Collectors are paying more for cards with PSA's newest grading labels, why?

[parkplace33]

From the NY Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/687...s-cards-value/

Do you care if it is an old or new slab?

[premiercardcollectors]

Unfortunately, a lot of the older grade cards are at least one to even three grades below that of what a card would grade under the new grading standards. A dealer actually cracked about $1000 worth of slabs and sent them in for new grades and they came back on average two full grades below what they had been previously graded by PSA under their old standards.

I don’t necessarily care about the age of the label, however when looking at older labeled slabs, I look closely at the card because ultimately it is about the card and not simply about the grade.

So yes, buyers tend to want to pay less for older labels.


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[jchcollins]

This is just part of the cyclical marketing plan of PSA and they've done it about since their inception.

The standards cannot change, (or at least not super often to maintain credibility) but PSA knows the perception of tough grading / easy grading / somewhere in-between is also a real thing, and that this perception varies over time. So what do they do to cash in on it? They redesign the holder, the flip or some other part of the physical product - betting correctly most of the time that a significant portion of their customers if not just certainly their most dyed-in-the-wool fanbois will want their cards only in the newest iteration of the slab.

The phenomenon leads to the newer slabs selling for more money, even if you aren't considering only the accuracy of the grade assigned to the card entombed (Who wants a dinged-up slab from 2005 over a million plus serial number from 2025)? on the secondary market - and just for PSA - if you can live with an old serial number, it also leads to quite an upturn in the reholder business for those who just want shiny new plastic for their cards.

To me the fact that "newer is always better" with the slabs is just more subtle proof that PSA can sit on their standards all day long; their customers know and have known all along that practices change eventually along with labels, it's just a fact of life.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by premiercardcollectors

Unfortunately, a lot of the older grade cards are at least one to even three grades below. What a cart would grade under the new grading standards. A dealer actually cracked about $1000 worth of slabs and sent them in for new grades and they came back on average two full grades below what they had been previously graded by PSA under their old standards.

I don’t necessarily care about the age of the label, however when looking at older labeled slabs, I look closely at the card because ultimately it is about the card and not simply about the grade.


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This. PSA grades have had more deflation than Tom Brady's balls.

[premiercardcollectors]

Check this video out that illustrates the difference in grading standards:

https://youtu.be/WAIZf42GkCo?si=O6ufafBCY3iIOhp6


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[Lucas00]

I would like to see this done with old label sgc cards. In my opinion old label high grade SGC cards usually look damn good and I very rarely disagree with their grades.

[premiercardcollectors]

Originally Posted by Lucas00

I would like to see this done with old label sgc cards. In my opinion old label high grade SGC cards usually look damn good and I very rarely disagree with their grades.

I have had my share of PSA 4s with creases in old slabs that would barely be 2s in today’s grade and I have personally cracked a PSA 8 from an old slab that came back a PSA 5 earlier this year.


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