PSA is now making CASH OFFERS on the cards that they grade.
 

I recently experienced this with the "Cracked Slab" sub I did. Apparently, PSA is making cash offers to buy the cards that they grade. Since I am doing a group sub here, what is everyone's take on that??? Do you want to know what the offers are? Are you an automatic "NO"?? Just curious.

Goes along with the current theme of things. I suppose I'd be curious what the offer was and would like to know.

Sounds a tad bit unethical to me...but who am I?

I recently got a few and wondered what they were/who they were from. All but one were laughably low, like $10 for signed HOF playing days cards. Any idea what they're doing with the cards they're buying?

NO, thank you!

Well...I am quite sure they are selling them. Like Ullmandds said, it just seems kinda unethical to me. But maybe people are appreciative of the offers?? I don't know....I'm getting old.

Hmmmm
 

Let’s see….. they grade it a “3” and make you a market offer….. then crack it out and regrade it a “6”….. no conflict of interest there. Wow!

Yeah, definitely seems like a conflict of interest.

From what I’ve heard, PSA isn’t making the offers. Rather, individuals are making the offers through PSA. Collector Club members, I believe.

Now, I heard this from a few YouTubers…so take it with a grain of salt

My understanding is they have direct want list from partnering LCS/Breakers type organizations and if the database matches with tbe submission they connect via the offer.

In one sense it is similar to them offering to go directly to eBay through the PSA account and or to the vault to hold.

I do not think they are selling on their own and keep profits from grading. They are making the fee to do it I would guess. So just getting another slice of the secondary market. That is big money all driven by domination of grading efforts.

When you hold the card you have a better chance to make $. Auction house market places that could lead to auctions is same example too.

It would be nice if there was a voluntary opt-in as opposed to unsolicited.

That's how it's set up for Heritage.

I got an offer for a 1962 AL Home Run Leaders PSA 5, which I sold on eBay. After eBay fees, it was nearly the identical net amount as the PSA offer. At least on low-level cards, it's pretty close.

I think this is great and a useful plus for submitters. For submitters it is a free option. For PSA it is a source of additional revenue. Win-win.

Oh, no alarm bells in that title.

What do you mean?

When I read this, my immediate reaction was that this seems totally unethical. Appraisers are never supposed to appraise an item and then offer to buy it (per Antiques Roadshow). If PSA sticks a grade on an item, and then tries to buy it, it makes you think they might have lowballed the grade in order to buy the item cheaper. But apparently this isn't really what's happening. It's a third party that wants to purchase the items.