Dude, right on! That is the most succinct post in this thread.
Thank you for making this post! I have written it many times only to ultimately not post. As far as advice, find somewhere in the hobby that you can thrive and make it your own. And if that doesn’t cheer you up remember this: even WOTC couldn’t consistently make their own product “perfect.”
What’s the point of collecting PSA’s is you don’t aim for the best? If PSA grade doesn’t matter for casual collects just collect raw cards.
Is there a prize for the winner? Lol
PSA 10 = High Risky, High Reward
PSA 9 = Less Risky, Less Reward
PSA 8 or Lower = Boil Tests
The way it looks for non super elite rare’s it’s PSA 10 or bust. The price difference between PSA grades seems pretty extreme. So I only buy PSA 10’s because in the event I want to sell some it will be worth maybe a sizable amount verse a much smaller amount.
I collect 10s and 9s (and some below) and difficulty in obtaining is key. I’m not going to go out and try to get English gold stars in 10s because that will be absurdly expensive and 9s will do just fine for me. However for something like Japanese ADV/PCG ex, they’re not easy to find in perfect condition but also not overly hard, so I only collect 10s. It’s the combination of exclusivity, joy in collecting, and a reasonable probability of success that determines the grade I go after.
In short, I collect whichever grade feels like an achievement, but an attainable one.
The resell argument is something I didn’t consider. So is it generally understood that the appreciation for 9s is much smaller than 10s percentage wise?
very small sample size but ive been shocked to see my 9’s selling like hotcakes and my 10’s sitting with almost 0 interest
What’s the point of buying a car if you don’t want to drive Porsche? If you don’t care about looking good in a car just walk.
If one was a car collector I would ask why did he get the meh Porsche with no matching serial numbers verse the more expensive one that could be flipped later or kept for years and appreciate in value by a lot. For a casual car guy any Honda will do…why even bother with PSA if it aiming for the top doesn’t matter get raw cards since they are cheaper.
My point is that there are reasons to buy a car besides looking good. For instance, getting from one place to another faster than walking (i.e. the main purpose of the car)
Likewise, PSA cards have a function other than simply looking good. They act as a third party validation of the authenticity and level of condition of a card. They also categorize cards in very simple and discrete groups which enables easy determination of market value.
Your argument just makes little sense. Why bother collecting pokemon cards when you could aim for the top and collect high art? If you don’t want the best of the best collectables you might as well be collecting rocks.
I enjoy TCG I have a bunch of MTG cards that are worth a crapload and I enjoy the promo
Pokémon card art so I collect them. I just want to be able to turn my hobby into some currency if I ever needed too. PSA 10’s allow me to get top dollar if I needed it. I’m not a flipper I just like options.
There is a difference in a car collector and someone that uses a car to get from point A to B. The markets are totally different. The entire PSA system is to say this grade of card is better than your lower grade of card no matter what.
If someone wants a card and loves the art PSA shouldn’t even matter just get a raw card but if someone buys PSA aren’t they doing it for future value? Otherwise what’s the point of having a PSA card.
There’s no doubt it’s easier to sell a single 10 vs five PSA 9s. But for something like 1st ed WOTC holos, 9s have a very established price and in my experience, the price tends to fluctuate way less than PSA 10s, so it’s not hard to get back most if not all or more than the initial money you put in. But again, selling a stack of PSA 9s is a lot more work than a single PSA 10. And the larger fluctuations in PSA 10 cards means you can potentially make a decent amount buying and selling at the appropriate times. I won’t argue with any of this.
There’s tons of reasons to favour non-PSA 10s over raw, some listed in my last post:-easy determination of value (I know what I expect to pay at a given condition)-authentication-condition is established by a third party-card is protected-PSA financial guarantee about condition and authenticity
-even if every 9 is not $500+ doesn’t mean it lacks value. There are plenty of 8s and 9s that sell for over $100-label that describes what the card is and it’s significance
-easier to display-because I just like the case ? ? ?
Assuming 9s appreciate even a few percentage points from the time you buy them to the time you sell them, you likely make all of your money back at the very worst after shipping and fees - especially if you can sell multiple as a lot to reduce shipping costs. I’m not sure if I agree with “10 or raw”.
Not sure if you are trolling or not. People collect what they want to collect for their own reasons. Just because you don’t personally have the same type of collection is no reason to knock someone elses.
Even if it is all about money for you, it’s not for everyone, and there can be are financial gains in 9’s.
Example - buy 5 PSA 9 cards for $30 - in 3 years they are each worth $50. Net Gain= $100
buy 1 PSA 10 card for $300 and in 3 years it’s worth $350. Net Gain= $50.
It’s kind of laughable to think only 10’s are worth collecting. I’ll take a Micky Mantle, 1st Edition Base Zard, any trophy card, Jordan Rookie, Gretzky Rookie, Ty Cobb Tobacco, etc…, in a PSA 5 all day, every day.
I just want to point out over 90% of PSA graded cards aren’t 10s, so what are us poor peasants supposed to do with them? Crack them out of the case and shove them in a binder because they’re not “Gem Mint”?
Mostly 9s, but 8s are fine, too.
I only buy 10s if the price isn’t too far away from the 9s.
When it comes to modern Japanese Cards, I would aim for 10s (the Munch Promos would be an exception for example).
Two reasons: Most 9s (and alot of 8s) look very good and the imperfections are negligible. Secondly, my pockets aren’t deep enough to buy most of the 10s, in 99% of cases I would rather buy 5 9s than 1 10.
9s are love, 9s are life.
There is a large population in Pokemon who forget that grades are just the condition of a card.
There is also a massive false equivalency in relation to the pop report = rarity of a card. Shadowless is a great example of this issue. A year or so ago Shadowless got the social media hype treatment. People were so engulfed in the hype some claimed, “Shadowless prices can outpace 1st Ed cuz low pop”. Welp, sure enough, after the first few sales, the cards that were released nation wide were submitted to PSA nation wide. And now prices are half, some more than half.
Point being, you had a massive false equivalency that the pop report reflected rarity. The pop report represents how many cards are currently submitted, not how many were released. Sure it is an excellent resource for estimating difficulty to grade. However the Pop report only goes one way, up. Therefore if you are paying premiums for a grade, especially on cards released nation wide, be sure you understand you are purchasing condition, not rarity. My phrase for set cards; There is always another copy.
It cracks me up when people put “LOW POP” in their eBay listings, for something like a graded common. Well no duh the pop is low, no one is grading those cards 
Low pop does not equal high value or rare…
Modern Energy cards are Pop 0!
