Posted By:
davidcyclebackThe first post had a lot of assumptions and I don't know that they are true.
I do agree with the poster that the new system would appear to benefit collectors who have been purchasing cards high for their assigned grade. I think those collectors benefited under the old system as well, as many buyers inspect the card not just the grade. It's hard to go wrong purchasing a better example of the grade, no matter what the system.
Fair to assume that some PSA registry collectors were purchasing some cards based on number alone-- for number crunching purposes. At least a few duds were acquired in this process, no doubt.
I think graders do a valuable service, but considering that most collectors are keenly aware how many times cards are cracked and resubmitted for different grades (and get different grades!), I'm surprised people take the numbers on a label as seriously as they do.
Under the old system, I would find most curious a registry set collector who both finds the numbers themselves of great significance and resubmits cards to get different numbers for unchanging cards. The latter (margin of error in grading as evidenced by resubmitted cards) would appear to undermine the former (the "great significance" of the numbers themselves). This could be a test case for psychology (and marketing) students.
I should note that I'm sure most PSA card collectors look at both the numeric grade AND the card-- if the card looks weak or strong or just right for the grade, that is taken into due consideration before purchase. I'm not suggesting or implying that all PSA collectors are numerologists.