PSA July Special

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Specials are finally back. $18/card for members under $200 value 20 card minimum. 150 business day turn around though.

[prestigecollectibles]

Great, now if I could only get my 2 bulk orders back from February and March 2021 and my 4 "Economy" orders from April and May of this year. I think their 150 estimated days on this new service will be more like 1500 days.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Specials are finally back. $18/card for members under $200 value 20 card minimum.

And as far as I can tell, any year, right? That's a departure from their "1996-2022" value subs.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Mike D.

And as far as I can tell, any year, right? That's a departure from their "1996-2022" value subs.

Value was opened up to any year a couple weeks ago.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Value was opened up to any year a couple weeks ago.

Really? It was just June 16th when they announced the return of value with 1996-2022. I'm not seeing anything on PSA's site?

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Mike D.

Really? It was just June 16th when they announced the return of value with 1996-2022. I'm not seeing anything on PSA's site?

Not like I'd make it up lol.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Not like I'd make it up lol.

OK, I found it...apparently, they updated their blog post from mid-June on June 30th with the info...but for some reason didn't give that it's own blog post, or mention it on the website anywhere else.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Specials are finally back. $18/card for members under $200 value 20 card minimum. 150 business day turn around though.

Is $18 good??

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

Is $18 good??

Ha ha...I don't know if it's "good", but it IS less than $30/card.

[Johnny630]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

Is $18 good??

I think it is!!!

[A2000]

[Nugen]

Let’s see how SGC counters. I believe each was waiting for the other to announce their National special first.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

Is $18 good??

Considering the "regular" service before everything went haywire was $25 it's not bad. Don't know if we'll ever see $10 or $12 again.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

...Don't know if we'll ever see $10 or $12 again.

Never underestimate the elasticity of prices in a competitive market...

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Nugen

Let’s see how SGC counters. I believe each was waiting for the other to announce their National special first.

Agreed...should be interesting!

[ElCabron]

Cool, cool. How much to get my 400 cards back that I sent in february of 2021?

[rjackson44]

Ill pass

[parkplace33]

Funny, SGC releases the A changes and then PSA comes out of nowhere with the price drop.

How (or will) SGC react? Possible price war?

[Jay Wolt]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Specials are finally back. $18/card for members under $200 value 20 card minimum. 150 business day turn around though.

PSA no longer uses "business" days, its now calendar days
Here's the special, copied from their website

July National Special

$18/card
20-card minimum
Years AcceptedAny
Declared Value Limit$199
Categories AcceptedAll sports, non sports, TCG
Item Types AcceptedRegular or Small-Sized Cards
Membership RequirementCollectors Club Membership
Turnaround Time (Estimated)150 days
ExclusionsSupersized, T3, Jumbo, Packs, Coins/pins, Ticket, Jumbo Tickets

[bobbyw8469]

I'm getting an order together.....all $200 cards..........I know I'm one of the ones adding kindling to the fire......

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by parkplace33

Funny, SGC releases the A changes and then PSA comes out of nowhere with the price drop.

How (or will) SGC react? Possible price war?

I'll gladly pay the extra twelve bucks to get my cards back in two weeks instead of two years.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

I'll gladly pay the extra twelve bucks to get my cards back in two weeks instead of two years.

And getting .75 cents on the dollar is fun too!

[gonefishin]

Just wondering if anyone received the e-survey sent out by PSA a few days ago. I received it but haven't completed the survey.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by gonefishin

Just wondering if anyone received the e-survey sent out by PSA a few days ago. I received it but haven't completed the survey.

I received it. Haven't filled it out yet.

[BeanTown]

How do they determine the value of a card for grading? Do they determine value before or after their grade ?

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

You declare the value. If they disagree after the fact you pay an upcharge to the appropriate level.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

You declare the value. If they disagree after the fact you pay an upcharge to the appropriate level.

It is the classic negotiating move. Always let the other party declare what they are willing to pay/accept first. That way you can take advantage of them if they are willing to accept a below market value or pay an above market price. And it also sets an upper/lower limit for the other side to continue negotiating from, usually putting them at a potential disadvantage if negotiations do continue.

I'm assuming in this case that if you initially overvalue a card you are getting graded, the TPG doesn't always refund you the difference in the grading fee if the card turns out to altered/trimmed/fake. Maybe in some rare instances I'm unaware of, but the TPGs are in this to make money and don't really care as much about the hobby and collectors as they do about profiting off of them.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

And getting .75 cents on the dollar is fun too!

To each their own. The fun for me is in enjoying/possessing the cards, rather than having them in a "vault" or in PSA's warehouse for multiple years. Even if you're all about maximizing ROI and therefore a PSA lifer, the fact that they can't return cards in a reasonable amount of time is sure to cost people money as the market continues to cool and their cards sit inaccessible.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by BobC

I'm assuming in this case that if you initially overvalue a card you are getting graded, the TPG NEVER REFUNDS you the difference in the grading fee

Tweaked your post to answer your question. If you overvalue a card that simply comes back lower grade than you expected no refund either.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Tweaked your post to answer your question. If you overvalue a card that simply comes back lower grade than you expected no refund either.

LOL

Thanks Scott. I pretty much knew that from everyone I've ever heard complain about TPGs on here, but with my luck, some troll would jump on me and go on and on about some situation they knew of where a TPG actually did refund a submitter some money in a weird, unique situation. They have institutionalized the concept of having the submitter make the first move, so they have the upper hand in regard to getting the most money they can out of every submitter. They hit people for any potential upside, but have no downside for themselves. And they can usually rely on people submitting stuff to them to generally be overzealous in their estimation of how nice the cards they are submitting actually are.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by BobC

LOL

Thanks Scott. I pretty much knew that from everyone I've ever heard complain about TPGs on here, but with my luck, some troll would jump on me and go on and on about some situation they knew of where a TPG actually did refund a submitter some money in a weird, unique situation. They have institutionalized the concept of having the submitter make the first move, so they have the upper hand in regard to getting the most money they can out of every submitter. They hit people for any potential upside, but have no downside for themselves. And they can usually rely on people submitting stuff to them to generally be overzealous in their estimation of how nice the cards they are submitting actually are.

Troll?

Nope, in my other hobby that's literally business as usual.
Send in an item as one with a very high catalog value, expertizer says it's the common one. Cert issued as the common item, charged the minimum charge (I think around $35. ) Or what's appropriate based on the actual catalog value instead of the higher charge.

But that's a mature hobby with regularly issued catalogs with mostly accurate pricing since the prices are fairly stable.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by steve B

Troll?

Nope, in my other hobby that's literally business as usual.
Send in an item as one with a very high catalog value, expertizer says it's the common one. Cert issued as the common item, charged the minimum charge (I think around $35. ) Or what's appropriate based on the actual catalog value instead of the higher charge.

But that's a mature hobby with regularly issued catalogs with mostly accurate pricing since the prices are fairly stable.

Ha ha!

Good one Steve!

Too bad this hobby doesn't work like that. We have to play the hand we're dealt, unfortunately.

[glynparson]

The price paid for turnarounds is based on multiple factors not just value of item but quicker turnaround times as well. So you are still getting the faster turn so therefore should pay the higher charge. If you want to argue upcharges shouldn’t go to the max because you don’t get the quicker turn that’s a different discussion. But expecting fast turns yet cheap rates because you don’t know what you are doing seems rather entitled thinking to me.