Psa grading and pricing
 

I need to know how they list a PSA9 card at $400, when it books at 30$ nm?

They ?
 

What card, and who is they ?....and Hi there

We'll need a bit more to go on.

What book, what card, that sort of stuff.

The "book" usually isn't about graded stuff. And for many cards it's just an average that might be way off.

Try getting a dollar for anything Beckett lists at a dollar.......

The NM in most books is the old ungraded NM. Which can be anywhere from G-Mint at a flea market, and maybe from VG-EX to mint at a show.

If there aren't many that are graded 9, and the set is popular, then book values don't matter much. It's all about the registry competition some people get into.

Not saying that's good, just that it is.

Steve B

Some
 

cards are tougher to get in nice condition then others. And others the book is just wrong about.

I'll step out on a limb, and assume you mean you saw the price in PSA's Sports Market Report (SMR) magazine. As crazy as it may sound, some cards that are graded do go for a lot more than a nearly identical card that hasn't been graded. Just how much difference will depend on the card. Generally on the newer cards, it takes a card being a PSA10 grade to make that kind of difference. However, on the older cards that's not unusual at all. There's just a much bigger collector group for graded cards than the ungraded cards. So many people are trying to put together sets that will garner a higher number on the registry and they are willing to pay the price for higher graded cards to boost their set's registry number.

I'm with the OP. Never understood grading.
Hate the fact that it has driven up the price of nice conditioned pure cards.

Cards in their natural state
 

Chris--thanks goodness you did not call them raw. Pure verses entombed or imprissoned. I like it.

haha Al,
I have liberated" my share at least 100 haha
I also detest the term "raw"
Pure sounds more appropriate IMO

Umm...they make up the prices. Have done so for a long time. Run the pops on some of the prewar cards in high grade--they don't exist. PSA plugs them. The SMR is best viewed as a PSA public relations device not as a serious academic study of prices.

In general I agree with you Adam. SMR does list some sold prices along with their prices, but some of the items they list a price for don't even exist in the grade. If it doesn't exist, they have to just be guessing what the card would sell for if it was available. More realistic prices are found at Card Target's website and at Vintage Card Prices, both of which use actual prices realized for cards at various grades at auctions or sales.

Or maybe they are following the Beckett business model in reverse.

The SMR is a slick advertising propaganda tool to stroke their key customers, AHs and Registry patrons, that masquerades as a price guide.

Terminology defines perception
 

I'm going with "Free," as opposed to "Incarcerated," as the official accepted terminology. :p

I agree more and more with such sentiments and with those who have chosen to free their cards from their plastic tombs. I have thought about releasing my '53s and '57s....I am only 40, but I can remember just collecting cards and not worrying about what number they would be assigned. Yes, I was somewhat selective about condition (and still am), but I feel like after spending enough years around cards I should be able to identify what I am looking for without "help" from TPGs.

Hate it all you want - the only thing it will get you is "hate" to deal with. The TPG's aren't going anywhere anytime soon. I certainly agree with the sentiments on how ridiculous some of the prices paid for VERY imperfectly assigned graded cards are, but as PT Barnum understood - as long as there is a sucker willing to part with his money, someone needs to be there to help him out. My 2 cents - don't waste your time hating - collect in the way that you want and what you love!

Disclosure - I happen to like the TPG's when I sell highly graded cards ;-)

I hear ya. Your argument is just some of the reason I haven't cracked out cards. Also, in this day and age, so many cards are bought by me on line as opposed to in person. I don't hate anyone...I just wish it were simpler. But, you are correct, we all must collect our own way. There is no wrong way. I feel hypocritical because I essentially depend on the TPGers in that they tell me whether or not the card has been trimmed/altered.

One auction house has a 1975 Robbin Yount Rookie card graded at BCC G 10. Beckett book 500+ that's what they quote. "standard card book shows 50 at near mint

The BCCG grading isn't the same as regular PSA, Beckett, or SGC grading from what I understand. You can look on the website, but I know I wouldn't trust the grade on a BCCG slabbed card as much as the others.

I went and looked it up. This is the short version from the Beckett website:
BCCG-graded cards (Beckett Collectors Club Grading) are completely separate and vastly different from the premium BGS- or BVG-graded cards. We can assure you that the same consummate care in handling is followed and consistent industry-leading quality of grading is applied to each and every card. As a result, BCCG-graded cards provide an eye-catching secondary market alternative to other graded card products, reaching a wider audience of fans and collectors. It features a modified numerical grading scale, with each level representing a range of standard conditions (Mint or better, Near mint or better, Excellent or better, etc.).

The BCCG service does not offer the four category (corners, centering, edges, and surface) break down on the backs of each of the cards. The BCCG service also does not have the half point grading scale which you see in the regular grading services - it is a more simplified grading scale that offers whole point grades only. The cases for BCCG cards are thinner than the BGS/BVG cases and there is no inner sleeve in which the card placed in before being inserted into the holder. Please be assured that our regular graders do grade all BCCG cards so you will be getting a professional Beckett Grading Services opinion from a qualified Beckett grader.

Not Hate
 

I do not hate graders or graded cards. I just prefer my cards ungraded. But, for me it is just a hobby. If it was an investment or part of my income or estate planning, getting cards graded would be probably be necessary at this point in time.

Graded cards have their place in the market. I like the ease of sale of a graded card, I like how some cards look in their holders, and it sure makes it easy for laypeople who have to sell cards--like all our heirs eventually--to know what they have and deal with it. Fake price data, however, is worthless and has no place in the market.

If they're comparing BCCG to PSA they're not getting it.

But psa 9 Younts while not exactly all that tough (currently 167 of them out there) They do sell for a bit.

Some actual results posted here by PSA
http://www.psacardfacts.com/CardDetail.aspx?item=35512

$428 to $607, the highest one and most recent in 2011.

So if it really should be a 9 they're not all that far off.

Of course, an 8 is just about as nice, and lots cheaper. And an nice "NM" one ungraded would be cheaper still.

Steve B

Pure: I like it. Going to start using it.

Criticism not hatred
 

Expressing an opposing point of view can get one labled a hater, I guess, so will go on record here as hating hatred.;)

I remember being at a show in the mid-eighties with my late father and he pointed out the coins that were also at the show and were graded.

He said right then that he feared cards would be encased and graded one day. I reassured him that would never happen because it would take away from the beauty of the cards by sticking a number or label on there.

I was wrong.

Sadly he didn't live to see it

Chris,
i remember that, when in the early mid 80s coins started in the graded world
it turned me off, so i decided to sell my entire coin collection! i raised 32K
went to B of A and borrowed 5k more and purchased a 7-11 franchise in
Hawthorne Ca. not long after that late 80s i remember the PSA people coming around shows advertising card grading and most dealers laugh at
that!! and the rest as they say is history.

^ awesome story Jose. You came out pretty good.

New guy here - can someone please explain to me what "So many people are trying to put together sets that will garner a higher number on the registry and they are willing to pay the price for higher graded cards to boost their set's registry number." means? In particular what does "garner a higher number on the registry" mean?

Thanks

Psa
 

Psa has a set registry on their website psacard.com. It evaluates and ranks set based on grade with key and tougher cards weighted higher in each set. Weighting a are often based on player popularity and population in higher grades. Hope this helps and welcome aboard.

Thank you!! I knew about the set registry but I didn't know they evaluated each set and ranked it.