@jonandek , I’m not talking about huge collectors like you. I’m talking about your average run of the mill collector with less than 2k value in their collection.
We’re talking about the majority. Which you certainly are not a part of. I mean that in the sense that you mess around with very large capital.
For most cards, PSA 10s are not analyzed with such scrutiny. Just the PSA 10 is enough to get people to pay 3 times the cost of a superior 9.
If people are that careless about the card they’re buying based on such a stupid reasoning, why not pay a premium for 4 certs if the cards are rumored to be better? For the vast majority of lower end cards (under 200$), this is how the game is played. It’s lower money, lower risk.
I’m not disagreeing with you just making a separate point.
In any case I posted my grand solution to this issue in another thread earlier today that got locked. Lots of serious thinking and complex algebra involved which I can’t rehash again but the result of my master equation was “it does not matter”.
First, I’m not sure why you think “there will never be a common consensus.” It’s an empirical question that can be studied; some have studied it to some extent already, and we should hope further study will be illuminating.
Second, there’s no reason to censor discussion on a topic that both interests many collectors and has the potential to affect the market significantly. “Autolocking” threads just because they discuss this topic would be virtually authoritarian.
Third, it’s not clear how “this and price speculation threads” have “derailed the quality content.” Unless I’m mistaken, no one needs to read or post in threads on this issue if he’s not interested; and threads on this issue can run parallel to separate threads on other issues.
After all the lurking I’ve done here, I think I’ve finally seen some evidence that PSA 10s are getting harder and harder to attain.
Evolutions is pretty modern, but getting a PSA 10 on the Zard is almost impossible now. In this video by Deriums, they sent out 200 raw Charizards straight from pack to sleeve to PSA. They just got their first shipment back today and out of 88 cards, not a single 10 among them. In comparison with videos from 6 months ago, 10s in modern came much easier. What’s going on? Are they grading much stricter?
Is it really evidence when its a card that has always been hard to grade? I could say the same thing about rusty and his secret rare charizards from plasma storm that all got 8’s and 9’s years ago.
1 submission is 1 data point, not 88. You do not have 88 different graders looking at these charizords. Do not extrapolate 1 data point to try to understand the trend of millions of data points.
TCA gaming did the same thing with Plasma storm Charizard. If I were skeptical I would do this with WOTC case fresh holos and see if you get the same thing. Most likely you won’t because newer English cards were absolutely garbage quality. I opened 4+ cases of XY flashfire and got the best quality hits from a friend who opened 6+ cases of Flashfire. I got less than 10 PSA 10 charizards out of that many cases from a set that had 7 charizards. I had around a 25% PSA 10 rate. I did this with many Black and White and XY era sets. I was very picky on what I sent and got better 10 rates than most. I don’t know how discerning Deriums is with their PSA submissions. I’m not ruling out the PSA has gotten harsher, but this is a flawed test. You don’t conduct a study and use poor quality equipment to create your control.
How many cards did you send in from that case where you got 10 PSA 10 cards? Deriums has been in the game for at least over a decade. I think they know what to look for in candidates.
Well surely they didn’t have a single person grade ALL of these cards. Yeah, it wasn’t 88, but I’m sure they used everyone they had on staff working on it.
I sent around 30. Derium has been in the “game” for awhile, but he’s still new to grading. There are people who grade cards and don’t really understand grading. A card looks nice so they send it in. Just because he has experience doesn’t mean he is knowledgeable about the differences in grade quality. There are so many things wrong using this one video to question PSA. Instead you should question what and who is sending cards in? are sending new charizards because they are charizard? are they sending in only cards that have shots at 10? I never used to send in cards that didn’t have a shot at PSA 10, but now I send in cards that will get at least 9s without a concern of 10. There’s so many other factors to consider first before questioning PSAs standards.
Based on what you are saying. I have to ask if you have much experience grading cards? do you know the PSA grading process?
The only confirmation bias here is with you. You’re starting with the conclusion and working backwards to find evidence to support it. Then you reject all counter evidence with how you feel PSA should be operating
@noivern Welcome to the forum. I have moved your posts to our one of many dedicated threads on this unfounded conspiracy theory. I suggest you search the forum for topics before posting a thread, and read what has already been said on the matter! PSA grades tens of thousands of cards per week, one submission of under 100 cards is so insignificant it’s somewhat funny.
