Grading costs as part of card's value.

[Rascal1010]

I didn't say graded cards don't have value in the grading of them, but just because the card is in a plastic slab does not change the inherent value of the piece of card board. It is still the same card, and yes people do pay more for the card in plastic, but the amount they are willing to pay above the value of the card is what they are willing to pay for the piece of mind for the plastic holder.

New/Novice collectors are what really make the whole TPG model work for low dollar cards, because they are willing to pay more for piece of mind than an experienced collector will, and that slab gives them that piece of mind. An experienced collector will look at a $ 200.00 T-206 raw card and know what to look for to see if a card has been trimmed or altered, and grade the card for themselves. A novice collect is a lot less apt to buy the same raw card, but instead opt for an TPG graded example over the raw example, thus placing more value on the plastic.

[drcy]

Not the equivalent, but people who have a print or photo expensively framed often want people to pay for the frame, but collectors will only pay for the value of the photo.

[pokerplyr80]

Some junk era cards won't be worth the cost of grading unless they get a 10. Others perhaps not at all. I would guess most cards from the 88 Topps set would fall into the second category.

[toledo_mudhen]

Can you accurately assign a raw card a 7 grade? How about an 8 or 9? How accurate were your "guesses" on the 103 cards that you submitted?

That is what you are paying for - a widely accepted 3rd Party opinion of the raw card that you send them and some validation of your ability to accurately assign a grade

I'm thinking :

1) It takes a long long time of looking at raw cards and the resulting TPG opinions before you can develop a fairly consistent eye.

2) TPG grading should probably reserved for raw vintage - I don't quite get the thought process of submitting common "shiney shit"

3) The difference in $ value between a vintage 7 and a vintage 8 is usually pretty significant.

4) Whether or not you intend to sell your collection is mostly irrelevant as at some point - someone is going to sell. If not you then most likely your immediate family.

I prefer to buy raw cards that I believe are under graded and thus under valued. Typically a 3rd Party opinion of those raw cards then gives me a way of sorta "keeping score".

[swarmee]

https://forums.collectors.com/discus...ss-psa-10-sets

There is a reason that the guy in the thread above (who claims to be going for all PSA 10 sets throughout the 80s and various manufacturers has never actually sent one of his "raw gem mint" cards in for grading. It's a completely money-losing proposition for these types of cards.

There are many times when a graded card will devaluate the card from raw. One is for mid-grade 50s-60s cards. Those are readily available in lower grades and while you might pay $8 for a nice looking NM card, if it is actually graded a PSA 7, it might not sell for $8. Same for cards with qualifiers like ST (stain), MK (mark), OC (off-center), etc. Many collectors will completely ignore nice cards with the Scarlet Letters of qualifiers.

Now there are millions of examples of PSA/SGC/BGS cards greatly increasing in price because of the grade given, but hopefully we've all learned enough in the past year that nobody really trusts these companies to tell which cards are actually altered, or can give them a specific, repeatable grade. As such, I've stopped submitting to PSA whereas I used to send them hundreds of cards in bulk each of the past five years. I am selling off most of my graded card collection because of how jaded I am with their response to being proven incompetent.

But a card is worth what it is once it is graded; your sunk grading costs are baked into the price of whatever someone will already pay you, and they won't be adding an additional $$ just because that's what it cost you.