Total nonsense. PSA’s grading standards haven’t changed and if anything the introduction of upcharges gives them a lot more incentive to incorrectly grade a card up so that they can make more money; on top of that the sheer volume of cards being submitted to PSA also gives them more of an incentive to rush the grading process now just to get things out the door.
The argument against 2xx certs originated from sellers with newly-introduced 4xx cert cards in a market where supply was high. How do I get my 4xx cert card to sell when there are 10 other identical-grade 2xx certs cards on the market? I know, I’ll go around telling everyone that 2xx certs are trash PSA 8s graded as PSA 10s.
Do grading companies get it wrong sometimes? Yes. Does this only affect PSA? Not at all. Do grading companies get it wrong most of the time? No.
As a buyer: make sure to always look over the card you’re buying before putting down any money. This applies to 2xx certs just as much as it applies to 4xx and 5xx certs just as much as it applies to BGS black labels.
As someone who has been analysing PSA’s pop report on a weekly basis for a couple of years now I can tell you there’s no evidence that PSA are any more strict now than they were 2 years ago. The PSA 10 to PSA 9 ratio is pretty much the same as it was back when 2xx certs were being graded.