Record breaking PSA phone queue?
 

So this must be some kind of record.... I just tried to call PSA with a question (yeah, silly idea I know) and I actually got a robo-voice telling me that there are 134 calls ahead of me!

Like Ron Burgandy, I’m not even angry.... I’m just amazed.

Isn’t this a textbook business case for how a company’s own success can lead to its own demise? I would have to think the door is WIDE OPEN to a new, innovative TPG competitor

Have been reading a bit here about a new one - coming on line soon? (I hope)

“134 callers ahead of me!” Wow. Must be a record... or, maybe it’s just Monday at PSA

Monday after a holiday. Any submitter with a question, concern, gripe, mechanical error, etc over the past week is calling today.

I guess they don't want phone calls.

Insane what PSA gets away with. Submit to SGC or BVG or the newest TPG when they're ready.

Wait time for gradings
 

From what I’ve been hearing, the turnaround time for standard card grading submissions are around 6-8 months

Maybe they need more phones & operators. Cost probably would be reasonable for a company pulling in all that cash.

I have no clue on how things work with auction houses. Do the larger auction houses submit cards to PSA in an effort to maximize the the final hammer price? If so, does PSA have some type of agreement with the auction houses on turn-around time for submissions? It'd be difficult to auction off something that is not in their hands.

Psa
 

They will never answer I called and they said i was in a que with 13 ahead of me stayed on the line for over a hour, hung up and called again same message 13 ahead of me. I did get a response when I emailed 2 days later. Good luck.







Daryl Fraley

I have plenty of frustration with PSA right now. But, they just raised prices and changed their process for taking a cut on higher end cards meeting a specific grade. They have an enormous backlog and people continue to throw their wallets at these guys. Why would they increase their overheads if they have all the demand they can handle (or can't)? They're clearly taking advantage of the situation and the consumer isn't budging or "voting" with their wallet.

SGC and BGS are also swamped with long waits for submissions. But PSA gets the most submissions and the highest returns for their holders. They're going to milk it for all they can.

We had to pull items in our last auction that were submitted Express and didn't make it back in time. Not entirely PSA's fault as USPS took two weeks getting them the items, but PSA did miss the turnaround significantly also. While I have someone I can call directly with questions/concerns, I have submissions that have been out for months as well so, at least at my level, I don't think we're getting any special treatment.

There are some Facebook forum guys that claim they get preferential treatment and turnaround time. I am sorry, I just don't see it.

In Canada we have one bulk submitter who pretty much owns the PSA sub market in this country because he gets preferential pricing and 1 month turnaround times. Its quite amazing

Unfortunately, the card market will remain scolding hot and third-party grading delays will continue to be an ongoing issue into the foreseeable future. Demand obviously drives the card and grading markets. Demand will remain strong.

This next stimulus round will inject more capital into newer collector’s hands. The ones that have steady/safe jobs will want to spend this newfound money and not save it. Everything is still shut down, so they will buy more cards and submit even more cards for grading. The cycle will continue.

My recent PSA call
 

I got the same message - - I too was like number 130 in the queue. Per their instructions I left my number for a call back within an estimated 1-2 days. That call never came.

I figured the Davy Jones T206 I sent back in late August would be back by now. Lesson learned.

Thats over now

Probably sitting in Davy Jones locker.

Can you explain what you said about PSA taking a cut on higher end cards meeting a specific grade? This sounds like a conflict.

PSA essentially has no competition, it can do whatever it wants without losing market share. Is Verizon really worried about losing your business when you can't reach a human being through their menu trees? Same thing.

If a business has more demand than supply, isn’t it logical that they would raise prices and/or “increase overheads” as you say?

I feel honored as when I called, I had “69” in front of me. I left a message and they called me back 3 hours later.

What was your question, and did they answer it? What was their answer?

They did answer the questions. I had submitted 6 Koester Bread cards and they had misidentified them. Example was an Elmer Miller that at one time identified as an Elmer Miller Koester Bread (I have the flip), and They called Jesse Burkette a W575- and he does not exist in that set. Scary that researchers did not have a clue as to the Burkette card.

Quick update as the original poster here... I am happy (and honestly impressed) that I did receive a call back last night, as promised by their phone queuing and call back system.

The young guy sounded pretty exhausted but he was super helpful, gave me the answer I needed (not what I wanted to hear, but that’s ok 😉)

I never expected to hear back... as a very rare TPG submitter, I asked how long I should expect in total for cards to be graded and returned. He basically said 9+ months at least

Yeah, not interested in that - much to my surprise, he refunded to my annual Silver membership fee.

Nice... if they ever get their service back to reasonable turn-around time, I might just return based on this experience yesterday.

Until then, I guess I’ll give Becket a spin.

Thought you’d like to hear how things turned out... happy new year, all!

Jeff

LOLOLOL Unreal.

'Maybe sometime in 2022' will be the next answer someone reports..... LOL

Beckett is over a year. Spin away.

If your card grades at a certain level and it's currently commanding more than the stated amount per the level of service, PSA will hold your card hostage until you pay up. Given the recent spike in card values and the time it's taking for PSA to turnaround submissions, this is happening often. Part of me is annoyed that they are paying people to take the time to look up recent sales so they can get paid even more money. After all, it's not like they're backed up 8 months......er.....well yes, they are.

On a side note, if they're considering PWCC sales as a gauge of value at a specific grade, they're not doing a service to their average customer.

I will never throw another card in the mail to any of these companies again. 6-8 mos. turnaround. Give me a break.

If there is some card I need to get graded hell or high water I will wait till the next National, whenever that is, and pay for same day walk up service.

Truth be told, this is probably more due to the integration of their Auction Priced Realized tool into their website. Software can now check your results without human interaction and inform the staff to upgrade your service level, rather than someone individually looking up each card.

I think the guy who submitted two EX-MT/offcentered 80/20 Montana rookies that got the "Mechanical Error"/typo GEM MINT 10 grades wasn't up-charged, as far as I can tell. But the flippers with Prizm Zion rookies are definitely getting hit with a lot of upgrade fees.

It's like a Yogi Berraism. Nobody sends in their cards any more, the wait is too long.

that's great!!!!

They are getting buried in modern refractors and prisms and even Yugioh cards. Prewar baseball is the least of the issue for these guys.

Yep. The PSA 10 is all.

A Zion or Luka 10 in the right set could change someone’s life. Pay for some young guy’s first home purchase. Crazy but true.

God, I'm glad somebody still has a sense of humor. Leon, we need some cards!

Good one! :D

Turnaround
 

I can attest to that. SGC- submitted 10 cards in May when it was still 20 days and got them back in October.

They spend all day looking at shiny PSA 10 refractors then my 1950s ExMt card comes through the door and looks like a -1.5

Lord, I hope that isn't true. That is all I sub!

We always got cards, John.

Per the topic.... One IT customer, whom I was very friendly with used to tell me, when I gave some excuse about not getting back to him, (rarely) that he could make me less busy. :)

N360 Little Rhody - miscut back

https://luckeycards.com/n360.jpg