The Giant Professional Grading Thread

[wisewailmer]

@kaibas

@trevcatchem

PSA has a guarantee. Kind of.

I know, I asked for other grading companies besides PSA and BGS.

I dont think BGS has one but from what Ive seen the guarantee isnt much of anything. They arent willing to pay out the difference no matter how misgraded a card is. But I have only seen people try this with high end psa 10s

[breaknorth]

They hired and trained so much staff, many probably specifically for tgc, doubt they would fire them because demand is lower at higher rates, ctd is slowly moving along, value bulk will be done, in maybe 8 months.

I think they’ll be back to $10 then but this time will be ready for it as many people want to send in hundreds and thousands of cards and not just big tickets.

tgc is volume for them, $50 is too high.

[pokecollectoramy]

@breaknorth

They hired and trained so much staff, many probably specifically for tgc, doubt they would fire them because demand is lower at higher rates, ctd is slowly moving along, value bulk will be done, in maybe 8 months.

I think they’ll be back to $10 then but this time will be ready for it as many people want to send in hundreds and thousands of cards and not just big tickets.

tgc is volume for them, $50 is too high.

From a business standpoint, why would they want to grade 1000 cards for $10 each when they can instead grade 200 at $50?

[Cerulean]

@pokecollectoramy

@breaknorth

They hired and trained so much staff, many probably specifically for tgc, doubt they would fire them because demand is lower at higher rates, ctd is slowly moving along, value bulk will be done, in maybe 8 months.

I think they’ll be back to $10 then but this time will be ready for it as many people want to send in hundreds and thousands of cards and not just big tickets.

tgc is volume for them, $50 is too high.

From a business standpoint, why would they want to grade 1000 cards for $10 each when they can instead grade 200 at $50?

Because they would be cutting out a gigantic portion of the market. Most cards are absolutely un-submittable at the $50 tier. It’s not so simple as 1000 for $10 compared to 200 for $50 because the difference would be much more significant than that. Most of the cards that people would submit at $50 are not cards that they would submit at $10. Heck, the vast majority of Unlimited WOTC holos are not even submittable at a $50 tier.

To be clear, I don’t think $10 bulk is coming back anytime soon (if at all). I think it will return at $20 and possibly drop to $15, but the analogy you used just doesn’t work.

[breaknorth]

The small time wotc collectors want their 20+ year old binders graded, even if their boring common psa 10s go for $100 (might change once the backlogs change pops), grading at $50 is too risky if it comes back a 9, making it a $25 to $30 card, these types of customers they will lose.

The big players they will always have.

[pokecollectoramy]

@Cerulean

@pokecollectoramy

From a business standpoint, why would they want to grade 1000 cards for $10 each when they can instead grade 200 at $50?

Because they would be cutting out a gigantic portion of the market. Most cards are absolutely un-submittable at the $50 tier. It’s not so simple as 1000 for $10 compared to 200 for $50 because the difference would be much more significant than that. Most of the cards that people would submit at $50 are not cards that they would submit at $10. Heck, the vast majority of Unlimited WOTC holos are not even submittable at a $50 tier.

To be clear, I don’t think $10 bulk is coming back anytime soon (if at all). I think it will return at $20 and possibly drop to $15, but the analogy you used just doesn’t work.

Why does PSA care if someone is grading their PSA 8 unlimited wotc holos or not? You think the drop in demand for submissions would be more than 80% as my example uses?

That being said I am positive they will go to a $25 tier at some point but I don’t see why they would rush to do so.

[pokecollectoramy]

@breaknorth

The small time wotc collectors want their 20+ year old binders graded, even if their boring common psa 10s go for $100 (might change once the backlogs change pops), grading at $50 is too risky if it comes back a 9, making it a $25 to $30 card, these types of customers they will lose.

The big players they will always have.

That makes the assumption lower end cards will hold value into the future. If you were grading in 2017-2018 (or before) then it was the same thing. A psa 8 was often worth less than the $8 slabbing cost. A 9 would be just above breakeven in many cases. It’s just higher stakes gambling now. If you really want your childhood cards graded for PC there is CGC and SGC etc.

[breaknorth]

@pokecollectoramy

@breaknorth

The small time wotc collectors want their 20+ year old binders graded, even if their boring common psa 10s go for $100 (might change once the backlogs change pops), grading at $50 is too risky if it comes back a 9, making it a $25 to $30 card, these types of customers they will lose.

The big players they will always have.

That makes the assumption lower end cards will hold value into the future. If you were grading in 2017-2018 (or before) then it was the same thing. A psa 8 was often worth less than the $8 slabbing cost. A 9 would be just above breakeven in many cases. It’s just higher stakes gambling now. If you really want your childhood cards graded for PC there is CGC and SGC etc.

I don’t see why the value won’t go up, even if slightly, wotc scarcity won’t change and nintendo is continuing to support the crap out of pokemon, wotc psa 10s should always have value, 9s and 8s probably not worth the effort, but there’s a certain fun in sending in 500+ cards from binder and just letting them do all the work, sell your 10s as the years go on, maybe make a little or even break even, keep the rest slabbed, CGC can’t provide that psa 10 opportunity.

[ccrntrade]

@pokecollectoramy

@Cerulean

Because they would be cutting out a gigantic portion of the market. Most cards are absolutely un-submittable at the $50 tier. It’s not so simple as 1000 for $10 compared to 200 for $50 because the difference would be much more significant than that. Most of the cards that people would submit at $50 are not cards that they would submit at $10. Heck, the vast majority of Unlimited WOTC holos are not even submittable at a $50 tier.

To be clear, I don’t think $10 bulk is coming back anytime soon (if at all). I think it will return at $20 and possibly drop to $15, but the analogy you used just doesn’t work.

Why does PSA care if someone is grading their PSA 8 unlimited wotc holos or not? You think the drop in demand for submissions would be more than 80% as my example uses?

That being said I am positive they will go to a $25 tier at some point but I don’t see why they would rush to do so.

We won’t see $10 ever again but PSA should be highly incentivized to get a bulk tier open as soon as possible for a reasonable cost. Pokemon and Sports cards each have a ton of set collectors. For the most part collectors like uniformity and in most cases sets will have a huge range of value of cards. With cards that only make sense to send as bulk and cards that would be deemed high enough value to send in more expensive submissions as well. If it only makes sense to send the high valued cards in to PSA for their prices then they might defer to just use a completely different company for the sake of uniformity in their set. Also obviously PSA has a huge percentage of slabbed cards, each slab is really just advertisement for them and if other companies start flooding the market with low end cards that is just advertisement for them, potentially taking customers away from PSA.

At a $50 grading price they would probably get an initial surge of orders but I don’t think it would swamp them if they get caught up on current orders now. The amount of base Sports cards that were being graded was insane, that market has tanked for these and I don’t think we will be seeing people sending 2nd year Luka Doncic contenders base cards in by the 100s like some people were doing, with several other examples of this too, not just that specific card. Any rookie that had one good night you would see a huge increase of price overnight and the few that had already graded that players cards were cashing in big time which led every person and their grandma to send their copies in as well, flooding the PSA pops and the market when they were eventually graded too late to cash in. Of course even higher end card pops were going up a lot too but the vast majority of the backlog was cards valued under $100 and even cards valued under $50.

[1999basic]

Has the huge increase in the lowest-cost bulk PSA tier translated into increased market value – and I mean actual sales, not asking price – for common Pokemon cards that set collectors eventually have to get?

[sparky55603]

@1999basic

Has the huge increase in the lowest-cost bulk PSA tier translated into increased market value – and I mean actual sales, not asking price – for common Pokemon cards that set collectors eventually have to get?

no in fact prices are still going down. You won’t see some of those card from the new lowest tier for another few months to a year still. Even then it probably won’t have much of an impact

[pokecollectoramy]

@1999basic

Has the huge increase in the lowest-cost bulk PSA tier translated into increased market value – and I mean actual sales, not asking price – for common Pokemon cards that set collectors eventually have to get?

I truly wonder how many psa 10 pokemon full set collectors there really are. Most of the set collectors we see on efour are binder folk.

[breaknorth]

@pokecollectoramy

@1999basic

Has the huge increase in the lowest-cost bulk PSA tier translated into increased market value – and I mean actual sales, not asking price – for common Pokemon cards that set collectors eventually have to get?

I truly wonder how many psa 10 pokemon full set collectors there really are. Most of the set collectors we see on efour are binder folk.

going by ebay sold there’s not a lot of non 1st edition/holo/japanese psa 10 action going on for wotc, and if there is it’s for small money, now is not a good time to try and fill peoples sets, will make peanuts, maybe in a decade or two when kids or grandkids will want vintage.

[mrmilk]

Once a card as entered the grading phase, what is the expected return time? My bulk submission through Ludkins has been in research and ID since last December, and has finally moved into grading. Is it another month or so wait, or does it go very quickly past this point? This is my first PSA submission so I have no reference.

[knotchi]

@mrmilk

Once a card as entered the grading phase, what is the expected return time? My bulk submission through Ludkins has been in research and ID since last December, and has finally moved into grading. Is it another month or so wait, or does it go very quickly past this point? This is my first PSA submission so I have no reference.

Honestly, the Ludkins tracker is pretty useless. But based on the fact that you sent in December of last year I’d expect to see your cards in Q1/Q2 of 2022.

[pokematt]

@mrmilk

Once a card as entered the grading phase, what is the expected return time? My bulk submission through Ludkins has been in research and ID since last December, and has finally moved into grading. Is it another month or so wait, or does it go very quickly past this point? This is my first PSA submission so I have no reference.

My order from ludkins was in R&ID since last September and just finished grading this past week if that helps.

[dblast]

PSA has suggested bringing back value tier in 2022 (as I’m sure has been mentioned). That would be good for Pokemon, and $30-50/card is absolutely ridiculous.

If they want to streamline more business (as they keep saying they are ‘growing’), their pricing should knock out the new grading companies that many and their grandmas have started. Otherwise, with the diversity of Pokemon collectors and graders, a large chunk will opt for cgc or $10-15 newly minted grandma grading companies.

[coelomate]

Question on choosing a PSA grading tier: If the card is valuable but the value depends heavily on the grade it receives, how do you choose the tier?

For example, a 1st edition base set Charizard in good condition could be worth dozens of thousands… or not. What happens if you send it in a <$5,000 tier and wind up getting a PSA 10 back?

[kevinertia]

@coelomate

Question on choosing a PSA grading tier: If the card is valuable but the value depends heavily on the grade it receives, how do you choose the tier?

For example, a 1st edition base set Charizard in good condition could be worth dozens of thousands… or not. What happens if you send it in a <$5,000 tier and wind up getting a PSA 10 back?

Submit at the tier that you think it should be. If it comes back higher, they’ll up charge you to the appropriate tier.

[originalera]

@coelomate

Question on choosing a PSA grading tier: If the card is valuable but the value depends heavily on the grade it receives, how do you choose the tier?

For example, a 1st edition base set Charizard in good condition could be worth dozens of thousands… or not. What happens if you send it in a <$5,000 tier and wind up getting a PSA 10 back?

Seems like upcharging is hit or miss, I would submit at the lowest tier and just see what happens…fuck em. Why pay more if you don’t have to, put the ball in their court lol.