Bulk Grading

[CardboardCollector]

I have a number of pre-war and vintage duplicates that I am looking to sell in order to support my collecting needs in the coming year. Having just gotten back into collecting after a really long hiatus, I have never submitted a card to a grading company and am looking for some advise.

Just trying to get a handle on the economics of grading and possible return on investment. I was thinking of getting cards in ex or higher graded along with higher end stuff regardless of grade. All others just sell as is.

One if my challenges is the cost of grading. I see that the different grading companies offer specials and have spoken with them about bulk discounts.

What are your experiences in submitting a large number of cards to for grading? A large number for me might breakdown to 50,100, 500 or more cards.

Have you submitted all at once or smaller groups over time?

What kind of discount off their published payment schedule have you seen?

It looks to me that some dealers seem to get an enormous discount?

Thanks in advance for reading this and responding to my questions.

Dean

[drcy]

50,100? Whoah. I dare you to try to the two day special.

[drcy]

Since you're new here, I'll note that I was just making a joke. Your numbers were clear.

My alternate joke was "50,100? You don't have do grade all the cards in your 1991 Donruss sets."

My second alternate joke was "50,100 is exact end of the Mayan calendar. Is your post some sort of veiled threat?"

[drcy]

Proceed.

[4815162342]

50,100? Whoah. I dare you to try to the two day special.

Since you're new here, I'll note that I was just making a joke. Your numbers were clear.

My alternate joke was "50,100? You don't have do grade all the cards in your 1991 Donruss sets."

My second alternate joke was "50,100 is exact end of the Mayan calendar. Is your post some sort of veiled threat?"

Proceed.

I think someone put Jolt Cola in your Cheerios this morning. :D

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/37/110345832_ed12624ce8.jpg

[drcy]

"What are we doing? This is boring and stupid." -- the real reason the Mayan calendar ended at 2012.

[glchen]

In the past, PSA has said that you need to submit at least 500 cards in one submission in order to qualify for a bulk discount. (Note that these would need to be the same "size" and under the same declared value. e.g., for PSA, you cannot submit standard size and tall boy sized cards in the same submission.) I believe if you want the dealer discount, you would need to agree to submit thousands of cards to PSA on a regular basis (every couple of months). I think that's pretty tough for most people. Contact PSA to find the exact details, but again, you would need the minimum of 500 at a time. PSA does have Collectors Club specials if you join, and often these will be at a discount also. One of the better strategies is to submit during a Collector's club special, but also if you have 500+ cards, to try to get an additional discount off that special. Obviously submitting more cards at one time makes sense because the cost of grading per card is less. There is the cost of postage to send the cards to PSA and the cost going back. Therefore, usually, the more the better. However, if you have never submitted cards to a third party grader before, you have to be very careful. Often, what someone new to grading believes is a Near Mint card comes back as VGEX. If you submit too many cards that come way below what you thought that they would grade, you will end up losing money on every card that you sent for grading, regardless if you sent it in for a bulk submission. It may be better to first start by submitting a smaller submission until you get a good handle on how to correctly grade your raw cards.

For SGC, I believe you can also receive bulk discounts. When Brian Dwyer was at SGC, I remember receiving a slight discount for something around a 200 card submission. As w/ PSA, you'd have to call in to receive the most accurate information.

Finally, as others will have say, sometimes, it's better to sell your cards raw. Sometimes, the cost of grading is worth it, but other times, not. Good luck!

[CardboardCollector]

Gary,

Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking of doing what you suggested by submitting a handful to check my own grading skills before sending off a larger batch. I certainly understand about shipping and postage cost factoring into the equation.

I have had a few conversations with both PSA and SGC to get a feel about fees. Just wanted to hear from you guys to see if it aligned with my conversation, since I could be looking at a significant upfront cost.

Selling raw is a consideration, but graded stuff especially at the higher end looks to push somewhat higher dollars.

Thanks,
Dean

[smtjoy]

I do bulk to SGC in the ranges you listed, I set up a deal with Sean years ago that was for a 100 minimum with a 20 day turn around. The largest I have done was near 500. They have been great and the nice thing about SGC is they can be mixed sizes and values so one deal for all. The only thing they require a separate sub for is autos. I would just call Earl and im sure you can work something out.