PSA Grading Fees

[BillP]

Will these ever become reasonable again? I've been waiting to submit a dozen or so 60's cards that have $10-$40 value. I see they post progress of their backlog, but have been waiting for a new schedule of pricing for the average collector submission.

What has anyone heard on this?

thx bill

[marzoumanian]

I don't have any INSIDE info but I did read an article about the progress they are making and predict six months from now. They are cutting into the backlog. Chief honcho Nat Turner knows he can's keep prices this high forever. The business model would eventually fall apart. However, will prices go to where they were before the shutdown? Probably not, IMHO. My BIG concern will be the quality of the work done by all these new hires. Mistakes will rise, for sure.

[Johnny630]

Originally Posted by BillP

Will these ever become reasonable again? I've been waiting to submit a dozen or so 60's cards that have $10-$40 value. I see they post progress of their backlog, but have been waiting for a new schedule of pricing for the average collector submission.

What has anyone heard on this?

thx bill

PSA has been doing a really good job catching up and phasing in their reopening levels. At this time I do not see them coming back down below $50 per card for the simple reason they will be flooded again with hundreds of thousands of cards within the first month if very cheap levels open up again. Why grade 5 million cards at $20 per card when they can do 1 Million cards at 100$

Let's just wait and see.

[skelly423]

My guess is that it becomes a simple math question for PSA. Their current capacity seems to be 200,000 cards per week. They will gradually re-open further services as they clear out the backlog. When they find the price that produces 200,000 submissions per week, that will become their new lowest price tier.

[bobsbbcards]

What they should do is subcontract with other grading firms around the world to handle the overflow for lower-priced cards. There’s a ton of money to be made by simply taking a cut of the $12 per card that a smaller firm working out of Des Moines or Little Rock would charge. These smaller firms would specialize in vintage cards so research costs would be less. Cards would automatically be directed to the firm with the most capacity for quicker service when a submission was entered online. Cards could either be graded and shipped to PSA for a quick eye test before sealing or the satellite firms could check each other before sealing.

I can imagine numerous card shops around the country that would love to have a crack at some grading revenue during their “Why am I sitting on my arse waiting for a customer?” moments. Heck, I could have graded six cards in the time it took to enter this post!

[ALR-bishop]

Sounds like a business plan, Bob. Time to come out of retirement

[mybestbretts]

This is an interesting conversation. I see people selling PSA graded cards
on ebay for less then PSA wants for grading. If they keep fees high people
aren't going to send in their cards for grading that don't meet a value in
a 7 or 8 level to cover their costs, I don't think. What happens then
they lose interest in PSA in my humble opinion.
I have been thinking the direction PSA and others are going doesn't include
the collector that I am. Their direction is in high priced collector cards that may be sold as investments.

[jchcollins]

The pricing swings and general TPG insanity of 2020 into this year I think was finally enough to pushing me into saying "no more", as a garden variety collector of vintage cards.

The truth at least from my perspective is that there have been many things about grading that have been sketchy for quite some time, and the pricing with SGC for me a few months back was the last straw. Even in an environment with reasonable flat pricing, there are still far too many inconsistencies and shenanigans with grading that give me pause. For example, shoddy slab quality and grading range swings with SGC. I think at the end of the day all grading is accurate for at this point is for authenticity purposes - and yes, I'm talking about the big 3. A card that can be a 5 one day, and then cracked and submitted the next week only to get a 6.5 just makes zero sense to me. That happened to me earlier this year. This is borderline fraud for companies that have been doing this for 30 years at this point, and should freaking be able to do better if they continue to take money from their customers. I have zero faith in the ongoing process. Cards that are valued for their eye appeal over everything else will ALWAYS have a component of their technical grading that will remain subjective. No 2 ways about that. Yet these companies continue to prey on collectors who have been convinced otherwise...

Maybe if I were mostly a dealer and not a collector, I would still be in the practice of engaging TPG's for profitability, but I'm not. For those of you who are, and even those collectors who just love a well graded card in a nice slab (I actually still fall into that category when being idealistic, all my negativity here aside...) I hope that prices get reasonable again for you soon.