Yeah, it really depends on the set in my experience. A lot of stuff I have bought and looked at from say the Neo era I find are legit pack fresh that score PSA 8. Usually next to no whitening on them but a lot of manufacturing flaws like print lines which are common in the issue. In fact, as I’ve collected the Neo era holos I’ve mainly bought 8s because I just don’t see the point in paying up for the 9 that might have one less print line yet end up paying 3-4x the price when it still falls short of being a 10. Sometimes I’ll just buy them raw as well, but harder to track down in legit NM condition when buying raw it seems.
I find with other sets the flaws can be more apparent within the PSA 8 or so range. Potentially lots of whitening or a holo that looks like it had steel wool applied to it. Definitely a much wider variety than PSA 9 it seems.
no I am referring to when I send in pack fresh cards that (I have opened )and they receive a mysterious psa 6. Happens too often. They are mysterious as nothing about the card fits in their psa 6 criteria. So yes, it is very common that pack fresh cards are PSA 6+.
Also, you can crack PSA 8’s and make PSA 10s. So pretty much PSA 7+ is very similar. Do you know what I mean?
I’m with you, PSA 9 all the way (at least for my personal collection). I will be able to complete my collection much easier without paying the PSA 10 premium. I understand long term PSA 10s may appreciate more but that’s not the primary reason I collect what I collect. You gotta do you!
If it is for your personal collection, and you are not specifically lookingg to maximice a possible investment profit, I would definetly go for the 9s instead of the 10s.
As some people have said, if you compare side to side a PSA 9 and a PSA 10 in most cases is barely noticeable the difference, and you will be saving in most cases a huge money, and you can afford a bigger collection.
Myself thats what I am doing, as my budget is not huge I mostly have 9s, a few 10 in cards I love and have been affordable and not huge difference with their 9s (for example, have japanese giovannis nidoking which is 170, japanese jungle nidoqueen which is similar price, japanese skyridge poliwrath wich is not “insanely” expensive compared to the 9…) and for some cards I even have bought 8 versions, which in some cases they are also similar to 9s ( I have the full jungle, fossil and rocket english 1st edition holo sets in PSA 8s, which if I wanted to go for 9s it would have been way much more expensive, I wouldnt have been able to afford this collection). If you buy carefully the 8s, and priorize the ones with better holo surface condition, for eye appeal they can look very closely to 9s and PSA 8s are very cheap.