Quote:
Originally Posted by BillP
I know this question as been discussed many times, but in today's market with pricing of the average card at $100 for PSA and $30 for SGC, does that gap really translate into the eventual value to sell a card?
Although I have a good size collection, I've never submitted to either. I do like the SGC background better, but my question goes to: Is SGC that far off the mark in acceptance v PSA?
Thoughts? thx billp
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If the person(s) looking to buy a card specifically wants a graded one, it most definitely factors in. If they buy a raw card instead, depending on which TPG they go with, they know they're going to have to pay an extra $100 (+S&H) if they want a PSA graded version, or an extra $30 (+S&H) for an SGC graded version. So if some AH has three of the exact same cards, in pretty much the exact same condition/grade of VG-EX, you would expect the PSA 4 graded one to sell for the most because of the added cost (and time) it would otherwise take the buyer to send it to PSA for grading. The SGC 4 version of the same card would sell for less because it wouldn't cost nearly as much (or currently take anywhere near as much time) for the buyer to send it in to SGC for grading (versus PSA), and the buyer of the raw VG -EX version of the card would pay the least of all because they don't expect or intend to spend anything further to have their raw card graded. And there would likely be an even bigger discount aside from grading fees and costs alone for the raw card versus the PSA or SGC graded ones because of the uncertainty of the raw card coming back with the same VG-EX 4 grade as its graded counterparts, were it eventually sent in for grading at some point in the future.
Of course the grading fees and related costs to get cards graded are not the only factor(s) affecting pricing differentials between graded and raw versions of the same card(s), but they are definitely a contributing factor to the valuations of what would often be considered as otherwise identical cards. And I would surmise that the greater the grading fees and associated grading costs are to the overall value of a card percentagewise, the more those grading fees and costs factor into the overall pricing differentials between the different grading companies and raw versions of the same card(s).