Psa no longer putting qualifiers on labels

[Rich Klein]

My point, and this is strictly from a BUSINESS point of view, is the removal of qualifiers is long overdue on PSA's part.

Why?

Even with all the people they have hired, they are still churning through their massive backlog and anything which slows the process, even by micro-seconds in typing, as putting a qualifier on cards is not worth the time at this point.

Plus, for the graders, again, even it saves micro seconds that time adds up.

So this is a decision, on the business level which is overdue. You had to think of this from the business point of view, NOT our collector point of view.

Rich

[bxb]

I also prefer no qualifiers.

I can judge for myself the centering on a card or if it is out of focus.

[swarmee]

According to the blowout post, MC and MK would still remain. I'm not a big fan of this change, and don't think it really saves that much time.
My best guess is that this is a Nat Turner-ism where he and his buddies decided to get rid of it, since the market largely ignores cards with qualifiers; at one point, they were trading around 3 grades lower than the same grade.

If they were consistent with their grading standards and gave all Mint conditioned cards with 90/10 centering on front a PSA 3 with no qualifiers, then I'll be interested in seeing how those cards are treated on the secondary market. Because the assumption on the buyer's part is that they're damaged (surface wrinkles), and the centering is incidental. However, if they got a 9(OC) they would be worth a 7 on the registry and a 6 or so in sales price.

[Republicaninmass]

I used to like sgc slabs for this reason just grade the freaking card. Now they have shifted to psa like, where a mint card 90/10 is an sgc 3. I dont get it

[Eric72]

PSA will likely never do this; however, it would be nice to see sub-grades on the flip.

[Bigdaddy]

Originally Posted by Eric72

PSA will likely never do this; however, it would be nice to see sub-grades on the flip.

Putting sub-grades on the flip and listing specific qualifiers both slow down the process and also provide additional insight by PSA as to how they came up with the numerical grade. Neither of which are in PSAs vested interest at this time.

Giving a single numerical grade with no other information is the fastest and least accountable way to get a card in and push it out in a plastic tomb.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy

Putting sub-grades on the flip and listing specific qualifiers both slow down the process and also provide additional insight by PSA as to how they came up with the numerical grade. Neither of which are in PSAs vested interest at this time.

Giving a single numerical grade with no other information is the fastest and least accountable way to get a card in and push it out in a plastic tomb.

I completely understand. As I wrote, "PSA will likely never do this."

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy

Putting sub-grades on the flip and listing specific qualifiers both slow down the process and also provide additional insight by PSA as to how they came up with the numerical grade. Neither of which are in PSAs vested interest at this time.

Giving a single numerical grade with no other information is the fastest and least accountable way to get a card in and push it out in a plastic tomb.

I think we all know how the grades are determined for most of us who aren't high volume submitters or card alterers.

[MikeGarcia]

You can still find a lot of older Beckett holders out there :

Originally Posted by Eric72

PSA will likely never do this; however, it would be nice to see sub-grades on the flip.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

I used to like sgc slabs for this reason just grade the freaking card. Now they have shifted to psa like, where a mint card 90/10 is an sgc 3. I dont get it

SGC sometime around 2 years ago suddenly became centering fanatics. I had vintage cards that would have been 7's or higher with PSA come back SGC 5's only due to centering. Whatever, but given that SGC is still somewhat more lenient than PSA on corners, the whole thing kind still seems kind of random and doesn't make a ton of sense. Another huge problem is that they seem to get it wrong frequently, and have graders who don't know how to properly compute centering ratios.

[jchcollins]

Forgive me if I missed this in the earlier comments, but how do we know about this change from PSA? Was there an announcement, or did their submission forms just change and people noticed it?

Given how many people hate qualifiers and have for decades, can't say I'm upset, but it is an interesting development. If this would lead to sellers being more descriptive in listings across the board, I'm all for it.

[Johnny630]

I'd be pleased if with the new AI Computer Assisted Grading at PSA if they would be able to pick up alterations especially trimmed/re-colored cards.

I could care less what the hell they do with qualifiers.