PSA - Ya gotta love their attention to detail

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Posted By: Judge Dred (Fred)

I bet it's only been a few days since we've had a good thread of PSA errors... if you can find anymore, please post them. I am keeping an archive of some of PSAs better bloopers and labeling errors. Here's two to start. One is already the subject of a thread the other is live on ebay now. The seller of the N172 Comiskey (BC) doesn't indicate the paper pull in the item description but to their credit they indicated there was a paper pull in an email reply regarding the condition of the card.

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Posted By: barrysloate

That "1910 P." is awfully hard to find. It would take a real detective to spot that one.

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Posted By: Cobby33

They must have been making up for the "MK" I just received back, with no marks on the card.

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Posted By: T206Collector

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Posted By: fkw

Those are great I have a few not shown yet.

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Posted By: Trae R.

We've got a collection of images going in the Humor->Mislabeled gallery here also:
http://www.t206.org/gallery.php

I am going to add some of them shown above too, as I missed some of them. Thanks!

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Posted By: peter chao

Guys,

The problem with PSA Graders is they probably have looked at and graded far fewer cards than we have. The people that are spending big bucks on graded PSA cards are virtually going on blind faith that grader got it right.

Peter

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Posted By: Trae R.

I don't understand the multitude of errors. They're probably 0.01% incorrect at most as a whole - but still, when you fill out your submission form you have to list the card's details right there on the submission sheet.

I fill out mine properly at least because I don't want to delay my order. I even go so far as to view the registry and write exactly what PSA calls my card on the registry.

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Posted By: Jon Canfield

I am not a PSA hater or a PSA lover. However, I recently almost bought an E95 Doyle from another board member that had been graded a 50 (i believe) from SGC. As I was paypal'ing the money, I noticed a HUGE NY drawn on the chest in pen. I pointed this out to the seller, and also got the opinion of Tbob and Leon. Basically, the point is, evryone makes mistakes. Oh, the writing on the E95 Doyle was 1000x more obvious that the Old Mill posted above.



Edited to add the scan...

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Posted By: Peter_Spaeth

"The problem with PSA Graders is they probably have looked at and graded far fewer cards than we have. The people that are spending big bucks on graded PSA cards are virtually going on blind faith that grader got it right."

How do you have any idea how many cards PSA's graders have looked at and graded? Just a guess, but people who do it every day for a living have probably grader far, far, far more than the average person here. The issue may in some cases be quality of experience and knowledge, as well as simply clerical errors which I think account for a lot of the "mistakes" pointed out here, but I seriously doubt the issue is quantity. Similarly, what qualifies you to make gross generalizations about the mindset of people spending lots of money on PSA graded cards?

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Posted By: Bottom of the Ninth

I would like to also add that the graders are not the ones responsible for the flip that goes with the card. Cards come in and are entered into the system by the Receivers and are assigned a serial number. In general, the graders grade a card and enter the grade into a computer for the given serial number. Most of the errors above have nothing to do with the graders' job at PSA which only demonstrates Peter C's lack of understanding of the process. You know what they say about opinions...

Greg

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Posted By: Peter_Spaeth

We can't let FACTS get in the way of Peter Chao's pronouncements, can we? Besides, NOTHING you said refutes his generalizations about people buying PSA graded cards.

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Posted By: Bottom of the Ninth

Facts are not necessary. All one needs is an internet connection and some ability to type. PSA has graded some 9 million card so I guess one could conclude that the buyers of those 9 million cards must all be misguided. Maybe PSA should have to put a disclaimer on their holders similar to that which the tobacco companies had to do with cigarettes. Hal???

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Posted By: Peter_Spaeth

Who is the baseball card equivalent of the Surgeon General, I wonder.

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Posted By: leon

I could start oh so many arguments with your lead..... ... 'tis the season though....

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

What this hobby needs is a surgeon general of good taste, an overseer, a commissioner of conduct. A real backbone to keep the grading companies in check. Can we discuss this over a steak in a NYC restaurant?

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Posted By: barrysloate

Jeff- are you joining us in January for our meeting to clean up the hobby? I don't know how successful we'll be, but hey , you can't beat a good filet mignon.

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Posted By: dennis

i always enjoy seeing that psa/dna ali autograph!

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Posted By: davidcycleback

I'm not a PSA basher, but thought the 'Buster Brown' instead of Modecai Brown was
funny.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Even if the graders are not responsible for the label errors as Greg pointed out, there is still a quality control issue that needs to be addressed. Somewhere in the process the information being inputted is not being checked. It is an area that PSA needs to work on.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Barry, I learned my lesson during that epic NY dinner thread. I'll take a pass on this one.

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Posted By: John S

I could care less whether a card is in a PSA or SGC holder and I understand that people make mistakes. I purchased a small lot of PSA graded '55 Topps All-American football, most in the 4 to 6 range. I felt that the entire group was overgraded on average about two grades (corner creases on 6's, paper loss/scuffing on 4's). The one below is probably the worst, the scuff on Ace's name makes it almost illegible. The centering is horrible (and not qualified) as well.

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Posted By: JK

Here's one that is on the grader. No card with paper loss should get as high as a 4 IMO. I got this card and a few other e93s in a mastro auction earlier this year - unfortunately, several of the 4s and even one 5 had paper loss.

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Posted By: James Gallo

The fact of the matter is the PSA makes mistakes more often. No company is perfect but being a publicly traded company I would want my quality control to be perfect. It is not.

I understand that the mistakes on the flips are probably the result of some low paid data entry person, however when something like writing or paper loss is missed then that to me is on the grader.

Unless you would have me believe that the grades are getting changed between the point in which the grader inputs them and they get put on the label.

Here is my recent example. This is pretty bad IMO




There is also a mid-high grade Caramel on ebay that has no boarder on one side and does not have a off center qualifier.

No company is perfect but these mistakes seem too frequent IMO.


James G

Looking for 1915 Cracker Jacks and 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1.

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Posted By: Richard L.

I know it's not baseball, but many of you gents will recognize this obvious blunder.[IMG][/IMG]

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Posted By: MikeU

Not all vintage, but fun none the less.















If I were a grader as PSA, I would be furious at all the mistakes that the people make outside of the grading room.

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Posted By: barrysloate

What these examples expose, as I said earlier, is that there is a step missing in the process of quality control. There is nobody to make sure that the card and label match. This would actually be a difficult job, as one would need to be familiar with every issue ever made, from N175 to D359 to 2002 Topps, in each of five major sports, and even I couldn't do that with 25 years experience in the hobby (how could I tell if a 2003 Topps Refractor was labelled right- I don't even know what it is).

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Posted By: Dylan

Well i cant understand messing up a 64 topps or a T206 come on. They look at so many of these. I understand some 2004 refractor getting messed up, though id never notice. There is no quality control, they simply dont take the time to double check anything, which is why they dont get my business.

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Posted By: Jason L

when you can make more money on a re-grade or review?
when you add all this up, together with the irritation of shipping your stuff in, that's why I can't wait to be done with submissions so I can just buy graded from now on...

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Posted By: Bob

It's amazing how so many great front cards I have submitted with a tiny bit of back damage get crucified in the grading and yet I see some of these other cards on ebay with high grades (usually PSA but not always) and just shake my head...

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Posted By: JimB

Bob,
I can sympathize. Nothing, no matter how small, slips by when I submit cards.
JimB