Just talking....
bobbybakeriv
Posts: 2,186 ✭✭✭✭
Ok boys, I need help here. I have over 15K raw cards in my present hoard. They are all those for which I have either deemed “gradeable” or are still truly unopened (raw). These range from 1975 - 1980 and are exclusively Topps, 98% AS cards. The breakout is approximately 80% baseball, 10% football, and then 5% NBA, 5% NHL*. My conundrum is that a) given the current PSA pricing structure being so elevated and b) the tremendously long and inconsistent grading and grading times…when or should I submit? versus is this the best time to sub???? For modern or ultra-modern, I am fine with the alternative grading companies. Not fine at all with my older cards…all day, every day, all week through. l would love to grade all of my 76 Topps NBA AS Tall Boys, but not sure to even try. I have over 10 copies of every 76 Topps NBA AS cards but have never sent them in due to supply/demand and personal hesitancy. This where I need (and value) opinions.
Q? Smarter to expensively send in now, wait to send, or send to a party other than PSA?
*Note – I possess about 50 copies of each 1977 Topps NHL AS card which all came from vending. Zero other years in the mix
Comments
Well seeing that the only option you have with PSA, at this time, is $150/card. You could possibly get an allocation for the regular service level at $100/card but you would be limited on the number of cards to submit. So 15k cards at $150 each…..yea if you have $2,250,000 then throw all of those away and buy cards already graded PSA 10…..
Hold.
HOF SIGNED FOOTBALL RCS
That is a wonderful conundrum to have, amigo.
I’d say send in a nice mix to SGC, just to see how they do. Last I heard they were at about $30 and 60 days. Still way too expensive for many cards in those years, but you may be waiting for years before PSA is in that price bracket, and forget about the turnaround time…
The new(ish) 9.5 grade is a nice bonus if you want to send in something besides your best.
That said, don’t even think about sending anyone but PSA the cream of the crop, at least not yet.
I just went through a bunch of nice 1962 Topps, and normally would have pulled a dozen or so to grade. I’m only keeping one for the grading pile - just can’t justify it for the cards and ROI even if PSA can get to $25.
In the meantime…. Post some raw scans!!!
Bosox1976
You are certainly not alone my friend! I have stuff even older and still can't justify the cost of grading... you and I may have both missed the boat some time ago. I'm sitting tight for now.
Mark
I will Mike. They are all stored (Obviously), but I could pull out a few stacks and photo them as such. I don't like to handle my cards once I put them into sleeves. Merry Christmas, good friend.
Man, that reply cracked me up. I don't have that kind of money. I wish.... Thanks for the funny response. I agree with you.
Most people tend to overgrade their cards. Like has been mentioned, scan a couple of the typical key cards so we can give you an idea on condition. Remember the average card coming straight from an 80's pack is probably about a PSA 7 or 8. So, unless you were very critical in picking your cards and looked very closely at centering, corners, edges, surfaces, etc... under 10x magnification, most of your cards probably fall in the PSA 7 or 8 range with a few lower and a few higher. If you were very particular and stashed away maybe 10% of what you scanned through, then you are probably looking at 8's and 9's on average with a few 10's sprinklered in. In this case, unless a PSA 8 is valued at $150 or more, I would very hesitant to send it in.
>
Successful transactions on the BST boards with rtimmer, coincoins, gerard, tincup, tjm965, MMR, mission16, dirtygoldman, AUandAG, deadmunny, thedutymon, leadoff4, Kid4HOF03, BRI2327, colebear, mcholke, rpcolettrane, rockdjrw, publius, quik, kalinefan, Allen, JackWESQ, CON40, Griffeyfan2430, blue227, Tiggs2012, ndleo, CDsNuts, ve3rules, doh, MurphDawg, tennessebanker, and gene1978.
You didn't give very much specific information, but I'll take a shot at answering your questions. I would like to know why you want to grade your cards, sell and make some money, or you just like to have graded cards in your collection. What's your budget?
In my opinion there are very few cards (I'm addressing baseball only) from 1975-80 that are worth grading at $100.00 per card.
Lets look at a big card from that time period; 1975 George Brett goes for at most $800.00 in a PSA 8. Chances are an 8 is the best you can hope for.
Grading and shipping will cost $125.00 so you're down to $675.00 then ebay and fees will take 20% leaving you with $540.00 or so profit. That is about your best case scenario for making money on a particular card.
If you "need" to get some graded, I would send a few in to another company and see what your results are. The vast majority of the cards from that time period aren't worth grading at $100.00 for a single card. PSA seems to have stopped giving out 10's and 9's are going to be pretty hard to get as well, unless you were really obsessed with "perfect" cards. Figure 8's are the best you will get to be safe.
Post a few scans and fill us in on what your goals are and you will get better answers.
Thanks Gents. I will scan a few in the near future and share. I think I will dig out some of my NBA 76 Topps tallboys and go through them looking for nice copies. Those are notoriously difficult to garner high grades in my experience. I just want to get some graded, don't need to right now. I agree that is still cost prohibitive at this point.
If you're looking to sell - consign to Greg Morris - many, many of his raw cards consign for more than encapsulated versions! No hassle, let him do the work and you cash the check.
He still charging %25 commission though? I Would totally consign to him but I don’t want to lose that big of a piece of pie 😵💫. Has he changed his commission rates or no?
look at the realized prices and you will realize the best option is to leave them in storage for now. I assume you are not grading for your PC otherwise you would have sent them in when grading was under 10 bucks a year ago.
Happy New Year!
I would think that the prices he brings would be well worth the 25 percent fee. I mean, if you could get his prices yourself, sure, who wouldn't want to pocket that money. But I don't think you'd ever approach his prices selling raw cards yourself.
I'll never forget buying a 1975 PSA 9 Joe Morgan for my registry set from some random seller, and the next day, a Greg Morris auction for a really nice raw 1975 Joe Morgan sold for a few dollars more than what I paid for the graded card. Maybe the Greg Morris card was a raw 10, I don't know. Maybe it was a just a raw 9, or perhaps even worse. All I know is that hardly anyone else would have pulled that price for it.
I'm just hoarding raw at this point. With the expanded grading capacity, supply and demand will eventually come back to equilibrium and submission prices will fall. It may take a few years but we'll eventually get there. In the meantime, I'm comfortable enjoying them in their raw state.
I agree with you 💯 on him and
I’m a big Greg Morris buyer, no doubt. He sells the best raw cards hands down on eBay, and as a buyer there’s no doubt some of the best deals can be had from his auctions too. When you’re one of the best if not the best on eBay for selling raw, I guess you should be able to command a good premium for auctions.
I guess I would just want to sell something that’s gonna net me the most, ya know? To make up for that 25% commish.
I wonder if doctoring of raw cards has increased with the TPG shutdowns. While not infallible, TPGs must catch a legs proportion of the scammers’ subs. Seems that this nefarious activity can proliferate easier with so little grading opportunities did strong raw cards that are not part of the premium segment of our hobby.
This is all hypothesis at this point, but seems plausible.
John
Ok, I was a litttle off in my estmate, I was including graded I realize . For 76 Topps NBA AS Cards, below is my raw breakout (I personally grade all of them at least 7-8 with many higher, but these are notoriously hard):
Jabbar = 22
Erving = 6
Maravich = 6
Tiny = 88
McGinnis = 8
Cowens = 21
Barry = 7
Hayes = 8
Smith = 10
Silas = 7
I have more 77s though. I need to go through those too.
77 Raw count...
Jabbar = 21 (3 in grading)
McGinnis = 20 (1 in grading) plus one PSA 10
Erving = 13 (5 in grading)
Westphal = 11 plus one PSA 9
Maravich = 10 (6 in grading)
Walton = 27 (1 in grading) plus 3 PSA 9s
Knight = 17 (2 in Grading) plus 2 PSA 9s
Skywalker = 36 (3 in grading)
Hayes = 20 (3 in grading) plus one PSA 9
Lucas = 11 plus one PSA 9
Upon looking back over my stash of raw boxes, I think 10-12K is a more reasonable guess. I was just amped up when I started this thread. LOL Just don't want to be "that guy." Still, a ton of 70s cards in my humble opinion.
Sweet tall boys!!
Bosox1976
Thanks Mike!
Easy hold unless you need the money. The question is how long will we have to hold. I hope not more than 2 or 3 years.
Successful card BST transactions with cbcnow, brogurt, gstarling, Bravesfan 007, and rajah 424.