I’m glad you shared this to reference how PSA reviews all reholders. It’s something I was told awhile back and haven’t experienced it personally, yet. 
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Thank you for sharing this. Good to know I will never send any cards for reholdering now.
So I guess upgrading to the new slab design is out of the question now since there’s a good chance they’ll just downgrade your card in the process?
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This is why alot of people dont believe in the grading process, and theyre ability to maintain consistent standards
I just checked PSAs website. For the reholdering service, they explicitly state that the card is not “regraded” if the case has no sign of tampering etc.
So I really wonder how it can happen that they say “the grade does not meet our current grading standards any more” and downgrade…
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I was just about to post this exact screenshot. There’s probably some fine print that shields them on the matter, but it feels like very misleading advertising considering all the examples of changed grades we’ve seen lately.
More clarity is 100% necessary. Is there an undisclosed metric for whether or not a card simply gets re-holdered or gets a full re-grade? Damage to the slab? Cert number? Obvious misgrades?
As of now they may as well scrap the entire service line and just say everything gets examined again.
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I believe it’s a money grab too. You have to crack and resubmit with PSA several times to get the grade that some cards clearly deserve, and that frustrates me. I just hope with this new acquisition of BGS and the frustration with turnaround times that people place more value on CGC slabs.
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Charging people 3x what it shouldve cost the first time🤔
CGC struggles to maintain value, partly because their grading scale is incomprehensible. You see constant topics about what PSA grade will my card earn. In fact this exact topic is a great example, everyone has such a grasp of the PSA scale. Where its hard to make the same topic and ask what will x card earn in CGC, outside of does it have a shot at a 10.
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I do agree with you, I personally think cgc should go back to being a little more strict with their scale. They’ve gone after the half grades and gem mint 10 vs Pristine 10 which confuses people. The 10s can be quite soft and comparable to PSA 9.
I know the forum has a PSA slant, and I get why PSA commands more money than the other companies on the open market.
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Maybe because we rarely talk about CGC unless it’s a scandal or someone doing elite astroturfing. If we got someone like @nikoreps who has graded a lot of cards with CGC to give us insight (along with a few others) it would be a bit different.
Maybe because we rarely talk about CGC unless it’s a scandal or someone doing elite astroturfing. If we got someone like @nikoreps who has graded a lot of cards with CGC to give us insight (along with a few others) it would be a bit different (or it would produce the same result as always.)
E4 has made leaps and bounds when it comes to talking about modern and other issues, but I still think some old habits remain.
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People rarely talk about CGC because of its market reality. The entire market has a slant towards PSA, its not limited to E4 or any other space. In my opinion its mainly because of what I highlighted. I’m sure I’m speaking for many people, they would be open to grading with another company if there is a value proposition. Currently CGC’s value is being the cheaper option, which works well for streaming, breaks, but lacks for collectors.
Side note, I have stacks of cards that would be great candidates for CGC/BGS, but I just can’t figure out how they treat sub 10 condition, or if a higher cgc non 10 grade is even worth the hassle. I’m sure this experience isn’t unique to myself, but it highlights how there is a need not being met of a full understood grading scale.
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It’s a pretty good point there, I think I have an idea for this, I’ll bookmark this and will check back in a few months
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I personally equate CGC with junk slabs. This is probably bias due to seeing whatnot streamers just sending junk cards en mass to CGC to then sell on whatnot but it does go further into the market. I only own one CGC card and it’s an aquapolis lugia CGC 6 and I bought it for more than $1K less than a PSA 6 that sold two days later.
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Yeah, I’m personally waiting for the PSA germany opening, will be interesting to see how it plays out. Honestly no idea if I even feel comfortable enough to send cards there as soon as it opens, will probably wait a little bit to hear others experiences with it lol
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I found the respective paragraoh under PSA’s Terms and Conditions:
I find this totally misleading: the Reholder service is presented as not a re-grade as long as the holder hasn’t been altered or damaged, i.e., you’re paying for a new case, not a new evaluation.
But then the fine print reads like PSA can reassess and change the grade at their discretion.
And for collectors, it’s such a brutal risk: you can spend years building, say a PSA9 collection, and then get hit with surprise downgrades just for wanting a clean slab.
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Thanks for doing the research. It’s absolutely misleading, and I feel as though it’s a clear case of false advertising. I have no idea how the misrepresentation of this service has never nipped at them before.
It’s not about “oh, well you just didn’t read the fine print” it’s that the service represented is completely at odds with the fine print. This makes the entire service feel superfluous and deceitful.
Edit: I should add that the fine print also makes it evident that they don’t have to even contact you before they go forward with a re-grade and all of these recent experiences confirm that. So you send it in expecting a fresh slab/label, and they get to do whatever they want without having to inform you. This is a serious lack of accountability that nobody should be comfortable with. It should be as simple as “hey, do you want this back as is, or a new cert/lower grade?” The pay back in value lost is essentially hush money.
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Wow thanks for finding this. I would admit when I thought about reholdering a few of my card in the past I thought of this scenario due to their age.
It didn’t put me totally at ease seeing the writing and decided against it. I am thankful for following my gut
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Its a big shame! I was planning on submitting my complete collection once completed (will probably be about 400 slabs) for reholdering. I wanted to get the new slabs for all cards with improved UV protection. But after reading this, I wont submit it…
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I wonder what happens if an expensive card is undergraded. Will they apply a surcharge if it moves from an 8 to a 10?
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