Quick PSA Question
 

PLEASE don't make this a PSA bashing thread, it is a simple question and since I haven't done much grading I am a bit off.

They got a single card submission from me last Wednesday and it still isn't in the system, when I called she said they were a week or more behind. Can anyone confirm this? I have never seen PSA be that behind that I can recall but as of this post the card still hasn't gone in the system which means it's been sitting there for almost a week. So much for the 2 day turn around (yes it starts when the card is entered).

James G

This is not a bash...but...soon after last years nat'l...PSA was months behind in their grading...so a few days doesn't seem so bad.

From discussions on this board in recent times...it seems PSA is more often behind than not.

They're about a week or so behind - I got an order back from them a few days ago. It will take about a week or so for them to log your package as being opened after the usps delivery confirmation (if you used this). I would not be concerned at this point.

Psa
 

+1

I can confirm too that they are behind. I sent a few cards in that were received by them exactly two weeks ago and the submission just showed up on the website last night.

I have 3 subs there right now and they are all over the approx grading days. It also took them from 3-7 days to enter each.

Ok so as a follow up does anyone know if they open them and then put them in based on the tier or are they put in as they come. IE I had an express order will that get pushed forward of a collectors special assuming they both arrive the same day. Just trying to figure out how long I am going to have to wait before I see the card.

Thanks guys.

James G

I just renewed my membership so got the 15 'free' submissions. Maybe they give priority to those because of "7 Days" written on the box, but they were logged in the day after they were received. And I even got an email from their customer service with a question about one of the items the next day. So that was working well.

I will agree on the slow turnaround time. I'm experiencing that now. I sent in an order for a ten-day turnaround. I got....


My submission took ten days from the date of arrival there until they acknowledged it's arrival

It took ten days before they graded it.

It has been ten days and they still haven't shipped it.

Thirty days they have had it in their hands after I paid for a 10-day turnaround.

Hummmph.

I like PSA and I like Joe O....but I don't think collectors paying for a 10 day turnaround should have to wait 30 days, regardless of how the days are counted. If they do take that long then customers should get a partial refund. Otherwise I think PSA does a good job overall. That all said SGC is still my primary grading company with Beckett coming in second.

If the box Is marked with the highest service level, it seems to get entered quicker. They are at the full 45 days on my bulk orders.

I spoke to a PSA rep about this at the national two years back (when log-in times were starting to get out of hand). She told me that you NEED to put the turnaround time on the outside of the package. So if you are doing a 5-day submission, you need to write "5-Day Sub" on the outside. That way they can log you in quickly if you are paying for a faster service. If you don't write anything they just assume it's a 45 or 60 day turnaround and throw your package to the back of the line.

As others have mentioned, you absolutely MUST put the service level clearly on the outside of the box, or you are completely toast, as they will otherwise assume that your submission is the 50 business day variety and throw it to the end of the line. If you call PSA, and tell them you forgot to put the service level on the outside of the box, just
forget it, they can't help you. In most cases, where I put a higher service level such as Express, the loggage was much quicker.

On a related note, if you have a bulk 50 business day submission, if you want faster loggage, you can think about putting a higher service level submission in the same package that you send to PSA. All submissions in your package are logged at approximately the same time, so your 50 business day submission will be logged approximately the same time as your 2 day submission.

However, be careful when mixing in submissions to PSA and PSA/DNA. These are different departments within the company. If you send a package in care of PSA, which also contains a submission to PSA/DNA such as photos to determine Type, your PSA/DNA submission will have loggage after your PSA one since they need to "ship" your PSA/DNA submission to that department. This will also be true vice versa if you send your package in care of PSA/DNA instead of PSA, so if you care about speed of loggage, you need to take this into account. For myself, I usually try to just get my stuff graded as cheaply as possible so I still mix in PSA and PSA/DNA submissions, but just realize that the whole process will be slower.

After your submission is graded, they are usually shipped that day or the next day. If it is taking ten days after grading, and it still hasn't shipped, that is not normal, and you should call PSA. There might be a ship hold on your package like your credit card isn't valid, and you need to call PSA to take care of it before they will ship.

Finally, as mentioned, the countdown for service level does not begin until after the package is logged. However, if the turnaround goes significantly beyond the stated turnaround, you can call PSA after they shipped your package, and they are usually very reasonable about providing grading vouchers to compensate you for this.

My understanding is that the service type determines the turnaround. EXPRESS service = 5 days turnaround (in theory anyway). REGULAR service is around 45 days and the service type is determined by the declared value of the card(s) you are submitting. For example, a card with a declared value between 500.00 and 2000.00 would automatically qualify it for EXPRESS service.

Thanks for all the responses.

It is absolutely ridiculous that you need to write anything on the outside. No other 3rd party grading service in any hobby requires this. Just dumb. Anyway i of course forgot to do this but the card was entered today, so it took a full week before it was entered.

Insane i just hope they dont mess up the card otherwise its a waste of money and time.

James G

They have
 

way more submissions than the other services, not to excuse there slowness, but it does clearly state in their directions to write the service level on the outside of the package. They are behind, and a week behind is not unusual for them in fact its closer to the norm. If you do not put service level on outside Ive noticed it usually takes even more time to get logged in than when they are behind normally.

They do make it pretty clear that they need you to write the service level on the box, it's in bold under shipping instructions:

http://www.psacard.com/Content/pdf/P...-To-Submit.pdf

Doesn't mean they will hit the turnaround time but I've found my orders log within a few days by following the shipping process.

YES I KNOW THEY state it, its just STUPID. No other 3rd party grading service needs this done.

Again I am aware they request it I just forgot.

Nuff said end of story I got my answer.

James G

I had a 5 day service take 29 days last year. It's not a big deal that they're behind.

No need to lose your shit over this. For what it's worth I was kicked off the PSA boards for being critical of process, I'm by no means a PSA sycophant.

That said it does make sense to me to write the service level on the box, I can imagine they don't want to have to open a box until they are ready to process it. I imagine them opening boxes and putting them aside creates risk of theft, cards being misplaced, etc. There is probably a better way to accomplish this - they should go to some sort of waybill that can be affixed to the box.

If it was not written on the box as they request, I can understand it not getting logged in quickly.

However, I don't think there is an excuse for advertising turn around time and then not meeting their side of the commitment, especially when they charge for accelerated speed of getting cards back. It seems very unprofessional to me - takes the "P" out of PSA in my book.

That said, I think PSA does a good job generally and I use their services.
JimB

Playing devil's advocate here a bit, but it does say in bold red letters at the bottom of the submission form "Turnaround time does not begin until order has been entered into the grading system". Should they enter orders into their grading system more promptly? I suppose. With that said, fantastic customer support is not something I personally put at the top of my list when choosing card grading services. When I'm hankerin' a heapin' helpin' of customer service, I will visit Sandals, Ritz Carlton, Ruth's Chris etc.....but to each their own.

But just because they say they aren't liable for turnaround times doesn't make them exempt from upholding what they tout and charge for. Kind of like the rock hauling trucks that say on the back of them they aren't responsible for rocks falling off and breaking windshields. They still are legally responsible. The thing with PSA is that if you don't like their operations then there are different TPG's...and if they lose enough business they might actually do what they charge for. Again, I like PSA and I like Joe O....so this isn't PSA bashing at all. It's just an opinion on business practices.

I should add that I would guess PSA only says times are estimated (or not guaranteed).....but that being said (if they do say that) then they probably need to usually hit the estimated time and if not then they need to adjust their estimates, imo.

My box had the service level listed on the outside and am still waiting on them, all 3 well are over on days and still took way to long to log.

This is my take as well, no excuse to take 3-5 days to log an order that was shipped properly, especially on a 2-10 day service level.