PSA new photo match service
 

has anyone tried this new service? How is it different than Meigrey and other grading companies?

Photo matching
 

I have not used either service, but have found it reasonably easy to photo match modern day hockey sticks and jerseys given the abundance of news photos available on the web... I will also mention that I understand Mei Gray's approach to be well ahead of the curve on this department... I believe their image archive is extremely vast and goes well beyond the digital realm of the internet...

Huge Mei Gray fan btw... They are fanatical about service and the expansion of game worn in the hobby.

Photo Matching
 

PSA Photo Matching is a new addition to the foremost card grading service in the hobby.
The new addition has a fantastic staff and availably to a vast amount of photo and film references.
It will have the same great quality and professional service as they have in the card grading.
Jerry Sage

Gee, I hope not.

Is the same High school graduate, to which they pay to search sold prices to upcharge $10 on graded commons, going to be searching photos now as well?

+1

lol....

I don't really understand why they didn't start this when they had Ken Goldin on board. They could offer anything nice to Goldin to sell and rely on anything he learned over at Game Used Universe and try to resurrect that site to bring back some interest and exposure to that branch of the hobby.

I'll never use them, easy enough to match my stuff with GettyImages. I'm sure there's a market and I hope they don't ruin that part of the hobby where things won't sell unless they're blessed by the Grand Poobah.

I like that things not blessed by the Grand Poobah still can be had for non-unnecessarily increased prices.

I bought a collection of lineup cards from the 1995 Orioles bench coach, Phil Cottier. Included in the lot was a lineup card from Ripken's record setting game. The auction house assumed these were all extras, since another copy had sold years before at REA, and that was assumed to be the dugout one (it came from the pitching coach).

I paid a guy $20 to try and find a photomatch. Luckily for both of us, there was a Getty image with Phil Regan (the manager) looking over the lineup card which was an exact match. The REA one was not. I assume that came from the bullpen, which makes more sense for a pitching coach anyway.

When I sent the item to Goldin for their auciton, they felt it made sense to get it professionally photomatched. Despite being able to show them the match. Initially I was charged over $1250 for the photomatch. When I pushed back, I was able to get the price reduced to $750. For an item I had already matched. With loads of hand-written text so there many, many matches to confirm its authenticity (besides for the fact that the origin with the bench coach made a ton of sense).

I'm going to give Goldin benefit of the doubt here and assume what they charged was a pass-through. Still completely insane.

I think there is real value to photomatching for some items, and in some cases it may take real work. But this is a bit of a joke. Personally, I'm hoping that pretty soon, AI can make this something we can all do for free.

I emailed PSA photo-match dept on 6/21 on the cost of one of my jerseys I own and still waiting for a response. I sent the inquiry to photomatching@psacard.com

It looks like a 2 part fee plus shipping. You pay one research fee pass or fail and another cert fee only if it passes.

Especially since the Grand Poobah has such a spotless track record on their opinion selling...