PSA-A Cautionary Tale!

[MattyC]

Hey Kevin,

Hope all is good. My feelings on that aspect are kind of buried in my earlier post; but in a bit more detail here-- if I were to sell a given BGS or SGC card in
the current TPG landscape, my first move would be to try and let the card speak for itself, find a buyer of the card over holder, and see if it can fetch my desired price ballpark regardless of its holder. I've found that, depending ENTIRELY on the card, the holder can really be moot. If I couldn't find the right buyer, I would then entertain reviews or crossovers.

There is no doubt that the crystal meth known as the PSA Registry has led so many more cards to land in PSA holders. Granted, many of those cards are not high-value pieces, but rather modern commons. Either way, this popularity is priced in to the PSA brand. When it comes time to sell a card, which I rarely do, if the card could not perform like I hoped after a long while, I'd be okay crossing it. But it would have to languish a while before I subjected it to cracking.

And again, all depends if we are talking about a Frederick Foto Ruth or a 1981 Topps common.

Ultimately I am really not a seller, so operate on the buy/collecting side. As such, I see no reason to pay a higher price because of a premium caused by an online game in which I'm not a participant. Not at all a knock on Registry collectors, to each his own. But as a buyer, one can get an often superior card in a more attractive holder for less than its PSA counterpart. To keep in a collection forever, that's a no-brainer.

I try to find the best example of a card I want in my price range, regardless of holder. If ever I have to sell, then if I can break even or make a few bucks, I'm cool. Even a small loss I find acceptable. The amount I could concievably get by cracking, reviewing, or crossing would have to be really large to justify the risk and cost. But again I'm not a professional seller seeking maximum profit. If I ever had to sell off my cards at this point, I'd probably be in a real bad spot in life and happy to just break even. Would take a major disaster for me to sell my cards-- they provide such tremendous joy and escape from any stress!