PSA order
 

I sent 2 orders to PSA about a month apart.
The order entered on 3/10 is already in QA2 status, while the order entered on 2/14 is still in grading. Both orders were the vintage $15/card special and both had 13 cards.
Just curious if that would be normal or why the difference in time frames.

They can get goofy that way sometimes.

My experience suggests that their selection methodology for which order to look at next can be pretty random.

Not that different than you, I have two very similar orders currently in process. One went in last October, and the other one in November. The November order is at QA2, and the October order has been stuck on the assembly phase for 2 months.

The degree of randomization seems to get magnified when they’re busier. And right now with some of the specials going on, they seem to be pretty busy.

I have had the same thing happen. One of the customer service reps explained it depends upon a number of factors including how many orders they got in that day, how many orders are in the queue (to be opened) and a myriad of other factors. During their specials they get so many orders, they have to put some in a locked secure holding area where an agent for PSA picks up the orders and delivers to the facility as needed. When they are delivered to PSA they are then logged in. At least that was what I was told when one of my parcels "disappeared" for 8 weeks while still "in transit". All worked out in the end - but the fact they could not tell me what happened to my order was a little unnerving.

I had two $15 orders get there 2/28. One was non sport pre war which is still in grading. The other was baseball and it’s on the way back.

Many similar experiences
 

Frustrating.

On the other hand - I just sent a sub to SGC - "submitted": 3/16, "Received": 3/20. "Back in my hands": 3/29

It was a 54 card submission including a reholder and some large-sized cards! VERY impressive turnaround - now if they could just get a good set registry going and spend more on marketing to help increase the market value of their post war cards!?

Not to side-step this thread - but are there ever better prices on SGC's large sized cards? $50 seems a bit steep.

Could be worse. Current prices for jumbo pieces at PSA are $75 apiece.

And now I guess I know why my October order is taking longer than my November order. Just got a call from a PSA customer rep, and apparently 2 of my pieces from that order have gone missing.

Luckily, nothing particularly valuable or precious to me. They're basically going to comp me for the value of those items by giving me a credit for those values against my invoice for grading this batch. And the prices they're using to value the items are pretty reasonable, so it's difficult to get mad enough to chew nails and spit rust.

For any conspiracy theorists, these items are neither rare nor valuable - you can find them for pretty cheap on eBay, so unless someone on the grading floor has a really bizarre fetish, I can't imagine anyone deliberately absconding with these pieces.

But at the same time, it's the first time they've lost any of my pieces, which is a bummer. Maybe if I'm lucky they'll find them someday. I think I've seen other posters who have mentioned that their items were initially lost, but eventually found.