Still waiting. Things move much slower on PSA Vault intake than they do with Fanatics Vault.
3 Likes
Have you ever thought about how much money goes into 1 card?
A $100 card sale has a ton of money distributed that doesn’t stay within the hobby.
$19 to PSA
$13.65 to eBay
$5 to USPS, plus shipping costs to grade the card
$7 to local state sales tax
$1 for shipping supplies
$4.49 original pack purchase, assuming you pulled this hit
It’s so difficult to see how a boom is maintained for this long when so much money is completely pulled out.
22 Likes
This is a great cost breakdown! The outside component of income is what keeps it going. Most expense go to $0 after paid, at least with many collectibles there is some value retention.
12 Likes
Congrats on getting an almost $2k discount on that exact same card (same cert) that sold on Landry Pop 2 months prior: https://www.landrypop.com/auctions/2025/08/evolution-25-years-of-pokemon-grails/108
I need to do a write up of all the items bought at that auction that have already been resold. Most of the items were resold for a big loss. I think someone probably thought that they would get good deals and could resell on a different platform for a big profit. That ended up being the case with some items, but it really backfired for others.
8 Likes
i was thinking about it the other day and i think ive paid usps almost 100k in direct shipping costs 
4 Likes
LPA also wasn’t very transparent about the buyers premium in that auction so I think that contributed to the higher prices as well
2 Likes
Thank you! Yes, I was shocked to see buyers take losses so quickly.
The same thing happened with a PSA 9 University Magikarp. It was originally sold on Heritage Auctions for $16,250. 79 days later, it was resold for $17,400 on Fanatics Collect. This would have netted the seller $15,950, for a loss of at least $300 (likely more because of Heritage’s shipping/handling fee and whether the buyer used a credit card to make the purchase).
The only explanations that I can think of for this foolish behavior are: 1) the buyer couldn’t afford the card in the first place and needed to sell it at a loss to repay high interest debt, or 2) a larger item suddenly came up and this card was liquidated to offset that purchase.
7 Likes
an actual good card is selling for less than a BL moonbreon remember to always buy the grade 
4 Likes
10 Likes
It’s a little more than this
$19 is only if you used the super bulk and also paid for the $150 membership. so you must alocate some of the membership price to the cards, unless you grading 500-1000 cards per year through value bulk, then the price is negligible but for most people they are grading maybe like 50 cards. this is an additional $3 so really its $22
Then you have to allocate the shipping costs. Im guessing bare minimum $20 there and $20 back. If you sub’d 40 cards then add an additional dollar. So we are at $23 grading costs
The 13.65 isnt actually accurate for Ebay. Ebay actually charges on the tax the buyer pays. I regularly pay 15%… this is assuming you do zero promotion. The problem with this assumption is that cheaper cards are high pop modern. You will typically see DOZENS of psa10 copies and to stand out just a tiny bit and actually show on the first page you will realistically want to put at least 2% promotion
so now yout at 17% Ebay fees. And, very often, you will need to put best offer in listing to make a buyer feel like hes getting a deal. so a $100 card might land you a $95 gross sale. There really isnt that much money involved and if your card grades a 9 its a big loser
I think the reason so many cards like this get graded is that so many of these cards a pulled. People are not ripping packs to get these cards; they are going after the chases. If someone buys a $300 booster at market and doesnt pull the chase, a lot of times the only chance to recoup some funds back is to grade the hits that you do get
4 Likes
Definitely more details that can be considered. Was just trying to emphasize that money is sucked out of the hobby. It’s not like collectors are selling to other collectors and that $100 stays 100% within that circle.
The $150 membership is fully paid for by the promos that get sent with the PSA magazine, just a side fact.
5 Likes
PSA was sending high offers on my PSA 8 1st edition base cards in the vault a few weeks ago and now the offers suck. @dblast get back in here and start pumping please
7 Likes
I noticed the same. I think the early period of solid offers to get the ball rolling is over
3 Likes
I think you might be right.
All of the offers on my cards have been rescinded in the past two weeks. Seems like they are more picky now.
4 Likes
wait til the gambling bros rip all the powerpacks then the offers will be back to 100% market 
2 Likes
MBA commentary no one asked for: I am not sure why you would need a sticker to tell you a neo lugia has a print line and why that would factor into your purchase.
6 Likes
Wow, the one on Z&G sold for $5700 tonight. Rather save the $1500 than have a sticker.
5 Likes
