Who's Cracking $250 Slabs?

[ISURedbird]

Originally Posted by BobC

Always figured when buying an already graded card that part of what I paid was for the grading fee. To then crack the card out always seemed like throwing money away to me. So I leave everything in their slabs and for sets/cards I put in binders I make a colored copy (front and back) of any slabbed cards I'd purchased and simply cut them out and put those in the binders. The cost of making a color copy is a heck of a lot cheaper than the grading fee for a card. That way there are no holes in the collection and I can just store the graded cards somewhere separately.

This is brilliant! Never thought of doing that.

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[JollyElm]

Sorry for the jaded bitterness, but there certainly is a scenario that makes sense if you're a scumbag.
(Apologies if someone has already covered this.)

You send in a noteworthy card because it looks beautiful and will 'obviously' receive a high(ish) grade. You pay the usurious fee, and SURPRISE!! the card comes back at a much lower number than you thought possible. What to do now???

Crack it out and start bullsh*tting to potential buyers that this card looks beautiful, but you don't feel like spending the money and waiting a year for the card to come back graded, so you're going to sell it ungraded. Look, it's the correct size and wasn't trimmed. No problems here. If you convince someone to buy it off of you for more than it cost you originally (plus the big grading fee), then you are in the black. If your BS-quotient is top notch, then you may convince a person to pay an amount closer to what it 'should' be worth (based on the grade it was supposed to get) and you're in the money!!!

[BobC]

Originally Posted by ISURedbird

This is brilliant! Never thought of doing that.

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And in addition to cutting out the card copy, I'll also cut out the actual flip and put it in the binder sheet as well. Adds to the identification of the card, and since I put the fronts and backs of the card copies in penny sleeves before putting them in binders (helps to hold them in place so they don't move around) I stick the cut out copy of the flip in the penny sleeve as well. Fits real nice and snug in the reguler sized penny sleeves, which you can just slide into the binder pages then.

[Tao_Moko]

I care about the hobby that's brought me pleasure for nearly 4 decades, not a piece of plastic.. There's no reason that graded cards should demand more than a slight premium for authentication. I don't pay for more than that so irrelevant to me. The slabs are unattractive, represent a flawed industry and an unwarranted inflation of value. It's unlikely I buy graded cards worth less than $250. They all get busted.

[commishbob]

If a card is bought for one of my binder Ed vintage set it gets broken out of the slab no matter the cost. ‘67 Seaver and Carew rookies are the latest examples of these. Prewar graded cards will stay in the slab only because most I buy are lower grade and I figure they should be protected.

[perezfan]

I crack most of them out, with the exception of 1933-34 Goudey. If there was a decent "One Touch" holder (tailor made for that size), I would crack the Goudeys out as well.

75 - 80% of what I buy is raw, so it's not a big deal. The only other reason I would leave a card in the slab is if I intend to sell it in the near-future.

[FrankWakefield]

Republicaninmassssss

Making money is not among My interests in collecting cards. I don't acquire a card with a plan to sell it. The slabs are a huge pain in the butt for me, for storage purposes. And generally, I'd rather have a VG-Ex card than a nrMt card when it comes to old cards (I'm thinking pre 1920). I want to be able to hold a card in my hand without fear of dinging a pristine corner (I know the slab would prevent a ding, but it totally prevents holding the card in my hand).

I'm not saying that gathering cards with a thought to them having more value in the future is wrong... it's fine if that's what you wanna do. But that's not among my goals.


As for the restated purpose of the thread, yea, I missed that. I'm not a cracker who's gonna spend $250 to resubmit a card... I do think a few cards I've sold were graded by the gentleman I gave them to for his auction. He thought, rightly, that they'd sell for more if graded. So he got them graded. And I'm grateful for that. Thank you, Bill.

[mrreality68]

Hi

I am not a person to crack cases.

I never thought about cracking them and resubmitting.

On Some select cards that might not be a bad idea depending on if I and others thought it might get an upgrade.

I mostly just collect the cards unless I can flip for an upgrade.

I guess each person has their own style

[tbob]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

Republicaninmassssss

Making money is not among My interests in collecting cards. I don't acquire a card with a plan to sell it. The slabs are a huge pain in the butt for me, for storage purposes. And generally, I'd rather have a VG-Ex card than a nrMt card when it comes to old cards (I'm thinking pre 1920). I want to be able to hold a card in my hand without fear of dinging a pristine corner (I know the slab would prevent a ding, but it totally prevents holding the card in my hand).

I'm not saying that gathering cards with a thought to them having more value in the future is wrong... it's fine if that's what you wanna do. But that's not among my goals.


As for the restated purpose of the thread, yea, I missed that. I'm not a cracker who's gonna spend $250 to resubmit a card... I do think a few cards I've sold were graded by the gentleman I gave them to for his auction. He thought, rightly, that they'd sell for more if graded. So he got them graded. And I'm grateful for that. Thank you, Bill.

+1

[yanks4]

I agree on all counts.....

Originally Posted by perezfan

I crack most of them out, with the exception of 1933-34 Goudey. If there was a decent "One Touch" holder (tailor made for that size), I would crack the Goudeys out as well.

75 - 80% of what I buy is raw, so it's not a big deal. The only other reason I would leave a card in the slab is if I intend to sell it in the near-future.

Although I sometimes buy "already slabbed" PSA cards, I would never send a card to them to have it graded... especially given the new higher costs, wait times and shady history of errors and favoritism.