Sellers Taking Advantage

mrichards

Hi Everyone,

Something that always bothered me that I wanted to get opinions on. PSA grades cards with a qualifier for a reason. I have sold tons of stuff on Ebay and Yahoo (Yes, Yahoo). I sold a 1953 Bowman Mickey Mantle PSA 8 OC about 6 months ago which I graded from a raw card to PSA. I recently saw it in an Ebay auction about a month ago in a SGC 86 holder. That seems to happen alot to maximize profits. There is a difference between cracking a card out of its holder and trying for a higher grade. OC's are that way for a reason. A 1953 Bowman Mantle in an 8 OC sells for $1200-1800.00 average (from what I have seen). The same card now in a SGC 86 holder sold for $2000.00. I am not complaining about losing money. I just felt it was dishonest. The same way people crack out PSA 6 and 7 Mantle cards (that are real) and send them to PRO to get 8.5's and 9's and put them on Ebay and get thousands for them. I have a 1954 Red Heart Warren Spahn on Ebay now and it's an 8 MC. I listed it as a no reserve. It blows away my 8 in my set but the back was printed miscut. The first night I got it back from PSA, I showed it to a friend of mine who sells cards. He told me to send it to SGC and I will get rid of the MC so I can sell if for more money. Since PSA is my standard (I also love GAI, but that is an entirely different post one day), I feel it is dishonest to do something like that. And yes, I am from Brooklyn, NY and I am honest, but then again if any one of you have ever bought anything from me on Ebay and saw my positives, you would already know that. What is your opinion on doing something like this? From a business and ethical point of view. And most of all, be honest (I know you are not supposed to start sentences with AND).

Thanks,
Mike

brucemo

I don't think would be unethical to take advantage of the difference between PSA's and SGC's handling of centering. Anyone who deals with either company needs to understand the differences and react accordingly.

I think that what PRO is doing may be technically legal, but at *best* it is whoring, and anyone who values their reputation shouldn't associate with them.

bruce

mikeschmidt

Mike:

Different companies have different standards -- and as long as the card is original and unaltered, I do not have much of a problem with crossing over from PSA to SGC or the reverse. The fact of the matter is that the qualifer in a PSA-holder has significantly depreciated in value over the past two or three years. Three years ago -- a PSA 9 o/c sold for approximately a PSA 8 price. Today, it is closer to a PSA 7 price. Thus -- if you can cross over the card to an unqualified grade by SGC or Beckett or someone else, more power to you. Buy the card and not the holder. Oftentimes it seems like many off-center cards are graded by SGC or Beckett. There is still a small group of collectors who prefer corners over centering and like the value that o/c cards represent.

What often bothers me more is when someone sends in 10-50 trimmed cards (say T206 or something....) that may have been graded by PRO or purchased raw, etc. and PSA/SGC/Beckett/GAI/your favorite grading company, and only 98% of the trimmed cards get caught in the review process. Every time that happens, one or two trimmed cards ends up in a major company's holder. Though they are typically more conservative in grading authentic cards trimmed rather than the reverse, I have seen quite a few trimmed examples eventually make their way into major grading company holders. When a PSA 6 of a major rookie card can be worth hundreds, with a trimmed raw example worth $50 -- it often makes it worth the while to try a few times to see if it will slip through once....

gaspipe26

SGC doesnt have a qualifier. They deduct from the grade. PSA will also not put cards in a qualifier, IF requested, but they will deduct 1 to 2 grades for the qualifier.

Mantlefan

I don't see any ethical or business problem changing a PSA oc to an SGC graded card. It's up to the buyer to decide if he likes the card and how much he'll spend for it. The guy collecting SGC will be very happy with an SGC 86.