Yeah I agree with most the above. An 8.5 is a strong 8 and for whatever reason people don’t generally like them. I believe it was one of Joe’s worst decisions to implement the half grades. There’s too many examples where 8.5s sell for the same or less than 8s and rarely see one pay as much as a 9.
My advice? Buy them only if you never intend to sell or if you can get it real close to an 8 price.
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Thanks guys,
After researching some 8’s and 9’s i’ve seen for sale in recent times, i’ve decided to take everyones advice and opt for an offer closer to an 8. I’ve gone over the card multiple times and it’s probably graded quite well at an 8.5 even though a .5 grade doesn’t seem popular among the people lol. The cards quality is much higher than the few 8’s i’ve seen and probably didn’t get graded a 9 due to having 2 specs on the top-middle border. Honestly it’s still a beautiful card and i’d be happy to own it long-term if the offer gets accepted.
Thank you again to everyone who gave me advice & i’ll update here whether i end up getting it or not! 
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@tails,I will say that a zard is probably one of the few cards where an 8.5 should most certainly be valued higher than an 8 and it is also one of the few instances where collectors may like the 8.5 because it is higher than an 8. I really hope you do get it for around 7k because that would be a big score in my mind.
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For what it’s worth, I sold an 8.5 for $1.5k 3-4 years ago. Everytime I see one, I think it could be the one. Who knows? I do not remember the cert.
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let’s put it another way, an 8.5 is essentially a strong 8. how much extra would you pay for a card that is graded psa 8 but looks strong? this is similar to a psa 9 that looks strong. there is a premium, but not much, definitely nowhere close to a PSA 10. also, even if you paid for the regrade and it upgrades to a 9, you now have a WEAK 9. if you want to maximize value, you probably gained a little bit, sure. if i were a collector and i care about the card, i’d rather get a normal psa 9, not a weak 9 that was upgraded from a psa 8.5. that’s personal preference, but it’s something to consider. i echo that 8.5 should be at most halfway between a standard psa 8 and psa 9 price, not closer to a 9.
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Completely agree. This was my thinking when i purchased mine. I didn’t quite have the funds ready for a 9, but i’d much rather pay a bit more for what i view as a very strong 8, plus the low pop is a nice bonus.
Good luck i hope you can negotiate a deal!
I’ve always thought 8.5 is kind of a misnomer since it misleads you into thinking it’s a card that’s halfway between an 8 and a 9, and the reality is (at least with WotC) the price is closer to an 8 than a 9. It’s better to think of it as an 8+ imo. Some people would rather not have half grades at all since people often collect sets of the same grade, which may be all 8s especially with a premier set like 1st edition base.
I have a 1st Ed Base Charizard 8.5 I purchased a while back for $4250. At the time, PSA 8s were $3000. PSA 9s were $5500. As a buyer, I knew the seller would not be selling for less than halfway between a PSA 8 and PSA 9 so I paid the price and never looked back. At the end of the day, people might view this card closer to the PSA 8 ish value but a seller won’t sell at that price unless absolutely necessary.
I’ve seen time and time again people selling 8.5s for closer to PSA 9 prices (rather than PSA 8 stated above) from buyers wanting a complete 8.5 set. The 8.5s don’t have a huge population for any of the 1st Ed Base Set holos so when they pop up, you MUST pull the trigger. It’s a fun chase.
Another thing I noticed is that for every person that thinks the 8.5 grade is not desirable, there’s another person messaging me on instagram trying to buy it. The Pokémon market is so large that even if 1 in 10 collectors of Base Set are interested in 8.5s, that’s still a HUGE number of people.
If you’re looking to buy one, I’d expect you to pay exactly the halfway point.
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Hi guys!
It took a little longer than i expected but we negotiated a deal and i have the card in my possession, what an exciting feeling. Without saying the exact figure i did end up paying closer to the middle ground between an 8 and a 9. I didn’t mention this before but i also live in Australia so these sorts of offers/deals don’t really come by too frequently without having to pay the import fees/postage associated. As it’s planned to just be a part of my personal collection it seemed unwise to pass up the opportunity while it was so easily accessible.
All things considered I have no regrets paying what I did and the card looks even better in person. Thanks to everyone for the helpful information and responses, i appreciate it.
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Congratulations on your achievement
Congrats! It’s great to see that you didn’t miss out on this opportunity.
Congrats!