PSA Debacle - What to do for a Novice Collector?

[jchcollins]

Very long story short - yes, for the moment PSA enjoys higher resale value and a kind of oddly unaffected reputation in the market. The scandal has broken and the details are known, but the implications for all investors and collectors have not fully set in yet, and they may not ever. Folks who have safe deposit boxes full of high-end vintage cards have a lot of skin in the game, and at the end of the day have not really decided yet whether or not they are going to make PSA / CU pay the price they should over the scandal, either the complicitness or gross incompetence, and the like.

SGC is historically a more consistent grader of vintage cards, and their customer service and turn times are much better than PSA's.

If you have serious concerns about investment potential and losing value, PSA is a safe bet in the short term. If you are a collector who wants accurately graded cards, I would do business with SGC all day long. PSA is probably going to be safer for low-grade vintage right now. An Aaron rookie that is an honest-looking PSA 3 has a lot lesser chance of being altered / tampered with than a stunning 8 with white borders and razor corners that looks too good to be true.

[bnorth]

The PSA sells for more makes no sense to me at all. Most seem to ignore that means you are paying more for it.

SGC is more consistent at grading and they are generally cheaper to buy. That means when you sell it you are still going to get the lower SGC price. The big plus is you can own a nice card a little cheaper in a WAY nicer looking slab.

[JoeDfan]

Originally Posted by bnorth

The PSA sells for more makes no sense to me at all. Most seem to ignore that means you are paying more for it.

SGC is more consistent at grading and they are generally cheaper to buy. That means when you sell it you are still going to get the lower SGC price. The big plus is you can own a nice card a little cheaper in a WAY nicer looking slab.

+1

[Shortstopguy12]

Originally Posted by bnorth

The PSA sells for more makes no sense to me at all. Most seem to ignore that means you are paying more for it.

SGC is more consistent at grading and they are generally cheaper to buy. That means when you sell it you are still going to get the lower SGC price. The big plus is you can own a nice card a little cheaper in a WAY nicer looking slab.

This is all very true. I think I may look more into this, as I would rather have the nicer card

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by bnorth

The PSA sells for more makes no sense to me at all. Most seem to ignore that means you are paying more for it.

SGC is more consistent at grading and they are generally cheaper to buy. That means when you sell it you are still going to get the lower SGC price. The big plus is you can own a nice card a little cheaper in a WAY nicer looking slab.

I could not agree more with every single thing you said.

[jchcollins]

If you go over on the prewar / main board, you will find a lot of consensus with the opinion that PSA still sells for more because big picture, the vast majority of collectors and investors of their product are either woefully ill-informed on the scandal, or (worse) know and simply do not care. Big wheel collectors of high-end vintage face a very bleak proposition if they truly care about cards not being altered, or the fact that their incredible PSA 8 T206 Whatever HOF'er that is worth 5 or 6 figures on the open market may suddenly be worth DRAMATICALLY less if they tell someone they care about that fact, and start a movement to trash PSA, their market value, and the value that their slabs currently bring to cards and collections. Mainly that said market value will drop quickly, and they will be left holding the bag.

Soooo....ummmm, why not just leave well enough alone? Yes, that card may be altered now that I read all this, but you know it looks really nice in that new slab, and it's in my safe deposit box anyway, and it would be really hard to prove for sure, er - wouldn't it?

It becomes an ends justifying the means situation. Not enough people care or have any real desire to burst the bubble to come forward. So what, some waves are being made on some message boards where people really care about the hobby. This too, shall pass. I could be wrong, but I will be very surprised if in the next 6-18 months, people start coming forward en masse to demand that PSA make good on their grading guarantee for a bunch of high dollar cards in slabs with grades that they don't agree with.

It's just stuff...right?

[Johnny630]

John,

Everything you said is 100% true and the bottom line.

Well put

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by Johnny630

John,

Everything you said is 100% true and the bottom line.

Well put

Thanks.

[SOX75]

I have personally chosen to wait until the FBI concludes their investigation and hands the case to the US Attorneys Office before I buy any more high end vintage PSA cards. There's still a few unknowns about what role PSA had in certifying these cards. We do know that card doctors targeted high end vintage cards to alter. We also know that they trimmed cards worth less than $5. It's hard to know what is safe at this point. The '54 Aaron would be riskier than most at this point.

If I was considering buying something I would do a certification lookup to see if PWCC had their hands on a card at any time. I would also closely inspect the difference between the edges of the card and the interior holders on the slab. The trimmed cards that I have seen all have a noticeable gap, indicating that the card would be loose and move around inside the slab.