PSA Economy – Ground Truth

[Frankish]

Originally Posted by yanks87

I too think the days of the $8-$12 grade are LONG gone, which makes me happy that I got all of my crappy cards in when I did. $20 per card is a threshold for me, but I am also cheap and sit on my cards, not looking for the quick flip or have a ton into them.

...I am fine with waiting, but will be more precise on what I send in going forward.

Totally agree.

One of the irritating aspects is that many of the cards I submitted in late 2020 or early 2021 have been graded to standards that I don't think applied in 2019 or earlier. Cards I would have sworn a PSA 7 came back a 5 or 5.5. Not a big deal, but since you mentioned getting all of the crappy cards graded, I wish I'd done it a year earlier!

Someone mentioned CSG earlier. For the time being at least, I am through with them. I submitted a couple of hundred cards (partly out of curiosity and partly because of the $8/card deal) and have been confused by those I've gotten back. The modern seem okay. The vintage cards are more problematic. If I took submissions as a whole, the grades seem fine. But on a card-by-card basis, I can't figure the grades out at all. In a way, I viewed the submissions as simply paying $8/card for slabs and an ID label, so am satisfied with that. But I don't see how I can rely on the grading if I can't understand it....

Hopefully SGC's business plan works out and they can grow in importance, even if slowly. Many of my vintage cards (tobacco, Japanese menko, 1940s Cuban) look so much better in their holders!