Does anyone else wonder, "Why isn't this card graded?"

[smtjoy]

I would be wary of any high grade NM+ raw cards, there are some finds out there but more times than not there is something wrong with the card. Take the advice above, the seller will give you a better idea.

I do know a few of the large submitters like 4SC (sending in over a 1000 cards at a time) have seperate ebay accounts they use to sell off the cards that fail to grade the numbers they can make money slabbed at and sell them all offs as raw NM. Just something to know.

[egbeachley]

Sometimes a card you've enjoyed for a long time needs to be sold unexpectedly and you don't have time to send it in to be graded.

[David W]

Maybe the low feedback seller is legit, and just selling a long time collection, and knows little to nothing about how to get cards graded or see a reason to?

I'm sure there are lots of people like that out there. They don't read internet chat boards, they never heard of PSA or SGC, and think Beckett is a magazine.

Shoot, Lionel Carters cards weren't graded when they got stolen.

[alanu]

There are some sellers out there who buy nice looking graded EX cards and break them out and sell them raw as NM... not saying that is the case with this seller though, especially with the low feedback

[steve B]

Originally Posted by smtjoy

I would be wary of any high grade NM+ raw cards, there are some finds out there but more times than not there is something wrong with the card. Take the advice above, the seller will give you a better idea.

I do know a few of the large submitters like 4SC (sending in over a 1000 cards at a time) have seperate ebay accounts they use to sell off the cards that fail to grade the numbers they can make money slabbed at and sell them all offs as raw NM. Just something to know.

Do they actually crack them out or just have it setup so anything that isn't a certain grade doesn't get slabbed? The cracking out seems like tons of work, but I guess if they can do it quickly it might work.

Steve B

[betafolio2]

Thanks, all, for the responses so far! Good points made all the way around! One thing I'd add to the discussion at this point is that I definitely lean toward sellers with a liberal return policy, ESPECIALLY if they're selling some really nice raw cards that I want. I think I'm pretty good at inspecting cards for trimming (nothing like a good loupe to check for the original Topps edge-cut patterns), wrinkles, etc., so if I have the option of returning a card if it fails inspection, I'll often take the chance. I just finished my 1971 NM Topps set (all raw) in January after 28 years, and I got VERY good at checking the cards for touched-up corners and edges. (And it's amazing how many times I had to return -- repeatedly -- the cards that would've finished my set because the edges had been doctored.) Unscrupulous people have gotten REALLY good at touching up the '71s, by the way. I saw some alterations that, perhaps, many others would've missed. One eBay seller even doubted my determination that one of his cards was altered. Oh, he gave me a full refund as promised, but he made his doubts known about my findings IN MY FEEDBACK! That really bothered me at first, but I'm over it. Anyway, thanks again to all of you for your thoughful responses!