I read something online on a forum that said simply to put declared value as the value of your card raw. Thats what I’ve done for submissions…
I see on psa’s website now the following: What is Declared Value?
It’s the dollar amount you estimate each submitted item will be worth after PSA authentication and grading, and it’s required during the submission process.
The keyword is estimate, and your best educated guess will suffice"
To me this is ridiculous and a scam. It’s akin to trying to take a commission % off your cards value
It’s got me thinking, does psa punish you for selecting a lower declared value? like, oh this card would be worth $5k in a 10, but the submitter only had a declared value of $500… so he must think this is a 7 or 8. If he thinks that, so do we
I am wrapping my head around a submission I’m about to make. The card would be $15-20k in a 10 and less than $5k in a 9. I obviously want a 10
Does this imply that I should be using premium 1 service for $800 ??
Or does it simply only lower the insurance value of the card in case something happens
Declared value is for insurance, graders do not see it. Its so that when your cards are sent to them they are covered and, more importantly, when they are sent back they are covered. Last thing you want is an order to disappear on its way back and psa tells you that it was worth $500 maximum. As with any insurance, the extra cost is for that slim chance.
PSA will sometimes upcharge cards that meet a value threshold above the declared value tier they are submitted in but it is hit and miss.
Generally it can be suggested to grade one tier lower than expected value If your concern is to save money and because guaranteeing 10s is always a gamble.
This is false. The declared value is only once the items are in the hands of PSA and when they are shipped back. If your cards are lost or stolen in transit to PSA, they are not responsible.
This is awful advice. The few dollars that you will save are not worth it if any of your items are lost in transit back or damaged during the encapsulation process. Always declare the value that you believe the card will be worth after grading.
The likelihood that your Charizard is a PSA 10 is very slim. I would match the value of a PSA 9 for its declared value. If it is a PSA 10, PSA will upcharge you for the appropriate grading tier and will bump the insurance value on the shipment back.
Worth noting with declared value. If you under-declare and something goes wrong, PSA will honour the amount you said. If you over-declare, they will check market price and use that. So you may as well always just be accurate unless you’re willing to take that risk.
It’s often better to pay for a lower service level and let PSA upcharge you to a higher tier if the card does merit it. For example, if you think your card is a 9/10 quality card, declare it as the value of a PSA 9. That way, you don’t “overpay” for a service unless the card truly deserves the higher service tier.
Like @thurco said, the declared value is a catch-22. In the extremely rare instance that your card is damaged, PSA’s payout will be the lowest of the declared value or the market value. If the card is damaged in encapsulation, you could also get the difference between the market value of the card in its original undamaged grade compared to the market value of the damaged card (declared value is meaningless).
I typically grossly under-declare since that’s the value of the package being returned to me in Canada. Technically I don’t owe import taxes on it and can get a refund but ideally, lower is still better so avoid the issue in the first place. Don’t really recommend anyone else does it
It has always bothered me that they put the responsibility on you to value your card after the grade that it has not gotten yet. I’m submitting a card to be graded by you, that’s the entire point - it’s not my responsibility to assume the grade that you are going to give the card.
It’s a system that never works in your favor and always works in theirs. If you under declare and something goes wrong, you’re screwed and out the difference. If you under declare and nothing goes wrong, you’ll be upcharged for using the wrong service level. If you over declare and something goes wrong, they just assign their own correct value to it anyway so that they don’t pay you out more than they need to.
If you feel a card is a 9 or a 10 and thus submit it to a higher tier because of the value you’re expecting, and they give it a 6, you just paid for a higher tier for no reason (yes I know the turnaround time is faster on higher tiers).
I get why they do it, but if I knew what the grade was going to be then why I am I submitting it to a third party for them to give me their opinion of the condition?
