The Value of the 8.5 Grade--One of My Largest Trades Ever

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Jim-You are saying it right yourself. Before a PSA 8 was 8.00-8.99. Now a PSA 8 is 8.00-8.49. Therefore, it is, on average, a lower grade card and should be worth less.

Jay, that assumes people are buying the cards for their condition, as opposed to buying the label for set registry purposes. There are people in both categories.

[andybecker]

interesting thread which clearly proves one thing to me.....i'm not smart enough to collect graded cards.

[oldjudge]

Peter-You are wrong. An 8 is worth less in the registry now because you have raised the overall average grade by raising some 8s to 8.5s.

[novakjr]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Peter-You are wrong. An 8 is worth less in the registry now because you have raised the overall average grade by raising some 8s to 8.5s.

Exactly. Lets say, as an example, you had a psa graded 8 card, that only had 50 higher(9's or 10's). Well now, without your card physically getting any worse, there's a bunch more higher now because of the 8.5's. Without the .5 grades before, the cards that should've been 8.5's were carrying the plain old 8's, and that's just not the case anymore.

[sb1]

Without regard to the effect of the value of 8, 8.5 or whatever other factors were involved.

If YOU are happy with the trade that is really all that matters. I think you got a lot of bang for your buck in this trade, essentially leveraging a handful of cards to trade for an even larger group in an almost imperceptible 1/2 grade lower condition in most instances. The value is secondary if in fact you needed or wanted the other cards to add to or complete sets, obtaining cards that otherwise might not have been made available to you.

I think everyone has done a trade to some degree that made others scratch their head. Most of these were done because the person "wanted or needed" what the other had to offer, specific dollar value within reason, was inconsequential, as both parties felt they were receiving equitable trades.

[barrysloate]

When PSA first announced the new half-grade program, their cards had to be hot because any large group of 8's could potentially contain some candidates for the bump to 8.5. Today, we have to assume most have already been submitted. Thus, it is reasonable to think that any card still in an 8 holder is lacking some qualification needed for a bump. And that's a strike against it.

And has been cited, the fact that cards will only get a bump up, and are guaranteed not to go down, suggests a complete lack of objectivity when cards are being reevaluated.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Peter-You are wrong. An 8 is worth less in the registry now because you have raised the overall average grade by raising some 8s to 8.5s.

8.5s are relatively few and far between. I doubt someone collecting 8-type sets would pay less for an 8 that became available because it wasn't an 8.5 and they preferred to hold out for one.

[Rich Klein]

Because IIRC; Jim was one of the leading proponents against the bump to half grades by PSA.

However; that did sound like one heck of a deal for Jim and is a great 1st move to other trades he may want to make. A good buisness person, which Jim obviously is, thinks through 2-3 steps usually

Regards
Rich

[Jewish-collector]

I'd be curious to know what percentage of the early graded PSA 8 cards were resubmitted for a bump up after PSA announced the new .5 grading system ?