@chrisundrum, that’s definitely not a 10 or a 9 for that matter. It’s a 7-8.
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Eh, could get a 9 if they view those as print lines and not normal scratches. But yeah, definitely not a 10. Probably an 8 with a chance at a 9.
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I’m not complaining about it… I’m building my retirement fund and my collection off of it, lol. It worries me actually. I talk about it becuase it is fascinating to me. I worry that these buyers think they are buying stonks and will become averse to the hobby if that doesn’t pan out for them which is an unfortunate thought but if they are going to be buying the cards regardless I may as well help increase the pop and suppress the prices to some extent.
I worry that some amount of the people that just bought out my 1st edition common and uncommon jungle and fossil cards in psa 9 for $50-$60 are doing so thinking that it is a good investment that will bring them returns over the years…I guess maybe it will if psas new floor on pricing is $50, but it certainly wont even at $25 per card grading because I’d still keep grading them all.
I started out wanting complete sets graded in psa 9 and then it just became too bulky and I appreciate the binders more anyways personally. I’m interested to see if that develops in new collectors too eventually. For now it is just interesting to watch money be thrown everywhere and at everything both in and out of pokemon across all markets. I dont think it will end well for a lot of people.
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Any print line/scratches is automatically going to knock it down from a 10, unless the grader completely misses it somehow. Also if you have more than 1 area of damage on the back (corner nick, edge wear, etc…) that will also almost always knock it down to an 8. On a 9 they typically allow only 1 minor defect on the back.
Interesting. What tells you its a 7 or 8? The centering is pretty good, the edges are solid, and very minimal chipping on the back, to the point that I have seen some 9’s with more at least. As long as the overall card appeal is there. Is it mainly the print lines?
Another reason people prefer graded over raw is that it can be crapshoot buying raw cards. You never know what you’re going to get. The amount of times I’ve bought NM cards that ended up being ex or worse is staggering. ebay sellers suck, their pictures suck, their descriptions suck. They don’t know how to properly inspect cards or they use their own definitions as to what constitutes NM, which are often vastly different from the industry standard. It just plain sucks buying raw. Grading companies save me time by ensuring I get what I paid for.
For example I needed to purchase a NM Shadowless Charizard to complete my Shadowless set. At the time I could have paid $800 for a raw one but for 15% - 20% more I could purchase a PSA 7 which ensured the copy I bought wasn’t going to have bends or damage the seller missed. At that time prices were skyrocketing and it wasn’t worth it to buy the Charizard raw just hoping it was in acceptable condition. If it was in worse condition than I would have liked it would’ve been weeks wasted between the initial purchase and the refund going through at a time where prices were fluctuating day to day.
I don’t know what you consider a gigantic premium, but for me that extra 20% saved me a headache.
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I think you made an entirely reasonable decision to pay 20% more for a PSA 7. I mentioned earlier in this thread that the equation changes significantly for higher value cards. Hell, I’d probably do the same as you in your situation.
I’m referring to cards like the PSA 8 Umbreon that sold for $62. It’s a card that’s easily acquirable for $5 in raw PSA 8 condition. Even if buying raw copies of it was a crapshoot (which it isn’t – it’s easy as shit to find an 8/9 raw quality copy of it), you could buy 5 raw copies of it for $25 and be effectively certain that you’ll get at least one PSA 8-quality card out of those. Paying $62 for a PSA 8 version of it has nothing to do with minimizing risk. It’s just a poor decision from a value-perspective (not necessarily a poor decision if one has money to throw away and just wants the slab in hand, although looking at the bidder details I suspect that this isn’t the case).
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I’m still waiting for a Ludkins UK submission I put through all the way back in May to be graded. What I find interesting is that Ludkins’ tracker for these has been sat at “9/43 Standard submissions graded so far” for the past 6 weeks.
I can only assume what happens is that packages get stacked up high on top of one another and the ones at the bottom (the first ones in) are the ones which end up being seen to last. The lucky 9 to have been graded so far must have either been much higher up the stack or in a different stack altogether. Either that or PSA is now so overwhelmed by higher service level submissions that their bulk backlog isn’t even moving any more. 
I think this is going to be somewhat inevitable. A lot of people are treating Pokémon as an investment which can only go up, but we’re surely getting to the point now where things have gone up so much that a correction is going to happen some time soon. A get the feeling a lot of newer collectors investors are going to be very put off Pokémon in general when their $100 McDonald’s Pikachu is only worth a fraction of that amount in a few years.
@gottaketchumall , Was just surprised the by term “junk cards” ( maybe <$300 graded cards in collectibles ). Lower PSA is not Junk.
Cards you are talking about are very old (1st fossil?) and. If you finished your holos at lower psa, is reasonable to finish the rest of the non holo in similar grade point. Wil you opt as a cgc convert for these junk cards?
@zorloth , Mind blown away at $62 psa 8? lol that’s a good price
Just grade the cards you like for your collection… 
$62 for a PSA 8 of a $5 non-holo? In what world is that a good price? If you think it’s a good price, I’ll sell you as many raw 8/9 copies as your heart desires for $10 a piece. And I’ll fully refund + pay grading fees for any that come back below 8s 
.
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That offer was clearly made facetiously…
And yes, I understand – have you read any of my previous posts on this thread? If so, you would’ve noticed that I’ve stated 10+ times that there’s nothing wrong with paying a giant premium for a PSA 8 of a $5 non-holo. If you want the slab in hand, then awesome – your money, your choice. My point is that it’s a poor decision from a value perspective. If you can acquire an easily raw PSA 8-quality copy of a card for $5, then $62 for a graded PSA 8 of it isn’t a prudent financial decision. If you don’t mind losing the money, then it’s a totally reasonable purchase. But if you care about your cards retaining value, then it’s an objectively poor purchase. This isn’t my opinion; it’s a matter of fact. If I thought that the $62 price would hold, I’d be sending in my PSA 8/9 quality copies right now lol. Of course, it won’t hold, which is my point.
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It’s… it’s beautiful
Great card! Just wondering, was that the copy that recently sold on Yahoo Japan for around $1100-1200 a few weeks back?
No, it was the copy on eBay that he outbid me on 
Thanks! As kingboo said, it was an eBay purchase. I ended up getting a sizable refund due to the photos being somewhat misleading. At the time I purchased I thought it was PSA 10 quality, as I assume other bidders did. While I initially thought it was crafty camera work from the seller, his willingness to own the issue as a mistake dispelled that.
@hypernova, I just wanted to say thank you for your answers to my questions a page or two back.!
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Anyone still waiting on the Ludkins Tracker for any updates? Sent in cards in December and still waiting on anything.
Many of us. Check out the Ludkins thread.
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I didn’t see it. That makes me feel better then.