Downgrade & replace - a good strategy to self-fund your collection?

[53toppscollector]

Downgrading in terms of condition is definitely a good strategy, it all depends what you are willing to live with in terms of defects or issues with a card. There are plenty of PSA 1s out there with slight paper loss along the edge or back of the card, where the rest of the card presents as a 5 or 6. If you can live with that, the difference in price is massive.

If you are putting together a binder set, you can also find trimmed/altered versions of cards that present like a 4-5 mid grade card, but they might be 1/16 of an inch short. If its going in a binder and you aren't concerned about it being trimmed, you can save $$$ of money.

There have been lots of posts here in the last year of cards that are graded between a 1 and 3 that have excellent eye appeal. You can be discerning and find great deals. I always secure the new card (in the lower condition) before I sell my existing card, but your mileage may vary on how important that is to you.