How Dan Houss Reimagined the Collectibles Grading Process

Getting your collectibles graded is exciting — you can finally confirm the real value of your favorite baseball cards. But it isn't always an easy process. You have to find a reputable company, fill out extensive forms, and then trust that the company's grading scale is transparent and up to industry standards.

These are just a few reasons why lifelong collector Dan Houss became a certified grader and then joined GetGraded. Although once the director of his own corporate finance company, his childhood passion for trading cards stuck with him, and it's this passion that fuels his career today.

Because of his work, GetGraded has become a leading resource for collectors — the company's clear grading scale lets people know what to expect, and its customer-first model helps them understand the grading process.

Keep reading to learn about Dan Houss's mission and the work he's done to enhance card grading systems.

Collecting with Dan Houss

Dan Houss spent much of his youth building his collection, especially football cards. In his college days, he'd go to yard sales to find U.S. basketball cards. "Sports cards, Pokémon cards, any type of cards — you name it, I had it," he says. Even as he spent his career in marketing, technology, and corporate finance, he'd use his spare time to chase down rare finds. "In the background," he reminisces, "I was running one of the largest community groups for anything collectible. I think they're still going to this day."

He found so many gems that he started supplying and trading with local resellers, and he eventually began grading cards. He learned the ins and outs of the authentication business and industry standards. "I used to help a lot of people understand the process of how to get their cards over to the United States to grade all of them and then send them back," he says. Meanwhile, his full-time work was taking him across the world and giving him an inside look into the successes and failures of multinational companies.

This passion suddenly exploded into a major business venture when COVID-19 rocked the world. Young adults were moving back home with their parents, relocating, downsizing — and in doing so, rediscovering their boxes of childhood collectibles and suddenly realizing that they were sitting on a gold mine.

Quickly realizing that the collectible market was experiencing a modern renaissance, Houss joined GetGraded as a director, where he helped to develop high-quality grading systems for collectors. It's the perfect position for him because he knows exactly what his fellow hobbyists are looking for: an open and accessible grading process that allows collectors to learn even more about the world of trading cards.

Full Transparency in Grading

To give a little background into how grading works, trading cards are typically assessed by checking the quality of their corners, centering, edges, and surfaces. Generally, they receive grades between 1 and 10, with some companies offering half-point grades. It seems simple enough, but even these rather straightforward grading scales are not made clear to customers up front, leaving many collectors confused as to why their precious assets are graded poorly.

At GetGraded, the full grading scale is provided online so that prospective customers can understand this methodology before sending in their cards. GetGraded's scale aligns with industry standards and also provides the authenticity checks that collectors are looking for.

Because Houss didn't want GetGraded's customers to question their final grades, he made sure that all scores also come with a full damage report. This way, someone who sends in their trading cards will know exactly why they got a certain result. Even before submitting, customers are allowed pre-appraisals. The result? No one goes into the grading process totally blind.

Collector Support and Guidance

Ordinarily, the grading submission process involves filling out long, detailed forms for every single card. Then, the collector must mail their prized possessions to a company and then wait for the results. But Houss knows firsthand how tedious, time-consuming, and frustrating this process can be, and he wanted GetGraded customers to avoid all of that extra work and waiting. "We do all the hard work," he says, "which is something that the other companies — even the largest companies — don't do."

In doing so, Houss has inevitably lowered the barrier to entry for newer collectors, saying, "We realized that for newcomers, the whole process is difficult and overwhelming, and they might not even want to do it anymore at that point." Thanks to his work, a whole new generation can discover the fun of finding, trading, and selling the collectibles that brought people like Houss so much joy in their youth.

He's also ensured that GetGraded has a presence at almost every major trade show in the U.K., with graders on-site to offer same-day evaluations. Alternatively, customers can bring in cards to some of GetGraded's physical locations and get their scores later that day. And if they can't make it in person, 24/7 customer service is provided online, so no matter what, no one has to wait very long to get the support they need.

Finally, every grader at GetGraded has to go through a thorough training course to bring their skills above and beyond current standards. They take orders from all around the world, and they're able to process and return submissions quickly. But Houss's standard for excellence doesn't stop there. He aims to help GetGraded become the highest-quality grading provider by taking it a step further and coaching its customers. "We don't just want to train our staff; we want to educate our customers. That's what really sets us apart."

Finally, he remarks how easy it is to get lost in technological advancements and social media and how influencers are changing the space. But he doesn't want to change the DNA of what made collecting so great to begin with — he just wants to make it accessible for anyone and everyone.

Setting the Standard

By promoting transparency and accessibility in the grading process, Houss's work with GetGraded helps collectors better understand the value of their possessions.

With GetGraded, collectors can entrust their cards to a company with over 60 years of combined experience in the grading industry — the only company, in fact, to be trusted with an authenticated count for 2024's Guinness World Records.

Thanks to Houss's expertise and dedication, GetGraded's clear and meticulous grading system has helped thousands of people discover the value of their trading cards, all while receiving support and guidance for their favorite pastime.