Also lastly, if there truly is a divide between the condition of the cert numbers i think people are forgetting about PSA’s guarantee where if a card is not up to standard then you will be refunded. This inherently gives no risk to purchasing an older cert even if there is this so called difference between the old certs and newer ones. If the cases bother you so much then have it shelled.
It’s also worth noting that no one claims *all* 4xx cards are nicer than *all* 2xx cards. (Someone seemed to think that showing there are some ugly/misgraded 4xx cards undermined the proposition that there’s a difference *in general* between the two series, the 4xx being generally nicer)
You have a better chance of catching a charizard in real life than getting psa to refund you for this, let’s be serious.
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This is the most blind leading the blind situation I have ever experienced in this hobby.
The most important data is modern cards. Its identical throughout the years. Most cards submitted are pack fresh. And there isn’t a change at all.
Where Wotc has a ton of variability. 2016-18 was by far the most pack fresh submissions outside of maybe 1999. For those you weren’t here, the pop exploded for wotc cards between 2016-18, because everyone was ripping packs and grading. PSA 10 Charizard 1st base literally doubled. Which is reflected in the data. Wotc cards will naturally trend downward with time, excluding the 2016-18 explosion.
If buyers want to still willfully pay for an arbitrary value, it only helps the seller.
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Regrade all your 2 certs then to maximize profit if 4 certs go for more in the future. That’s capitalism. Put your money where your mouth is. Don’t be upset if a few of your weak 9s or weak 10s go down a grade though. I mean, the only way to prove whether standards changed or not is to submit older graded cards and see if they come back differently, and if they do, what percentage of the time. This question will be answered for us with time. No more need to speculate.
Also, if we’re using anecdotal data that doesn’t lead to a final conclusion about the scenario, I bought a 4 cert PSA 9 Charizard FA Flashfire and saw a PSA 10 with a 2 cert in far worse condition up for auction. Idiots still paid an arm and a leg because it was a 10. Nearly triple what I paid.
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I don’t need to because the 4xx cert buyers are a negligible minority. The sale I shared is 1 of 1,000 sales this year. Majority of the market doesn’t care, and the experts and seasoned collectors know how to actually judge condition.
If you want to pay for a completely arbitrary value that is your choice as a consumer, and I will gladly charge the premium you desire.
If you weren’t ticked off by it and it was a single sale out of 1000, why make a post about it? A better analytical approach would be to take which cards sold and see if more 2 certs or 4 certs sold. I mean, you prolly only mainly deal in vintage as is, right? So even then the odds are in your favor as it’s what makes up the majority of your stock.
You run a big store, surely you can check to see buying trends.
Because I created this site for sharing accurate information. If you want to ignore data, expertise, and everything reasonable, that is your choice. As a seller I will adapt to whatever is happening, however unfounded and arbitrary the trend.
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That’s perfect. That’s the exact approach you need to have about this.
Hell. I buy 2s and 4s. I care far more about card quality. But that PSA 10 label is such an arbitrary dice roll that it’s insane when dealing with very strong 9s, yet it determines whether your card is worth 60$ or 180$. It’s insane really.
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To be fair , this is like accusing someone of a crime and then making them prove they didn’t do it. It’s your accusation so you should do the research.
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Well. He has the analytics as to his store. I don’t. I kinda just figured he’d have an easy way to see if there’s new buying trends.
But what we can do is follow a certain set of cards, each picked out by random sets, modern/vintage, and see which cert sells more often and at what rate. Such a project would be crazy to do by yourself when you factor in variables like price, time of day, etc. Hence why I just asked him.
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It’s ironic that you say PSA 10 is an arbitrary label (i think the same) yet you are ok with this cert nonsense. You mentioned capitalism and uhm yeah sure you go ahead and do that but the important thing is that the vast majority of collectors are well informed so that if they pay for a random number, is because they just want to throw away money and not because they lack knowledge.
The majority of collectors who buy $5,000+ cards on a daily basis are very informed. The collectors who buy a $200 card once a month and consider that to be a huge expenditure, not so much. And believe it or not. The majority of collectors are the smaller guys who may not know everything. This theory applies to the high value cards and lower value cards differently of course.
But you can bet for damn sure those big collectors would pay a huge premium on a 10 just because of the label. Just as the average guy does. Even if there’s a 9 out there that looks better.
Could you show us the information/ proof of what you are preaching?
Yes. Go to eBay, type in Pokémon PSA, then go to sold listings. Tell me the value amount for the average card that actually sells. Easy thing to do. You’ll find many people purchasing lower end cards far more often than high end cards. That isn’t to say that the big collectors don’t buy lower end cards, but they’ve got bigger fish to fry. High end cards also come up less often, but modern is making waves in the market.
Gary won’t sell me his weakest PSA 10 first ed charizard as if it were a PSA 9. It would never happen. The label determines it.
Ever been on Virbank? Thousands of people in there that I know more than. That’s saying something.
E4 is the pinnacle of collectors. The majority are nowhere near the people here.
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People who pay more for 4 certs when you can’t even tell if they were graded before or after certain 2 certs should go eat glue to really hammer their persona home.
The very fact that a PSA 10 in worse condition than a PSA 9 sells for triple, sometimes even sextuple, the price than the 9, proves that people will cling to arbitrary things that don’t have to do with the card whatsoever. All I’m saying is that if people fall for that crap, why would they not fall for “arbitrary” cert. numbers?
Y’all are overestimating the Pokemon collecting community.
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I would never buy a card based on cert, but I do spend more for newer cases. It saves me time paying psa to have them reholdered.
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I can personally attest that I do not buy “poor 10s”. Or I at least do everything I can to avoid it. I keep a list of 10s I have purchased that I do not feel are up to the standard with the goal up “upgrading” them later. Fortunately it’s a very short list, less than a handful of cards, and is mainly a result of bad pictures and/or a seller not properly describing the condition of the card. It happens. I acknowledge that there’s a human level of subjectivity in grading and that’s the risk I take when buying a card online. But when I pay a premium for a particular card, or for a 9 vs a 10, it’s because in my opinion the card actually deserves the grade or is in better condition than the other card. The higher the price on the card, the pickier I am. I think this is logical and 99% of serious collectors probably do the same. If you need an extreme example that serious or high dollar collectors won’t buy poor 10s, look at the 1st edition base set Charizard still for sale on ebay at the same price it has been for at least the last 4 months.
For less experienced collectors, or lower value cards, it will be what it will be. Perception is reality and there’s not much to do about it besides try to educate younger or new collectors. At this point it’s meaningless to argue whether it’s “right” or not.
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