Do You Participate in the PSA Registry?

[savedfrommyspokes]

I find it interesting how some collectors feel that the registry is a "competition"....and it very well maybe, but IMO, for the minority of users. Some of my better collecting buddies I have met, I have met via the registry...we have completed trades, looked out for cards for one another, not bid on a card we both needed, etc....ultimately rooted for our friends to succeed. One registry friend of mine worked the 71 and 72 sets at the same time .... the competition was non-existent, my 72 set was nicer than his, his 71 nicer than mine. I feel he worked as hard on my set as I did on mine or his.

It's been 13 years since we finished these sets...he has since sold his 71 and 72 sets and we have not worked on the same set since, but I still hear from him a few times a year to catch up on life and collecting.

My most ironic registry story occurred when I took my kids to a card shop in a town about 2 hours from home. While flipping through the dollar boxes with my kids, I hear a customer telling the owner about his visit to town and his 1962 PSA set. As the conversation was just a few feet away, it was hard not to hear. The collector disclosed he was solidly in his spot for this set....I pulled my phone out and confirmed on the PSA app what I already knew, he was only a handful of PSA 8s ahead of me. So I entered the conversation and disclosed the fact he was just a few ahead of the guy behind him.....both of the owner and the collector looked at me funny before the collector asked, "how do you know this?". "I am the guy behind you"...what were the odds that two guys ranked next to each other in the top 20 of a set were randomly in the same out of town card shop at the same time?

This was a few years ago, could have stayed and talked with this guy for hours, but my kids nagged me to go play mini golf.

For me, the registry has been more about friendships and meeting folks than the "competition" of it.

[Empty77]

Originally Posted by savedfrommyspokes

I find it interesting how some collectors feel that the registry is a "competition"....and it very well maybe, but IMO, for the minority of users.

That's a neat story.

And I agree. (I've been slowly working on some registry participation data [basic arithmetic rather than the rocket science type that would be beyond me] that may indicate the registry is not the driver behind price inflation that many in the industry/hobby seem to presume and consistently assert that it is.)

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by Empty77

...that may indicate the registry is not the driver behind price inflation that many in the industry/hobby seem to presume and consistently assert that it is.)

And there it is!!
This is precisely why I started the thread/poll. It is constantly being asserted that everyone competing in the registry is the reason prices keep going up across the board. I hear this time and time again. Ultra expensive, rare cards? Sure, I can believe it's at least a partial factor there, but suddenly-extortionate 1972 high number pricing is due to the registry chasers?? That is simply impossible to believe. This is why I wanted to see how many of us are motivated by the registry, and the results show (granted it is not scientific) that a very small portion of us consider the registry to be a driving force in our card purchasing decisions.

[hcv123]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

And there it is!!
This is precisely why I started the thread/poll. It is constantly being asserted that everyone competing in the registry is the reason prices keep going up across the board. I hear this time and time again. Ultra expensive, rare cards? Sure, I can believe it's at least a partial factor there, but suddenly-extortionate 1972 high number pricing is due to the registry chasers?? That is simply impossible to believe. This is why I wanted to see how many of us are motivated by the registry, and the results show (granted it is not scientific) that a very small portion of us consider the registry to be a driving force in our card purchasing decisions.

I haven't heard anyone say the registry is the cause of the rising prices. I have heard (and said) that the registry is 1 of a handful of reasons why cards of equivalent grade in PSA holders usually have a good sized price premium over SGC.

[Empty77]

Originally Posted by hcv123

I haven't heard anyone say the registry is the cause of the rising prices. I have heard (and said) that the registry is 1 of a handful of reasons why cards of equivalent grade in PSA holders usually have a good sized price premium over SGC.

Maybe on BlowOut more than here, but "the Registry" does often seem to have the starring role in being blamed/credited for any number of issues ranging from PSA's wild success over competing TPGs, to the reason the alterations scandal will never be properly dealt with (i.e., the wealthy high-enders will never tolerate their sets being downgraded) to individual posters
complaining/commiserating about how they always seem to just lose out bidding for specific cards they want (and how they surmise they are consistently being stretched beyond their budget because reckless "registry collectors" just can't help themselves.)

Many posts do seem to take the Registry to be beyond just one of several factors, to the governing factor, the genius idea that made PSA irresistible. . . But maybe it's being recycled among a small cadre and not as common a view as this would make it seem.

[AustinMike]

The registry can have a significant impact on the "value" of items. The New York Yankees issued photos of the team from probably the mid '50s to the early '70s. Some of these team photos include Mickey Mantle (1968 and before). In addition, the team issued photos of Mantle with a brief bio starting around 1963 and continued beyond his retirement. These photos were a single page and folded in three to mail in envelopes (hence sometimes they are called tri-folds). I was able to pick up a few of these for between $12.50 to $32.50 prior to late 2020. Then, they were added to the PSA Mantle registry. I have heard that some these tri-folds were sold for around $300 a piece to people on the Mantle registry. I have only seen a few come on eBay since then. I got a team photo with a BIN late at night and paid for it and had my offer accepted on another team photo from the same seller but was never was asked to pay. In the morning I got an email saying that they'd spilled coffee on both of the team photos and had my money refunded for the one I paid for. I requested photos of the ruined photos and never got them. I know the seller had heard from someone else about the photos because she told me she had. I figured they must have made a higher offer and she took it.

So yes, the registry does result in higher prices and there is competition.

[hcv123]

Originally Posted by AustinMike

The registry can have a significant impact on the "value" of items. The New York Yankees issued photos of the team from probably the mid '50s to the early '70s. Some of these team photos include Mickey Mantle (1968 and before). In addition, the team issued photos of Mantle with a brief bio starting around 1963 and continued beyond his retirement. These photos were a single page and folded in three to mail in envelopes (hence sometimes they are called tri-folds). I was able to pick up a few of these for between $12.50 to $32.50 prior to late 2020. Then, they were added to the PSA Mantle registry. I have heard that some these tri-folds were sold for around $300 a piece to people on the Mantle registry. I have only seen a few come on eBay since then. I got a team photo with a BIN late at night and paid for it and had my offer accepted on another team photo from the same seller but was never was asked to pay. In the morning I got an email saying that they'd spilled coffee on both of the team photos and had my money refunded for the one I paid for. I requested photos of the ruined photos and never got them. I know the seller had heard from someone else about the photos because she told me she had. I figured they must have made a higher offer and she took it.

So yes, the registry does result in higher prices and there is competition.

In the case of the addition of items to player registry sets, vs. those items not being included as Mike shared - my experience is the same as his - some incredible price spikes with registry inclusion.