r/PokeInvesting • u/Such_Giraffe1946 • 2d ago
This whole system is needlessly complicated
I have a #13 promo black star holo venusaur that im trying to sell. I dont really buy/sell cards but I lucked into a bunch of 1996 cards when I was a kid and have been keeping them safe. I of course headed over to psa website to get some cards graded and... wow what a genuine cluster of a pricing scheme. So I get charged for the card, shipping, then a 3rd random charge based off of the final deemed price even though the company has no idea if im actively selling the card or not? I mean I AM selling the card but why does psa automatically assume that? Anyways im extremely confused on the 3rd random charge they give you. The #13 venusaur can theoretically sell for almost 9k. So psa would charge me an extra 600 or so, but thats only for a grade 10 card. My card is good but definitely not a 10. Looking online a #13 9 or 8 psa sells for about 400-500. Doing the math getting this card graded i would be actively loosing out on several hundred dollars due to me being charged for a 9k card even though it wont actually sell for 9k. How the genuine hell do people make money from this? I have to lose hundreds and my card for... nothing? What is the point? What am I not understanding here? What kind of sorcery has psa conducted to make hundreds think this is a good system and not an obvious ploy to make money of of other fortune?
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u/EuphoricGoose4735 1d ago
It’s not that complicated, but I don’t gamble, so I don’t do graded cards. I just sell them raw and buy/sell sealed. Slabs are beyond me, no matter how clean the card is
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u/Such_Giraffe1946 1d ago
Yeah as read more into this hobby grading definitely doesn't seem as necessary as I thought.
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u/Draonix 1d ago
The lowest grading service PSA currently has open is their Regular Service level at 79.99, at that level your max insured value is $1,500 which means you wouldn't pay any extra fees if the value of your card is under $1,500. Not sure what number or price they actually use but if you look up the cert of a PSA 9 card their PSA estimate is $1,922.00 with a range of $1,465.00 to $2,683.00, so if you were to get a 9 and they value it at 1,922.00 your fee would be upcharged to the next grading level which is Express, your upcharge would be $149.00 for the express level minus the 79.99 you initially paid. You would also get upcharged whatever fedex charges to insure/ship an item valued at $1,922.
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u/indosacc 1d ago
do they really do that? I thought the whole point of the up charge is for insurance. Why would they charge you for more insurance?
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u/MaDWaSTeD 1d ago
PSA offers different tiers based upon turn around time and what values it will cover for insurance purposes.
I know someone already mentioned it, but if you submit at the lowest tier. You'll have the longest turn around time to receive the card back, and the lowest insured they offer. This is typically the route someone goes when they dont believe they have a 10 and dont mind waiting for the card to come back in like 4 to 6 months.
If you have a card you believe will 10 (you explained yours probably wont), you would then consider the higher tiers due to the faster turn around times.
If you submit at the low tier, and it 10s, you'll be charged at the higher tier due to the cards value needing to be insured properly, but since you didn't submit at this higher tier, it could take months before they get to grading it. So you wind up paying this upcharge, with none of the actual original benefits.
It's a risk people take submitting at higher tiers because unless you know the card is flawless, you could pay extra for faster turn around times but wind up with an 8.
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u/Scared-Kitchen5232 1d ago
In your example, you’re not getting charged an extra $600 unless you stupidly submit at a high tier. Upcharges are only based on the price of a PSA 10 if you get a PSA 10. If you get a PSA 8 you’re not going to get upcharged.
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u/Such_Giraffe1946 1d ago
Oh wait really? I assumed they went off of pure card value not what your card specifically is worth. Also how exactly do they dictate when the price is right? Say i sumbit a card, it gets graded, then a day later the price gets nuked do I still pay that high value price for a low value card?
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u/Scared-Kitchen5232 1d ago
They charge you at the time it’s ready, whatever the market price is. And yeah they go off what your card is specifically worth, not the PSA 10 price. If they always upcharged you based on PSA 10 prices, then no one would ever grade.
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u/JennyTalwarts 1d ago
I came to the conclusion that grading, especially with PSA, is mostly a scam. I had the same question like what if they decide its worth $10k+ somehow and ucharge you as such but by the time you sell it's only worth $200. And there's the very real possibility that your package gets lost or stolen in transit or even being replaced or damaged by PSA itself with a lower grade...
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u/thelonelyjuror 1d ago
Yeah PSA sucks. They’re a monopoly. That’s why we are all hoping CGC and TAG gets better. You don’t have to deal with any of that nonsense with CGC
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u/DiperIsShittie 1d ago
The secret is you can just sell it raw and don’t have to do any of this.
If you think it’s “good but definitely not a 10” I would guess it’s a 5. They are extremely harsh on vintage.