Card Grading Costs - what am I missing

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

cost averaging. If you submit 1000 cards the wins make up for the losses (if you're any good at grading) So on the lower grade cards you make what you can and move on.

[raulus]

James might feel otherwise, but not all cards are graded in an attempt to turn a quick buck.

[Carter08]

Originally Posted by raulus

James might feel otherwise, but not all cards are graded in an attempt to turn a quick buck.

Very insightful. Many of the folks selling these recently graded cards for less than $10 are dealers who, presumably, are not looking to lose money. I think the OP and I are trying to figure out how this makes sense.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Carter08

Very insightful. Many of the folks selling these recently graded cards for less than $10 are dealers who, presumably, are not looking to lose money. I think the OP and I are trying to figure out how this makes sense.

If those are the facts, then it’s got to be a case of hope springing eternal. Sometimes you get the grader of death, and sometimes you get the grader of love.

[JollyElm]

292. The Plastic Paradox
A card with a ‘Buy-It-Now’ price on eBay that is less than what it would’ve cost to have said card graded in the first place.

[ALBB]

Yea, that subject is a bit baffling

[Yoda]

Don't forget that getting a card graded also protects it from the elements, ie, dropping your precious Cobb after a few beers and damaging a corner. Guilty.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

cost averaging. If you submit 1000 cards the wins make up for the losses (if you're any good at grading) So on the lower grade cards you make what you can and move on.

^^This

There are a ton of cards that yield a nice profit if you can get a 10 on them but that you'll lose money on if they come back as a 9. If you're good at grading and you are say ~80-90% accurate with your grades that you expect 10s on, then you'll turn a nice profit and you can just sell the 9s at a loss.

[BioCRN]

I imagine it's a lesser amount of people, but I've run into a few of this type of seller with graded cards...

Sometimes someone will submit 2-3+ of a certain card hoping for a 10 (or similar high mark given the issue) so they can keep one for their collection. When a 10 is practically unobtainable or existing copies are sky-high in pricing, the gamble can outweigh just outright buying it (if they can buy it at all).

The leftovers are the cost of doing business hunting for the gem out the submitted ones. Occasionally they'll get multiples of the high mark card and occasionally they're just looking to recoup any of the gamble cost.

[Huck]

If I purchase a collection of graded cards, there is zero cost (to me) in the grading of said cards. The value is found in a handful of cards and the rest can be sold at what the market bears to recoup costs and hopefully turn a profit if that is the goal. As other members noted, there was a time when PSA graded cards for $6-$7 a throw.

On another note, mid grade collections (50's-60's cards) purchased in the 80's of are higher value today and in my opinion some cards are worth grading. Not every collector is after a PSA 8, 9 or 10's.


Go read the the 1959 Mantle raw thread and then ask yourself why would you drop good money on a raw card. This is coming from a collector who for a long time was on the fence about the grading of cards.

[glchen]

I think there a few reasons, some of which have already been mentioned:

1. The card was graded a few years ago in the past when the grading fees were much lower.
2. The submitter expected a much higher grade for the card, which would have made the grading fees worthwhile. (e.g., expected a 10, but got a 5) This happens a lot for new submitters as folks usually always think their card deserves a better grade than it gets.
3. The submitter knows he will lose money grading the card, but sends it anyway because he wants the card graded to be added to his registry set or some similar reason. Card collectors are notoriously particular about the cards in their collection whether it's the centering or some other reason. They often like their sets to look nice an uniform. Rather than waiting for the graded card to come up for sale, they just send the card they like to get graded. Collectors are also notorious for "changing focus" regularly, so after a while, they decide to just sell off that set when they lose interest.
4. Some dealers (e.g., 4 sharp corners) get good grading deals when they send in thousands of cards, so they submit a huge volume even if a lot of them end up selling for a loss.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

cost averaging. If you submit 1000 cards the wins make up for the losses (if you're any good at grading) So on the lower grade cards you make what you can and move on.

That's the explanation I got the first time I saw a dealer with a ton of graded cards at a show.
Hundreds of late 50's commons at below the standard fee.

They would essentially submit an entire collection less any obviously bad cards and the handful of great ones paid for the lower grade cards. The bulk mid grade commons pretty much just covered the bulk submission fees.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by steve B

That's the explanation I got the first time I saw a dealer with a ton of graded cards at a show.
Hundreds of late 50's commons at below the standard fee.

They would essentially submit an entire collection less any obviously bad cards and the handful of great ones paid for the lower grade cards. The bulk mid grade commons pretty much just covered the bulk submission fees.

Always amazes me when I see dealers doing this. I always think it's really not that difficult to learn how to grade accurately, but then again, I'm someone with clinically diagnosed OCD and my attention to detail is certainly abnormal. A lot of experienced dealers simply don't know how to grade cards, and seemingly aren't capable of learning how to either. I remember Jason Koonce speaking in an interview once about how much more difficult it is to train graders than he thought it was going to be when he first started ISA. And given the inconsistency we all see now from PSA as they've grown to over 100 graders, they clearly struggle with it as well.

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

cost averaging. If you submit 1000 cards the wins make up for the losses (if you're any good at grading) So on the lower grade cards you make what you can and move on.

I think this is exactly what you are seeing.

[Bigdaddy]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

cost averaging. If you submit 1000 cards the wins make up for the losses (if you're any good at grading) So on the lower grade cards you make what you can and move on.

It's like being able to sell your losing lottery tickets while holding out for a winner.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy

It's like being able to sell your losing lottery tickets while holding out for a winner.

Maybe the owner of that 20 million card collection can use this approach to make the math work when getting that collection graded.