Anyone else feeling raw is their only option these days?

[Oscar_Stanage]

Originally Posted by mferronibc

Problem is seems like more and more of raw now are expecting to get comparable prices to what they perceive (or at least advertise) the card would grade without taking on any of the risk that it likely won't or the cost ($65)/time (6-9 months) to actually grade it. Seller's market for sure.

I agree with this. For those talking about buying raw at a discount to graded, please PM with which sellers do this, because I have not seen one dealer that does this.

I spent last year buying raw at some of the large reputable Ebay sellers (mostly auctions... thousands), I would say 5-10% of the time I was able to pay a discount to the PSA equivalent. Otherwise the card was closing very close to PSA and sometimes higher (highest listing is NM-MT, so sometimes buyers think they are getting MT and pay a lot more). I definitely got some good deals, but overall the market made me look smart by bailing me out of any overpaying.

if you ask me, you all have it backwards, its buying raw where the buyer gets hurt. Sellers love being able to sell raw cards and not have to go through the cost and hassle of grading. they basically get the PSA-equivalent price. All sellers over-grade. Sure the good ones will be in-line a lot of the time, but they definitely tend to over-estimating rather than under-estimating. Even those that offer 'no questions asked' returns know that many buyers just won't go through the hassle to return a card unless it is egregiously misrepresented. Things like centering, subtle wrinkles and paper loss are generally ignored when the seller applies their 'internal' grading system. it does not matter, because in competitive auctions there are too many bidders who push the card to graded pricing..