Does PSA give favoritism to certain dealers/customers?

[mannequin1]

Does PSA give favoritism to certain dealers/customers or on very rare high grade cards?

[Wanaselja]

Yes.

Vintage Card Curator on YouTube has done some great videos on this. The Rickey Henderson and Eddie Murray RC’s come to mind.

[ClementeFanOh]

Yep. The notion began with their first graded card.

Trent King

[Peter_Spaeth]

All submitters are equal.


Some are more equal than others.

aka. my rule of Animal Farm grading

[raulus]

How do I get on the list to be more equal?

[bcbgcbrcb]

In a word, YES. How about the other TPG’s?

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by raulus

How do I get on the list to be more equal?

Talk is cheap, but money talks.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by ClementeFanOh

Yep. The notion began with their first graded card.

Trent King

Every thread needs a card

[Hankphenom]

I would hope the TPGs have a "blind" system in place whereby the graders have no other information other than the card in front of them. I might be dreaming, but it would crazy for it to be any other way, both from an ethical and a business standpoint, it seems to me.

[Lorewalker]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

I would hope the TPGs have a "blind" system in place whereby the graders have no other information other than the card in front of them. I might be dreaming, but it would crazy for it to be any other way, both from an ethical and a business standpoint, it seems to me.

Well they that is the myth that was spun since day 1...that grading is anonymous. Not even close from what I have been told by people who are more involved in the hobby than I am and for much longer. The other myth is that 3 graders see each card. Maybe a T206 Wagner has 3 sets of eyes but a 1968 Topps Drysdale has at best one full sets of eyes for 10 seconds.

[toledo_mudhen]

So on the Gretzgy Wagner - It sounds like the entire world believes that it is not a legitimate "8"

Is that correct?

To me - a grade of 8 on that card is not a stretch - What am I missing?

[OhioLawyerF5]

Originally Posted by toledo_mudhen

So on the Gretzgy Wagner - It sounds like the entire world believes that it is not a legitimate "8"

Is that correct?

To me - a grade of 8 on that card is not a stretch - What am I missing?

I think the issue with that card in particular is that it is trimmed, and was known to be trimmed when PSA graded it.

[sacentaur]

Originally Posted by toledo_mudhen

So on the Gretzgy Wagner - It sounds like the entire world believes that it is not a legitimate "8"

Is that correct?

To me - a grade of 8 on that card is not a stretch - What am I missing?

The PSA grader for that Wagner was Bill Hughes, an individual who was mistrusted by a large portion of the comic book collecting hobby (Hughes was a vintage comic book dealer). I believe he later admitted that he knew the card had been trimmed.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by doug.goodman

Every thread needs a card

Bravo...that was perfect!

[GasHouseGang]

Originally Posted by mannequin1

Does PSA give favoritism to certain dealers/customers or on very rare high grade cards?

I think the answer to the original question is yes, but I can't prove it. I also agree with the assertion that there are certain cards that PSA refuses to grade any more 10's of in order to keep the PSA10 a rarity (think key 1980's rookie cards). However, I also can't offer proof of this. It's more of an observation. I can only point to the number of examples submitted versus the number of PSA10's graded.

[mannequin1]

How about those collectors that are at the top of their set or player registry of top vintage sets or top vintage players. I absolutely believe they get preferential treatment. Maybe not all the time, but often enough.

[sb1]

I can assure you from personal experience, that is not true.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by mannequin1

How about those collectors that are at the top of their set or player registry of top vintage sets or top vintage players. I absolutely believe they get preferential treatment. Maybe not all the time, but often enough.

Can’t speak for all of us registry goons, but 95% of my Mays collection was purchased already graded. The small handful of pieces that are impossible to find already graded that I have purchased raw and then submitted have mostly graded at 1, with a few that pop all the way up to 3 or 4 on rare occasions.

[GasHouseGang]

Originally Posted by raulus

Can’t speak for all of us registry goons, but 95% of my Mays collection was purchased already graded.

I did the same thing when I started collecting Kobe rookie cards. I knew I would never get the grade I wanted if I submitted it myself, so I just bought cards already graded.

[JamesGallo]

Ok lets spin this a different way

Does the tier ie cost of grading impact the grade. When I had my store I had a customer tell me that if I would up charge the card he had heard the grades come back higher.

So this $500 card I could grade at the $50 or the $100 level. Does the level ie price paid to grade the card impact the grades...

James G

[skelly423]

Is the Pope Catholic?

Originally Posted by mannequin1

Does PSA give favoritism to certain dealers/customers or on very rare high grade cards?