Signed Card Collection: Detriment to value forgoing TPAs?

[packs]

You're talking about one thing while I'm talking about another. If you want to say a serious buyer will buy something to keep without a TPA because they know it's authentic, that has no relationship to the person selling the item who has already said they don't want to leave money on the table. Many serious collectors buy from reputable auction houses and every item comes with either an AH cert or a TPA cert. Buying your way limits you to 4 or 5 potential vendors, which is not a reality for collectors as a whole. We will buy from anyone so long as we're comfortable with the item, which often comes down to paper work.

What you're talking about is how you'd like the hobby to operate but that is not the reality of the hobby.

[thenavarro]

Originally Posted by packs

What you're talking about is how you'd like the hobby to operate but that is not the reality of the hobby.

The reality of the hobby is that what is "in" today can be "out" tomorrow. If I was the original poster, I would not crack them out now, but I also wouldn't get items slabbed right now if doing it for the purpose of "marketability" of sales in the distant future.

None of us know if the slabs that the OP cards reside in will be in demand at the time he decides to sell or if they will be considered a badge of shame by that time (at which point it would be wise to crack them out THEN and do whatever was necessary to increase marketability and "value" at that time.) It doesn't hurt anything IMHO to leave them slabbed for now, but for your unslabbed cards, I don't see a benefit to having then slabbed right now if you have no intention of trading or selling them in the near future.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by thenavarro

The reality of the hobby is that what is "in" today can be "out" tomorrow. If I was the original poster, I would not crack them out now, but I also wouldn't get items slabbed right now if doing it for the purpose of "marketability" of sales in the distant future.

None of us know if the slabs that the OP cards reside in will be in demand at the time he decides to sell or if they will be considered a badge of shame by that time (at which point it would be wise to crack them out THEN and do whatever was necessary to increase marketability and "value" at that time.) It doesn't hurt anything IMHO to leave them slabbed for now, but for your unslabbed cards, I don't see a benefit to having then slabbed right now if you have no intention of trading or selling them in the near future.

+1

[theshleps]

Just wanted to say I really appreciate this discussion as I am in the same boat and trying to decide whether to lay down many thousands of dollars to get my stuff slabbed. Wise advice here

[Lordstan]

Originally Posted by packs

You're talking about one thing while I'm talking about another. If you want to say a serious buyer will buy something to keep without a TPA because they know it's authentic, that has no relationship to the person selling the item who has already said they don't want to leave money on the table. Many serious collectors buy from reputable auction houses and every item comes with either an AH cert or a TPA cert. Buying your way limits you to 4 or 5 potential vendors, which is not a reality for collectors as a whole. We will buy from anyone so long as we're comfortable with the item, which often comes down to paper work.

What you're talking about is how you'd like the hobby to operate but that is not the reality of the hobby.

We are talking about the exact same thing.
You said "It just doesn't make sense for a serious buyer to buy something unslabbed. Maybe the casual observer who wants to get a deal more than they want an authentic signature, but I think most advanced collectors would pass."
My reply was that serious buyers are the buyers who need slabbing and authentication the least. Serious buyers buy things in auction houses all the time. Not because they are certed. The auction houses have decided to slab everything because 1) items across the board sell for more money(which I acknowledged in my answer), 2) it limits their liability. The casual buyers are much less likely to have their items re looked at by anyone else when the items come with a cert, 3) There is a mutually beneficial relationship between authentication companies and Auction Houses. Auction Houses can claim/imply they are selling something more guaranteed because of the cert and the TPAs can reinforce their legitimacy because they are "accepted" by Auction Houses. If you don't believe me, just read the PSA and JSA website. The number one reason they list is that they are accepted by all the auction houses.(http://www.psacard.com/About/WhyPSAAndPSADNA/#whypsadna)

Does this make them bad, NOT AT ALL. It also doesn't mean you absolutely NEED them to tell you your autos are good either.

If he is keeping them in his collection, how does slabbing help the OP? Does it make them more real? No. Slabbing/certing only helps him when he sells, so why not wait until he is ready to sell them to do it? Why spend the money now when he won't get any return on that investment for years or more and the return he gets will not be higher then because he had them slabbed now as opposed to later.

Here is an example. Suppose, instead of slabbing 50 cards at $20 per, you bought 5 Trout signed rookies back in 2011. Previously someone said they are $500-600 per on ebay. So that $1000 that would have gone into slabbing got you ZERO return, but those 5 Trout cards are now worth $2500-3K minus $100 to slab them just before you sell them.

Originally Posted by thenavarro

The reality of the hobby is that what is "in" today can be "out" tomorrow. If I was the original poster, I would not crack them out now, but I also wouldn't get items slabbed right now if doing it for the purpose of "marketability" of sales in the distant future.

None of us know if the slabs that the OP cards reside in will be in demand at the time he decides to sell or if they will be considered a badge of shame by that time (at which point it would be wise to crack them out THEN and do whatever was necessary to increase marketability and "value" at that time.) It doesn't hurt anything IMHO to leave them slabbed for now, but for your unslabbed cards, I don't see a benefit to having then slabbed right now if you have no intention of trading or selling them in the near future.

Mike said this extremely well and is 1000% correct. Slab/cert when you are going to sell. Use the money now to buy more autos.

[Republicaninmass]

I just had my whole 52 set graded psa red flip with card grade to keep them all uniform. It's pertinent for the set registry, and will probably be better at some point if Indecide to sell. That being said, if you couldn't care less about the registry, and aren't selling, different slabs are fine.