Grading Bringing Down the Value of a Card?

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Posted By: Don J

Anyone ever get a card graded that brought down the eventual sale value of the card?

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Posted By: barrysloate

I guess if you bought a raw card expecting it to be EX-MT or NR MT and it came back trimmed, that would seriously bring down the value. Otherwise, I see no way a raw excellent could be worth more than a graded excellent. There isn't a scenario where that would apply.

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Posted By: David Vargha

It happens with post-war most often if the card comes in at less than NM and looks like it is NM or better in appearance. It also happens with PSA cards that get a qualifier such as OC or ST. Otherwise, you are pretty safe. However, on common cards worth less than $25 or so, you may not be able to recoup the cost of the grading and postage (both ways) for the process.

DavidVargha@hotmail.com

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Posted By: Anson

Barry is right. And, it seems that folks selling raw cards are charging the graded price anyway.

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Posted By: FYS

I agree with Vargha, it is more of a post war phenomenon. Particularly with 60's cards from my experience. The people that post on this board are in the minority, understanding of condition, when it comes to collecting. Because of this, on low grade star cards from the 50's and 60's, I can sell them for more raw then graded. The people that understand grading are going to pay the same amount whether it is graded or not. The majority of people, will pay more because they simply do not understand. Once a card is graded, then the misinformed majority will pay less because they are now informed.

I stopped by a local show in my area about two weeks ago and picked up some Cyle backs (350) from an old timer. He had several low condition star cards and I spoke to him about grading. He told me he is done with grading after one go round. He sent in his best batch of T206's and they came back as EX. He thought they should have been NM/MT and so did several of his collector/dealer friends that he spoke with. He then sold them on eBay and they only slightly sold for more than the Beckett high book value. I think that mentally and understanding is the majority of the typical collectors.

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Posted By: steve k

<<< from an old timer. He had several low condition star cards and I spoke to him about grading. He told me he is done with grading after one go round. >>>

That's funny...sounds like almost every card shop owner I've ever spoken to since card grading came about. When going into their card shop and mentioning "PSA" or "SGC" - it's liked you just uttered a curse word. Then they go into their "sales pitch" about the worthlessness of grading. Of course then you ask to look at one their NM graded cards in the glass case, and of course virtually every time it is at best an EXMT card and many times even worse.

Why not ask Hal Lewis how much he would have paid for his T-206 Wagner if it wasn't in a SGC slab. He probably wouldn't have bought it at all.

Barry has it absolutely right here.