Hi everyone, I just wanted to add some examples. These got graded mid/late December 2024 and I got them back early January 2025. Out of all the similar cards graded in that lot, these 2 are the only ones that got PSA 9 and personally I think due to centering. Obviously not 100% conclusive as I could’ve missed things and there could be some variance on the centering app too, but these were above 55/45 and below 60/40.
I wonder where the cut off is for psa 10? 56/44? 57.5/42.5? In my example of 1 sample size, 57/43 did not make the cut.
The Suicune definitely looks out of range top to bottom. The Entei looks a little heavy on the right side and a little on the bottom, but if you told me that card was a PSA 10, I would believe it. There are definitely 10’s with worse centering.
Agreed as suicune was T/B 41/59. Card centering calculator on iOS. Free version comes with ads (tolerable enough), but I ended up paying $2.99 or something to remove ads. In my experience, scanning through app doesn’t work well. I strictly use photos and adjust borders myself. It does have a small glitch where the border cursor moves a bit like a pixel or two which happens randomly, but you can work through it.
so how are we supposed to value old certs with 60/40 centering
cards that say “psa10” on them but if cracked and resubed couldnt get a psa10.
do we need to look at them differently now? treat them like pseudo psa 9.5?
i guess old certs need extra eyes on them before buying. is it a true psa 10?
I was looking at psa10 base charizard sales because the card has been rocketing lately, Im seeing as high as 12k-14k but on pricecharting I noticed a massive disparity among auctions right now
I was shocked
then i actually looked at the sales more closely and it became more clear. old certs are getting as low as 6k and new certs are getting over 10k. For a card that regularly exchanges hands, there is way too much variability in prices
this is the strongest example of cert disparity that im afraid will eventually catch on to the rest of the pokemon tcg
It’s completely fine that psa is changing and adapting, but they are actively devaluing their older slabs in the process.
part of what people look for in card grading is consistency in grading with the same company and psa is hurting in this regard… but business is better than ever so i dont think PSA cares right now
Buy the card, not the grade. Buy the card, not the cert. If the card condition is not aligned with your expectations of the grade, don’t buy it.
This can apply to almost any card in any grade at any company. Grading is largely subjective. If you think your collection would mostly get the same grade if resubmitted to your company of choice, you’re fooling yourself. As grades get higher, the differences in 10 vs. 9 can be minuscule, so it leads to more variability.
As you can see below, old and new certs are selling for roughly similar amounts. Maybe +/- 10%. You have to take into consideration that we’re in a boom right now as well, so price trajectories are already going to be unstable.
Are you referring to this sale? It was from a fake account who didn’t own the card. That’s why it “sold” for so little. It’s not a real sale; the account was banned from eBay, which is why you can’t see the listing any longer.
Cert disparities exist, but it’s more of an issue with consumer preference than actual difference in grading standards. There will be strong and weak copies across all grades and all cert eras. If you don’t believe this, you’ve either not had enough exposure to graded cards or you’re drinking the purple juice from someone on Instagram.
Every company could use an improvement in consistently, but it’s far more difficult at the scale that they operate than we appreciate.
I don’t think PSA has done anything to devalue their older slabs. The quality of those grades will speak for themselves, like they should across any cert era. Collectively, we should move away from blindly buying grades, and instead, buying the card that fits our specific expectations within that grade.
As you can see, then it was “aproximately 60/40 to 65/35”, and now “aproimately 60/40”, but if somebody claims something to PSA they would say “It will depend on our experienced graders and their vast knowledge” meaning that it depends on how the grader`s day is going.
To sum up, buy the card that looks good for you as wisely @Dyl said!
going forward.