That new PSA/eBay deal

[Leon]

Ebay needs to put a sticker on the slabbed cards they re-authenticate. Maybe a nifty red sticker or an ebay logo? I have always said this hobby needs more stickers!
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[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Leon

Ebay needs to put a sticker on the slabbed cards they re-authenticate. Maybe a nifty red sticker or an ebay logo? I have always said this hobby needs more stickers!
.

What ever happened to purple sticker guy? Haven't seen much from him.

[jchcollins]

All this stuff is highly entertaining to me. I saw an obviously fake '57 Koufax for sale on ebay last night at a price that triggers the authentication. Not that it will sell, but hopefully if so these kinds of practices will finally weed out some of the longtime bad apples.

Now, if ebay could be convinced to care about cards to the point where they would stop trying to sell me $200K Jose Uribe cards in my Facebook feed - that would be something.

[timzcardz]

Read the article.

My head is spinning.

Can't wait for my grandson to start riding a bike so that I can put PSA graded cards in his spokes! Makes as much sense to me as some of what is going on.

Or maybe I'm just getting old.

[molenick]

I can kind of see this for raw cards. But if you have to do this for cards graded by another TPG, it seems like it would hurt the value of cards graded by these services. I collect both PSA and SGC cards...which I guess is good news if I want a type card and may be able to get an SGC one cheaper. But bad news when selling SGC cards. Or has the PSA/SGC differential pretty much already been factored into pricing?

[Yoda]

Between Baker's verification stickers and the tie-ups between AHs and TPGers,
what used to be a relatively straightforward hobby has become waay to complicated and confusing. For someone interested in entering the vintage card market, it has to be a put-off.

[conor912]

Originally Posted by Leon

Ebay needs to put a sticker on the slabbed cards they re-authenticate. Maybe a nifty red sticker or an ebay logo? I have always said this hobby needs more stickers!
.

I’ve been saying it for years….slabbed slabs are coming!

[G1911]

It's almost like eBay took a look at their card business and said "Gee guys, how do we suicide this profitable venture as quickly as we can?". I thought it was annoying when they re-sorted the categories and destroyed boxing. This is a terrible choice, absolutely nobody except PSA gains from this format. Why would anyone want to get an already-graded card authenticated again, even if one believes the grading companies are wonderful?

[JollyElm]

PSAslabgraded.jpg

[benjulmag]

So you are saying that PSA is to be the sole authority a seller must turn to in order to sell any slabbed card valued at more than $2,000, regardless which company's slab the card is in?

Flunks the smell test to me, especially when one considers that a significant percentage of the prewar collector population, (and IMO the majority of such collectors), regard SGC as the more reliable authenticator of such cards. Is there any economic relationship between PSA and eBay? And does anybody know if eBay reached out to SGC to offer them the opportunity to re authenticate SGC slabbed cards?

[BobC]

Originally Posted by benjulmag

So you are saying that PSA is to be the sole authority a seller must turn to in order to sell any slabbed card valued at more than $2,000, regardless which company's slab the card is in?

Flunks the smell test to me, especially when one considers that a significant percentage of the prewar collector population, (and IMO the majority of such collectors), regard SGC as the more reliable authenticator of such cards. Is there any economic relationship between PSA and eBay? And does anybody know if eBay reached out to SGC to offer them the opportunity to re authenticate SGC slabbed cards?

Corey,

That's what I'm saying/thinking as well. Something actually stinks with this whole new business relationship. And like you, it seems that everyone else is trying to tell us collectors what to think and how to collect. Like you, I would be interested to find out if SGC was approached by Ebay as well, or what about BVG/Beckett? Sadly, the vintage side of the hobby, as far as Ebay is concerned, is probably not as big as the modern side, so they don't worry very much about what vintage collectors like us may think. A lot of this may have more to do with the investors replacing and taking over from the collectors in the hobby, and different players in the industry jockeying for position to be in control and calling the shots as to what investors are looking for.

[BobC]

Interesting move by Ebay, and PSA. I wonder if this was in any way initiated by PSA looking at the original authentication deal between Ebay and CSG as a direct attack by CSG against them? If so, this could be their response back to fend off what could be their biggest potential competitor.

Raises some obvious questions though. For one, how the hell can you verify authenticity of a card in someone else's slab? I've always heard that it is impossible to fully examine a card in a slab to determine. From experience I know you can't really examine the edges of a slabbed card at all, or fully examine the surface due to the layer of plastic. And forget about any indication of the feel or smell of the card. Who are they kidding to think they can be perfect in determining authenticity of someone else's slabbed cards, without the ability to actually examine them in their raw, pristine state?

And then, what about issues that PSA doesn't grade? Are they suddenly going to claim to be able to determine authenticity of S74 silks and Fro-Joy cards graded by someone else? Or maybe they're going to suddenly start grading all these issues they've been ignoring for years so they don't appear stupid and hypocritical.

I've said on different occasions how we in the hobby have failed ourselves by allowing the TPGs and others in the card industry to set the parameters and call the shots on standards and how we collect and make decisions for us on what is what. Now it appears that Ebay is similarly trying to exert its will on those of us in the hobby still buying through them by forcing us to use and abide by PSA's thinking and will, whether we like it or not. Unbelievable!

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by BobC

Interesting move by Ebay, and PSA. I wonder if this was in any way initiated by PSA looking at the original authentication deal between Ebay and CSG as a direct attack by CSG against them? If so, this could be their response back to fend off what could be their biggest potential competitor.

Raises some obvious questions though. For one, how the hell can you verify authenticity of a card in someone else's slab? I've always heard that it is impossible to fully examine a card in a slab to determine. From experience I know you can't really examine the edges of a slabbed card at all, or fully examine the surface due to the layer of plastic. And forget about any indication of the feel or smell of the card. Who are they kidding to think they can be perfect in determining authenticity of someone else's slabbed cards, without the ability to actually examine them in their raw, pristine state?

And then, what about issues that PSA doesn't grade? Are they suddenly going to claim to be able to determine authenticity of S74 silks and Fro-Joy cards graded by someone else? Or maybe they're going to suddenly start grading all these issues they've been ignoring for years so they don't appear stupid and hypocritical.

I've said on different occasions how we in the hobby have failed ourselves by allowing the TPGs and others in the card industry to set the parameters and call the shots on standards and how we collect and make decisions for us on what is what. Now it appears that Ebay is similarly trying to exert its will on those of us in the hobby still buying through them by forcing us to use and abide by PSA's thinking and will, whether we like it or not. Unbelievable!

I don't think they're going to be authenticating the cards in the slabs. Just authenticating the slabs.

....ok, now that I said that out loud, a porthole to another universe just opened in the sky above me.

They say I have to go now.

[benjulmag]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

I don't think they're going to be authenticating the cards in the slabs. Just authenticating the slabs.

....ok, now that I said that out loud, a porthole to another universe just opened in the sky above me.

They say I have to go now.

If I am buying an SGC slabbed card, I would prefer SGC be the party that tells me if their slab has been altered, not PSA.

While the concept of authenticating the slabs is an interesting one, I don't think the market needs it, any more than the market needs a requirement that only slabbed cards can be sold. As long as buyers know the option is out there, a buyer can make his/her own determination what to require, at which point market forces will dictate what the seller will need to do.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

I don't think they're going to be authenticating the cards in the slabs. Just authenticating the slabs.

....ok, now that I said that out loud, a porthole to another universe just opened in the sky above me.

They say I have to go now.

LOL

I know Dave, doesn't this entire thing seem and sound absurd? Makes you wonder what the players involved are thinking. And as to PSA just authenticating that the slabs alone are authentic, are they going to have access to other TPG's cert numbers and files so they can cross-reference that to make sure the right card is in the right slab? And what about obscure or out of business TPGs, like FSA or GAI?

[Peter_Spaeth]

The PSA card I bought off ebay a week ago that literally was graded two weeks ago is now on its way back from being authenticated, AGAIN, by PSA. So stupid.

[MikeGarcia]

..Some day when I sell these graded/slabbed R313A 1934 Gold Medal Joe Medwicks and they are sent off for authentication , I'd like to be a fly on the wall in that office...:

..