What’s up E4, I am mildly irritated and just wanted to complain and get your thoughts on PSA’s vault service. I’m in the middle of a move and my last submission from the spring was completed a couple weeks ago. I’ve heard about nightmares with their return shipping recently so I didn’t want to risk my cards getting lost in the mail. They advertise their vault service a ton so I decided to check it out. I expected some kind of fee for storage and the service, so I looked around on the app and couldn’t find anything. I figured they’re trying to promote it since it’s new. Now, I’m done moving and went to go get my cards shipped back to me. The withdrawal page is where they tell you that each card costs its own fee of $1.99, and if it has been stored for less than 90 days, an additional fee of $4.99. So, my fee to get my 120 card order shipped back to me after being stored for a few weeks would cost over $800, in addition to the insured FedEx shipping which is another hundred bucks or so. This is also on top of thousands of dollars in upcharges that I received on this order.
Of course, I’m the idiot for not doing clearer research but I did not find anything in my quick search for storage fees on their “Vault” page. I think the Vault is a great idea and I even sold some cards through it (they made even more money off of me in commission there). But these fees feel disrespectful and like my cards are now being held ransom. I’m just tired of getting bent over by this company for stuff like this. It doesn’t cost 800 dollars to go retrieve some plastic cases from a warehouse. 90 days is also a ridiculous amount of time to wait on top of the turnaround time from a submission. What would you do, pay the fee or just wait? Obviously I’ve learned my lesson about reading PSA’s T&C’s closer.
it used to be $1 per card for withdrawals with no value limit and no additional shipping charges. kinda sucks they increased it but can imagine they were losing tons of money at those rates.
Your cards aren’t being held for ransom, you just didn’t read the details. These fees are clear on their website. This thread title is crazy my dude.
PSA Vault’s fees are significantly lower than comparable vault services (i.e., Fanatics Collect Vault). I think they are pretty reasonable. Vault services are generally not meant for temporary storage while you move.
I’m sorry that you didn’t realize what you were signing up for. Regarding what you should do, just wait a few months for the lower fees. Sell some cards if you’d like via the PSA Vault to offset the cost if needed.
All vaults have shifted from being services for the consumer to questionable funneling to marketplace partners. I felt like the PWCC vault was great at the beginning and still use the Fanatics vault, but over time it’s become much clearer what the objectives are for these vaults.
They want to make it as easy as possible for you to send cards there (no up-front fees, direct integration with PSA, etc.) and as hard as possible for you to take cards out (layered fees, penalties for “early withdrawal,” high shipping rates). Of course, with one click you can send your cards to auction on eBay™ or Fanatics Collect™!
I honestly don’t blame you at all for feeling like your cards are being held for ransom because let’s be honest, a $7 per card withdrawal fee is absurd and borders on extortion. Yes, the fees are public and it is your fault for not searching them out beforehand. Lets not kid ourselves about the necessity or purpose of those fees though.
It would be nice if there was a way to combine return shipping for PSA submissions without having to pay the $2/card fee. I sent off 1-2 orders a month for someone else and it sucks paying return shipping so frequently
Assets under management = avenues for revenue extraction.
Vaulting services are a carbon copy from the finance industry. They make money off of individuals who don’t understand the business model. It disproportionately affects those who have lower value assets because the cost to retrieve them is the same whether it’s a $100 card or a $10,000 card.
If you’re looking at it from a purely financial perspective, I’d first look at how much your cards are worth vs how much it cost to get them back then go from there.
If you just want your cards back regardless, follow your heart and learn from it.
Yep I continuously get offers on the same two cards at about 20% lower than their own “PSA value” which is already lower than the “card ladder value” which is already lower than the actual real market value lol
if your cards are listed you wont get any offers from psa on them (which is kind of a weird workaround). no idea what the offers are like nowadays but i did take a couple for like $100 stuff at the beginning because they were basically offering the same price that the lowest bins were at but u dont pay any fees
I thought Capitalism was the driver of innovation and production, and not merely milking a service with little innovation or generated value…
OP,
Personally, I’d leave them there as long as I possibly can, or even for ever if you don’t really need them. You have their self-certified assurance they are in good care… OK… and if you want to sell them, then you can simply sell it from the vault, and no hassle. BUT if you want to take them back, I agree with others here: Don’t give them more money than you have to.
