Somewhat new collector here (less than 2 years), and I have 4 cards here I do not know if I should grade myself or sell and buy them already graded. I typically buy PSA 7-10 for my whole collection.
1st Edition Dark Charizard (NM-M). Paid $75
1st Edition Blaine’s Arcanine (NM-M) paid $45
1st Edition Shadowless Alakazam (Probs 6-7?) $120ish
1st Edition Shadowless Blastoise. This is already a graded Beckett 8.5 but all my other cards are PSA, and I am also kinda scared about getting a lower score… paid $360 for this bad boy lol.
Just wondering what you guys think/recommend I should do from a cost/risk perspective? Like I mentioned, somewhat new collector and have never submitted anything to be graded by PSA before. I heard there are risks- can be expensive, possibility of cards getting damaged, etc.
This is also my first post so I apologize if I broke any rules!
If you are looking to preserve the condition of the cards I would suggest grading them. Also it could increase the value of the card. For example your 1st Edition Dark Charizard, I sold a PSA 9 today for $155 on eBay. If its really mint and you get a PSA 10 then its worth a lot more. Plus in the future if you decide to sell, already being PSA graded might make it easier to sell.
As for your concerns grading the cards, I wouldn’t be worried. I know PSA is under some heat now, I personally haven’t really read much about it. I don’t think it is affecting Pokemon collectors directly though, someone else can chime in if they know more about that. I know you hear of some horror stories of PSA damaging cards, but you don’t hear of the thousands of stories from customers who had pleasant transactions with PSA. I personally don’t think PSA has damaged any of my cards.
I know the forum offers a grading service you can use and they will middleman the whole PSA grading process for you. For a low quantity of cards I would suggest going this route.
Agree with everything @ccrntrade said the only thing I would add is that BGS 8.5 generally has a poor conversion rate to PSA it wouldn’t surprise me to see a PSA 6 from a BGS 8.5, that said every card it different etc. But generally anything under a 9 (I would even go so far and say 9.5) With BGS tends to not be consistent with the counter grade at PSA. I.e. a BGS 8 is not equal to PSA 8.
Since you said your a collector then the value difference shouldn’t matter as much. I’d suggest to just grade them all. When you see the results, let us all know how you did by posting those results in the Great Grading Result Thread.
One thing that you might not have been taken into account. I have a connection with many of the cards I have graded myself. There’s some that I didn’t think i wanted til they came back to me graded… and now they’re hard to let go! There’s something about actually grading them yourself I think.
My rule of thumb is, if you already have the card (in the approximate condition you want), I would go grade it, because it would cost less than buying another graded copy (and then you will have a double too!). However, if you don’t have the card and there’s a particular grade you have in mind, I would recommend just buying the graded copy instead of trying to save a few bucks and buying a card raw and getting it graded in hopes of getting the grade that you want. Saves a lot of pain and headache!
As another Tyler and myself, I would echo everything said above. I love grading cards myself if I can, and I definitely have a deeper connection to those that I know I pulled and graded myself over cards that I have just purchased already graded. Personally for me, I love the encapsulated look of a graded card which has led me to grade some cards that I’ll never get the value back out of, but that’s part of what l find enjoyable about collecting! I personally haven’t used the E4 grading service yet (Ludkins) but I actually am planning on sending a few cards into them soon to give it a go. There is a thread somewhere on the forum about it and I’ve heard nothing but positive feedback from the service!
Welcome to the community and the hobby. I would say do a little mix of both to get the feel of how things go in the Pokemon hobby. Both experiences are fun.