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Frustrated By PSA so badly

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KennerKid

Member
Oct 19, 2019
48
0
First off, I don't want to sound like I am whining (I guess I am some).

I submitted a bunch of Cards to PSA. 20 for me, 20 for a friend of mine who just got back into collecting. and 40 by my boss who collects mostly vintage.

We submitted these July 2nd. Just got the grades back today (November 13).

Obviously, ridiculously long time by PSA. They navigate the "85 business day max" so nicely, getting these done techinically on day 84. They didn't even touch the dang package for 5 weeks; which like they say "we start the clock when we scan them in" got it.

So I submitted 10 topps now, and 5 average cards, and then 5 ones I considered to really want to get a hit on.

Got MOSTLY 10s on all the topps now MLB cards which no one cares about; and I only submitted to give my boss a full 100. Got a couple 9s and 10s on the middling cards.

Then on the ones I really cared about - all 9's. It really feels like a true sham. I know what a good raw card needs to be. I bought a /5 Cody Bellinger red refractor 1984 variant from Topps Chrome and sent it in. If that card had just hit a 10, I would have taken an 8 on all the others. Truly, i would have. We inspected that card with a microcope. Perfect corners front and back, perfect centering. Perfect everything. My boss who has done this for years said "you really have a shot on this one, should be a 10". Of course, a 9. For no reason at all, because PSA just felt like it. 9 on the vlad base rookie. 9 on the Vlad living set.

My friend who just got back into collecting pulled some cards out of a shoebox. Hit about 15 PSA 10's out of his 20, including some cards that had been sitting in dust. Every valuable card he bought raw off ebay; hit a 10. Every single one.

I am ready to quit collecting over this, I hate PSA so much tonight
 

swish54_99

Well-known member
Dec 12, 2012
1,160
221
If you don't like PSA, you could go over to Beckett....their wait times are only a year...literally. 85 days isn't so bad when compared to the competition.

As far as the grades, it takes a lot of subbing to get a good idea of how to accurately grade a card before sending it in. If the centering/corners are as good as you say, I'm assuming you missed something on the surface. If a chrome card has a bubble in the chrome, scratch, or line, it will knock the grade down.
 

smapdi

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
4,397
221
I mean, it's all subjective and maybe there is some tiny flaw they felt knocked it off Gem status. It's human nature to think there's some ulterior motive, or some sort of limit on gems per order, and of course there could be, but there's no way to prove it. I've got quite a few cards graded PSA 9 or BGS 9.5 that I can't find a flaw with, according to their own grade descriptions, and no one else could, either. No way to get an answer, either, unless you're at the National and speak to an actual grader. I've heard stories about long-time PSAers arguing their 7s to 8s and 8s to 9s, which seems fair given that it is all subjective.
 

joey12508

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
38,346
16,000
Winterfell
the the psa 9's are really good cards, don't really understand the disdain for them. If the 10's were so easy they wouldn't command the money they do
 

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