Does PSA give favoritism to certain dealers/customers?

Wanaselja · #1 05-20-2025, 04:02 PM

Yes.

Vintage Card Curator on YouTube has done some great videos on this. The Rickey Henderson and Eddie Murray RC’s come to mind.

ClementeFanOh · #2 05-20-2025, 04:17 PM

Yep. The notion began with their first graded card.

Trent King

Peter_Spaeth · #3 05-20-2025, 07:31 PM

All submitters are equal.

Some are more equal than others.

aka. my rule of Animal Farm grading

raulus · #4 05-20-2025, 07:59 PM

How do I get on the list to be more equal?

bcbgcbrcb · #5 05-20-2025, 08:15 PM

In a word, YES. How about the other TPG�s?

Lorewalker · #6 05-20-2025, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcbgcbrcb

In a word, YES. How about the other TPG�s?

Some members here like to pretend their grader of choice does not participate in favoritism but it is clear it happens at Beckett and SGC too. PSA is far and away the most obvious offender and been doing it longer than anyone despite multiple changes at the management level. So far, and to their credit, CGC appears to have not tossed their hat in that ring.

Peter_Spaeth · #7 05-20-2025, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lorewalker

Some members here like to pretend their grader of choice does not participate in favoritism but it is clear it happens at Beckett and SGC too. PSA is far and away the most obvious offender and been doing it longer than anyone despite multiple changes at the management level. So far, and to their credit, CGC appears to have not tossed their hat in that ring.

Regarding Beckett, see the immortal "Eagle Eye" Joe thread on Blowout. That forum at its finest.

https://www.blowoutforums.com/showthread.php?t=1297069

Balticfox · #8 05-20-2025, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raulus

How do I get on the list to be more equal?

Talk is cheap, but money talks.

doug.goodman · #9 05-21-2025, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClementeFanOh

Yep. The notion began with their first graded card.

Trent King

Every thread needs a card

Hankphenom · #10 05-21-2025, 05:08 PM

I would hope the TPGs have a "blind" system in place whereby the graders have no other information other than the card in front of them. I might be dreaming, but it would crazy for it to be any other way, both from an ethical and a business standpoint, it seems to me.

Lorewalker · #11 05-21-2025, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

I would hope the TPGs have a "blind" system in place whereby the graders have no other information other than the card in front of them. I might be dreaming, but it would crazy for it to be any other way, both from an ethical and a business standpoint, it seems to me.

Well they that is the myth that was spun since day 1...that grading is anonymous. Not even close from what I have been told by people who are more involved in the hobby than I am and for much longer. The other myth is that 3 graders see each card. Maybe a T206 Wagner has 3 sets of eyes but a 1968 Topps Drysdale has at best one full sets of eyes for 10 seconds.

Hankphenom · #12 05-21-2025, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lorewalker

Well they that is the myth that was spun since day 1...that grading is anonymous. Not even close from what I have been told by people who are more involved in the hobby than I am and for much longer. The other myth is that 3 graders see each card. Maybe a T206 Wagner has 3 sets of eyes but a 1968 Topps Drysdale has at best one full sets of eyes for 10 seconds.

I've always thought there could be merit in the common complaint that they don't do a great job at what they do, i.e., inexperienced, overworked graders and the like. I don't think KFC makes very good fried chicken, either, but they're still the biggest, right? But I do have a hard time seeing what would be the advantage, especially of PSA, the proverbial 800-lb gorilla in the hobby, in overgrading even for the biggest clients. Seems to me they would just have too much to lose if that was ever proven to be the case, which I don't think has happened yet, has it? And with the volume they handle, I don't know how they could make that kind of bias work without gumming up the process and creating even more delays in an organization that is already constantly "in the weeds," as we say in the bar business when you just can't keep up. I'd like to have more than hearsay to go by for such a serious accusation.

Lorewalker · #13 05-22-2025, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

I've always thought there could be merit in the common complaint that they don't do a great job at what they do, i.e., inexperienced, overworked graders and the like. I don't think KFC makes very good fried chicken, either, but they're still the biggest, right? But I do have a hard time seeing what would be the advantage, especially of PSA, the proverbial 800-lb gorilla in the hobby, in overgrading even for the biggest clients. Seems to me they would just have too much to lose if that was ever proven to be the case, which I don't think has happened yet, has it? And with the volume they handle, I don't know how they could make that kind of bias work without gumming up the process and creating even more delays in an organization that is already constantly "in the weeds," as we say in the bar business when you just can't keep up. I'd like to have more than hearsay to go by for such a serious accusation.

I was simply speaking to the concern you had about anonymity not what PSA does with the transparency of that anonymity. PSA is giving an opinion and I think it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to prove their opinion is or that process is fraudulent absent people on the inside testifying. Whenever this topic is brought up you have people on this forum who post their observations that certain companies seemed to get more favorable results. Maybe it is nothing more than if a card is between a 7 and an 8 they give the favored submitter the 8 while the rest of us would get the 7?

I don't think it is uncommon in the world today that a large client would get better service than a smaller client.

jayshum · #14 05-22-2025, 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

I've always thought there could be merit in the common complaint that they don't do a great job at what they do, i.e., inexperienced, overworked graders and the like. I don't think KFC makes very good fried chicken, either, but they're still the biggest, right? But I do have a hard time seeing what would be the advantage, especially of PSA, the proverbial 800-lb gorilla in the hobby, in overgrading even for the biggest clients. Seems to me they would just have too much to lose if that was ever proven to be the case, which I don't think has happened yet, has it? And with the volume they handle, I don't know how they could make that kind of bias work without gumming up the process and creating even more delays in an organization that is already constantly "in the weeds," as we say in the bar business when you just can't keep up. I'd like to have more than hearsay to go by for such a serious accusation.

Maybe it is part of the reason for the delays they have in processing submissions?

toledo_mudhen · #15 05-22-2025, 07:40 AM

So on the Gretzgy Wagner - It sounds like the entire world believes that it is not a legitimate "8"

Is that correct?

To me - a grade of 8 on that card is not a stretch - What am I missing?

OhioLawyerF5 · #16 05-22-2025, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toledo_mudhen

So on the Gretzgy Wagner - It sounds like the entire world believes that it is not a legitimate "8"

Is that correct?

To me - a grade of 8 on that card is not a stretch - What am I missing?

I think the issue with that card in particular is that it is trimmed, and was known to be trimmed when PSA graded it.

luciobar1980 · #17 05-22-2025, 08:23 AM

It's such a shame that anyone would trim that card. Unfathomable.

And it's unreal that the VERY FIRST CARD PSA GRADED was basically a scam, of many scams to come, and people still submit to them. Ugh.

toledo_mudhen · #18 05-22-2025, 08:29 AM

AHHHH - OK - can see that happening on it.....

If I had to guess - I would say trimmed top and top corners?

Eric72 · #19 05-22-2025, 08:53 AM

Does PSA give favoritism to certain dealers/customers? In theory, no. However, as a very wise man once said:

"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is." - Yogi Berra

G1911 · #20 05-22-2025, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toledo_mudhen

AHHHH - OK - can see that happening on it.....

If I had to guess - I would say trimmed top and top corners?

The card was handcut from a �sheet� by which people probably meant a strip or a panel of a sheet, and then later trimmed again. All sides are probably trimmed.

sacentaur · #21 05-22-2025, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toledo_mudhen

So on the Gretzgy Wagner - It sounds like the entire world believes that it is not a legitimate "8"

Is that correct?

To me - a grade of 8 on that card is not a stretch - What am I missing?

The PSA grader for that Wagner was Bill Hughes, an individual who was mistrusted by a large portion of the comic book collecting hobby (Hughes was a vintage comic book dealer). I believe he later admitted that he knew the card had been trimmed.

Eric72 · #22 05-22-2025, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doug.goodman

Every thread needs a card

Bravo...that was perfect!

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