2021 Market Share of 3rd Party Grading Companies

Posted at March 6, 2022, 2:20 a.m.

Grading CGC CBCS WATA VGA PSA

Introduction

Today we bring you an exclusive market share analysis on 3rd Party Grading Companies (3PGC) including sales data, total value sold, average value and market share percent. Our findings are presented in the tables at the bottom of this article. The data was taken from the NerdMelon database and shows the number of graded collectibles sold in 2021 by each of the 3PGC broken down into the 4 main collecting categories: Comic Books, Video Games, Pokémon cards, and Funko Pop figures. Using this information, we will first introduce the most popular 3PGC (colorfully dubbed the "Big 6") then discuss new and emerging 3PGC.

This article assumes you understand the basics of 3rd Party Grading. If you need a review, make sure to check out our other article entitled "The Most Comprehensive Guide to 3rd Party Grading Companies on the Net".

The "Big 6" 3PGC

Our analysis of the 2021 data has uncovered graded collectibles from 67 different Grading companies. Of the 67, there are 6 that clearly stand out in terms of pure market share domination. We have dubbed these companies the “Big 6” and have listed them below. These companies are divided between Comic, Video Game and Pokémon Cards graders – but notice how the Big 6 does not list a 3PGC for Funko Pop figures. This is because there is only one 3PGC (so far) that exclusively grades Funko Pop figures; Vinyl Vault Grading System (VVGS). VVGS is an emerging grading company that is not yet ready to be considered one of the "Big" companies. True, the Funko Pop table at the bottom of this article indicates that Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) holds a massive share of the Funko Pop grading market but we omitted PSA because they only grade/verify signatures on signed Funko Pop boxes. While they do still encapsulate Funko Pop figures in a holder and provide them with a PSA label and grade, the grade is only for the signature and not for the figure itself. Another thing to keep in mind is that the Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) is listed as a Comic grader in the Big 6 but CGC also grades Pokémon Cards and they hold a significant market share in Pokémon Card grading as well.

Big 6 List:

Comic Books:

Certified Guaranty Company (CGC)
Comic Book Certification Service (CBCS)

Video Games:

WATA Games (WATA)
Video Game Authority (VGA)

Pokémon Cards:

Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA)
Beckett Grading Services (BGS)

Just how BIG are the Big 6?

In 2021, NerdMelon recorded auction data for 293,276 graded collectibles consisting of 67 different grading companies. Of that, 289,456 or 99% were graded by the Big 6 - that's 299 million out of a total of 301 million! CGC’s share in the market was the most dominant with 227,296 graded collectibles representing 77.5% of the total market share. While the current collecting environment heavily relies on these Big 6 for trusted, accurate grading, there are some emerging companies that we would like to highlight as viable alternatives.

Spotlight on Emerging Companies

We have selected 4 emerging companies that challenge the elite Big 6 club. These companies have chiseled out a sizable portion of the market from the Big 6 and are gaining momentum in the collecting community for their competitive prices, quick turnaround times, and beautifully designed labels and encapsulation holders. Sales numbers for collectibles graded by these 4 companies also indicate a high degree of confidence in their grading accuracy.

However, our choices are not based purely on sales numbers. We also focused on the “emerging” qualities of the grading company like, 'comparative realized sale prices' to that of other grading companies for similar collectibles, website design, holder design, year entered into the market, etc. For example, in terms of pure sales numbers, ACE Grading lands on the 10th spot for card grading companies with an average sale of $140USD yet we still selected them for inclusion here, due to their launch in 2021 and their well-designed labels. Conversely, Professional Grading Experts (PGX) holds a significant market share in Comic grading and has had some impressive sales in 2021 (see FF#5, DD#1 and XMEN#1) but we have not selected them for this list. This is because PGX has been around since 2002 and is no longer an "emerging" company; rather, it has an established market share that should stay consistent in years to follow.

Emerging 3PGC List:

Comic Books:

HALO Certification (HALO)

Video Games:

Player One (P1)

Pokémon Cards:

Ace Grading (ACE)

Funko Pops:

Vinyl Vault Grading System (VVGS)

We will write a “Spotlight” article on each of these companies in the coming weeks. These articles will provide brief history, more in-depth sales analysis including sale price comparison to similar collectibles graded by other 3PGCs, details on the grading scale, website review, and an image gallery.

2021 Market Share Analysis

And finally, NerdMelon proudly presents our breakdown of every graded item in our database for 2021 including individual 3PGC sales numbers and totals for each of the 4 collecting categories. We also provide the percent of market share that each company realized in 2021. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Comic Book

	BGS	CGC	CBCS	CPA	EGS	HALO	PGX	PSA	UNK	VLT	Total
Grade Count	1	221,988	11,720	1	27	47	1,452	2	3	1	235,242
Market Value	$450	$226,629,013	$6,109,888	$130	$7,508	$34,307	$1,027,655	$1,050	$555	$410	$233,810,965
Market Average	N/A	$1,021	$521	N/A	$278	$730	$708	$525	$185	N/A	$994
Market Share	0%	94.37%	4.98%	0%	0.01%	0.02%	0.62%	0%	0%	0%	100%

Legend: Beckett Grading Services (BGS); Certified Guaranty Company (CGC); Comic Book Certification Service (CBCS); Comic Page Authentication (CPA); European Comic Grade Certification (EGC); Expert Grading System (EGS); HALO Certification (HALO); Professional Grading Experts (PGX); Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA); Unknown/Homebrew (UNK); Vault Grading (VLT);

Video Game

	IGS	P1	RGS	RGA	UKG	VGA	WATA	Total
Grade Count	59	263	1	1	23	3,902	11,477	15,726
Market Value	$23,554	$199,216	$222	$2,500	$33,223	$4,880,980	$36,771,770	$41,911,465
Market Average	$399	$757	N/A	N/A	$1,444	$1,251	$3,204	$2,665
Market Share	0.38%	1.67%	0.01%	0.01%	0.15%	24.81%	72.98%	100%

Legend: Investment Grading Services (IGS); Player One (P1); Rare Grading Service (RGS); Retro Grading Authenticator (RGA); UK Graders (UKG); Video Game Authority (VGA); WATA Games (WATA);

Pokemon Card

	1ST	AOG	ACA	ACE	ARK	BCCG	BGS	BVG	BSG	BOSS	CB	CGA	CGC	CSG	CGS	DSG	EG	EGS2	GG	GMA	GSG	GBG	GRAAD	GIG	HCG	HGA	ISA	KSA	LUX	MGC	MANA	MG	MGS	MNT	NSA	OG	PGS	PCG	P1	PG	PCA	PCGS	PGC	PSA	RGA	RCG	SGC	TCG	TGA	TFG	UGC	VGA2	Total
Grade Count	4	1	10	95	1	10	1,693	3	4	4	1	131	5,308	1	2	43	2	9	156	157	6	8	64	43	1	18	6	140	5	60	2	1	3	82	2	11	49	3	36	28	58	1	143	33,126	16	2	367	39	21	9	6	1	41,992
Market Value	$255	$237	$820	$13,303	$144	$1,978	$1,832,635	$949	$787	$295	$79	$17,018	$2,135,132	$740	$735	$7,363	$337	$2,760	$24,583	$29,913	$715	$1,536	$10,654	$6,803	$33	$4,437	$799	$55,052	$969	$7,602	$655	$180	$455	$16,267	$115	$1,264	$8,286	$453	$2,805	$3,389	$11,816	$57	$101,018	$20,970,609	$2,040	$579	$424,729	$6,473	$3,056	$658	$144	$108	$25,713,817
Market Average	$64	N/A	$82	$140	N/A	$198	$1,082	$316	$197	$74	N/A	$130	$402	N/A	$368	$171	$169	$307	$158	$191	$119	$192	$166	$158	N/A	$247	$133	$393	$194	$127	$328	N/A	$152	$198	$57	$115	$169	$151	$78	$121	$204	N/A	$706	$633	$127	$289	$1,157	$166	$146	$73	$24	N/A	$612
Market Share	0.01%	0%	0.02%	0.23%	0%	0.02%	4.03%	0.01%	0.01%	0.01%	0%	0.31%	12.64%	0%	0%	0.10%	0%	0.02%	0.37%	0.37%	0.01%	0.02%	0.15%	0.10%	0%	0.04%	0.01%	0.33%	0.01%	0.14%	0%	0%	0.01%	0.20%	0%	0.03%	0.12%	0.01%	0.09%	0.07%	0.14%	0%	0.34%	78.89%	0.04%	0%	0.87%	0.09%	0.05%	0.02%	0.01%	0%	100%

Legend: 1st Graded (1ST); Absolute Objective Grading (AOG); ACA Certification (ACA); Ace Grading (ACE); All-Star Grading (ASG); Alpha Professional Grading (APG); Ark Grading (ARK); Automated Grading Systems (AGS); Beckett Collectors Club Grading (BCCG); Beckett Grading Services (BGS); Beckett Vintage Grading (BVG); Best Service Grading (BSG); BOSS Sports Grading (BOSS); Card Boss (CB); Card Grading Australia (CGA); Card Market Grading (CMG); Certified Guaranty Company (CGC); Certified Sports Guarenty (CSG); Collectibles Grading Service (CGS); Dynamic Grading Authority (DGA); Diamond Service Grading (DSG); European Grading (EG); European Grading Service (EGS2); GetGraded (GG); Global Authentication Inc (GAI); GMA Grading and Authentication (GMA); Golden Grading (GOLD); Gold Standard Grading (GSG); Good Bros Grading (GBG); Grade Authority and Authentication Division (Italy) (GRAAD); Grade in Germany (GIG); Hidden Collectibles Grading (HCG); Hybrid Grading Approach (HGA); International Sports Authentication (ISA); KSA Certification (KSA); Luxury Grading (LUX); Majesty Grading Company (MGC); Mana Grading (MANA); MG Cards (MG); Mint Grading Services (MGS); MNT Grading (MNT); National Sportscard Authenticator (NSA); Only Graded Services (OG); Platin Grading Service (PGS); Platinum Card Grading (PCG); Player One (P1); Pokegrade (PG); Professional Cards Authenticator (PCA); Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS); Professional Grading Company (PGC); Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA); Retro Grading Authenticator (RGA); Revolution Card Grading (RCG); Sportscard Guaranty Corporation (SGC); TCG Grading (TCG); The Grading Authority (TGA); Tree Frog Grading (TFG); Universal Grading Company (UGC); Valiant Grading Advantage (VGA2); World of Grading (WOG); 508 Grading Company (5GC);

Funko Pop

	AFA	JSA	PSA	UNK	VVGS	Total
Grade Count	20	1	239	1	55	316
Market Value	$32,464	$160	$84,438	$200	$42,996	$160,258
Market Average	$1,623	N/A	$353	N/A	$782	$507
Market Share	6.33%	0.32%	75.63%	0.32%	17.41%	100%

Legend: Action Figure Authority (AFA); James Spence Authentication (JSA); Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA); Unknown/Homebrew (UNK); Vinyl Vault Grading System (VVGS);