PSA Grading Fees at the National

[rand1com]

Originally Posted by BeanTown

Paying 500.00 for an opinion which seems to be political at times doesn’t seem right. I haven’t truly embraced all this grading, as I’ve been collecting before these grading companies popped up. I think if I was gonna sell a 15k card I’d send it to a reputable AH and negotiate them sending it in to be graded. They can absorb the cost which won’t be as much, as what us collectors pay.

They do get a break on the cost of grading but whatever it is they deduct from the seller's final take. They may get a break on the actual grade as well but who knows.

But, in order to have them get the card graded, you have to commit to consigning it for auction.

If you grade it yourself, you determine what happens to the card.

PSA charges $600 to grade at their location in California a card with a value only up to $9,999 so you actually get a better price for a potentially higher valued card in one day on site at the National.

Not for everyone, but again for the right card probably a decent deal.

[BeanTown]

Who determines the value? I remember when dealers were using two price guides. The SCD and SMR. They buy using one guide and sell using the other guide. Isn’t a lot of the value speculation where on any given day a card could sell for 7500 or 17500.

[swarmee]

Originally Posted by BeanTown

Who determines the value?

The initial submitter based on their prediction of the graded value, or the raw replacement value if they're okay with it going slower and possibly getting reimbursed for a smaller value in case it gets lost or damaged at PSA.
Once it's graded, sometimes PSA will cross-check the value based on their APR tool to determine a current value, and will sometimes upcharge people to a higher service level. However, that's intermittent. There are times when thousand dollar cards go through on bulk $99 max value submissions (think PSA 10 commons from the 60s) or times when a card valued at $249 gets upcharged to the $999 level if it gets a 10 in modern basketball autos, for example.

[rand1com]

Originally Posted by BeanTown

Who determines the value? I remember when dealers were using two price guides. The SCD and SMR. They buy using one guide and sell using the other guide. Isn’t a lot of the value speculation where on any given day a card could sell for 7500 or 17500.

There is not the kind of pricing disparity that you suggest above. VCP which stands for Vintage Card Prices is the primary tool most dealers/collectors use for comparable pricing.

It has most recorded actual sale prices of graded cards by PSA, Beckett, or SGC whether sold on Ebay or through auction houses. Most recent sales are generally used for pricing when buying/selling although some cards may not have any recorded sales in many years. You have to pay a membership fee annually to have access to the site.

The PSA SMR is not accurate as it is not updated on a regular basis. PSA does have some actual pricing of sold PSA cards only.

Ebay has a tool to find actual sales on Ebay but a lot of times best offers are accepted and the recorded sales are the BIN prices.

Bottom line is vintage graded cards are not usually discounted to any great extent over whatever the market value is at any point in time.

[Bigdaddy]

Originally Posted by rand1com

There is not the kind of pricing disparity that you suggest above.

I would assert that great differences in price are not related so much to multiple cards with the same grade (though eye appeal does play a part), but to the same card at different grades. For example, submit the same card 10 times and then look at the prices for the highest and lowest grades of those 10 submittals. The ambiguity of the grading scale is what drives folks to submit the same card multiple times hoping for a bump in grade and the corresponding bump in value. And at the high end of the grading scale, that can be a 5-10x jump.

[rand1com]

Certainly true on vintage high grade cards.

I submitted a 1954 World Series Game 1 (Mays Catch) ticket stub at the $150 level which covered up to $2499 on the value side for grading. I got an email informing me the cost would be $600 for the grading due to the grade of the ticket. At first, I was ticked to pay an additional $450 for grading due to the grade but upon finding out it was the highest graded one, I just happily ate the fee.

I'm sure if someone submits a 1952 Topps Mantle at the level of NM and it grades NM/M they would be happy to pay the additional fee as well.

But I thought the post about value indicated same grade just different valuations as he mentioned SCD and SMR.

[Johnny630]

The Lines Will Be Long with Submitters, I wish SGC was dong on-site....ugh

[raulus]

Originally Posted by BeanTown

Who determines the value? I remember when dealers were using two price guides. The SCD and SMR. They buy using one guide and sell using the other guide. Isn’t a lot of the value speculation where on any given day a card could sell for 7500 or 17500.

There’s certainly a range for market for any given card.

My experience is that they tend to be pretty forgiving when it comes to hitting you with upcharges. Not that you can go nuts and just submit everything at the lowest possible level. But my experience suggests it has to be pretty egregious with your item being clearly and well over the limit before you get to pay more.