Are the claims made warranting all this focus and attention?
Could sentiment be changing against PSA (which has 72% market share) or is this just noise?
Can PSA ever be dethroned for a superior and more consistent grading service?
Since raw is so inconsistent/subjective and other grading companies are “missing the plot”, what are the realistic alternatives for a collector wanting to grade?
(don’t shoot the messenger, I don’t necessarily agree with what is said in this video which is not even mine, sharing for genuine levelheaded discussion)
Disclaimer: I can’t be bothered to watch the whole video.
Forgive me because this is going to sound elitist. When people who are new to the hobby find out that Logan’s 10 illustrator was a 9 several times before, or that PSA upcharges cards based on value, or that PSA occasionally damages valuable cards in their possession, they act like they have uncovered some grand conspiracy. Instead, however, they have uncovered the thorny reality of subjective grading, random chance, and capitalism. These critiques are mostly just noise to experienced collectors because we have begrudgingly made peace with this reality, although that doesn’t mean we can’t be frustrated with it.
Any and every grading company, including the ones that preach “machine” or “AI” grading, can and do give the same card different grades when they are resubmitted. Some bad actors may take advantage of this and attempt to high roll a grade by resubmitting multiple times. This shouldn’t be surprising.
PSA’s business model is to charge more for higher value cards. Their reasoning is that their grade guarantee is effectively an insurance policy and the grading cost is the premium you pay. They don’t want to have to pay out $600k+ on a PSA 10 1st ed Base Zard a grader with 2 months experience overgraded if someone slipped it through bulk at a declared value of $100. I don’t agree with this business model, but upcharges are clearly stated on their website as a condition of submission. Don’t like paying upcharges? Grade with CGC.
In the course of handling millions of cards per year, some will get damaged. Some of the cards that will get damaged will be valuable. This seems logical.
To answer your questions, the people who drive PSA’s business are not going to suddenly stop sending cards because someone made a video about resubmissions. Other companies have exactly the same problems (and worse) because they are inherent to the business.
I will remind everyone as I do once every few months that in the months following the akabane scandal, cgc raised prices 10% and STILL had a MoM, QoQ, and YoY increase in submissions for the next 2 quarters/6months . People that grade with a particular grader aren’t likely to be dissuaded by something as simple as “maybe the business model is flawed???”
No. In theory they could be dethroned by a grading service outperforming them at the only metric that matters, return on investment. Because this is possible, in theory, some companies go to great lengths to cultivate the illusion that they have achieved this, or are about to. And that will probably keep happening. But this theoretical ability to go from upstarts to saviors of the unregulated card grading monopoly is only a matter of pragmatics.
If ROI is the main factor for most of their market, then it’s not as unlikely as it may seem for another competitor to take the throne as it were. The market is fickle when money is involved, and if another service reduces risk (more consistent grading, fewer surprise fees, clearer costs upfront), people are more likely to switch. And even the perception of credibility issues—whether from pricing practices, programs, or broader scandles can lower trust enough that ROI becomes the deciding factor. It only takes a little bit of leverage to get a ball rolling. As for whom might, Mr. Floppy Tacos, for instance?
At the end of the day though I would hope we could all agree that a grading company offering to buy the cards they just graded, doing up charges for grading based on market value, and being directly associated with one step removed from direct gambling PowerPacks creates far too many situations where fraud could easily happen. Not to say it’s happening, but It’s not exactly a moon landing level conspiracy theory to easily see where they have incentives all over the place to not grade a card correctly, especially when they offer no reasoning for their grades.
Could PSA be dethroned? Absolutely, but it won’t be soon or quick. The sheer volume of PSA slabs creates 2 major barriers. Firstly that if you are seeking something already graded that is on the older or niche side they may be your only option. For example two cards I’d like to acquire are Espeon and Metagross gold star, for TAG the population is 5 and 21 respectively, and no Espeon is above a grade of 6.
The other major barrier is people have tons of money tied up in their PSA grades. I wouldn’t consider myself to have a ton of PSA slabs, but if they were to start being worth one grade less than whatever company rises up to dethrone them (in the way that right now a CGC 10 is worth a PSA 9) I’d be out roughly $5,100 in value. I don’t plan on selling anytime soon, but it’s very easy to see that for a lot of people PSA losing their value would be a financial hardship at the best and an outright disaster at the worst.
At this point I cant even blame PSA or any grading company. The real reason why grading companies are so dominant is not because they offer an amazing service, it’s because collectors themselves are way too greedy and want to sell their cards that they wiped their ass with as “Near Mint”. There’s no trust in this market.
Were in the year 2026 and magically when people list their cards on ebay they use their cellphone from 2012 to take photos of their cards. Just an unfocused blurry mess to hide the real condition of the card. Even in person at these card shows people will argue that their dinged up card is Near Mint.
That’s why people are paying a premium for graded cards. You’re better off buying the $500 PSA 9 card over buying 10 raw copies of the same card in “Near Mint” condition for $50 each.
Most people complaining about grading companies are just being performative. Just like when people complain that vendors buy at 80% even though that’s a solid deal. Imagine shaming people into buying at 90% and practically sit there selling cards for no profit just because you wanna look cool for the internet. This community is garbage. End of rant.
At risk of sounding very gatekeepy here, but honestly its mental how often videos like these are made by guys who joined in the latest boom
Why do no videos talking about the zekrom regrade scandal ever touch on Nat Turners (very plausible) explanation?
Why do none of the videos talking about the deoxys mention that the guy disputed the payout, as anyone who gets a payout offer is able to do, and ended up getting fully compensated?
I just can’t stop trying to draw comparisons with my two passions, cars and cards. Recalls for defective seatbelts don’t even deter people from buying a particular model. What makes “us” think a few voisterous YouTube people are going to make a dent in submissions? So what if the 2*** Toyota Camry has X defect, and those that rant about it are the loudest, it’s the best selling brand for a reason (6 years in a row now) and people will still buy said brand, for a reason.
Logical falicy if I’ve ever heard. Some creators went insofar as to try to promote 'No sub November" or something like that…bruh.
