First Time PSA Submitter Needs a Bit of Help!

terrorofpoo

Sorry for the ignorance here. But I pulled a lucky 1/1 Bowman First Auto. It's not a well known player but I'd be foolish to not get this graded. So going through the site it lists the value. The higher the expected value, the higher the price to submit.

What exactly am I paying for? Insurance? Or is it just padding the pocket for a higher grade? I'd assume all these cards get put through the same regimen of grading so curious why it's so expensive for each tier.

Also does anyone have any thoughts what I should value it at? Player is Alexander Mojica and a PSA 10 1/5 just sold for a notch over $1k.

Many thanks in advance,

B

JRR300

PSA has been bought out a few years ago and they want to capitalize and maximize their revenues. The more a card is worth, the more they want to grade it. Same grading process, same end result.

terrorofpoo

Thanks JRR, do you think it's worth it to get it graded if he isn't a top prospect?

1951WheatiesPremium

@terrorofpoo

What you are actually paying for is a much faster turnaround time. The more you pay, the faster the card comes back. That is the difference in service levels. The service level you submit at doesn’t change the grade the card receives just the time it spends there.

If he’s a low level prospect and you don’t care how long it takes to get back to you, submit at a lower service level. If you are saying closest comps are already over 1K, then submit at the lowest appropriate level. With a card like yours, the 1/1 makes it tough to have true comps but again, if it gems out then you probably get an upcharge and many 1/1 cards it seems the numeric grade doesn’t matter too much anyway…

…since there’s only one. 😉