Some basic questions about submitting cards to PSA
 

Some of these questions may be incredibly obvious to those of you who have submitted cards to PSA previously. But since I have never submitted a card to be graded, I would appreciate any help people can give me. :)

I have a bunch of 1972 STP racing cards (and a few other oddballs) that i would like to get graded. I am thinking about traveling to the Philly show in three weeks, since PSA will apparently be in attendance.

* If I drop off cards on Saturday of the show, is there any chance they would be graded by the end of the show on Sunday, or would I have to have them mailed back to me?

* I see on PSA's website that they have a $199 membership that includes 15 grading vouchers. Would buying a membership online prior to the show be my smartest bet?

* Could I print out the vouchers immediately so that they could be used in three weeks?

* Am I supposed to have paperwork filled out and the cards packaged in a box if I am dropping them off at a show?

* I have one card that is definitely worth over $499. Would that be any kind of an issue to pay for that one card separately with the same order along with the 15 vouchers for cards valued under $499?

*If dropping cards off at a show, should the cards be placed in penny sleeves/card savers for submission?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

How much over $500 do you think - unless your talking big name rookies $500 covers a lot of ground on raw cards.....

A lot of the "setting the value" is for Insurance purposes.

I won the card at auction for slightly over $1,000. It is the card in my avatar; "Lorenzen with car" is probably the holy grail of auto racing cards due to its extreme rarity. PSA has only graded one example of the card.

The last couple of years, PSA has only (to my knowledge) graded/slabbed live at The National. All the other shows they go to, they take submissions back to California, grade there, then mail back to the owners. Someone on the Blowout forums said that PSA may have a new grading location in New Jersey that they were using to shuttle cards back and forth to Northeastern shows. I have not seen confirmation of that.

The Collector's Club membership is a good option if your cards are medium/high value. Because your 15 card submission basically is worth it for the $199 entry, plus you get the SMR magazine for a year, and normally a free book or shirt. You then have the ability to send in monthly special submissions, which this year haven't been that great, but sometimes are really nice and allow for big savings on bulk subs or autograph authentication. You will get an emailed voucher for the 15 free that you can start using immediately. It used to be a paper voucher that got mailed in the Collector's Club box, but this past year they changed it.

Yes, you should have your cards in Cardsavers or other similar "semi-rigid" sleeves. And it's highly recommended you have the list of cards you're submitting along with their raw replacement value. If your other cards are worth $100 each, and you're submitting it with the $1000 card, just mark all the other cards to $150 and the package total will cover the additional $500 insurance and still get you in under the $499 per card limit.

If you were to submit just that card by itself, it would cost you $45 plus $18 return shipping from California. So I'd flex the other values to get the entire package insured properly. PSA will only flag it if the declared value is way off. I know of a card that became a $1,000 PSA 10 Pop 1 that was submitted under $99 that PSA didn't require upgraded service on.

One thing that PSA will require is a separate order form per service level. So if you join the club, you would have to use all of the voucher on one order form. The voucher is good for 10 day service level and cards valued to $499.

Then if you submit the $500 and up valued card that would have to go under (Express Service - 5 day level) it would have to be on a separate order form and yes you will pay shipping twice.

However you can ship them out to PSA in one box, notating the Express Service level on the box and PSA will accept that. And normally get both orders out pretty quick...

If you put the voucher and value the $500 card at $500 and over on one order they will hold up the order until they reach you and get the ok to split them into two orders...or you can send the $500 card in as part of the collectors club voucher and value it below $499 and should be ok..

Either way will work the valuation is really for shipping insurance purposes and to designate service level on really expensive cards...

If you are okay submitting the high dollar card at $499 for insurance purposes do it. They won't balk at it. I submitted a card at $499 that was a total POP 2 for all grades, and both had sold for more than $2k and it went through without a hitch.

I don't know if they will do live grading at the show you mentioned, but double check the terms of the voucher. If I remember correctly, it would not be valid on on-site grading at shows as they charge a premium for that.

Card Saver I semi-rigids is how they want the cards sent. Penny saver soft sleeves up to you.

Good luck!

At The National, the past three years, you have been able to submit your 15-card voucher to get 12 free grades on site.

Thanks for the answers, everyone. The replies were very helpful. :)