Something I’ve alluded to a few times over the past few years in this forum, is how there seems to be this notion that sending cards to PSA in the US is such a complex endeavor that it is best left to skilled professionals. I don’t know if that mentality is a consequence of people’s individual limitations, middlemen perpetuating the myth, or both, but it does not reflect reality.
If you understand English well enough to fill out a simple form, and your country’s post office well enough to sign a temporary export document you’re all set.
The only logical explanation I see for someone in Europe to use a middleman or a local grading company is not understanding English well enough to be able to navigate PSA’s website, in which case PSA opening an office in Europe won’t solve the problem as I don’t expect them to open an office in each European country and certainly not have their website and submission forms translated into over a dozen languages.
How does PSA opening an office in Paris, enable a Spanish or Italian collector anymore than having an office in Santa Monica? Sending packages to the US is as safe as sending packages within Europe and the tax implications are non-existent. I’ve spent over 3 years trying to educate people on this matter while I was in the UK and now that I am in the EU the situation is still exactly the same.
Seriously guys, spend time creating a submission on PSA’s website and inquire your local post office on the form/checkbox for temporary exports and tell me how much simpler the process would be if it was done within the EU. If any of you find the process so complex that you feel it deters you from completing a submission, DM me and tell me what the obstacle is and I’ll hold your hand every step of the way. Free of charge.
Probably a combination of things. Fear (taxes/cards get lost), insecurity and feeling overwhelmed looking at the websites and submission forms. I am not sure myself as I have used Ludkins, but some might require specific payment methode like credit cards? You are right that’s it’s alot easier then people probably think.
When I made the decision to use Ludkins about 2 years ago it was mostly just laziness and shipping my cards to a party experienced with grading at PSA felt safer then doing it myself. Nice offer of you though, might take you up on it in the future if I’ll ever grade again. Not with these turnaround times though lol
This. It is easy after you know how it works, but many dont have the time to learn or are scared of import fees/getting lost in the mail.
I had to do a lot of research about sending out to BGS from Spain as there is not a complete guide anywhere online (I might have to do this) - even UPS thought I had filled out the export forms incorrectly and refused (for a couple days) to ship to the US.
For me it’s more tha random charges you could get when they return. To Norway you could get customs, taxes and import fees. i really don’t want to slab my cards and then pay grading fees + triplle that in incoming fees after
Yeah, and that is understandable. I am not trying to invalidate any of those points as people have different risk appetites and knowledge level. The thread is about the importance of PSA opening an EU office as a way to somehow make it easier for all those Germans/Italians/Spanish, etc. who are grading with local companies.
If people are insecure about filling out forms, cards getting lost in the post or having to use credit cards, those concerns would still remain regardless of whether PSA has an office in the EU or not. I think the only point that would be relevant out of all of those is the import tax thing, which again is just a matter of ticking a box in the export form.
Anyway, I won’t insist further on this matter. Didn’t mean to bash anyone, just wanted to reassure people about the simplicity of the process. If anyone ever needs guidance I’m here to help, if people feel more comfortable using EU companies and waiting for PSA to open an office in the EU that is up to them.
Whaaaaaat? Germans introducing again more bureaucracy … typical. I am German and I feel like the government only thinks about how to make things more complicated.
Because the contract is 20,000 double sided pages size 8 font. European logistics, legalities, economic/tax issues, ect ect are insane. These companies know youll use them no matter where they are located, so why would they put themselves through the headache?
Even PSA 50 $ per card people still continue to use it, but obviously in different quantities. If PSA opened in Europe there would be many people who would use it, certainly it can graduate at least 5000 cards everyday.
Any German buyers thinking about buying through eBay using GSP had better act now before July 1, as I can see a lot of non-German sellers not wanting to deal with the extra paperwork Germany will be requiring, and just excluding Germany as a country they’ll ship to.
Edit: After reading up on Lizenzero, it sounds like there is a yearly subscription fee for sellers to be registered. 40 euros a year, which comes out to about $45 USD. Can’t say I do enough sales straight to Germany to justify that yearly expense. I wonder though if I use the eBay GSP, are they responsible for all packaging declarations and whatnot?
I’d be surprised if this new policy applies to GSP. At least the sellers using gsp shouldn’t have to deal with this update. I don’t even see the final destination shipping address with gsp.
I’m hoping you’re right, I figured with this new change eBay would start notifying sellers if a sale through GSP was headed to Germany, and make the seller provide some of this new paperwork.
Some interesting development for EU collectors lately.
1 January 2021 - The largest European marketplace with cards - UK - introduces VAT fees for EU with packages above EUR 22.
1 July 2021 - The VAT exemption for value up to EUR 22 is removed. ALL goods imported in the EU are now subject to VAT.
6 April 2022 - Yahoo Japan stops operating in Europe.
1 July 2022 - Whatever this new packaging LUCID licence means.
I see a bright future for collectors in Germany (myself included)! I hope at least ebay keeps working for a little while
Not sure if this is sarcasm or not? It really seems that EU lawmakers are trying everything in their might to make collecting as unattractive as possible (when in reality, they probably don’t think about us at all, hehe).
With every new regulation, I’m more happy about the stuff that I already have and more worried about the stuff I still want.
I see two main consequences of increasingly difficult international purchasing:
The items that are already inside the EU become more valuable as imports from USA/Japan become less feasible.
Collecting as a whole actually gets so unattractive that many collectors leave the hobby and less new people come in, which in return of course lowers demand and therefore prices.
These two effects go hand in hand, but I tend to think that the second will outweigh the first. In the long term, these regulations will definitely continue to hurt the future of our hobby inside the EU.
It absolutely was sarcasm I completely share your view about the future of collecting in the EU. Sometimes I tend to forget about the positive side of the current development which is making the items we already have more scarce and valuable. So thanks for reminding.
Many of the cards I have come from the UK so the biggest hit for me was the VAT introduction. But I think we can still be lucky for some of the large sellers we have in Germany, Italy, Finland and the Netherlands (yeah, even THAT seller comes in handy sometimes).
I am considering speeding up the collection a bit so that I have a piece of mind that at least some of my goals are finished before the lawmakers go completely crazy :]
It really sucks to collect these days. I wouldn’t mind buying singles from the US and pay taxes but it’s so hard to find singles that ship to Finland and if seller ships to Finland they often use GSP and that point it makes zero sense to buy a $3 card and pay $25 for shipping.
How about Japan? Japan Post has suspended most postal services to Finland (and probably other European countries too) due to the Russia situation. So at the moment looks like I can only ship stuff with DHL / Fedex etc… alias it only makes sense to make a bigger purchase. I got 2 of my latest purchases cancelled by Japanese sellers because of this.
Card singles from my country or somewhere else in EU? It’s really hard to find the cards that I want.
I completely share your view about the future of collecting in the EU. Sometimes I tend to forget about the positive side of the current development which is making the items we already have more scarce and valuable. So thanks for reminding.