The long awaited PSA half grade!

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Posted By: David Davis

Who says that PSA's BBB rating is a "D". It is "BB", which is a perfectly acceptable business rating. Even if it was a D, what would have caused it? I would venture to say that lag time on receiving cards is probably the biggest cause of complaints, plus their poor customer service. Frustrating and even wrong as that may be, they don't keep people's submissions, crease their cards, or other mailicious activity that would remove consumer confidence. There are other grading services available if you do not like PSA.

For the people or companies that have a vested interest in PSA cards, whether collector or dealer, 10 or 30,000 cards, you have to decide what to do.

If I had to decide (meaning that I had significant money invested in PSA graded cards), if my cards were graded between 1 and 7, and wouldn't jump by at least 4 figures with a bump, I wouldn't consider resubmitting it.

For PSA 8's, (and I wish I had Jim Crandell's collection right now), I would take a random sampling of let's say, 100 cards. Based on how many came back as an 8.5, I would decide my next action. While obviously according to PSA starting a few days ago, there is a difference between a PSA 8 and a PSA 9, it will be hard to figure out which ones to submit.

According to PSA, centering will be the main factor, but of course, not the only factor in determining the half grade bump.

What a cash cow for PSA! They will now be paid to review their own subjective work, and have made the conditions subjective enough that practically anything already in the high end range could get a bump. If most people can't tell the difference between an 8 or a 9 (how many times have people wondered how their card could not get a 9 when it came back an 8) then determining a half grade will be even tougher.