No one can really predict which cards they will up charge. I had a couple cards validated at $500, they recently sold between $500-600ish, and they charge me more. It’s completely whimsical.
Ya in general when I want a graded card. I tried to take your advice from a video I believe. When you said if you want it graded or a certain grade its cheaper to buy it graded vs buying abunch of raw cards hoping for a certain grade. Sorry if I mistook that or if you didn’t say that but I believe you did on a older video. You’re one of the people I actually watch on YouTube for Pokemon content :-). I only have 4 PSa cards the rest raw but that’s because it’s for myself and building a huge collection. All PSa cards would have cost a killing more especially in good grades
Being a CLCT investor (not huge) I appreciate much of the above advice.
As a customer though: I can’t attest to the faster services and how they were handled but I am a bulk submitter expert. For me it’s never made sense to spend a ton on higher level services when my bulk orders have averaged only a few weeks anyway.
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Ok so I’m glad I made this thread because it’s revealed a lot to me - that even the biggest graders in this hobby are doing large bulk submissions instead of navigating the byzantine regular+ service levels. And that some of these bulk submissions aren’t given the same money-grubbing scrutiny that you’d get at basically any other submission level.
[rant]Which is so stupid because it makes PSA look inept, punishes the people that are actually trying to follow their rules, loses them money, and slows their throughput to a standstill.[/rant]
Do I want to wait 6+ months for a grading submission? No, but I also don’t want to raked over the coals with hidden fees. If only PSA could adopt Beckett’s pricing (turnaround + insurance + shipping), I think it’d be a near perfect service.
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You can always enjoy your collection ungraded. I always find it weird when people think they have to have their collection graded, but complain about the extra cost. -don’t take that person, it’s a general statement not a targeted one.
Think of it this way if you’re a Pokémon card collector does that change if you do or don’t grade your cards?
For me it makes sense to grade my cards. It protects my cards and allows me to enjoy them the way I like to. I also sell, so it doesn’t make sense for me to leave money on the table. For others it might make more sense to be binder collectors. Maybe even a combination binder/psa collector.
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System seems rigged to up charge at random assuming anyone submitting is reselling for top dollar prices. So for the average collector that simply wants some of our favorites graded for ourselves still get charged like a reseller. After these answers I’m choosing to never submit to PSa unless things change @cullers I prefer viewing in a binder anyways. But I like seeing a small collection of PSa cards. My original idea was to submit like 10 or 20 of my favorites. Nothing crazy
All good points. Always keep in mind that you can always grade your collectibles later if you’d like. Like cullers said yhough, if you’re planning on selling higher value items then grade when your about ready to sell.
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In many businesses, resellers pay less than end user customers. Not here though.
The numerical grade (7 or 8, 9 or 10) is irrelevant, they are up charging you because they believe the card is worth X amount in the grade that it received. A card could receive a PSA 2 and still deserve an up charge in theory.
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Ya mystery up charges is the worst idea I ever heard and what if you don’t have it? They keep your card till you do I’m guessing. If you’re reselling you can factor that into price when you list it but if you have no interest in selling you simply pay extra for no reason. It would be different if it was $5-$15 or something smaller but $1000 in up charges on a submission sounds overwhelming. I’m sure it varies but I havnt heard many small up charge answers all large ones and mystery’s. Even if they charge extra per card why can’t it be one solid number. $10 a card. $20. $30. Even $40 a card but get rid of mystery charges
I agree overall that the up charging in the back end is pretty shady but overall, getting a high grade on your card from PSA will add thousands of value to your cards that you would otherwise not be able to get. Your “mint condition” charizard 1st ed base will get you a few thousand while the psa 10 version would easily fetch you in the 10s of thousands.
Plus I think this actually gives a lot of you side hustling pokemon hobbyist an actual business you can build since it requires a certain high-level expertise pokmeon TCG and PSA’s grading standards…something which your average joe doesn’t have the time to be bothered with. So those people end up selling their raw cards, you get buy them and pocket all the upside value from the PSA grade. You also get the option to return the card to the seller if you think it won’t get a good enough grade for you to risk it.
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Good to know about the upcharge on the vouchers submission… Just sent in my vouchers and will see how that plays out… I think more people/insiders would use vouchers for their autographs since they’re included in the vouchers terms, unless you getting your trophy cards/1st ed. zard signed…
I’m not sure how PSA’s consideration of prices is affecting people. Let’s say you submit some cards, 3-8 months after they are reviewed,they tell you the cards have gone up in value, and you owe $2,000. You let them know you were unprepared for an additional $2,000 to pay, will they hold your cards hostage? For how long?
Lets say you work it out with the company and planned allotment for an additional $2,000 by the end of the month. When it’s time to pay again, do they say I’m sorry the prices of the cards has actually gone up in the 30 days, you still owe another x amount to get the cards out holding?
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Sorry for bumping an old thread but when did PSA start doing this?
Is this not a concern relating to their grading standards?
Is there not an incentive for them to give you a higher grade so they can cut more out of you?
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No upcharge for me
Apparently not, as everyone and their mum is arguing that 4X cards are the harshest grades haha.
Hidden fees on grades is just one more reason why CGC’s $30 flat rate for cards valued over $1,000 seems like an easy trigger-pull.
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There was definitely an argument for conflict of interest when all of this was first announced but so far it seems grading has been a bit tighter than it was in the past so most of the worst case scenarios haven’t come to pass. That being said, it definitely feels like there could be a conflict of interest to me when a 1st Charizard grading a 9 will give them $500 in fees and a 10 will give them $3000 (just to use an extreme example) and the card is right down the middle…
I just received the harshest grades I have ever got, grades were all over the place. With some pack fresh Japanese cards getting 8s and some from the same packs getting 10s. I don’t like Japanese cards and I was only sending them because I thought they were flawless. I also sent in quite a few pack fresh 1st edition non holo cards which some got as low as psa 4s, 5s and 6s. Neo shining cards which have very good quality usually straight from the pack getting 7s and 8s.
Edit: I know pack fresh doesn’t always mean 9s or 10s, in this case I thought they all would be though on my pregrade
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Was it a bulk order?
Yea it was like 235 card bulk sent in January. I did get some good grades as well but it was just all over the place. I have another bulk with about the same amount of cards I sent in February that is almost complete. Really hoping they turn out better.