PSA "getting to big for their britches?"

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Posted By: James Gallo

Let me start off by saying I have submitted cards to all of the following.

SGC
PSA
GAI
Beckett.

I have only submitted modern stuff to Beckett. GAI got one submission and that was the end for them.

I will only send vintage cards to SGC or PSA. That being said, I have sent post war cards to SGC and at times I have gotten a higher price then the same card in a PSA holder. Ie I might get $150 for a 75 Brett Rookie as a SGC 88 when a PSA 8 goes for closer to $100. This has happened several times.

As for submission time lines

Beckett has never been late and have always shipped on the date the order was due.

GAI was weeks late and that only added to some other problems enabled me to cut them off cleanly.

SGC I have never had an order be late and often they are a day or two ahead. I have not sent them much in the last month or so, but they got me my cards back very quickly after the last Reading show.

PSA, well I generally do bulk submissions so there is no firm timeline and therefore I just sit and wait. I did send in a small group of cards under the 10 day, and they were on time.

Now here is my beef and bear with me.

I sent in a 1993 Upper Deck Jeter rookie in a bulk submission, I pulled this card out of a sealed set myself. The card came back as eviden trim, which I knew was wrong. I sent it in for a review and it came back a PSA 9 MINT. That is just insane, wrong and should just NEVER happen.

I got a voucher for 1 card to make up for my trouble after several emails.

I also sent in 4 modern cards, 1 was a 10 and 3 9s. I have no doubt that all 4 are at least a grade two high. I got them back and never had a phone call or an email out them. God knows if and who even looked at them.

I called the specifc customer sevice rep and he was very good about returning my phone call. He sent me a voucher for 4 cards.

I sent in an E-90-1 and it came back in a T-206 holder with the wrong name and obviously wrong set on the flip.

What this tells me is a few things.

1) SGC has MUCH better customer service then PSA hands down. If I didn't have a specific extention and name at PSA then I would have been sent all over the place.
I greatly like the fact that at SGC I know the people and I see them at shows, and they know me.

2) I know that PSA makes a lot of mistakes, but I do think it is relation to the number of cards it grades.

As a result it seems simple to me, if they are grading so many cards, that mistakes are increasing then you need to either hire more graders and or have better quality control.

I think PSA's biggest problem IS the quality control and that is something I really don't see them doing much to fix.

They pretty much will throw free grading at you and that is supposed to fix the problem.

When I talke to the rep about the 4 overgraded cards, I specifically said that it wasn't about the value of the cards since 3/4 were only worth about $10 each, but that I was buying the card first and the holder second.

I will always stand by this as anytime I have bought a card for the holder I have gotten burned badly.

I have never crossed a vintage card into a PSA holder. I have bought GAI and PSA stuff that has gotten downgraded 1-2 points when crossed to SGC.

I feel that SGC is stricter so I am ok with a .5 to even 1 grade drop from PSA, but everything I have taken from GAI has gotten killed.

AS for buying 70's card is SGC holders, I don't see it as too much of a problem as I am working on a 1975 Topps regular set and a mini. There are enough of these cards around raw in high grade to buy, and I have found there to be some in SGC holders.

IMO the only reason you see more PSA cards from that era is that they have been around longer.

As I said at the top I see SGC prices from pre-war till the late 1970s getting closer to PSA levels all the time. I expect this trend to continue and I know SGC will start giving higher prices on pre-war cards.

Rant done.

James G



Looking for 1915 Cracker Jacks and 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1.