Running PSA Order Tracker

[crpalmi]

Originally Posted by discodanman45

PSA graded over 15 million cards in 2024. How much time do you think they spend grading a card? They looked at your cards for about 30 seconds a piece, so 2 hours is plenty of time using their methods. That is what we pay for.

I get it but it’s just that I haven’t seen a 1 day grading period for a bulk order over 50 or so orders over the last 7 years and while I haven’t sent a ton of vintage I never would have picked that to be the order to take only a day. Maybe back in the day when entire bulk orders were turned around in a week but not now. Maybe I’m reading too much into it and grades will be spot on (said with sarcasm) but the 1 day timeframe just makes me uneasy having not seen that in a bulk order for years now.

[discodanman45]

Originally Posted by crpalmi

I get it but it’s just that I haven’t seen a 1 day grading period for a bulk order over 50 or so orders over the last 7 years and while I haven’t sent a ton of vintage I never would have picked that to be the order to take only a day. Maybe back in the day when entire bulk orders were turned around in a week but not now. Maybe I’m reading too much into it and grades will be spot on (said with sarcasm) but the 1 day timeframe just makes me uneasy having not seen that in a bulk order for years now.

They always took this long. I think the issue is grading used to be the backlog, so items would just sit before they were graded. Now it seems everything else is backlogged and grading is not the bottleneck.

[imbluestreak23]

Originally Posted by crpalmi

I get it but it’s just that I haven’t seen a 1 day grading period for a bulk order over 50 or so orders over the last 7 years and while I haven’t sent a ton of vintage I never would have picked that to be the order to take only a day. Maybe back in the day when entire bulk orders were turned around in a week but not now. Maybe I’m reading too much into it and grades will be spot on (said with sarcasm) but the 1 day timeframe just makes me uneasy having not seen that in a bulk order for years now.

Vintage taking 1 day in grading is abnormal. Certainly an outlier, but from my experience in modern, the less days spent in grading and assembly, the better the order tends to be in terms of grades you get. So might be a good thing

[synergy]

Finally got some grades back! Not a great order but could have been worse. 51% gem rate with several mini size/miscut grades on modern/ultra modern

Value Bulk
Delivered: 11/04/2024
Received per PSA: 11/06/2024
Research & ID: 11/22/2024
Grading: 1/20/2025
Assembly: 1/21/2025
Grades Ready: 1/30/2025
QA: 1/30/2025
Shipped: 1/31/2025

Value Bulk
Delivered: 12/27/2024
Received per PSA: 1/01/2025
Research & ID: 1/14/2025
Grading: 1/19/2025
Assembly: 1/27/2025
Grades Ready:
QA:
Shipped:

[worldtravel00]

Originally Posted by worldtravel00

December 15-31 Sports card special (15 cards)
Dropped off @ PSA drop off event: 1/12
Arrived: Still not showing up. This is longest I ever had to wait. Previous drop offs took less than few days to get recorded as "arrived".
Research:
Grading:
Assembly:
Grades:
Ship:

As of 2/1, PSA has not entered this as received. That's almost 3 weeks. That's unheard territory as PSA drop offs were recorded received in less than 5 days before. Waiting on the PSA customer service on order status.

[sheldonbeswift]

January Value Bulk Grading Special (1990-Present)
# of cards: 15
Order Arrived: January 7, 2025
Order Prep: February 1, 2025
Research & ID: February 1, 2025
Grading:
Assembly:
Grades Ready:
QA Checks:
Complete: (Estimated April 14, 2025)

[Wisztradamous]

A real lack of specials starting off in February:
- Express Service (5 Day turnaround)
- Ticket Express Service (30 Day turnaround)

I'm going to assume this is due to the backlog and a 'catch up' type of deal. I mean, they have rolled out specials mid month.

I see this more of a positive to appease the masses.

[f2tornado]

Originally Posted by Wisztradamous

I mean, they have rolled out specials mid month.

I wouldn't rule this out. They seem to be moving along nicely now...

My next pending order (Nov special) only spent a few days in Grading and another few days in Assembly and now has the green checkmark. Usually I see the grades within a day or two of the checkmark.

[metsandweezer]

USPS had my package sent to the Mission Viejo post office. I put the same Newport Beach address as always. Did USPS screw up or does PSA have an additional PO Box now?

[izlo]

Originally Posted by Wisztradamous

I mean, they have rolled out specials mid month.

Yes, this. They did a mid-month special last year in Feb.

Could be different this year though. I'm thinking the economy is strong. people spending expendable income. Next year or the year after will likely slow down so PSA shouldn't do anything too drastic to keep up with the current demand.

[discodanman45]

Over a month with green checkmark in assembly. My other order will probably follow. Perpetual State of Assembly.

[izlo]

Originally Posted by oddstuff

A card where you can see a defect without magnification should automatically be a 9 these days...so anyone sending that in should expect a 9 and be surprise if a 10 comes back. If sending in hoping to catch a good grader, be ready for disappointment. When hunting for 10s, anything I can see with a corner defect automatically goes into a do not grade pile.

I tend to agree. You are definitely not wrong. However, the mental and physical subjectivity just has to be mentioned here.

All the eyeballs out there have varying degrees of natural magnification which will get translated in all sorts of ways.

But ultimately it comes down to card makers and card graders doing better.

Card manufacturers should do better.

Card graders should be educated to the same standard. I would say that standard should include what is considered normal during a print process and that can vary from print run to print run. I've seen what seem to be common/inescapable print run issues have no problem getting a 10 even when it's an obvious eye sore. So it seems this already happens where card graders are aware of known print run issues.

CGC comic grading is a good example. There are certain defects in comics that are entirely normal and the defacto "10" in CGC graded comics is a 9.8 just because of the perfectly normal edge wear that happens during shipping.

In my 2 years grading with PSA I've seen times when it seems like PSA card graders grade similar to CGC comic graders and I've seen times when it seems like they graded way too strictly.

Better communication from graders would be amazing. It would educate people. There's a hole to be filled. PSA dominates but there is room for competitors.

[OneTonPunch]

Originally Posted by f2tornado

I wouldn't rule this out. They seem to be moving along nicely now...

My next pending order (Nov special) only spent a few days in Grading and another few days in Assembly and now has the green checkmark. Usually I see the grades within a day or two of the checkmark.

Yeah it seems like they’re back on schedule, my October bulk special order and my December bulk special order finished around the same time

[Wisztradamous]

Originally Posted by izlo

Yes, this. They did a mid-month special last year in Feb.

Could be different this year though. I'm thinking the economy is strong. people spending expendable income. Next year or the year after will likely slow down so PSA shouldn't do anything too drastic to keep up with the current demand.

I forget if they were good or not, but only one can hope.
I just chalked it up as a 'catch up' type of month for them.

[metsandweezer]

Are you allowed to drop off bulk orders at the PSA office in CA?

[ObanMontecristo]

seems to be pretty fast right now- I shipped 2 orders to PSA on 1/4 and they were entered into the system on 1/10. Grades popped on the orders on Friday/today and then zoomed through the rest of the steps today (2/3)- I just got shipping notices for both orders, and they’re already moving through FedEx.

30 cards in the January Value Bulk Special (1990-Present)
11 cards in the Jan'25 Value Plus Special

[Benscards]

Dropped off at PSA event at Santa Anna location 1/08/2025
Received per PSA: 2/3/2025
Research & ID:
Grading:
Assembly:
Grades Ready:
QA:
Shipped:

[jjo1776]

Lol I guess the drop off event was a mistake… I’ve got 3 orders I dropped off during the Dallas event two weekends ago and still nothing. Should’ve just mailed them in at this point

[discodanman45]

I don't typically ever crack out cards. Will be doing this after my last submission. Absolutely horrific and sickening grades. Getting numerous 5's on 80/90's cards that are 8's. Not just one, but 50% of the order. I can't trust PSA after this. They either damaged all my cards by their new processes, using technology that doesn't work, or they have people smoking crack on the job. Maybe all three. SGC for vintage and CGC for modern from now on

[frankrafale]

Originally Posted by synergy

Just logged into my account and one of my orders says completed - but I don't see the grades. Has anyone else run into this? Haven't had this happen before

have the exact same problem right now

[MJGOAT23]

Anyone get an 80's-90's special back recently? Is it consensus that 9's are now 8's , 8's are now 6 or 7 and so on? And that they are grading 80's paper like 2020's prizm/chrome?

[frankrafale]

Originally Posted by frankrafale

have the exact same problem right now

got them 1 hour later

[discodanman45]

Is there any way to check images of cards that they scanned after grades are posted? Two of my cards got 5's with a noticeable creased corner that was not there before. I have no idea what PSA is doing, but they destroyed two or more of my cards. Could they be running cards through scanners without any card savers for the grading process? I never had issues like this before with any grading company since I returned back in 2020. Yes, I miss a card here and there, but I don't submit half of my order with 5/6's from the 80/90's. Just gross.

[brev87]

Originally Posted by MJGOAT23

Anyone get an 80's-90's special back recently? Is it consensus that 9's are now 8's , 8's are now 6 or 7 and so on? And that they are grading 80's paper like 2020's prizm/chrome?

I just recently got back a bunch of 8s and 7s on some Jordans. I've NEVER received a 10 on any Jordan card

[seanbros55]

Originally Posted by frankrafale

have the exact same problem right now

Originally Posted by frankrafale

got them 1 hour later

Same here.

I'm at about 2 hours since the email.