PSA Price Increase

[thenightman]

"We're getting too many cards! It's all these TCG cards!"

"We need to raise prices to slow down submissions."

"Great idea! What should we do?"

"Keep TCG Bulk sub pricing the same and increase the price of Sports Cards Bulk subs $2 a card."

"Brilliant!!!!"

This is like getting rid of the cat because the dog is digging too many holes in the backyard.

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by metsandweezer

Unreal that TCG is not changing.

Appalling really.

[f2tornado]

I got a few orders submitted this evening. Can space them out since there's plenty of time to get there.

I'll still pick up cheap raw as I come across it but will need to start focusing on stuff that provides a greater absolute value of return. The rest of it can sit until it's worth submitting either through higher demand or lower grading expense.

[88horsepower]

Originally Posted by thenightman

"We're getting too many cards! It's all these TCG cards!"

"We need to raise prices to slow down submissions."

"Great idea! What should we do?"

"Keep TCG Bulk sub pricing the same and increase the price of Sports Cards Bulk subs $2 a card."

"Brilliant!!!!"

This is like getting rid of the cat because the dog is digging too many holes in the backyard.

If and when the Pokémon craze dies down, while PSA has effectively turned their backs on their core sports card audience of collectors, it will be interesting to see what happens. Of course, I'm sure PSA is banking on Pokémon remaining hot and people continuing to have extra money to burn on luxuries like card grading.

[thenightman]

Originally Posted by 88horsepower

If and when the Pokémon craze dies down, while PSA has effectively turned their backs on their core sports card audience of collectors, it will be interesting to see what happens. Of course, I'm sure PSA is banking on Pokémon remaining hot and people continuing to have extra money to burn on luxuries like card grading.

Honestly, it'll be as simple as one $16.99 special on all sports cards and all will be forgiven.

[bub838]

Originally Posted by 88horsepower

If and when the Pokémon craze dies down, while PSA has effectively turned their backs on their core sports card audience of collectors, it will be interesting to see what happens. Of course, I'm sure PSA is banking on Pokémon remaining hot and people continuing to have extra money to burn on luxuries like card grading.

Pokemon hype will make it deep into 2026 before it slows down. 30th Anniversary comes out next year.

[salsdali]

Originally Posted by 88horsepower

Of course, I'm sure PSA is banking on Pokémon remaining hot and people continuing to have extra money to burn on luxuries like card grading.

people don't have "extra money" to burn on luxuries like card grading. Many people are hurting and cards have a low barrier to entry and are more accessible than stocks or art to the younger generation.

That gen is flipping as a side hustle to profit as a necessity, not as a "luxury". They are literally trying to finance their first car purchase using cards which they understand as opposed to stocks or art which they are clueless about.

if you research what collectible investments are appreciating it's cards and all other collectibles are decreasing because it's easier and cheaper to pay PSA to do the job for you than to study art history or stock market trends and make a sophisticated valuation of a work of art/stock. Cards are also what the younger gen is interested in, not fine China, rugs, stamps, paintings, furniture, etc.

Cards are easy, convenient, liquid, all other collectibles take hard work (which the younger gen is clearly against)

I commented this on IG: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLqx_...RlODBiNWFlZA==

I posted "are we just going to ignore that a full grown man in a Onsie is trying to sell 1.7 mil of anything?"

Do you younger generation realize how ridiculous, absurd and insulting this is to us older gen of card/art collectors who have done their due diligence?

Can you imagine trying to sell a Picasso for 1.7 mil dressed in a Onesie? The whole industry has turned absurd and I hope you all choke on your junk slab 2.0

ff sakes, Pokemon is FANTASY, I hate to burst your bubble but a charizard never broke the home run record, never broke any sports record in REAL LIFE, because it's NOT REAL (are y'all that detached from reality?, yikes, maybe it is the Tylenol lol)

Congratulations younger gen, you have google and the internet, that doesn't make you an "expert" or an "appraiser", it just makes you lazy, you've literally lost the "appreciation" in "art appreciation".

in the last 15 years I've literally not heard one person say they like the way a card "looks". It's 100% "what profit am I going to make", completely forgetting that one of the final grading criteria of PSA was how a card "looks".

Can you imagine thinking of a Picasso that way?

[rentz]

dang i was hoping there would be more delay in the website update, but i didn't get time to gather a submission by today.
Oh well guess i will be grading fewer items and not renewing my membership, i haven't submitted this entire year since the specials stunk

[Blazed]

Everyone's pissed at PSA, PSA isn't the problem

[gododgersfan]

Originally Posted by bub838

Pokemon hype will make it deep into 2026 before it slows down. 30th Anniversary comes out next year.

100% agree. 30th will be pure madness.

[MavsRChamps]

Originally Posted by Blazed

Everyone's pissed at PSA, PSA isn't the problem

Explain?

[oddstuff]

We (those that submit) are the problem maybe? As long as volume is up and up, there's no incentive for PSA to change any of those things (rising cost to grade/increased turnaround time, etc) that upset people. IF people finally stop submitting, that might get PSA's attention.

[prospectorgems]

Originally Posted by oddstuff

We (those that submit) are the problem maybe? As long as volume is up and up, there's no incentive for PSA to change any of those things (rising cost to grade/increased turnaround time, etc) that upset people. IF people finally stop submitting, that might get PSA's attention.

Yes, I agree. It's us the customers that are getting punished for submitting too much to PSA. It would be impossible to convince many to just stop submitting unfortunately. The slight increase isn't going to break me, but it does upset me that PSA is filled with nothing but pure greed and not giving any incentives back to their customers.

It doesn't make any logical sense for any company to charge more to try to slow down business (if that's really true). As others said, take this opportunity to hire more people as well as fix the internal issues with the wonky structures they have in place that is likely causing slow turnaround times as well.

[Snowcat]

Group submitters and the belief that every new base RC and $10 insert needs to be graded -- that's 70% of the problem.

The other 30% of the blame falls on PSA for bending over for every group submitter that applied for a dealer account and not opening more regional offices a lot sooner.

[bmann33]

Gotta pay for new PSA Canada/Europe operations somehow

[MavsRChamps]

Haven’t really heard a good answer to this question.

Why doesn’t psa pay their employees better? Would obv lead to more competent graders, less turnover etc etc

Maybe my math isn’t adding. But their profit must be huuuuuggge. Charging $20+ to put a piece of cardboard in plastic casing.

Psa myst solve their training dilemma of having inconsistent graders too. Don’t understand how this is still an issue.

If they kept their employees they wouldn’t have to keep on hiring and hiring and hiring as they seem to be doing. The fact a company as large as Psa can’t forsee staffing issues is ridiculous and just blatant lies. They can, but they just want to use the “we’re short staffed” as an excuse to not grow, not improve their training, and to raise their profit per employee but not maximize their profit overall (meaning if they expand and meet grading demand they’d profit way more)

[88horsepower]

Originally Posted by oddstuff

We (those that submit) are the problem maybe? As long as volume is up and up, there's no incentive for PSA to change any of those things (rising cost to grade/increased turnaround time, etc) that upset people. IF people finally stop submitting, that might get PSA's attention.

Vote with your wallet. It's a big reason why I have decided to stop submitting to PSA and have cancelled my membership renewal. There are so many awesome ways to collect. PSA does not have a monopoly on how to enjoy the card world.

Originally Posted by MavsRChamps

Haven’t really heard a good answer to this question.

Why doesn’t psa pay their employees better? Would obv lead to more competent graders, less turnover etc etc

Maybe my math isn’t adding. But their profit must be huuuuuggge. Charging $20+ to put a piece of cardboard in plastic casing.

Psa myst solve their training dilemma of having inconsistent graders too. Don’t understand how this is still an issue.

If they kept their employees they wouldn’t have to keep on hiring and hiring and hiring as they seem to be doing. The fact a company as large as Psa can’t forsee staffing issues is ridiculous and just blatant lies. They can, but they just want to use the “we’re short staffed” as an excuse to not grow, not improve their training, and to raise their profit per employee but not maximize their profit overall (meaning if they expand and meet grading demand they’d profit way more)

Easy money. That's why.

PSA charges over $20 per slab and pays their graders between $18-$35 an hour to work at their facility in California. Yes, I realize they have more overhead than just their graders, but with the volume they are dealing with, they are making money hand over fist. The fact that their graders earn so little gives me the impression that PSA's entire business model is about profits and not at all about quality.

I used to be under the impression that the people handling my cards actually cared and that they people grading my cards were experts. Truth is, they aren't in most cases. If you are being paid barely over minimum wage in California to handle and grade cards, you don't have much incentive to care, especially when the ceiling for your position is $35 per hour, which is not enough money to survive living in California. If a person is being hired off the street to and after a few months of training is "qualified" to grade our cards, it's quite a stretch to assume they are experts at anything related to assessing cards.

The perception among many collectors is that PSA is driven by volume and greed, not quality and certainly not highlighting anything close to expertise.

[oddstuff]

Submitters are funding PSA's management's collections.

[imbluestreak23]

I'm not a fan of PSA post rona. They have gotten tremendously better while getting tremendously worse with their growth.

Sadly BGS still sucks.

[88horsepower]

Originally Posted by imbluestreak23

I'm not a fan of PSA post rona. They have gotten tremendously better while getting tremendously worse with their growth.

Sadly BGS still sucks.

One of the reasons why competition is so good for the card industry, among other industries, is because it pushes everyone to improve. PSA has little incentive to do this. No different to me than when Panini got exclusive rights in the football card market and thus eliminated Upper Deck, Topps, and DLP, and severely reduced the quality of cards coming out every year.

[anusinha]

PSA is still king because the repackers only want PSA because the comps are plentiful and transparent. And 90% of the cards being sent in are going straight to the repackers and not into peoples collections.

[imbluestreak23]

PSA just jumped the gun on vertical integration that we were all concerned about with botoxed Rubin.

Yay mature markets! Yay late stage capitalism! It's so fun for the consumer.

[Scottish Punk]

Originally Posted by MavsRChamps

Haven’t really heard a good answer to this question.

Why doesn’t psa pay their employees better? Would obv lead to more competent graders, less turnover etc etc

Maybe my math isn’t adding. But their profit must be huuuuuggge. Charging $20+ to put a piece of cardboard in plastic casing.

Psa myst solve their training dilemma of having inconsistent graders too. Don’t understand how this is still an issue.

If they kept their employees they wouldn’t have to keep on hiring and hiring and hiring as they seem to be doing. The fact a company as large as Psa can’t forsee staffing issues is ridiculous and just blatant lies. They can, but they just want to use the “we’re short staffed” as an excuse to not grow, not improve their training, and to raise their profit per employee but not maximize their profit overall (meaning if they expand and meet grading demand they’d profit way more)

I guarantee Nat and his team have all the staffing, ROI, raw materials cost down to the profit per minute. You don't want to pay graders a ton to grade the 60% TCG and however much ultra modern stuff. PSA is not in the accuracy business, it is to get as much product out the door with good margins as possible.

[The_Reverend]

Originally Posted by bub838

Pokemon hype will make it deep into 2026 before it slows down. 30th Anniversary comes out next year.

This! Pokémon is young to grading in the grand scheme of things. Many Pokemon collector will never grade because they want fire binders. Sports does not have the COLLECTOR base that Pokemon does. Unlike sports, most do not set complete and that is key. Sports, which I was very active at one time, has too many duplicate sets, 30-40 RC cards. Pokémon releases 5-6 sets per year. All different and that is why when those boxes go out of print they appreciate.

[MavsRChamps]

Originally Posted by Scottish Punk

I guarantee Nat and his team have all the staffing, ROI, raw materials cost down to the profit per minute. You don't want to pay graders a ton to grade the 60% TCG and however much ultra modern stuff. PSA is not in the accuracy business, it is to get as much product out the door with good margins as possible.

On your last point - In my opinion that is short sighted. They SHOULD BE in the accuracy business because it is going to affect them long term. Many people just in this thread alone are become more turned off by PSA due to their inconsistent graders ... They should be addressing that.

Look - PSA will profit a ton regardless due to their extremely low cost per card to grade vs. what $$ they actually get ... Plus factor in their ridiculous upcharges and they're making bank. There is no excuse to not have stricter procedures / better training in place to yield more efficient, consistent graders. None.

It's short sighted. They need to be there for their customers by stop raising prices and become more consistent. This can be done. But instead they are choosing short-term profits over long-term consistency, and long-term profit.