Bulk Grading

[glchen]

In the past, PSA has said that you need to submit at least 500 cards in one submission in order to qualify for a bulk discount. (Note that these would need to be the same "size" and under the same declared value. e.g., for PSA, you cannot submit standard size and tall boy sized cards in the same submission.) I believe if you want the dealer discount, you would need to agree to submit thousands of cards to PSA on a regular basis (every couple of months). I think that's pretty tough for most people. Contact PSA to find the exact details, but again, you would need the minimum of 500 at a time. PSA does have Collectors Club specials if you join, and often these will be at a discount also. One of the better strategies is to submit during a Collector's club special, but also if you have 500+ cards, to try to get an additional discount off that special. Obviously submitting more cards at one time makes sense because the cost of grading per card is less. There is the cost of postage to send the cards to PSA and the cost going back. Therefore, usually, the more the better. However, if you have never submitted cards to a third party grader before, you have to be very careful. Often, what someone new to grading believes is a Near Mint card comes back as VGEX. If you submit too many cards that come way below what you thought that they would grade, you will end up losing money on every card that you sent for grading, regardless if you sent it in for a bulk submission. It may be better to first start by submitting a smaller submission until you get a good handle on how to correctly grade your raw cards.

For SGC, I believe you can also receive bulk discounts. When Brian Dwyer was at SGC, I remember receiving a slight discount for something around a 200 card submission. As w/ PSA, you'd have to call in to receive the most accurate information.

Finally, as others will have say, sometimes, it's better to sell your cards raw. Sometimes, the cost of grading is worth it, but other times, not. Good luck!