Debate Over PSA Grading of Rare Sports Packs

[pokerplyr80]

So your concern is that psa damages unopened packs during the grading process, or that the prices they set in their guide are inaccurate? I'd be much more concerned with the former personally.

The only pricing data I'm really concerned with is recent sales of comparable cards, or packs as the case may be. If a pack is so rare that there isn't any recent data how could any guide be accurate? Most knowledgeable card collectors don't put much stock into smr prices. I would imagine the same is true with packs, signed memorabilia, and many other collectibles.

[Steve_NY]

Yes, I have the following issues with PSA:

1 -- I have no clue about their pricing for cards as I have never graded anything, neither a card nor a pack, but my knowledge of unopened raw packs tells me that the entire packs price guide is questionable, as many of those early packs have not appeared in any auctions in 20+ years. It's great for collectors to imagine that they can buy at those prices, and that is why packs have dried up. Watch what happens if the real world prices ever get published.

2 -- I have NO issues with the actual grader who validates whether the pack has ever been opened or not. My issue is two-fold here: the packs are often forced into their holder by another individual which causes damages to the corners of the packs and the actual wrapper, and even if the pack makes it into the holder as graded, watch out for the extra space in there so the pack bounces around and develops damages. Then the pack looks nothing like the grade that it originally received.

Simply put, those are my main issues.

Steve

[jchcollins]

PSA putting values on their own slabs, whether they be graded cards or packs - smacks to me of a conflict of interest. As has already been pointed out, the SMR has been rather notoriously inaccurate for years now. I don't know why anyone uses it or the online "price guides" which still exist in many forms for free. My local dealer is a good guy and for the most part his prices are fair, but I cringe every time I ask about him taking $10 less or so for something in the vintage case and he has to go dial up Beckett on the inter-webs. I'm like you know that's mostly a work of fiction right? I digress...

For any type of slabs I would think VCP or even an eBay completed auction listing is going to be way more accuratce. Does VCP do pricing for graded packs?

[pokerplyr80]

I don't know much about the graded pack market, but I know enough not to trust a price and PSA's price guide. If I wanted a pack that hadn't been sold in 10 or 20 years privately, I would look at how much the price of other packs had changed over that same time period. I would also try to see if any packs with a similar population had sold recently so I could make a reasonable offer.

As a seller if anyone tries to quote me smr listings with their offer I usually just move on.

[glynparson]

Almost all price guide pricing is not relevant to me wether the item exists in that grade or it’s theoretical.