PSA Grading - Modern vs. Vintage

[Wisztradamous]

I've been seeing the horror stories for PSA Gem Rates and their rapid decline. However, how has the vintage part held up with this?
I have a couple hundred cards I want to send, but not if these are going to be a complete dusting. I have cards come back a 5 that look better than the 7s and 8s I have.
I cracked out a PSA 7 Otto Graham, because I thought it was at least an 8! That came back a PSA 2. I did not damage it!

It's the wild west out there.

[discodanman45]

Originally Posted by Wisztradamous

I've been seeing the horror stories for PSA Gem Rates and their rapid decline. However, how has the vintage part held up with this?
I have a couple hundred cards I want to send, but not if these are going to be a complete dusting. I have cards come back a 5 that look better than the 7s and 8s I have.
I cracked out a PSA 7 Otto Graham, because I thought it was at least an 8! That came back a PSA 2. I did not damage it!

It's the wild west out there.

PSA has graded my vintage relatively fairly. The issue I had with them is in two straight orders they bent the corners of many of my cards. Not just slight damage, but an actual crease.

Standards are different right now, even SGC is grading harder than they have in the past. There are a lot of people that are also grading vintage at PSA, that aren't knowledgeable about card stock and common print defects. Send to SGC if you want a more consistent grade and quicker turnaround time.

[RKH916]

Everybody agrees that the "PSA premium" is ridiculous and illogical, right?

The only way to change it is to send your money elsewhere. There is no way in hell I'm paying a PSA 10 price when I can pick up a BGS 9.5 true gem for almost half price on some occasions. As a collector I'm just not going to do that. So why would I send my cards to grade there if I know the innate value does not justify the cost? So that I can take advantage of the irrational marketplace and milk my profit margins on sales?

The marketplace needs to wake up and the only way for it to happen is for real collectors to stop feeding the PSA machine.

[discodanman45]

Originally Posted by RKH916

Everybody agrees that the "PSA premium" is ridiculous and illogical, right?

The only way to change it is to send your money elsewhere. There is no way in hell I'm paying a PSA 10 price when I can pick up a BGS 9.5 true gem for almost half price on some occasions. As a collector I'm just not going to do that. So why would I send my cards to grade there if I know the innate value does not justify the cost? So that I can take advantage of the irrational marketplace and milk my profit margins on sales?

The marketplace needs to wake up and the only way for it to happen is for real collectors to stop feeding the PSA machine.

Nothing will change it. Graders here complain about getting the G.O.D. with a 20% gem rate, then submit another bulk order with them. People who don't grade, don't care. They just want the grade and the PSA slab, so why would they start buying other slabs. Then you have celebrities like Logan Paul wearing a PSA slab around and Bryce Harper wearing PSA grading label cleats. People are gullible and marketing works on them.

I won't use PSA and they are the least accurate grading company. However, that doesn't matter. PSA has already won and there is no use worrying about it or trying to change the narrative.