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

From the NY Times:

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

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

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

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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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.

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

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

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


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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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...yet you can reholder and keep your grade.

That seems to be one of those "drive a Mack Truck through" type loopholes...well, for those not paying attention to whether the cert # is low compared to where one draws the line in "good new" vs "old bad" cert numbers.

This is the work around, however the cert number stays the same.


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What's to stop people from doing a slab update and having the old PSA grade placed on the new flip?

I can't imagine PSA is going to drop the grade on a card that probably deserves it.

I can't imagine the reholder fee is that much. The card has been graded already so charging a premium to reholder a card wouldn't be that profitable, especially for the submitter of a card that was grossly over graded (that is looking to sell the card).

Just more hobby silliness that doesn't deserve much attention.

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discounted %
 

So are you talking 50% off in a old Slab, I would buy a few 86 Fleer Jordan RC PSA 8 or 89 UD Griffey Jr PSA 10 at that level -- lol

It's definitely anecdotal, but I've found that the old slabs (pre-Lighthouse) often have better centering at any given grade, while the newest slabs seem to be harsher on corner wear and surface issues -- probably because magnification is used more consistently.

To me, this is all a BS marketing ploy. It all depends on how the card looks. We all say it on here buy the card not the grade. The bottom line is that it can be an old grade or a new grade. It depends on how the card looks if it deserves it or if it’s high in said grade or not, that’s really what it's about. Check out this website, it’s about eye appeal regardless af grade. Snowman was big on this before he was removed from the board. I think he is part of the group that has this site. Pretty smart.

Alpha.eyeappealinc.com

That site is great, very cutting edge.