Dilema

[cardsnstuff]

so here's the background; I am going through my 35 years of collecting (from 30's on) and submitting stuff for grading for resale purposes. When it's all said and done I will probably grade somewhere in the neighborhood of 20k-40k cards, just because of the volume I have acquired. In the past year I've sent in about 2500-3500 cards; I average about 100-300 cards/month depending on special, what I find & finances. Another order of 30's-50's popped today. I am generally off by 1 grade; cards I expect a 8 get a 7, expect 7 get a 6; expect 4 get 3 or a 2{which baffles me because I don't even submit anything that is not clean or at least vg/ex}. I never expect a 9 or 10 but I have got them. Every Order, there are least 5-10% of the cards that are significantly under-graded in my opinion; many times their commons but sometimes stars. I use a lighted loop. On some of these cards there is a big $ difference between 5/6/7 and an 8 etc or even between a 2 and a 4/5.

so here is the dilema; Do I crack and resubmit, {which will be costly} does this generally yield better results than review? or do I try to review? or do I just grin and bear it, and hope things improve as I get better? I was wondering if I gave to AH if they would crack and resubmit. Thoughts appreciated.

[swarmee]

It's generally believed that you won't increase much more than a half grade on a review. So if you think your cards are two grades undergraded, your best best is to crack and resubmit. Some cards might come back trimmed, but you'll likely come out ahead in the long run based on the exponential growth curve of graded card values.

[cardsnstuff]

Swarmee, appreciate the response, sent you a PM. Any other opinions appreciated.

[Batpig]

My opinion is it depends on the card. I've submitted a lot of cards and have gotten to the point where I am accurate the majority of the time with my misses mixing between low and high. On the few I miss greatly on, it's almost always a micro wrinkle or a surface flaw that looks like one. I always crack them, but then, based on what I see, I try to determine if it's worth trying again or just selling raw. If it's high $, I almost always resubmit unless it's a really obvious flaw that I clearly missed.

I will say I use a loupe, but most of the flaws I'm referring to can't be seen with a loupe and are better seen by reflecting light off the surface either with the naked eye or reading glasses. From my experience there's a fine line between normal surface qualities and a wrinkle.

[Batpig]

Just to clarify, all of my TPG experience is over the last year or so, and has amounted to several thousand cards from mid 50's through modern.