Check out this recent job posting at PSA:
Thoughts on this?
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I’m always happy to see more options as a buyer. If it was a market for only PSA cards, it would also make searching around easier and more consistent because they could tie in a lot of the existing data (pop reports, pricing, etc). Sounds pretty interesting to me if you think about it a bit, as long as it’s done right it could be a cool marketplace for collectors.
They’d be stupid not to. My guess is they will actually end up buying Alt.
Grade your cards then directly into the vault!
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They are already storing millions of cards for years, why not get paid for that too.
Hit them with a nice markup on top of it, genius!
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This is interesting. I looked through their job listings and they don’t seem to be looking for anybody in insurance or legal – which they will need if they’re going to to a PWCC vault-type situation. However, both of those jobs are usually outsourced, i.e, you hire a law firm/lawyer or reach out to an insurance company to consult.
This job listing is probably them gearing up towards the goal of having a vault. This is them essentially looking for someone to come in and figure out what they will need to make this happen – problem is with these vaults, is that you need to find a building that meets rigorous standards. You need to have a fire/floodproof building with a very specific type of fire extinguishing system – ex, a highly segmented warehouse with many small storage cells made out of sheet metal or cinderblocks with firestops. You need an inert gas fire extinguishing system, probably using nitrogen or argon – which can kill people if someone is in a room when the system goes off.
This is where you run into difficulties, and why PSA is probably looking for someone to start pointedly look into this kind of stuff. They need a very specific kind of building, and need advice from niche consultants. Most insurance companies will not insure large amounts of collectables (as PWCC has found out – why do you think they self insure), so PSA will have to self-insure too. And then there’s the tax law – there are only a few states where you can do a PWCC style vault tax law-wise, so PSA needs to find people willing to go to east bumblefuck and then take a left to go to work. Not many people want to move to Utah or north Dakota or Wyoming from the east cost metroplex or cali for a job.
It’s cool to see PSA get started on this, but I think its going to be a while until this is a reality.
I would prefer this than PWCC.
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1 year free if you submit regular and 2 years free if you submit economy
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so I’m not saying it was MY idea but I did make this meme in Oct 2020
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this sounds exciting 
I think you are underestimating a company that is worth at least 700 million, probably closer to 1 billion+ by now. They already do self insurance, and I am sure they already have a legal team. Now of course this won’t spring up overnight, and they will want to do things right so sure it will be awhile until it is functioning.
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PSA > PWCC. Hopefully this comes to fruition