Who says GAI grades tougher than PSA?

jrdolan

Maybe they do some days, even most days. But I just got nailed when I sent a 56 Mantle GAI 8 to PSA as a crossover and got the dreaded "M/G" or failed to meet minimum grade. Either I got Darth Grader that day or PSA has gotten stricter recently ... which may be a good thing in the long run as long as they're consistent about it.

Could be that PSA just won't cross over GAI cards at par for easily-guessed reasons. Anybody have luck crossing over GAI to PSA -- without breaking the holder and submitting raw?

mikeschmidt

<< <i>Maybe they do some days, even most days. But I just got nailed when I sent a 56 Mantle GAI 8 to PSA as a crossover and got the dreaded "M/G" or failed to meet minimum grade. Either I got Darth Grader that day or PSA has gotten stricter recently ... which may be a good thing in the long run as long as they're consistent about it.

Could be that PSA just won't cross over GAI cards at par for easily-guessed reasons. Anybody have luck crossing over GAI to PSA -- without breaking the holder and submitting raw? >>




I've had good success on anything that I've tried to crossover -- but here's the important point: I grade the cards personally, independently, and try not to notice what PSA or GAI graded the card as. If I don't think it is a strong example for the grade - I don't send it in for crossover.

And, yes, I believe that most grading companies have an inherent bias against crossing-over cards (e.g. much more likely to notice the defects of a competitor's grade than their own).

BigKidAtHeart

is it Possible that on this or any other
"crossover" submission that is sent
IN THE COMPETITION'S SLAB that there
Could be a little bit of Bias
and/or automatic descrediting of the company
that it is slabbed with?

I mean, there HAS to be a little bit of automatic
assumption right off the bat.

If I am a PSA grader and the crossover submission
is opened and I see there are slabs from
BVG I will look at them differently than I would
from PGS or AGS or IFA, or MGS or PRO or GAI
and there is NO way they assume that their PSA grades
are not in most every way better/toughter than
these "so called" competitors.
Some are legit
Some are not.
either way, there is bias already in place I assure you.

I bet you could crack it out and resubmit it and get the
grade you want.

rickster

I had a '58 Bell Brand Reese that was an sgc 6, cracked it out (this was before PSA had a cross-over service), and PSA gave it a 5. I really felt this was a strong 6, so I cracked it out again, resubmitted, and it came back "evidence of trim". I don't have any idea where that came from. So I sent it to GAI, who graded it a 6.5. I would have stopped the odyssey there, but because the card was oversized GAI didn't have a holder for it, so it was in a pregrade soft holder. So I sent it back to PSA for cross-over service, and it finally received its 6. There is a lesson here somewhere

Rick

srs1a

Rick, that is a great story! I find it troubling that a "trimmed" card got past SGC, PSA and GAI

Vargha

I agree that cards should be carefully cracked out first so as not to trigger the biases of the grader.

The53Kid

I've sent several cards in for crossover without cracking them, and they crossed directly from GAI8 to PSA8. But these were really nice handpicked examples. I won't chance the sliders.

I have heard some stories about people sending to PSA hoping for an 8, and not receiving in several attempts. Then sending to GAI and getting the 8. Just goes to show any of these top 3 companies could go up and down a grade because of their different standards. A good example of this is the fact that SGC goes easy on centering. I have seen some 92's that look like PSA6's to me(horrible left-to-right). But them again I've seen an 88 that looked better than some 9's.

BugOnTheRug

CreeperKat

In the past I would crack the cards out but one of the cards was a 1975 Topps #500 Nolan Ryan GAI 8 which I paid $42 for. I figured if it didn't crossover to a PSA 8, I could resell it. It crossed over to a PSA 8 today (used a free grading coupon, not a bad $42 investment!).

The other was a common; a 1976 Topps #539 John Balaz GAI 9.5. I submitted it in the holder also and it crossed over to a PSA 9.

Edited to clarify that I submitted in holders

jrdolan

My experience with SGC (and GAI) is not that they are easy on centering per se, but that they include that factor in the grade rather than tacking on the dreaded (OC). It's PSA that is off the beaten path as far as centering, in my opinion.

That is one area perhaps where a PSA card is less marketable, because many people DO buy the grade as much as the card. And they will buy the very same off-center card graded SGC 80-84 faster than they will buy PSA 8 (OC). When it comes to reselling, it may actually make sense to crack out a PSA (OC) and submit to one of the others.

Of course you may not get the grade you hope for! Sure wish there was some consistency and predictability. It starts to get silly, spending $30 or more + shipping to fish three times for the grade you want. Sell the damn thing and BUY another that's already the appropriate grade! Easier said than done when it comes to some cards.... In my case the reason is really stupid: I have PSA and SGC in my personal collection and want to stay within those limits. No reflection on GAI at all ... except their holders don't stack.