Do You Participate in the PSA Registry?

[JollyElm]

I am always hearing talk about the PSA registry and how important it is to some people, so I thought it would be a good time to gauge how much the collectors on this site are involved with it.

First off, everyone is aware of the problems and difficulties (and price increases) happening at PSA, so this isn't a poll asking what you're going to do in the future, but a poll asking how much you've been involved up until now.


Some of what you should consider while deciding what slot you fit into:

• When you're thinking of buying a card, how much of your thought process centers around getting something you need for the registry, improving your ranking in it, or grabbing trade bait to eventually help you climb higher?

• Are you generally looking to 'only' buy cards to add to the registry, or is it a mixed bag of reasons?

• Are you willing to vastly 'overpay' to either fill a hole in your registry set or get a higher grade to improve your ranking in it?

• Do you more or less use the registry only as a checklist, or are you there to compete and elevate your ranking?


Here are the choices:

1. I am not involved in any way, shape or form.

2. I am involved in a very minor way.

3. I am actively involved in it.

4. I am completely wrapped up in it.

DON'T OVERTHINK IT. ANSWER HONESTLY!!

[Casey2296]

The PSA registry is not my bag nor will it ever be. I did put my collection on Flickr and share it with people which is kinda fun.

[Vintagevault13]

#2. I have complete basic sets on the registry for Reggie Jackson, Julius Erving, and Terry Bradshaw. Not anywhere near the top sets. I added these several years ago and, while I often look at the cards, I haven’t looked at the Registry in years and honestly couldn’t care less at this point about my “rankings”.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DeanH3]

I have very few sets that I'm not actively trying to complete. Except for the HOF set. I'm trying to collect at least 1 playing era card for each HOF member. I do utilize the registry more for keeping a catalog of cards I own.

I won't pay more for a PSA graded example of a card. I'm more interested in the eye appeal of the card.

I mainly use it as a checklist.

Rising up the ranks is of no interest to me. I will never be at the top anyway so I don't try.

[commishbob]

Put me down for #1

I’m aware of it through the chatter here but I’ve never given it any thought. Any graded cards I’ve bought for my vintage set chases have been removed from the slabs and put in the binder.

[Johnny630]

#1 nope

[Seven]

#1 For me.

Grading company never rally plays a factor in my purchases. I own BVG, PSA and SGC, slabs. While the Registry is nice to look at, I think if I were to convert all my cards, or at least the ones that are parts of sets I'm trying to build, they'd go into SGC Holders. Mostly because I like the way they look.

Similarly however, I've thought of busting them out and putting them in either in One touches, or, just card savers. Something about the simplicity of Card Savers just looks really nice to me. Even though they don't offer the greatest protection, it's not like I mishandle my cards.

[Gorditadogg]

2.

I use it to organize my player collections, mostly. I like the app, I can show people the cards I have from my phone. I also like the new feature where you can go to your card and link to the PSA auction site for that card to get current prices.

I don't compete on the registry and have no idea where my collections rank (not very high).

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Exhibitman]

Not my style. My job is competition; I don't want it in my downtime. I don't even like to play blackjack; craps is my game because it is a game of chance.

[cardsagain74]

While you naturally get the competitive instincts involving the registry, sometimes I see people make purchases that still baffle me.

Such as about a year ago, a few '59 T PSA 10 pop 1 commons were picked up in auction for around $10,000 to $13,000 each.

You can't complete a PSA 10 set of those (or even close). They're not exceedingly rare, as 563 10s from that year exist. If you're making an extremely high grade set, you could get a stack of PSA 9s for the cost of one 10.

So while naturally anyone who's spending that kind of $ on a '59 common probably has money to burn.....still, is it really worth 10 grand a pop to raise your set's registry average from 8.98 to 8.99? Or to move from 5th place into 4th in the '59T rankings eventually?

I guess it is to some *shrug*

[Empty77]

I discovered the registry only after getting back into collecting and starting the one player set that I mostly work toward. So I use it for organization but am mostly indifferent to where I place.

The nature of the items I pursue keeps me near the top, but I can honestly say that's just happenstance; the items I acquire I do so for myself and would do so whether or not the registry existed. So I figure I would be 2.5 on the scale: involved, sure, but not "active" in the sense that I am not doing it for the sake of the registry rather than myself. As a corollary to what someone else said, I never feel any personal pressure to buy something that isn't what I want, just because it would fill an open registry slot, even though purposely leaving them open suppresses my ranking. I'm completely fine with that.

I'm fairly private by nature and virtually no one even knows what I collect or even that I collect. I guess the registry, like the forums, is a way to be engaged, but without having to fully advertise who I am or what I'm about.

[JollyElm]

Bringing it back to the top, so the poll doesn't die too quickly...

[savedfrommyspokes]

I find it interesting how some collectors feel that the registry is a "competition"....and it very well maybe, but IMO, for the minority of users. Some of my better collecting buddies I have met, I have met via the registry...we have completed trades, looked out for cards for one another, not bid on a card we both needed, etc....ultimately rooted for our friends to succeed. One registry friend of mine worked the 71 and 72 sets at the same time .... the competition was non-existent, my 72 set was nicer than his, his 71 nicer than mine. I feel he worked as hard on my set as I did on mine or his.

It's been 13 years since we finished these sets...he has since sold his 71 and 72 sets and we have not worked on the same set since, but I still hear from him a few times a year to catch up on life and collecting.

My most ironic registry story occurred when I took my kids to a card shop in a town about 2 hours from home. While flipping through the dollar boxes with my kids, I hear a customer telling the owner about his visit to town and his 1962 PSA set. As the conversation was just a few feet away, it was hard not to hear. The collector disclosed he was solidly in his spot for this set....I pulled my phone out and confirmed on the PSA app what I already knew, he was only a handful of PSA 8s ahead of me. So I entered the conversation and disclosed the fact he was just a few ahead of the guy behind him.....both of the owner and the collector looked at me funny before the collector asked, "how do you know this?". "I am the guy behind you"...what were the odds that two guys ranked next to each other in the top 20 of a set were randomly in the same out of town card shop at the same time?

This was a few years ago, could have stayed and talked with this guy for hours, but my kids nagged me to go play mini golf.

For me, the registry has been more about friendships and meeting folks than the "competition" of it.

[todeen]

#2, I started a registry for Frank Robinson. Then as more and more info came out about PSA possibly in cahoots, and more and more BODA releases, I just couldn't do it anymore. I've started using VCP instead.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[53toppscollector]

I was moderately obssessed with the set registry when I was assembling a fully graded set of 1953 Topps, and my set was ranked in the top 75, and that was when I had 80+ cards at PSA getting graded. When I had gotten everything back, I'd have been in the top 35-40 overall.

But I honestly kind of lost the passion for fully assembling that set because of the set registry. My amount of money I can invest in cards is finite, unlike some of those at the top of the list, and so even if I devoted all my resources to that 1953 set, I'd likely never crack the top 5-10. And really, what is the prize for doing that? I'm a competitive person, but I realized this wasn't something where I was really even competing in the same game.

I sort of re-calibrated and decided I wanted to collect more sets, especially pre-war and tobacco non-sports cards, and to do that I would be buying raw and lower condition cards. And ultimately, I realized I am fine with that. So I doubt I will ever get involved in the PSA set registry game again, especially since grading commons is likely to be financially impractical for the foreseeable future.

[bradmar48]

I'm a 4 when it comes to the 1956 Topps set. I strongly agree that cards graded 7,8 or 9 have taken a big jump in price since about July of last year. A PSA 7 Mantle could be purchased for about $3800 then and now the card is $7500 to $12,000
.Prices of the Clemente, Aaron and Robinson are double what they were in July 2020.

[Empty77]

Originally Posted by bradmar48

I'm a 4 when it comes to the 1956 Topps set. I strongly agree that cards graded 7,8 or 9 have taken a big jump in price since about July of last year. A PSA 7 Mantle could be purchased for about $3800 then and now the card is $7500 to $12,000
.Prices of the Clemente, Aaron and Robinson are double what they were in July 2020.

I agree prices are up, but are you also meaning that you figure it is registry participation behind it? Because my contention would be that comparing the registry lists to the population reports and auction listings may not bear that out.