Level99

HA are down bad auctioning this trash lol. I guess they're hoping to atrract new customers but it clearly isn't working.

Interesting, I guess because they have been doing it the longest so they have a long record of these "mistakes" (hopefully) occurring? or the graders just aren't good enough? These questions needs to be addressed if they want this hobby/market to grow and have some substance. Or, it will continue to being niche and no need for all the useless marketing CGC and WATA are doing, because no one is being transparent unfortunately. It seems it's always going to be a word of mouth kinda trust, instead of a proccess that is well established that normal customers can believe in. I do try and make sure that what I'm buying is legit, I'm trying to learn whenever I have the time. But for new people, it's going to be hard to pick up these things from day one. And I was one... kinda still tbh...

Please, it would be great to include pictures of these notches. Great new info to learn. Thanks!

Unfortunately I do not, but I agree with you. Every grading company should be transparent. All I know is that VGA has been in the market for years before WATA and CGC. And many collectors +rep them, and their stuff used to sell at reasonable prices... Well, until WATA and HA did their awful plot to pump the market and made almost everyone out of this hobby hates grading, even though its been a thing since the 2000s. Hence why I said almost no one sends their games for grading with the intention of using it in the future. I don't care what anyone decides to do with it, but I can understand someone who loves the game so much and want an extra copy to preserve and keep clean on a shelf. I feel bad for the people that paid 100s of thousands on games that are clearly mass produced. WATA and HA tricked them into thinking that Mario 64 is actually rare LOL. What's even worse, is they tried to do the same with the recent CGC Zelda, but thank god no one fell for it. This sucks, and I don't blame people hating on WATA for what they did. And oh boy, not gonna mention resellers and flippers, they're still trying to squeeze every penny from people, but I'm so happy to see games sitting for years without any buyers. What's amazing to me, is that some of them still grade mass produced modern games, with avaerage grades, for a ridiculous fee. Like you can tell they don't know what they're doing.

With so many resealed/fake/repro games/cases/manuals out there, I can appreciate grading. I get to have the opinion of people that have been doing this for years, and know the differences between a fake and an original. I don't have time to learn all this stuff. At the end of the day, it all comes down to trust and reputation. And I agree, grading is subjective. As long as I have peace of mind that the game is authentic and well preserved, I'm good. Well yeah of course it's not going to be playable when its slabbed, so why bring it up? lets be real here, no one is sending a game for grading with an intention of playing it the first place. That also doesn't make it "useless". You can always break that sucker up and play it if you want, its still the same game.

Fair enough. As far of the mistake of grading a fake game, WATA did the same, and CGC will do as well I'm pretty sure. So that is not enough of a reason to make me want to stop using them. I prefer them because of their case look, label, grading scale, and the fact that they grade consoles and accoserise (I like to keep everything unified if that make sence). I honestly was waiting for CGC to surprise me, but I was disappointed with their ugly label, and them only grading NA games.

Everything I said was from my personal experiance with owning from all 3 companies. I didn't confuse anything with facts. At the end of the day I'm here to learn. As I said, all companies have flaws, and everyone make mistakes. WATA just graded a rom hack, and they got exposed then apologized and said they're not doing it again. I'm pretty sure CGC will make mistakes down the road as well. These things happen, so it makes all 3 of them equal in that regard. I absolutely have no idea about the tampering/security issues with VGA. As I said, never heard anything bad about it, so I will take your word for it and keep that in mind. Wata is a competitor, so why should I believe anything from them about OTHER competitors? I need something to come out from VGA themselves. Yes, them not caring about releasing pop reports, have a dated website and not engaging on social media marketing could be an indications of selling out. I honestly don't know... If it's true, then I'm sure they will be bought just like Collectors Universe buying WATA. WATA is inconsistent as well, espically with their seal grades. So many people have sent and re-sent their games and got different grades. That has been known since froever. Also, a lot of their grades are confusing. Sometimes you see a A+ seal grade on a B seal, or an A++ on a A+ and so on sometimes you can't even tell the difference!!!... I don't know anything about the graders, but I heard that they're reputable. WATA and CGC are known because of the marketing they did, and they're also reputable. I only own 3 so far, and not planning on passing 6, 2 left to be graded + a console. I only grade the rare items I own. I know this stuff will outlive me anyways, so I'm only slabbing them cause I want to keep them clean and protected. Also a second opinion on authenticity won't hurt. And don't worry, I have a million ways to play the game, so this unplayable-playable argument is stupid.

Never tried to break one myself, nor did I hear about anyone buying a fake resealed VGA game. I don't know about what you said 100%, but keep in mind they have been grading toys and video games for over a decade (please, correct me if I'm wong). So, there would be at least a story of someone buying a fake VGA game. If there is, I'm interested in hearing about it. Not saying that VGA is perfect. Every one of these 3 have their own flaws. There is a video on youtube of a guy receiving his game in a different conditin of what he sent CGC have some bad rep as well. There are stories of some graders giving high grades for their friends... As for VGA cases, here are some info from their website: Why is the AFA case sealed everywhere except the back? The acrylic case is sealed on all sides except for a slight opening at the back of the case at the bottom. We do not seal this edge to allow for air circulation inside the case. If we did not allow for this air circulation, the case would be subject to a “Terrarium” effect. In other words, depending on the temperature, the inside of the case could start to sweat. The unsealed edge alleviates this possibility. The acrylic cases are still considered sealed and the contents cannot be tampered with without being broken open. I guess this is the unsealed edge to allow for air circulation? Not for breaking it to re-casing as OP have said. Are the cases UV-Resistant Standard AFA cases are slightly UV-resistant. They will also protect your items by sealing them in hard acrylic to keep them in the same condition as when they were graded. They will not be touched by human hands and the hard acrylic prevents it from sustaining any additional creases, bubble dings, or other damage. In addition, 99% UV-Resistant acrylic cases are available for extra light protection. You can pay a fee to upgrade your case to the 99% UV Resistant acrylic or you can submit your items under the archival tier, which includes UV-resistant acrylic. For more information on UV-Resistant cases, click here. "They owners of VGA have been clear they don’t even want the business anymore." Can you please tell me from where you got this info? At the end, I guess it all comes down to taste and trust. There are thousands of VGA graded games way before WATA and CGC existed. And many of them sold for a lot, so I'm sure they are trusted amongst collectors (I would even argue that they are more trusted/favored now after the WATA and HA drama that happened in the last two years), and I don't think they will go anywhere anytime soon.

When I first got into graded games, I went with WATA, because of how popular they got amongst collectors, and I liked their label at first. Until I bought my first VGA graded game. For me the difference was clear, and made me sell all my WATA games. I felt that WATA rushed everything. I was seeing dust inside, with a bit of humidity. The cases look ugly and way too bulky/big with bubbles inside the acrylic. The label's corners were bent and doesn't look clean. On the other hand, I was really impressed with VGA. Although the label is simple, but it's well designed and looks much better. Straight to the point without any unnesseary information. The cases are sleek and clean. Looks so much better displayed on a shelf. Also, the fact that they grade consoles and accessories is a plus. I turst them more in terms of longevity, since they've been in the market for long, so the cases seems to be holding up good for all these years. CGC however, their cases are clean and well designed, but the label man... looks stright out of a 90s law firm document or something. Also, I really dislike the comic book grading scale, I feel it doesn't work well with games. I don't agree that VGA is "garbage", I think they're the best option out of the "big" three. Haven't really tried any of the European companies like UKG or Pixel Grading, but it looks like both got inspired by VGA in terms of case design, which is good.

Was it a known title? or one of those modern (and sometime retro) games that no one heard/care about? I saw a VGA 90+ Octodad on the PS Vita go for about $70 on CL. My point is that many games, sold on both HA and CL end up listed on eBay for double the price. Many of them sold for a premium too, so you either accept the loss, enter a bidding war with a reseller but you end up overpaying, or wait for it to pop up on eBay for double the price. I'm not against anyone trying to make money, but it sucks when you end up losing a bid, then realize that a reseller (who probably never cared about the game to begin with) listing it on eBay for a ridiculous fee.

Unfortunately not for me, because there are still some active annoying resellers. Can't get any good deal on auctions because of these parasites. I swear almost all games I wanted I see them listed 2 weeks after on eBay double the price. What's more annoying is that the games sits for years without any buyers, and these parasites still buy more. Like, just fuck off already and go leech somewhere else.

Why are people surprised by this? It's all because of these moron "inverstors and resellers" who started mass grading modern games, and pulling/digging factory sealed packs and old new stock from basements and storges. Then they wonder why VGA hasn't done any marketing and aren't interested in the madness Wata and CGC are doing. This market is so niche and was growing slowly until these "inverstors" came in to try and get every last penny from people being lokced down in their houses lol. Hopefully, submission prices continue to go down.