What exactly is going on?

[honus94566]

Hi All, I have kind of checked out of the hobby for the past 3 years or so, still have all my cards, just haven't been actively looking or buying. Popped on here this morning to see what's going on, and after reading about 20 threads I am still kind of confused exactly what's going on. Can someone summarize in a paragraph what's gone on? Or is there a thread that explains things more clearly?

From what I can tell, seems like PWCC was knowingly selling cards that had gone through a "conservation process" - LOL, and that this either got past PSA, or they knowingly re-slabbed cards.

Honestly I am surprised at all the "outrage" - didn't we all know this sort of stuff was going on from the beginning? This hobby is a cesspool and in so many different corners, fueled by greed. I have always thought it was completely ridiculous how a card can sell for $1000 graded "2", yet a "7" grade sells for $15000. It's the same card! Just better condition, numerically assigned a grade by a 3rd party grader (or 3rd grader?).

So I guess what I am saying is, I don't think this is a bad thing. We should ALL be a lot more cautious about what we are buying, where we are buying it, and who we are buying it from. We should be especially skeptical about higher grade cards, and should be especially wary of shelling out big coin just because the number grade is higher.

Literally every time I have checked this forum since I joined 8 years ago, there has been a thread on the first page of the board discussing some accusation of shadiness or shill bidding on the part of Brent/PWCC. And only now it's a shocker that there was actually something unethical going on? Only now we are all freaking about about what we bought?

Anyway, apologies if I am missing something, or jumping to any conclusions. The way I see it though, just like any market needs correcting, that appears to be what is happening here. Higher grade cards are overvalued and risky investments, maybe this "scandal" or whatever you want to call it is a good wake up call. Cuz this stort of stuff is NEVER GOING TO STOP. As time goes on, it's only going to get easier for card doctors to mess with cards and bring up their "grades". Maybe the real problem is collectors forgetting about the actual cards, and focusing their buying on a plastic slab and its label.