I’m probably in the minority here, but I think it’s great that they can retroactively update grades as their algorithm gets better over time. At the end of the day I believe that it should actually be about having strong/clean cards, and if an updated algorithm with more training data shows that your card was incorrectly graded, then that just means you didn’t have a strong card to begin with. The grading should be a tool to help you find clean copies, not the other way around 
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Like getting knocked from a 10 to a 6 for a microscopic dent? With all the talk about algorithms and AI I always wonder how they rate the eye appeal nowadays.
there are lots of old cert/old holder that still sell for “record prices” tho 
remember that sports bro who bought some rookie card from the 1960s for a million bux then reholdered it then psa downgraded it with a cap of 250k and the 9 is worth only like 100k or something 
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Did you have a TAG card go from a 10 to a 6 retroactively?
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depends on if u prefer to never get a 10 on a vintage holo again or prefer potential dings/fakes that an AI can miss whose grading standards change everytime the AI updates
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those vintage psa 8-9s in ultra new certs are the “hits” that belong to the gambling bros that they finally got after spending 20k on no hit packs after the whatnot sellers post the value of the raw card as a psa 10
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With TAG, it’s a trust issue for me.
In a closed system, unobservable model changes undermine the consistency and objectivity AI grading is supposed to deliver.
If their model were open source or publicly auditable then I’d be more on board with it.
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How is that middle one a 9? Looks like a 6…
But you trust PSA with a constantly moving human algorithm and a closed door set of standards and methods?
To me at least TAG tells you on a report what the defects were it found. You can then assess if you agree or not. With PSA you have nothing to go off of.
For the record: Never graded with TAG but am considering it.
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@thurco you will not believe this…you were right lmao
My opinion is to buy the card, not the cert, label, or grading company. At the end of the day, we are collecting cards, not plastic. If the grade does not align with your expectation of condition, do not buy the card.
I am not (and will never be) convinced that a grading company will achieve 100% accuracy. It is just not possible at scale.
As consumers, we have choices of where to grade and which cards to purchase. If you are frustrated with PSA, try out another grading company and see what you think (or leave graded cards entirely if you wish). There are no right or wrong ways to grade or collect cards.
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Enjoy your TAG 10s with scratches and print lines that have a 50-50 of being mentioned on the report.
TAG’s advertising is paying off.
What did I do?
I agree with you… but the problem is no one ever provides enough high quality photos to truly judge a card online and determine if the grade fits. This is the value the grading company is supposed to be providing. It’s supposed to be giving you confidence to know someone who knew what they were doing looked it over carefully and ranked it accordingly. But that’s not happening as much as it should these days. I would love to have 10-15 pictures of a slab at different angles to judge the card for myself but that extremely rare. And if you only buy from card shows, you will have a hard time even getting your hands on a lot of vintage or niche cards you want to collect. So to me it’s not quite as simple as buy the card not the grade. Because unless it’s whitening or big scratches or way off center a lot of surface issues can’t be seen in a couple scans on a eBay listing. In fact a lot of slabs from some of these consignment services they put up on white backgrounds making it hard to even seen edge or corner issues on the listing and if the cert pre-dates PSA scans you don’t really know what you are buying.
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I think this is a you problem. I can absolutely judge the condition of a card without requesting 10-15 extra pictures. Most times, I do not request extra pictures at all if scans are available on PSA’s website. I am rarely disappointed in what I purchase. I can count on one hand the number of cards that have surprisingly not met my expectations when I saw it in person after purchasing.
And for context, I buy (mostly vintage) cards of different grades, but 9s and 10s are the most common in my collection.
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I don’t think extra pictures help and I don’t ask for them personally. However, I agree with the other person that print lines & scratches & dinged corners are often not visible on scans. Fanatics photos for old certs especially are useless, for newer certs compare to PSA scans and PSA scans always have stuff you can’t see on Fanatics photos. I think the mentality needed is, if I’m buying X grade, Y damage is possible. If I don’t want Y damage, I need to be prepared to resell. You can still be disappointed to get a card with the damage in that situation even if its not a complete surprise
If you have an issue with the condition of the card, you can always contact PSA for their Grade Guarantee. That’s why it exists. It is frustrating that one would have to go to those lengths, but that will occur with any company due to the subjective and error-prone nature of grading. I’ve used the Grade Guarantee before at PSA and CGC, and it was easy enough.
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PSA wouldn’t downgrade the Illustrator, they profit from it being a 10. PSA’s name is currently getting thrown around like it’s the next Gen Z slang.
If that Illustrator were a 9, it would be no different to any of the other copies in circulation, and the buzz around it would not transcend into the broader market like this one will. There are a multitude of reasons why people might gravitate to PSA, whether it be recall and recognition, price premium incentives, or liquidity. PSA wants this card as the face of the hobby, and they’re not commercially incentivised to change that any time soon.
That’s not even considering the hell-storm Logan could bring down on PSA on a PR level, lol.
I might want a 9 with no scratches, but that doesn’t mean a 9 with scratches isn’t a 9
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