If grading standards have improved (this has been said for literally as long as I’ve been in the hobby with absolutely no definitive proof) does that detract from the quality of cards graded in older certs? No is the answer. Hence buy the card not the grade/cert. A card isn’t magically less mint because it was graded before another one was. If the card inside the slab is mint, it is still mint regardless of when it was slabbed. I’ve seen absolutely terrible grades on all eras of cert, it happens regardless, people make mistakes it’s unavoidable. If you properly look at something before you buy it then you shouldn’t card what the cert number is.
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The proof is in the improved grading standards published by psa (centering requirement changed to 55/45, eliminating the previous allowance of 60/40) and the amount of old cert 10 gold stars that would not even come close to a 10 today.
I agree in all aspects buy the card not the grade/cert. But my original statement was that its not hard to understand why people pay less for old certs. That still stands.
The centering I can give you but the argument for the gold stars is basically taking a tiny sample of cards which you believe supports your argument and then presenting it as a fact for all cards of all eras and all tcgs. Bad grades have always happened and they’ve always been bad grades. Again, buy the card not the grade.
That’s a slippery slope, psa confirmed that change regarding centering occurred a long time ago. The wording was revised to be more clear (although the individual grader has the final say). It’s not that grading standards have changed, it’s more that they scrutinize higher value cards to more degree now than before. Still, you’ll find mint old certs, although they probably stay in long term collections and the poor ones are being transacted.
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it doesnt really matter when the same psa guarantee applies to all authentic psa certs no matter when its been graded. so the card is worth the same as any other psa 10 of the same card for insurance purposes.
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Original point still stands, with proof, that people pay less for lower certs and value higher later certs
No one’s denying people pay more; they’re challenging this myth that PSA is always grading more harshly. You mentioned changes to centring, yet I still see plenty of OC new certs.
All of which is to say, just look at the card. A premium for a clean copy of course makes sense, but the narrative here is that it’s rational that the cert, not the condition is what should command the premium.
Love gold stars btw
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Quite frankly, “we” as the public at large should never know. Often times that data is more valuable than the sale itself, the only reason he and a few others are willing to make it public is that their entire business model is built on that middleman % that’s his profit.
In other industries it would be unthinkable to make that data public and he’s leaving behind an enormous be edge a for a small % off each sale. If anything we should be thankful he’s willing to give out the info for free, it’s costing him more than he’s gaining I can guarantee you that.
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Why is he even reporting sales numbers from private sales in the first place? When private collectibles sales happen outside of the Pokemon context, the buyers almost never want the price openly advertised lol. I have no clue if the numbers he reports are legitimate (they may very well be), but I think it’s also extremely reasonable to be skeptical of the numbers.
It feels to me like an instance of “having one’s cake and eating it too” to expect to get all the benefits associated with buying something privately (e.g., no/minimal fees, total privacy) and all the benefits associated with buying something publicly (e.g., high public comps, hype).
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What’s the most recent Gold Star sales rn?
I believe some are going down especially in the lower grades of certain popular ones like the starters ect. GS ray last sold in psa 9 went down to 21k instead of the 26-30k so there is still much more room for these to go down my friend. The day will come when you get it and I as many on here I am sure will be so proud of you when you do young one.
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down from 3 months ago, prolly still up 5x from 2024 
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one of the funniest things to happen during the poke boom boom is still how the backdoor gold star dogs shot up to about 5k apiece whose paying 5k for stolen property 
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Most buyers probably don’t know about their history. 
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One can also argue that they weren’t all stolen, and so it’s a bit unreasonable to cancel the card entirely.
I don’t personally own any but I wouldn’t fault someone for owning them, unless they actually knew theirs were stolen copies.
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think one can assume the vast majority of copies are backdoor at this point tho. was ok when it was like 5-600 bux so if psa deactivates its like well that sucks but at least its not 5k
compare to something like moonbreon/anal gengar which is like ok there was a bunch stolen that one time but modern pops are so high it would be a very very small %
Never expected to read those two words together
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Unfortunately the only Gold Star I ever pulled was Suicune, but at least I know my copy came from a booster pack. Probably almost all the MP/HP ones out there are legitimate.
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Can’t wait for Charizard to come back down to Earth again. Massively regret letting my ungraded copy go privately in February for $3,500… New owner had it come back as a PSA 6.
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You’re out here selling raw ungraded gold stars in 2025??
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