Hi, I’m interested in purchasing Latias XY78 and Latios XY79 from the 2015 XY Black Star Promos series.
I noticed that there are less than 10 PSA graded cards for each and that prices for non-graded cards are extremely low on ebay–around $2-4 a piece. I was wondering why not many have been graded. Was this an easy card to get, and would it be best if I bought several and graded them myself?
These came from the pikachu and hoopa ex legendary premium collections. So back when those were being made it was very easy to get them, but it was a more expensive retail product. They are now out of print and even yet more expensive so likely not being opened too much. The full art promos often came quite silvered and the way they were held in the packaging often damaged them when you removed them. Expect if buying a NM/MINT copy off eBay to get something closer to NM than MINT. Many of the couple hundred I went through back then were definitely most often PSA 8 with potential PSA 9/10 quality being fairly uncommon fresh out of the box.
If you want your own to grade a PSA 9/10 for your collection I’d try to find an eBay listing that is showing actual photos of the card and not a stock photo. I wouldn’t grade these for money as you said they are quite cheap, as I said they are quite often damaged and they’ll move really slow if at all I’m sure.
The reason not many have been graded is because there is no demand for graded copies. I wouldnt hold out for oje to be listed if none are up already so grading your own may be the best route to take. One thing to keep in mine is what @gottaketchumall said about the promos coming in the large boxes in the sense that they are not packaged very well and so alot of them will have damage straight from the box preventing them from getting 10s.
Thank you for the information and advice! I think I’ll just buy a pair for my personal collection in that case. Kind of bummed that the cards aren’t PSA 10 quality, but it’s nice to know that I’ll be able to get them pretty easily 