If any subgrade is under a 9.5, it has zero chance at a PSA 10.
How many 9.5s have you crossed to make such an absolute claim?
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The only ones that even remotely have a chance are the Beckett certs starting with 011xxxxx, the premium harder graded certs 
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It’s definitely comparable. Just wanted to see the value of it before I make some purchases
I have several 9.5s in my collection, most of them being MTG cards though. Have about 10 Pokémon cards, and from that very small sample size I´d only give 1 of those (it´s a quad+) a good chance at crossing. I have a few basics which would 100% grade a 9, a strong 9 but still not a 10. I have not crossed pokémon BGS cards but some MTG cards and for those, the crossing rate for alpha/beta of basic 9.5s was around 40% for me.
Why does it say neo Genesis on the top of that card? Isnt that from a different set? Unless the grader made a mistake when casing it
This may shock a lot of people to hear, since I know BGS is supposed to be the saviour to release us from the shackles of PSA but…
BGS makes mistakes too
*courtroom gasps*
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No.
PSA 10 > BGS 9.5
Also in Pokemon PSA > BGS. BGS is only really the 9-10 range. And that is primarily with Charizords.
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Its crazy how people stating in this entire chat that a percentage they send back get regraded to a higher grade even if its not huge percentage. I didnt know that, I definitely learned something new there. And if they werent in the case 99% of people wouldnt be able to tell the difference. Id say its most definitely 100% comparable. I dont think comparable was the word you were looking for because their 1000% comparable. Seeing as though…most people cant tell the difference… Lets go with “theyre not the same” I think is better. Cuz if they werent comparable me and 20 other people wouldnt be debating about it.
Nice, so they made a mistake like I stated above.
I think it would be pretty cool to have a thread that you have to guess the grade of which is the 9.5 and which is the psa 10 with some detailed pictures. Ill put money that more than half the people get it wrong and it would actually be interesting to have a thread like that. And fun imo
Yeah we’ll go with “they’re not the same” and conclude that BGS’ ability to grade Pokemon cards is F-tier.
To those with the mind set that a 9.5 sub grade is even hard to obtain from beckett… let me tell a story.
I had a neo genesis with a 9.5 surface that I wanted to cross to psa. There were 1 or 2 sub grades as well I forget exactly. But I cracked it so I could see the surface. I noticed a small print line prior and I bought for $50 and I don’t like beckett so I said screw it.
Upon cracking it, the surface was at best PSA 8 standard. Print line as well as scratches and a scuff.
I am on team “not comparable to psa 10s” cause let’s be honest, majority of you wouldnt opt to go with a grading company that:
- Costs more per card
- Doesn’t hold even a quarter of a market presence
Of course, Unless you knew that it didn’t have a shot at psa 10. And you wanted to maximize the value you could obtain on market.
If you want to collect 9.5s, by all means, go for it! Your collection is your collection. And if you believe the two companies are “comparable”, hey that’s your belief. But the way I see it and the way the majority sees it, that’s not the case and unless something drastically changes, it never will be.
Actually I know a guy with a 10 surface slowking from BGS… it has putrid centering so itd never cross to a 9 at psa but I’m tempted to buy it as an experiment
When it comes to collecting sets, this is basically how I view PSA and BGS.
- BGS 10 set collecting - lol this doesn’t exist (at least not for WOTC cards)
- PSA 10 set collecting - The highest standard of set collecting that is actually obtainable. You’re paying a premium for the luxury of knowing that you’re buying the best thing possible.
- BGS 9.5 set collecting - You’re paying double the price of PSA 9s for cards that literally were already PSA 9s, you’re going to have a much harder time finding the cards you want because the BGS market for Pokemon is much smaller, and I’m not sold on the fact that they are a “halfway” point between a PSA 9 and a 10.
- PSA 9 set collecting - Easy to find, easy to collect, half the price of BGS 9.5s, and still damn nice cards.
I personally don’t see BGS 9.5 as the “sweetspot” compared to the PSA 10 or PSA 9 alternatives, but to each their own.
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I would absolutely love to see PSA place subgrades on there graded cards.
Even better, on PSAs Card Certification Lookup database, it would be great if PSA logged the graded scoring details for the card. I am unsure of how PSA actually “scores” a card, but a simple overall score or number for the individual card qualities , similar to the way BGS does with the 4 individual subgrades (centering, edges, corners, surface), would provide a very valuable evaluation that I would appreciate.
Administratively, this no-doubt would take time and effort on PSA’s part, but given the large quantity of cards I spend $75 per card to grade, I would love to know why my cards are missing the PSA 10 mark… lol and when I do grade a PSA 10, details on individual card qualities would make comparing PSA 9s or PSA 10’s easier and provide buyer/sellers more confidence. I would pay more to PSA if they would document their grading and made their scoring evaluation available via placing subgrades directly on the case or attaching the details digitally by looking up the certification number.
This level of grading and transparency is not complicated, not more than simple data tabulation, and would create a very unique and valued service to the paying customer. We all say “buy the card and not the grade”, but that’s largely because a spectrum exist within each PSA grade (I don’t consider PSA 7.5 and 8.5 grades useful). More information attached to each PSA grade would be welcomed IMO.
I would add PSA should list all serials for a particular card and grade like Beckett does, where you can search for BGS 10 1st Charizard and it shows the two serials for Gary’s cards. The serial lookup is nice, but not good enough.
Also a big thing not mentioned yet is PSA has a financial grade guarantee, although it is not perfect you still have that added security.
That OC black label Zard you bought for 5k has no guarantee
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Like PSA’s is much better lol. How are they really gonna look at a card they graded as a 9(cardhouse’s typhlosion) and decide, “yeah this card right here, through the case, is definitely a card worthy of an upgrade making it $9k more valuable.”
Even BGS would have given that card the 9.5
I appreciate everyones input. Im trying to critique what everyone says in order to get the answers Im looking for. So Im not disagreeing with anyone here because you all have a point. If I question your answers its for my benefit.
The questions I asked were specifically for a 1st Ed. Neo Gen Lugia and 1st Ed. Neo Gen Typhlosion and the shadowless or 1st ed english Charizard. Some people got a little off topic but I was asking for those specific cards! Would these cards be an exception seeing as though getting Gem Mint status is almost impossible for them cuz theyre such low pop in Gem Mint. I agree what everyone said on the basis of all other cards.
And I also agree with tcagaming in saying it can be a good investment if you do it the right way. I remember watching a video of his and he mentioned he got a charizard “for position only” 9.5 bgs and stated how a he bought it because at the end of the day its a Gem Mint and you dont see many of them at all ever really. I understand what he said completely in such sought out cards such as these.
I dont see many bgs 9.5s with these cards at all on the market so Im guessing they dont grade them 9.5s for shits and giggles because there are in fact very very few of them. So I figure getting a Gem Mint status on cards that you dont find in Gem Mint adds good value to that card coming from a trusted grading company.
And yea, when you send them in for regrade sometimes and a few come back 10s sometimes from psa, like kingpokemon stated, that is certainly “comparable” and catches my interest. Thank you everyone for your input!