what to do, what to do

chicago111

Don tknow if this is a question or a rant....
I've bought many cards from ebay lately all PSA 9 Rookie football cards. None are to PSA 9 published standards. Centering being the main issue. Nice cards but not PSA 9 Centered.
OK with that said...move to my own submissions to PSA.
I send in the exact same cards that i bought from ebay which are PSA centered 9's the whole bit...COmplete PSA 9 standards.
I get back the cards from PSA and they're all graded at 8's. I used a loupe (10x), measured for centering the whole deal....still I get 7's and 8's. You put these cards side by side with the ebay cards and its clear something is amiss. Now i understand some cards being 7's and 8's ( human error, grader had a bad day etc etc ) but my god!
I have a ton more cards i want to send in but im really shaken now. My problem is PSA itself is not grading the cards to its own guidelines.
Now i know some die hards will bash me saying i don't know what im doing ,and PSA is the king. Well that maybe true but not one person here doesn't know what I'm taking about. PSA needs to be more consist ant in grading to their own guidelines and if they cant they need to provide sub grades or notes or something to explain why the card received the grades it did. After all we are paying for a service and when i see gross examples of guideline deviations i expect some kind of explanation.

CDsNuts

Can you post examples of what you're talking about?

Lee

larryallen73

Are you taking into account surface, color, etc...? Centering and corners are not the only issues. Not to sound like daBigHurt but I have found that when I really take a close look at my grades they are accurate MOST of the time. I have a hard time with some but I generally agree once I have taken a minute to review. Having said that, I do worry about big sellers getting preferential grades and thus littering our hobby with slightly overgraded cards. Plus there are mistakes made and maybe people are more apt to sell their graded cards that have been overvalued (mistakes by PSA) and retain the properly graded ones for themselves!? Would love to see some examples.

Stingray

<< <i>I've bought many cards from ebay lately all PSA 9 Rookie football cards. None are to PSA 9 published standards. Centering being the main issue. Nice cards but not PSA 9 Centered >>



I am confused, if the cards are not up to PSA 9 standards why are you buying them. Are these raw cards? Like Larry said there are other factors that go into grading. I have several PSA 8 1967 and some are on the opposite end of the spectrum. I swear this one could be a 9 and that one could be a 7. I just posted a PSA 9 1967 that looks nothing like one on another thread.

Stingray

chicago111

i dont have the scans now but will get some.
Yes i am taking into consideration color surface etc etc. In fact the GRADED 9's from ebay have more surface problems than 9's are allowed not to mention the centering issues (mainly the backs). And im not saying im perfect but just compairing cards that are slabbed PSA 9's to cards i sent in (apples to apples here) that are superior and they come back with lessor grades. Does not make any sense. As far as the standards, does not matter if the rest of the card is perfect, if the centering is not a 9 its not a 9 etc.
Anyhow I dont want to extend this thread too much but i will get some scans and post them (next day or two).

koby

If you don't have scans maybe you can post some links to the auctions.

CDsNuts

I think a card can be a 9 with 90/10 centering on back. If that's the type of thing that bothers you, you can always ask a seller to scan the back for you.

Lee

wallst32

chicago111 - PSA is not very strict on centering. A 70/30 card can still be PSA 9. That's "PSA 9"', what PSA believes is a 9, and not what you or anybody else thinks is a 9.

"if the centering is not a 9 its not a 9 etc"

Again, that's your opinion of what a "9" is, but that's not what a "PSA 9" is. Do I think a 50/50 PSA 9 has better eye appeal than a 70/30 PSA9?; of course. But regeardless, they both still fall under PSA 9 guidelines. PSA's focus is on corners and surface; centering, rough cuts, print dots (excluding snow) are secondary in their grading considerations. If you want cards that place greater weight and emphasis on centering you can try BGS.

Stingray

Does this look like a 9?

Stingray

Stingray

Or this an 8?

ajmoeller81

Not sure if you'd be interested but you could send the cards you had graded back in for review and PSA could tell you what was wrong with them. It would cost you money but you'd at least improve your understanding of how they grade.

Stingray

I did not think PSA would tell you what is wrong with a card and why it received a certain grade will they?


Stingray

larryallen73

Aj-
What service is that you are speaking of? I do not think PSA offers such a service. There are several cards I would like reviewed so I could know more of what knocked the grade down. As daBighurt has probably said, "if PSA grades it a 9, it's a 9."

RipublicaninMass

<< <i> As daBighurt has probably said, "if PSA grades it a 9, it's a 9." >>



...and thank God we have PSA! Or many of these commons would be selling for much less raw.

ajmoeller81

<< <i>Aj-
What service is that you are speaking of? I do not think PSA offers such a service. There are several cards I would like reviewed so I could know more of what knocked the grade down. As daBighurt has probably said, "if PSA grades it a 9, it's a 9." >>



Doesn't this fall under the realm of their "Review" service.

If you get a card back that is a 9, you can send it back to them and I think pay the same amount you did to have it graded. Then they review the card and send you a short explanation as to why they graded it as such. I'm not sure if I dreamed this up or not but I thought I read it when I first joined PSA. Seems pretty expensive but it might be worth it in some situations.

DS1991TOPPSCards

Where is daBighurt when you need him?