SPORTS CARD RADIO (anonymus PSA "insider")

[barrysloate]

Originally Posted by benjulmag

IMO most people buy the slab, not the card. So we do not know what they believed. And I suspect many of those who did take the time to think about it probably assumed PSA applied methods a bit more sophisticated and time consuming then in fact they did. Then there are those overtaken by suspended disbelief -- they wanted what they were told to be true so they bought into it.

I also question how sophisticated many of these people are.

Whatever the case, when many people find they have lost large sums of money they are going to be looking for someone to blame. And I think PSA will be held to a higher standard of expertise than the customers they are selling to.

When I spoke to the FBI at the National they seemed well aware as to the limitations of the PSA business model, and I'll be curious to see if one of the results of this situation is that PSA will add some qualifying language as to the limitations of what they can detect.

EDITED to add that I am not saying litigation against PSA will be successful. And as has been noted before, people who buy the slab and not the card to some degree have made their own bed. But I would not be surprised if it gets messy and there is litigation.

I'm not sure what type of qualifying language they can use. If their business model is that they can examine a raw card and detect if it's been altered, but in practice they really do not have the ability to detect alterations, what will be their out? That if they miss the alteration entirely, they are not responsible?

That's kind of like a restaurant putting up a sign "if you eat our food, and it happens to contain poison, and you die from it, we are not responsible."

[benjulmag]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

I'm not sure what type of qualifying language they can use. If their business model is that they can examine a raw card and detect if it's been altered, but in practice they really do not have the ability to detect alterations, what will be their out? That if they miss the alteration entirely, they are not responsible?

That's kind of like a restaurant putting up a sign "if you eat our food, and it happens to contain poison, and you die from it, we are not responsible."

I suspect if they add something it will because law enforcement will be all over them to do it. The bottom line is that IMO there is a scandal of epic proportions taking place, and likely some people will have serious criminal exposure. The eye at the center of this storm is PSA, as it is they who are slabbing these cards. It seems counterintuitive to me that this will all end without there being any change whatsoever in how PSA conducts its business and/or PSA having legal exposure of its own.

[barrysloate]

Originally Posted by benjulmag

I suspect if they add something it will because law enforcement will be all over them to do it. The bottom line is that IMO there is a scandal of epic proportions taking place, and likely some people will have serious criminal exposure. The eye at the center of this storm is PSA, as it is they who are slabbing these cards. It seems counterintuitive to me that this will all end without there being any change whatsoever in how PSA conducts its business and/or PSA having legal exposure of its own.

I strongly hope you are right, but PSA's current position is that there is nothing to see here, just a minor blip on the radar screen, and if it weren't for a bunch of chronic complainers on a chatboard, this situation wouldn't even be worth mentioning.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

I'm not sure what type of qualifying language they can use. If their business model is that they can examine a raw card and detect if it's been altered, but in practice they really do not have the ability to detect alterations, what will be their out? That if they miss the alteration entirely, they are not responsible?

That's kind of like a restaurant putting up a sign "if you eat our food, and it happens to contain poison, and you die from it, we are not responsible."

Even as we speak, they are directing people with altered cards to their sellers and trying to duck responsibility.

[barrysloate]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Even as we speak, they are directing people with altered cards to their sellers and trying to duck responsibility.

I know. And I assume they are being advised by counsel.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

I know. And I assume they are being advised by counsel.

I think it's engrained in their corporate culture. WIWAG all over again. Only now they have the Registry and the backing of a huge number of people with huge sums invested in slabs, and huge inventories of slabs. No wonder Sloan can not even mention the scandal in his talk, and tell people with altered cards to look to their sellers not PSA in spite of the plain language of the guarantee. A few malcontents who skipped the Kool Aid stirring up trouble.

[Johnny630]

PSA’s failure to take any responsibility in grading so many bad Altered cards will ultimately be the number one factor for them going under.
Staying on the Current Course they’re on now will turn out to be a big mistake in the long run for their business. I predict this will happen.

[WhenItWasAHobby]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I think it's engrained in their corporate culture. WIWAG all over again. Only now they have the Registry and the backing of a huge number of people with huge sums invested in slabs, and huge inventories of slabs. No wonder Sloan can not even mention the scandal in his talk, and tell people with altered cards to look to their sellers not PSA in spite of the plain language of the guarantee. A few malcontents who skipped the Kool Aid stirring up trouble.

Agreed. It's truly astounding how they've managed to pull this off for so long with no major repercussions and even more amazing, I noticed their stock price is still on the increase. Is it just a big confidence scheme with slick marketing, aggressive and slick damage control with a low-cost, minimal-skill service?

Think about this. PSA was founded in 1991 before the internet took off. Hypothetically, let's say one founded the company with the mindset that it would be next to impossible for customers on a mass scale to measure or detect the quality of your service, then the exposure to "buy back" liability would be practically non-existent. Furthermore, what budget did they set aside annually to improve the quality for detecting alterations? Fast forward 15-20 years, where massive problems have been brought to light either by admissions of doctoring or by viewing "before and after" photos of doctored cards bought and sold - all through the internet. The fact the PSA has shown no effort to fix these problems over such a long period of time is very telling in my opinion and warrants answers from PSA regarding the intent of their business model and quality of service.

[barrysloate]

Originally Posted by WhenItWasAHobby

Agreed. It's truly astounding how they've managed to pull this off for so long with no major repercussions and even more amazing, I noticed their stock price is still on the increase. Is it just a big confidence scheme with slick marketing, aggressive and slick damage control with a low-cost, minimal-skill service?

Think about this. PSA was founded in 1991 before the internet took off. Hypothetically, let's say one founded the company with the mindset that it would be next to impossible for customers on a mass scale to measure or detect the quality of your service, then the exposure to "buy back" liability would be practically non-existent. Furthermore, what budget did they set aside annually to improve the quality for detecting alterations? Fast forward 15-20 years, where massive problems have been brought to light either by admissions of doctoring or by viewing "before and after" photos of doctored cards bought and sold - all through the internet. The fact the PSA has shown no effort to fix these problems over such a long period of time is very telling in my opinion and warrants answers from PSA regarding the intent of their business model and quality of service.

The reason this has gone on for so long is something we have said and repeated many times: they have an amazing ability to mint money for their clients. And as long as they continue on that path, who is going to challenge them? Customers who make money are happy customers.

They may not be very good at grading or authenticating, but they are geniuses when it comes to making a lot of money for a lot of people. And that is the reason for their continued success.

[Johnny630]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

The reason this has gone on for so long is something we have said and repeated many times: they have an amazing ability to mint money for their clients. And as long as they continue on that path, who is going to challenge them? Customers who make money are happy customers.

They may not be very good at grading or authenticating, but they are geniuses when it comes to making a lot of money for a lot of people. And that is the reason for their continued success.

Well said and bottom line !