Follow The Wire in a feed reader
The Wire now has an RSS feed, so new items come to you rather than waiting for you to come back. It carries each item in full and updates whenever the site does.
- The feed holds the newest 45 items, the same ones the front of The Wire shows.
- Each item arrives as the whole piece: our read, the argument with its tables and figures, and what the source reported, with a link to the original. The evidence panel stays on the item's own page.
- Opinion pieces are marked in the title, carry the author's name, and open with the disclosure, so an argument is never mistaken for reporting.
- Add cardboardjournal.com/wire/rss.xml to your reader, or just the site's address: most readers find the feed on their own.
Compare answers the questions you bring to it
Compare now puts two graders face to face, gives the short answer, and then takes the questions a comparison is for one at a time: resale, long-term hold, protection, grading difficulty and grading technology. Each grader's full scorecard is one click away.
- Select either grader's name in the face-off to change it, from a searchable list of every scored grader.
- Each question is answered from its own evidence, never from the overall score. A grader leads only when the facts all point its way; otherwise the answer is no clear lead.
- Grading difficulty shows each grader's gem rate side by side, from GemRate for PSA, Beckett, SGC and CGC and from TAG's own population report for TAG, and names no winner: each grader sees different cards, and "gem" is a different grade at each. Where no comparable figure exists, it says so.
- Grading technology describes how each grader says its grades are set, from people to machines, without ranking the methods.
- The cheapest slab listed at each grader, with what makes them not like for like. Each answer links to the matching section of both scorecards, which hold every price tier, the score part by part and the history.
- Every pair has its own link, and Back steps through the pairs you looked at.
The scorecards, as a reference desk
The scorecards page now explains what a score means before it asks you to read one, sets out where to start, and keeps every scored grader in one full ranking you can filter, sort and compare from.
- A short key at the top explains the score, the tiers and the resale standing, with links to how we score and to Compare.
- Four starting points: graders suited to selling, comparing two graders, how we score, and the full ranking.
- The five highest scores have their own cards, and still appear in their places in the full ranking.
- The full ranking lists every scored grader with its verdict, score and tier, standing, cheapest price, turnaround and eBay guarantee. Narrow it by what you are grading for, sort it by score, price or turnaround, and the choice stays in the link so it can be shared.
- Tick any two graders in the ranking to open them side by side in Compare.
- On a phone, each grader becomes a labeled entry, so nothing is cut.
- Graders not currently grading are listed separately, unranked, each with its status.
Scorecards you can read in a minute
Every scorecard now opens with the answer: the score and tier, six facts at a glance, and a short version of why. The full write-up is still there, folded so you open only what you need.
- The score and tier lead the page, in a panel the color of the tier, with the grader's rank.
- Six facts at a glance: resale standing, the cheapest way in, typical turnaround, backlog, cert lookup and owner.
- A short version: the five parts of the score, where the slab sells, and the first thing to watch.
- A price table for 34 graders, tier by tier, with each grader's minimums, value limits and quoted turnaround, checked against their own price lists.
- Each longer section shows its opening and keeps the rest behind Read more.
Compare any two graders
A new Compare page puts two graders side by side, part by part, with a written comparison of where each one leads.
- Pick any two scored graders and see their scores, resale standings and each of the five scored parts lined up against each other.
- Each comparison opens with a short written summary of the difference that matters most.
- Starting points for the matchups people ask about most: PSA and CGC, PSA and TAG, BGS and TAG, CGC and SGC.
How we score, in full
A new page sets out the whole scoring method: what each part measures, what it is worth, and what the score does not measure.
- The five parts of the score and their weights, with the facts behind each one.
- How the resale standing is decided, including the rule for Emerging.
- The market infrastructure the score reads, and how an unverified fact is treated.
Every grader now has a 0 to 100 score
Each grader taking public submissions now carries a score for how well the resale market honors its slab, with the facts and reasoning behind the number on its scorecard.
- A 0 to 100 score on every scorecard, built from five weighted parts: market acceptance (60), trust and verifiability (15), holder and label (10), turnaround and access (5) and pricing (10).
- A Resale Standing (Premium, Accepted, Emerging, Regional or Crack-out) describing the US resale market. Premium to Crack-out are read from the market acceptance part, except Emerging, which is awarded by a published rule on volume and sold-price evidence.
- Within market acceptance, matching PSA's sold prices is worth 30 points, the eBay guarantee 25, auction-house inventory 15, and recognition and a public lookup 30. Price evidence now outweighs any one piece of infrastructure, because the point of the score is what the market pays.
- A hard cap: no grader scores more than 25 points above its market acceptance part, so speed, price and presentation cannot make up for a slab the market will not pay for.
- A score breakdown on each scorecard, with the reason for every adjustment and every input we could not verify, which scores zero.
- Tiers (S to D) and the ranking now follow the score instead of being set by hand. Some graders moved, and each scorecard shows why.
- Sold-price evidence behind the market acceptance part: where a grader's slab sells relative to a PSA 10 is now measured from Pokémon sold prices, not judged from text. TAG 10 sells at about PSA 10 level, while the matched Gem Mint grades of CGC and BGS sell well below it. Sports cards have no equivalent sample yet.
- A new Not yet open status for graders that are grading privately and have not opened to the public. They are not scored.
- The method is published in full on How we score, including the market infrastructure the score reads: the eBay Authenticity Guarantee, auction-house inventory, GemRate and SportsCardsPro.
