Not everything is this conspiratorial man.
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Its just my opinion. I dont want to upset anyone. Obviously we can provide a million examples but anyone can always say its too small a sample size.
The notion is generally accepted as fact outside of the e4 bubble from my experience though. And why shouldnt it be, they have had 20+ years of new graders new tech new cases so why shouldnt grade implementation change a little over time. Old certs still sell for as much as modern even when they look like crap so it really doesnt matter much. Just weird to see the blatant denial a lot of the time.
How many cards have you grades with psa?
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less than 1K but I have looked at easily over 10k
feel free to tell me Im a noob and I shouldnt participate in conversations with the big boys. I can have an opinion.
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No im not trying to shame you, itās just usually the hottest takes come from less experience. Iāve been grading with psa for 15 years through every era, with every card type and value, and this uptick in strictness/awareness wasnāt as noticeable until recently. Iām not even fully denying others observations. If anything Iām the one who bumped this thread in agreement that they are being more strict. It also happened with pack grading awhile back, which was infuriating. Hell even my last public video was āare grading companies controlling the popā.
Anyway Im not trying to shame you or anyone, I just think direct experience grading in each era is the most relevant to understanding strictness. Iāve been outspoken about the recent strictness in this thread and patreon, I just donāt agree that all old certs are now inherently worth less.
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I wouldnāt try to say the old certs are worth less either. They do the same numbers for cards that are actually rare. I think the torchic is a good example on pwcc recently. I see that sale and laugh thinking that buyer paid for a 9 at best. Fully admit that the 10 collector mindset is one I cant fully grasp.
If I bought 10s and an old cert looked good enough for me Id pay what modern ones go for. I am sure that most good looking old certs get tucked away in collections and not thrown to auction for the world to see. Its a sample bias for sure, I stopped submitting to PSA because other companies speak to me more and other options exist now. I still buy hundreds of PSA slabs each year because thats where the pokemon community has decided to park their loyalty. I dont see weak new psa 8-9-10 almost ever so I place some weight in my own observations. I am sure they exist though, but its perrty common for me to see an old crappy 10 and almost impossible to see a new weak 10. Honestly the way things are now, is a massive benefit to people like me who dont buy 10s and dont generally believe in the premium a 10 carries. We can get harshly graded PSA slabs for lower than what theyāre worth imo.
Its obvious I am no PSA/grading expert, but I doubt I am so inexperienced that I cant comment on what I see. I dont want to de-value anyoneās collection or cards at all (not that anyone would really consider my word as influence to act on).
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I feel like that base set charizard would look like a 10 in hand. I really dont see any glaring issues at all that would make it obviosuly not a 10.
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The problem with grading perception over time is that the cards you see on the market are not an unbiased sample of the cards that were submitted at that time. Thatās why in the last nearly 10 years, the narrative has always been āPSA is more strict todayā and never really the other way around. That 75xxx charizord is a perfect example. If it was a 2xxx card it would be proof of PSAs lax standards. Today itās a contradiction. Tomorrow it will be proof that all 8 digit PSA cards were graded at a different standard.
PSA has definitely tighted up grades in some cards, especially more expensive ones. But the grading scale is not really significantly different between now and 2017 outside of the occasional blip where a bunch of people get back a rough submission at the same time. Thereās a reason why this opinion generally coorelates with how long youāve been grading for
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Also I really dislike this argument because it strikes in both directions. People who are grading today have a financial incentive to say that their copies are the best available. No one is decoupled from the financial interest.
But as stated the argument is used to conveniently dismiss every person who has been grading long enough to actually have direct experience across the years.
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I definitely donāt want to discourage responses, even posts where I disagree. I was responding to the financial bias comment, as it distracts from the point and cuts both ways. Also most people whoāve graded a long time have such a range of certs and strengths and weaknesses within each era.
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Also I want to say I much rather have disagreement that 100% agreement on the forum so Iām really happy that people donāt always have the same opinion as me. I donāt like to think thereās an āe4 opinionā on anything because, taking this example, charizardespana, wisewailmer, smpratte and I are 100% members of this site and we donāt fully agree on this topic. Itās great. It helps broaden your perspective to hear well thought out opposing points of view.
I think one thing we can plausibly all agree on is that there are a lot of stinky PSA graded cards out there. Consistency has always been an issue
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Old cert v new cert argument apply to BGS too? 
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Looks like a CollectiblesGuru flex pic with the wrist tat in the picture.
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If I had a 9.5 I was going to buy one I would not want that edge wear on the bottom on the back
Firm believer that pop control does exist. Vintage is held at a higher standard due to the companies reputation being put in line when it comes to the population of cards. Super weird topic but Iāve discussed on it a lot in the past.
I really donāt think pop control exists at all but I wouldnāt be jaw on the floor surprised either if it did. Letās say if it did though, it would only make sense if it existed for like %0.001 of pokemon cards. PSAs reputation doesnāt hinge on any singular card thats sub $5,000 or in that ball park IMO. They have ultra modern CJ Stroud, Patrick Mahomes, and (insert pro athleteās name heere) cards selling for $5,000+ all the time.
For example, a PSA 9 1st Edition Blastoise is like $4k give or take a few hundred dollars. An S Teir set card, that in all reality isnāt even remotely close to being near the top of the singular item $$$$ values that PSA grades on a yearly basis. I donāt think they care at all if that card gets a PSA 10 or a PSA 1 at the end of the day. Let alone if its a pop 1 or a pop 10,000.
99% of pop control arguments are centered around cards worth a few hundred dollars or even in the tens of dollars. Thats where i have a hard time giving the argument any creedance.
I think people try to blend pop control with the inconsistent enforcement of PSAās stated grading standards. Two compeltely different things in my opinion because i think we are seeing more of that inconsistent enforecemt now than anything else.
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I would agree with you on the bigger cards. Nowadays itās hard to brush away the fact that big companies like psa and Beckett would consider not allowing to add too many 10ās of that era to flood the market. This would be impactful in a negative way is what I mean the most. If the card is 100% deserving of it, the card should get the grade. Unfortunately Iāve seen my fair share of āunfairā grades that just made no sense at all.
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100%. Thereās a huge difference between being extra discerning for certain cards and purposely downgrading cards that deserve a PSA 10 to keep the population low. But āpop controlā is used interchangeably for both. PSA has to pay out for misgrades according to their own policy, so an overgraded expensive card costs them more so they have a financial incentive to be more discerning about expensive items.
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