PSA Economy – Ground Truth

[chadeast]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

One, I'm stunned so many people are sending in so many cards at these higher levels. Incredible. Where are all these (presumably) expensive cards to be worth $150 and up for grading coming from?

+1. I assumed that the business would mostly dry up at that price level, and that PSA would be forced to return to reasonable grading prices. I seem to have been proven wrong. I continue to be stunned month after month. And even if we eventually see $20 per card, that is not low enough to keep graded set collecting alive. Even if they eventually get back to $8 per card specials, they may have already killed off a large chunk of graded set collecting by that time. It remains to be seen if that will happen, but if it does it could eventually come back to hurt PSA (and all TPGs) in the long run, after the current boom ends. They are going to need to keep grading a lot of cards to justify their expenses given the massive growth that they've recently undergone.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by chadeast

+1. I assumed that the business would mostly dry up at that price level, and that PSA would be forced to return to reasonable grading prices. I seem to have been proven wrong. I continue to be stunned month after month. And even if we eventually see $20 per card, that is not low enough to keep graded set collecting alive. Even if they eventually get back to $8 per card specials, they may have already killed off a large chunk of graded set collecting by that time. It remains to be seen if that will happen, but if it does it could eventually come back to hurt PSA (and all TPGs) in the long run, after the current boom ends. They are going to need to keep grading a lot of cards to justify their expenses given the massive growth that they've recently undergone.

Yeah, hard to believe anyone is paying $150 to grade a 66 Topps Chico Ruiz. And I agree, no matter how many people may be crazy now, the supply of cards on which people are willing to spend $150 and up to grade just cannot be limitless.

[53toppscollector]

I think in an ideal world, they develop a service level specifically for base cards, with a fee of $10, but turnaround times of 12-18 months, something like that.

If you are playing the set registry game, anything more than $10 per card for a common just feels excessive. If you are putting together a fully graded set, you probably also don't need the card back in 3 weeks because you aren't flipping it. By putting in a very long timeline for returning the cards, it also deters flippers, or at least makes it more difficult for them.

[conor912]

The days of $10 PSA grades are gone. Caput. Maybe a $20/1 year turnaround….maybe.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by conor912

The days of $10 PSA grades are gone. Caput. Maybe a $20/1 year turnaround….maybe.

That's basically where they were when they shut down for value specials, so this makes sense. Even before that (late 2019) it was $12 per for value/specials.

[Republicaninmass]

Or "varies by demand"



Told me likley a year...the very last submissions to be processed

[Johnny630]

I would not be surprised if the lowest PSA service level will be $50 per card by the middle/end of next year.

It is my opinion that Mr. Turner has this company going in the right direction for the collector.