Lowering Expectations – Submitting Cards to PSA

[Republicaninmass]

Always thought keeping a large quality of cash in mid grade commons was a fools errand.

[Touch'EmAll]

I have been involved with grading for many years, since soon after PSA even started.

Recently I had a '69 Aaron, looked a lock for an 8 and closer to a 9 than a 7. Near perfect centering, no tilt, very nice color focus & gloss, super clean back, 4 corners sharp front & back. Came back a 7. Very disappointed.

And I just picked up a 1973/4 Cassius Clay SGC 7. Compared it up against my PSA 8. Holy cow! The SGC 7 appears honest to goodness MINT 9. If it were in a 9 holder I wouldn't bat an eye - yes, most deservedly so, and would have been very happy with the card even knowing I paid a 9 price.

Then there is always the I didn't see something the graders caught.

[BobbyStrawberry]

2-3 grade reduction seems to be the norm these days. Just wait until they change their label and start the whole process over again! 1 will be the new 7.

[Touch'EmAll]

It has been mentioned that the very old certs don't quite get the higher prices of new certs.

Ok, but my old cert T206 Cobb is in a PSA 5 holder. If I submitted for grading now, lets say it comes back a PSA 4. Then wouldn't my older cert 5 be worth more than a new cert 4 ?

[donmuth]

They should take current 8's, 9's, and 10's and just call them all 10's and then re-distribute things below that like they should be. The so-called grading standards they are using are NOT consistent with what long time collectors know to be the standards.

[Bigdaddy]

Originally Posted by donmuth

They should take current 8's, 9's, and 10's and just call them all 10's and then re-distribute things below that like they should be. The so-called grading standards they are using are NOT consistent with what long time collectors know to be the standards.

I completely agree, but just like your algebra teacher, they grade on a bell curve. This ensures that the quantity of the higher grades decrease exponentially, which translates to exponentially higher prices and a generally higher demand for cards to be re-subbed at higher price levels. It just wouldn't make $$ sense for the graders to lump together all those cards that you and I can't tell apart without magnification and different light sources.

[Snowman]

PSA moved the goalposts from their initial standards by a full grade prior to the pandemic, around the mid 2010s. They have since moved the goalposts by another full grade. They're just ridiculous now. An absolute clown show in the grading room. It's really not difficult to grade vintage cards, and it's not difficult to maintain a consistent standard. Yet, here we are. Soon, PSA will have to introduce the 0 and -1 grades in order to make room for the new goalposts. I've been buying dead mint cards in PSA 6 & 7 holders and EXMT cards galore in PSA 4 slabs. I'm buying hoards of recently graded cards entirely because of it. Eventually, they're going to have to correct this. They're getting a lot of heat about it. Publicly, they keep trying to pretend like it isn't true, but at some point they're going to have to face reality. When they put the goalposts back where they belong, I'll resub my under graded hoard.