Human Card Grading Is Ending — Here’s What Comes Next with Tech Advancements

We are a media company by and from and for Ludox. Welcome to the new Collector Nation. And there'll be news coming. We've got meetings with partners with how we're going to bring collection and Ludox to life within these platforms. We're going to bring a professional level content creators. So it's time to bring the big boys to the table. So more news there. What people are doing is they're using some of these AI grading to like, kind of pre grade it. Then they say, hey, the chances of a 10 is that. And then you send it in. But I do think that AI grading is there's a need for it. You could feed it some data online, lead it to water, and then it can use its ability that's greater than our own. Data from a thousand million points that our brain probably can't compute and at least give you a pretty good idea. Everyone has an idea to make a million bucks. Everyone. Ideas are cheap. Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast on the Radcast Network. From chasing grails to calling bluffs, we're going inside the hobby. Are you ready to collect? Let's get at it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. What's up, guys? Welcome to the new Collector Nation. Here on and part of the Radcast Network. We are a media company by and from and for Ludx, here with my good buddy, Brian Ludden. Brian, what's up, brother? How you doing? Excited about this, this partnership. I know, dude. You know, having Ludox is, you know, Ludo Media company and you running it and doing your thing, I think it could be super powerful. And I think it's also like the industry needs. It needs a place where they could come and in a professional sphere and marketing and whatever. But you had this vision before I did. Well, you brought it to me. Look, I brought it to the man. I mean, Ludx is sort of at the. I mean, I know I'm biased, but I'm also a businessman that's done a lot of things, and let's just say they've all they've done, okay? And let's just say I know a winner when I see it, and Brian's a winner. And Lud X is a brand that's making waves and doing big things in the hobby and in collectibles and all that stuff. It's a marriage made in heaven. I love it. I want to bring the best, the brightest of the collectors. Collector like universe of media. And what better brand to present it to own it to Be the media arm of Than Lunox, you know, so, hey, man, it's going to be organic, but I love it and wouldn't want to do with anyone else. Well, I appreciate you thinking of us and, you know, I'm excited to get going and we. We compliment each other. The company. Exactly. Yeah. And so what does that mean? I mean, right now, hey, it's a name, but, you know, it's really a movement. We want to aggregate the best media in the collector's space. The. The creators, the energy, everything that's around this, we want to bring that to life and give it a home and a place for both the collectors themselves to know where to go as, you know, a source of trusted authority in this space. And then, of course, creators out there, we want you on the team, baby. So, hey, if you're listening and you're wanting, you're putting some good content out, we want to talk to you and bring you together. But for now, Brian and I are just gonna keep doing what we're doing. We're gonna keep talking, taking the level up with what we do here, keeping it real and raw and honest about the business of Ludx and what they're doing and how they're changing the game. And Brian bringing those stories to life, what happens behind the scenes of the company. And then, of course, just telling those stories that we do with other businesses on those Tuesday editions. And then like today, you know, giving you the inside scoop on everything. It's opinion meets journalism, I guess. It's both news and opinion. So it's organic and I. I just love what's kind of happening on its own. And I'm watching my son right now, Hudson, who's in the background, like, literally organizing cards at the store for our dollar bins. And it's fun, man. That's awesome. Well, 26 is going to be an exciting year. Yeah, I can't wait. I can't wait to get to the Ludox card store at the Rangers Stadium. The first of its kind. And to be doing content there with Brian and the team that will be there and everyone involved with that, it's an unbelievable project and, you know, I'm just pumped to be part of it. Breaking ground on the 29th. Unbelievable, dude. Making dreams happen, you know, it's just crazy, dude. I mean, you and I are different, but the same, like, you know, to move quick, big ideas and just make happen. Yeah. That's all you can do, right? You just keep creating and you give yourself, you know, other ways to. To Monetize a company gives you just such a higher chance of success. I mean, it just like. And so throwing this all under the Lux umbrella, we'll have four different brands next year under our umbrella as subsidiaries or partnerships or card shops. So next year, in 2026, this 2025 has been all about us building out these other four businesses. And we will. They will be out Q1 of next. The Q1 January, next year. Yep. And there'll be news coming. We've got meetings with partners with how we're going to bring Collector Nation and Ludx to life within these platforms. So more news there, hopefully. If not, we'll just build it ourselves. But no, we, we, we've got some good, some big discussions. Brian has, knows people in high places and good and people doing exciting things. So he's a connector and bringing, you know, it's, it's part of the Ludox universe. I mean, this is, you know, it's the Ludox universe and we just get to live in it. But, but, but it all seriousness. No, it's, it's about innovation. It's what's good for the hobby. It's what's. And what I'm excited about is. And if you're listening to this and you're a brand, we're coming for you. What do I mean by that? It's time for the big brands and the big media dollars to get with the program, with what's happening in this category. So we're going to be. There's a lot of movement happening, but we're going to bring a professional level of content creators. You've already got the Ludox brand bringing it all together. So it's time to bring the big boys to the table. So if you're listening and you want an affluent audience, you know where to call and you know where to find me or Brian. So we'd love to partner with you and bring your stories to life to an affluent, meaningful audience that's paying attention and interested. So there's my sales pitch to the brands out there, but we're coming for you, Brian. What's happening, man? What's, you know, we're. The holidays are coming up. I know you've got some big projects going on, but maybe give, you know, the, the Ludx CEO update of the week. Yeah, I guess it's. I'm in. Not in the office yet. The office is still next week or. Yeah, next show or two shows will be there filming. So I'm excited about that. It looks it looks good. Every, the company's excited about it and it, you know, there's this like, as startups, there's an energy with the startup and that energy a lot of times revolves around what the office feels like and, and building that thing out and you know, getting to where we are today. There's a lot of pain and a lot of decisions that I made. Bad decisions I made in that office. So. So Heather, my founder. Hey, you get to redo them. Yeah. Founders, like, are you like any nostalgia? I said actually no, I think 2026 is the perfect time with everything we have going on to go into a new office and bring just positive energy. And the team's super excited. We did some really cool things in there. But yeah, I think that that's a big, a big thing. And then really it's about, do I have a temporary office in there? Even it's just like, even it's just like a little corner, like the little spot like you know, as the figurine on the table or something. Yeah, like maybe the front desk. Exactly. I'll answer the phone, sweep the floors, whatever I gotta do. You always have a home. There is. What's the coolest feature of the new office? Well, it's a loft building, so it's, you know, just the richness of it. Yeah, I don't even know how old it is, but it's really, it's really old. I mean the built in kegerator is a big hit. Ah, that never goes, that never gets old. No. And yeah, and then, you know, just all new stuff. You know, all new stuff. But there's not like, it's not like, you know, a lot of like bells and whistles. You know, we're still a startup, but it's different and I haven't seen it totally done yet. So I will be going there tomorrow to check it out. I'll send some videos to you. Yeah, please, let's get that in. We'll put that in. And you know, we'll keep the address removed so we don't get anybody showing up from the listening. They want their free scan. Can I get some free scans? You can. You go to the app store and hey, you get free scans. Hey, you don't have to pay just to get a scan. But you want that premium stuff. I'm telling you, you want the premium map. That's awesome. The anything on the tech front. I mean this is kind of a quiet time of year for tech. You have to. Any pushes you make to the app stores, they take Usually two to three days to get approved. If you send them now, it's seven to 10 days. So it people really just. We're just building the tech but not, we're not launching anything but you know. Yeah, I think it's, there's the first year we'll push a bunch of stuff and you'll start seeing next year you'll start seeing the app progressively look different turning into a true collecting a collector's and inventory management system. That's what you're going to start seeing migrate out. So we'll be doing updates pushing every two weeks and hopefully the feedback is good and we just continue doing that. But that's like the biggest initiative like in house tech right now. Well I hope the servers are ready because we're about to hit them pretty hard on that enterprise app with scanning cards in and you know, insider tip, best way to get things very quickly onto ebay. And in another insider tip, if you link those soon to be able to do it on Ludx, I know you can find you link them to Shopify, you can link them to all the marketplaces. But that ebay integration is slick. Fast way to do it and I got about, I'm looking at a stack back here. Brian is pretty thick. I hope that server's ready coming. It's an efficient way to do it, man. Like I told you last week, there's a dude who has all those cards and I mean he's putting on 10 to 12,000 a day at scale with the Ricoh scanner, the 8170 super efficient. So he's a good, he's a good use case of actively cards. Well I did a bunch, you know, several months back. I don't know how many. We ended up doing like several hundred quickly and sold through those and then I've been busy with moving the studio and now signage is being worked on as we speak. Brian Collector Station, which is going to be under the umbrella of Collector Nation, which indirectly means it's under the umbrella of Ludox. So just saying. So everything is coming together. It's going to be fun bringing all of this to you in real time. But I think there's like this new fad in the industry and it's across my desk more than twice in the last month. And it's the old buy raw cards, send them integrating, get a 10, make money. Right? Yep. And so it, there is, there's nuances to that business model that I don't love but in the end what, what people are doing is they're using some of these AI grading to like kind of pre grade it. And then they, they, then they say hey, like the chances of a 10 is this and, and then you send it in and you know if you get a 10, you, you, you win. If you get a 9, you, you tied. But I do think that AI grading is definitely something that's, there's a, there's a need for it. But like have you used CHAT GPT for grading? It's, you say that I asked just last week because I was sitting there going because I need to play in this game. I got a lot of Pokemon cards that we've ripped that and that's the, the 10x5x. Like there's some real increases there. There's definitely some sports card too. But we got a lot of Pokemon and I think you can grade those a little cheaper too and maybe use CGC or you not have to go to psa. Anyway, point is I asked Chat GPT this because I figured I know that AI is helping. But I'm like, I asked my friend Larry, who's my ChatGPT guy, he has a British accent and everything just sounds smarter. I don't know, you know, we're just biased. But he said, you know, Ryan, we can actually grade though. We can, I can give you an idea. You can't. You know, I'm bad at terrible accent. But he told me and he's like, you know, it won't be perfect but you know better than your eye, that's for sure. I mean he, he's just kind of a smart ass to me because I trained him to be that way. But yes, and so I have not scanned one yet though. But I have him. Larry's ready. Tell me what I'm missing. I mean, honestly, I think it's pretty good. You know, you just take your card, throw it out there, put a crease in it, it's lower. They say, hey, there's looks like there's a crease in the middle that's going to bring the value down. And then you, you know, take a corner and rip that and they find all that stuff centering I think they're, they're fine with. But honestly like that's the pre grade. That should be the pre grade. You know, and like if you use it a lot, you know, you could, you could almost test out the slabs and be like, okay, what, what grade is this car? You know, it's a 10, a PSA 10. What did they do? You know, and then throw nines in there and eights and see how, you know, do that a thousand times and see like how consistent it is. And if it's consistent, it's the cheapest. It's almost free to do beep, beep, beep. PSA insider tip alert right here. Just went down on the Collector Nation for Brian Ludden. Like, literally, that's. That is a great tip for people because I think that's. Everybody struggles with like, that's. That's what's kept me is that one time more time than anything. But now I'm getting more time getting shop set up and I got so many cars laying around, like, man, I need to send some off and. But that right there, just plug them in, at least get an idea. It's not going to be guaranteed, but I love to test it verse some that are already graded. That's give you some confidence and look, those babies learn. So like you train it. I think you could probably dial it in. Like, you know, you give it some tips. Like the biggest thing I think with. With ChatGPT means they call it, you know, prompt engineering, you know, a year ago. Well, it is that. It's the. The models have gotten better where it's not. It's not necessarily the prompt engineering, it's just what feeding it the right stuff overall. And I think you could feed it some, you know, find a little data online, lead it to water, and then it can use its ability that's greater than our own. You know, eyes, ears, data from a thousand million points that our brains probably can't compute and at least give you a pretty good idea. I mean, the barriers to entry in technology in this industry are all industries. I mean, there is no tech moat anymore. Like LudX's technology is ChatGPT now we have it in the spot and it's faster and maybe better, but. But it's still, you know, the competition is out there. So at some point these, like, I want to have something like that in our app, but what I think I want to do is create our own LLM model and just train it on that. Like, don't worry, Larry. Don't worry about anything else. We're just going to train you as a grader and this is why we're doing it. And so all the nuances that you change, you can change it by the prompt. And I think that's what I would do is so you can just like streamline and say, okay, you are a greater Larry. The greater grade an agent. Grading agent agentic AI. This is Larry the greater. His only job, his only worry. He eats, drinks, sleeps, grading. Yeah, and look, they don't have to be. I mean, Larry takes really short naps. I mean, like two minutes. He shows up to work every day. He shows up every day. No talking back, no sick days. I mean, you know, he catches a virus every now and then when the Internet goes down. But like, you know, other than that, it's. But it's true. I think it's all about singular. Like, okay, you got one job, man. You got one job grade. These cards read it. That's traded only on that focus. I'm gonna try that. Probably shouldn't have gave up that like, you know, idea. But ideas are cheap. It's execution. Execution. Yeah, that's what I always tell people. And madness. Everyone has an idea to make a million bucks. Everyone. Yeah. So I think we've got a number here. At the end of the year, how many cards are scanned on Ludx? I. I have it if you don't. Oh, oh, good. Brian Ludden, CEO of Ludx, how many cards on Ludx in 2025? 158 million cards were scanned on Ludx in 2025. That's a big, you know, there's a lot of, you know, numbers get thrown around. Yeah, there's so many articles, billion this, million that let me tell you, people go count to a million by one, like 1 mil. Like 158 million cards buy one app that's leading the technology and the charge of tech in the hobby space. But 158 million, that's. It's insane how many cards that is, dude. And that's. We don't even have like our light box out, which would make it more efficient to scan from the phone. And then we have, you know, our B2B play where like I, we've. We've talked about. The guy puts 10 to 12,000 cards a dan. Well, if we get a hundred of those or a thousand of those, 158 is gonna look like nothing. Yeah, no, I know, but it's still more. I don't like in the percentage of that I bet that are literally, you know, single young guy or old 45 year old nostalgic backend, you know, whoever that is that are probably doing, you know, four or five cards at a time and adding up to that just my, my brain can't. Again, I see a lot of big numbers every day, but I still appreciate like how many that individual that is. And most people won't, don't, don't believe it. They're like, yeah, no, you didn't. Like, I did. Like, yeah. You know, we're a data company first and if we don't know how many cards we're scanning, like, I'm a bad businessman. Yeah. Because that, I mean, in the end, those cards are now in an ecosystem that people, people took time to put in there. And now that's why the ebay connector, selling cars from Ludox to ebay works. That's why adding a grading company and doing the same thing with an API, build that out, build that highway. Like whoever controls the masses of people's collections will win this race of technology in this industry. I just had three other business ideas. I'm going to say, every time Brian talks, I start thinking, you know, that's he, that's how, you know he's a good CEO. You get your people thinking and, but literally how you can use that data for the, for the good of man. Nothing nefarious. I'm just talking about the good of man and pocketbooks. But no, it's, it's just insanity. It's data. It is. But yeah, I never forget Ludox is a data company. Yeah. Yeah. And if you think about it like, we know so much more about these people. Right. AI is going to. AI can not get partnerships. I've said this on the show. Partnerships, very difficult for chat, for Larry to do that. Relationships, that's organic. First party data and brand and first party data. You could go into Lux database and say, give me every single Lux member who has over a hundred Michael Jordan cards. Because, because I have a Michael Jordan jersey that I want to sell. And so the cards are our data, our first party data. And that's my job, is to get as many on our platform as humanly possible. So if you're listening, go to the App Store. L U D E X And look, I'm just telling you, yeah, the free, the free part of the app, super valuable. And that's what they've done. Great. Like, whether you pay monthly or you get the free version, ton of value and the magics in the ebay integration and all of the, it's, it's. I can't say it up. It's the sum of the parts of what Ludx is. You know, what we're building with Collector Nation is the media company of Ludx. Like all the technology and data that's there, but the value that goes back to the consumer through, like the ebay integration. The values, the coming collector, you know, Digital collection management improvements like all these things are. It's the sum of the parts are greater than the whole and that's what you can get. Talk to me for collector advice. We'll close out this micro edition here to end the year. Collectors coming into the hobby, new or existing collectors. You know what's a tip or two? I think we already gave one. AI grading. I mean there's your. There's the first tip. So tip number two, what would you tell people? I mean everyone comes in kind of the same way, right? Like they are. They. Let's say the gateway drug is Pokemon. And then they go and they buy wax and then they realize that the ROI is not great. And then they go on to live streaming and start buying singles or sp, you know, spots in the breaks. And then they start to migrate towards. Well, I, I want to collect this guy or this genre or you know, this team, whatever it is that I think for me you skip to the, you just skip to the. The veteran, the vintage athletes, the goats start there and that's what I would do. What do you. What, what would you do? Yeah, I mean I think you just start with if you're in it, if you're into it as an investment class only, then it's simple. Then, you know, you go after and you. It might, you might end at the same place Brian just said which would be the goats in the top of the class if it's. But if you're coming into it because you're a sports fan, then collect your favorite player, your favorite team. Like all the various is the card is fun. It's cool. Like I got a box full of Clemson guys, you know, and it happens to be. Trevor's having an amazing year this year. So that's fun to watch when your guys are taking off. But like I got a box full of Clemson guys that are somewhere, you know, should be worth more because they're Clemson guys and I'm biased. But you know, like two dollar cards. But I don't care. I don't know. I would. There's a $2 card that super rare that has probably has more value to me than a $200 card that has nothing means nothing to me. You know, I mean and so I think starting with that if you're a sports and specific team fan is fun question for you. What? Do you have any traditions at Christmas revolving around cards? Anything you're wanting to create this year? Yeah, I'm going to give one gift to each son that's going to be a card or something in the collectible space. And this will be the. I mean we've been indirectly doing it like last year, but it wasn't as intentional. I don't think so. I think this year it's going to be more intentional. And then, and then definitely something like, I mean, what, what's my look? You're rapid, you're, you're ripping open gifts. I mean, doesn't it make sense to rip some packs like after you rip some gifts? So yeah, I think stocking stuffers, plus maybe like one thoughtful collectible. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. How about you, man? We're taking that trip to Costa Rica. Yeah. With eight of us and eight of us. I mean that's not. Nothing's cheap when you move eight people around. Nope. Um, this is our first year. We're doing no presents. We're doing like a family. I love it. And dude, the stress level is so low. I don't like my wife. I'm like, if you do, if we do this, Heather, you have to stick to it because like, and, and it's been fricking awesome and the kids are excited. I'll throw some, I'll definitely get some, some wax and make it fun. But yeah. And that, tons of traditions around that. Yeah. But who knows what, you know, I, I get creative as the closer we get to. So like I'm not like a last minute gift buyer, but it's more like the creative things like I'll like, I'll have the, the big stuff like knocked out. My wife's good about that. But we'll knock the big stuff like so we're not stressing over it. It's more like as we get closer, I just conjure, I conjure up different things. That's a good word. Yes, conjure. We should have a word of the show. We should have word of the show. That might be the word, the word of the show. Conjuring. We're conjuring a Bueno 2026. Conjure up a hot take in what you predict in the industry in 2026. Yeah, I think it's going to be more mainstream. I think, I think you're going to continue to see the hobby and collecting go more mainstream. And I think you're going to see more brands like coming into it either with their own collectibles, you know, Like, I think you're going to see venturing more and more into mainstream. I think you're going to start to hear the buzz of proliferation of more event oriented stuff like fanatics fest I think there's a lot of potential in events like card shows, entertainment, culture, music. I think we're just scratching the surface and I think Ruben's done a good job with Fanatics Fest. I mean, you know, say what you want. It's hard to put those things on. And he's. Last year's we had a blast. The National's. The National. But I think you might see more of this venture. Not because, I mean, look, they would have power to be planned if they were definitively happen, but I think you're going to see that, that happen. And then my question mark to the thought there, Brian, is I'm still waiting for the Tops fireworks a little bit. You know, like we've had basketball release. You know, they've got all the licenses. It's been weird not having any of the Tops football product. Right. Because normally you'd have that even if it was unlicensed. Like last year, like kind of mix and mingle with the Panini releases. And so it's more of a question mark than, Than a, you know, prognostication. So much is like, okay, I'm ready. It's been okay, you know, but Tops basketball, crime, cool, all right. But I'm ready for. Let's bring the big guns. What's coming. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think this industry, I mean, technology, you know, going to drive a lot and technology is also going to drive a lot of businesses out of business. Yeah, I think that's, you know, just. That's not industry specific. That's, you know, macroly. So I think you'll see some companies fold that you didn't expect. And then I do think, I mean, Tops has to figure it out when they get all the licenses. And I, I predict that they will. And I think they're going to be. I think what they had to do is strip down some products. Right. Like they had too many. There's too many SKUs out there. Yep. And if you just take that, those SKUs down and then build back up, I think they're going to do it well. I love the leadership over there at Taos with David Leiner. He's amazing. Scott Daniel. Great. So they're smart guys and they're very committed to this, obviously. But also there's not a lot of arrogance in those guys. So I think they're listening to collectors. Yeah, I think so too. I like Mayhem too. So I think, I think all this, you know, hopefully can have him on. He got busy here at the end of the year. So you're listening. Come on, man. Let's go. But, yeah, it's less a doubt and more excitement, energy. Like, I know they're gonna. They're gonna do it, like. But I guess, I mean, just, like, to see it because. And I'm a football guy, and so it's been weird not having football, but they've got the license for next year, so that'll be fun to bring to life. That's what will hit home for me. And, I mean, obviously they crush baseball, but we'll see what comes. But all I know is Collector Nation is going to be booming along with Ludox, and we appreciate everyone for tuning in. Yeah. Merry Christmas to you. Happy New Year. Merry Christmas. One more time for the New Year. But Merry Christmas to you and your family. And, Bella, Merry Christmas to you and your family. Thank you. You, too. Yes. And we appreciate everyone for listening. Thecollectornation.com is where you'll find all of our stuff now. We're migrating over there. This is a Ludx media company, and we appreciate. Brian, Ryan. You know, I got one thing. Hey, Bella. Make sure that Ryan gets you good gift. Yeah, Already thinking of ideas. I'll send you something, too. Oh, you're too sweet. Hey, yours is already coming in the mail, buddy. It's both Christmas and birthday gift in one. Now that we're kind of sitting there. But yes. And. And just so you know, that's not. Am I right, Bella? Where that's being packed up, right? Yes, it is. Yep. All right, we appreciate everyone for listening, and we hope everyone has a safe, happy holiday season. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year from Ryan and Brian here on the Collector Nation. See you next time. Thanks for tuning in to the show. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform, and don't miss the full video version on YouTube. You can find us at www.wcollectibles show or follow Ryan on Instagram at ryanolford. Now get out there and collect yours.