly grade TCG and I think breaking into vintage especially will be tough. (Like you, I have to constantly remind myself what they are even called).
It will and people will def have a great choice if SGC goes away.
All you have to do is look at the “Job Openings” Scoreboard at
PSA (lots) vs. SGC … 0
Walmart is also hiring, for what that’s worth.