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Just venting

Mac53Mac53 Posts: 805 ✭
in PSA Set Registry Forum
I felt OK about the grades I got last week on some '53 Topps commons, a '61 Spahn, a '63 Williams and a T205. Not real happy, but OK. But, then, my grades for some '61 and '63 commons were posted this morning and they suck. Way below my expectations; one even wasn't holdered due to "evidence of trimming." I'm sure somebody trimmed a '63 Jack Fisher to try to get a 5 instead of a 3. I'm just very frustrated. I clearly don't know what I'm looking for when I decide what to send in for grading, and it doesn't seem like I'm learning anything. I was going to send in some cards for this month's specials, but now it feels like I'd just be throwing money away. If I do send some in, I'm just going to flip a coin to decide which ones. I wish PSA would put together something with examples of what they concentrate on when grading--I think that would help. Just venting.
"Charlie, here comes the deuce. And when you speak of me, speak well."image

Comments

  • RipublicaninMassRipublicaninMass Posts: 10,051 ✭✭✭
    I feel the same way. Now the silly special is for 72 and up cards. SO upon submission, the cards need to come back a 9 or 10 to make money (10) or at least get the grading fee back (9). So I have been absolutely meticulous in my submission. A 3-4x lighted desk lamp for the prelims, then I have a 10X peak lens for centering and flaws. Also another visual scanning each card for bubbles, and faint creases. I busted 1/2 box of 80 topps and 1/2 85 donruss. I have a mint Henderson rc with 50/50 centering but a chip on the edge. A perfect Puckett. A few commons also to submitt. In all, my submission is down to 10 cards. Hoping for 9's and 10's we shall see.
  • pcpc Posts: 743 ✭
    i got slammed on a recent submission too.
    it happens but it makes me want to walk away.
    Money is your ticket to freedom.
  • MorrellManMorrellMan Posts: 3,238 ✭✭✭
    I know the pain - it hurts when that happens. I just got my submission results posted and I'm very happy with it because, out of 100 cards, there were no surprises! Even the '62 Topps Landrum that looked like a 7 (but I was hoping for an 8) came back as a 7. When you're right, you're right, but when you're right and wrong it's a great disappointment.
    Mark (amerbbcards)


    "All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
  • gemintgemint Posts: 6,101 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>i got slammed on a recent submission too.
    it happens but it makes me want to walk away. >>



    I'm worried. I just submitted around 650 cards under the 60s special. I hope the grader of death hasn't reared his/her ugly head again.
    https://ebay.com/sch/gemint/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
  • HubcapHubcap Posts: 293
    Doesn't it concern you that you get slammed and then I see cards on EBAY that are OC top/bottom and side2side and they get high grades. Makes you wonder.
  • mcastaldimcastaldi Posts: 1,202 ✭✭✭
    Hubcap> That very thing is what took all the fun out of building a PSA-graded set and is why I no longer send cards to Newport Beach.

    Seriously. . .if you have to worry about a "grader of death", doesn't that point to serious consistency problems? Shouldn't one grader be just as tough (and just as easy) as the others?

    Mike
    So full of action, my name should be a verb.
  • HubcapHubcap Posts: 293
    Mike:

    I couldn't agree with you more. I have spoken to JO about this matter many times but with no success. I think their turnover in the past 2 years has diminished the quality of the product. Unfortunately, the competitors, GAI and SGC, have not taken market share away from PSA and as such, you will continue to see poor much of the same inconsistent grading for the foreseeable future.
  • sixdartsixdart Posts: 821 ✭✭
    I've had mixed results with my 1985 Topps Football submissions after joining the PSA Collectors Club (a few months ago). I've not been given any consideration towards what I would call high-end 8.5 caliber cards on their initial submision. Although, I have cracked out a few and they did return as PSA 9s.

    To qualify - I have the #2 PSA Registry of the '85 Topps Football, so I have hundreds of PSA 9 and nearly 70 PSA 10s examples to compare these cards to. I do have a professional lighted 10x magnifier to view the cards with.

    I have refined what I think PSA standards are, however it's tough to resubmit these cards and get the grade you thought you should've gotten in the first place. Especially when many of the new PSA 8s are better than mpst of my PSA 9s?
  • thefootballcardstorethefootballcardstore Posts: 512 ✭✭
    I see 1985 FB PSA 9s are up a bit lately.

    Sixdart, you say that you have refined what the standards from PSA's point of view. That's a good point.
    Many times the standard isn't the same year to year. A lot depends on how Topps (and other companies) produced the cards year to year.

    For instance, on 85 Football, do you consider word Topps at the top on the picture to be included in what defines what should be centered?
    Or do you exclude that word when figuring centering?

    Another example might be that on 1975 Football, cards are more centered when there is slightly more border on the top because that is what Topps had intended during printing. On 1987 Team cards, the top on the picture slopes up on the left, so is centering figured on the left? On the right? On in the middle of the card?

    Knowing the rules of the game is half the battle.
    Jeremy
  • IJustLoveCardsIJustLoveCards Posts: 1,345

    I have refined what I think PSA standards are, however it's tough to resubmit these cards and get the grade you thought you should've gotten in the first place. Especially when many of the new PSA 8s are better than mpst of my PSA 9s? >>



    AGREED,

    PSA has changed the defination of a NM 7... today a nm 7 are 8's from a year ago, and the 8's from today are the 9's...except when it comes to modern, i.e. the gretzky psa 10 recently on ebay that was just graded with the rough cut..anything prior to 1970 goes to the grader of death and although PSA feels that they are redefining the standards for which a nm 7 is vs an 8...the only thing they are doing is losing valuable business. Eventually cards will stop going to PSA. Why, because it will make more sense for myself and others to have a GAI 7 vs a PSA 6 in a card..The GAI 7 will bring more money...and its properly graded. I am not a dealer nor do I want to be one..But I see why many dealers are telling me they are using other grading services. PSA NEEDS TO EITHER CHANGE THIER GUIDELINES IN THE SMR GUIDE or Grade According to the guidelines, becuase right now they are not doing either.

    I for one will stop using PSA altogether and save my grading fee money..

    And before you step in and defend PSA mr. Dabighurt...

    Here is a fact:
    Grading is subjective, however PSA tries to set guidelines for which cards should fall within therefore hopefully taking the subjectivity out. Unfortunatley, human characteristics play a role, subjectivity does creep in.. if a bad day has been had, if your not feeling well, if maybe your fiance' took a bus trip a few days before your wedding..heck who knows, no matter what you say they do.

    Joe O..fix this..Your graders have set the bar a step higher for which the cards really fall within (1950's and 60's)...this is becoming a bigger problem than you think...

    I had a very very good reliable never miss (very seldom miss) person purchase some raw cards for me recently, he has a track recored for finding some of the toughest cards in grades for which he will get psa 9's and 10's pops of 1 of 1 and 1 of 2's...well, He was sure I had at least 20 psa 8's in the ones he picked..he spent hours.. I looked at them under a loop, they were unreal..I thought all 8's with a few 9's...my results... 12 6's and 8 7's...Those cards were blazers...
    Wake up PSA..Grade it right..

    And before people think I am venting because of a few bad grades...I am not, this was the 3rd sub in which grades were not even close.
    The Link below will take you to the PSA Boards 1952 Set Build, I also have made 5 slideshows each slideshow is 100 cards long, card numbers 1-99,100-199,200-299,300-399, and 400-407
    Link To Scanned 1952 Topps Cards Set is now 90% Complete Plus Slideshows of the 52 Set
  • FBFB Posts: 1,684 ✭✭
    Yeah...

    I've been holding on to a bunch of 71's for fear that they'll get tagged in 6 and 7 holders - I've never had good luck submitting them. For the time being, the low prices on eBay have made it more cost effective to simply pick up "already-slabbed" cheaply.

    Frank Bakka
    Sets - 1970, 1971 and 1972
    Always looking for 1972 O-PEE-CHEE Baseball in PSA 9 or 10!

    lynnfrank@earthlink.net
    outerbankyank on eBay!
  • RipublicaninMassRipublicaninMass Posts: 10,051 ✭✭✭


    << <i> For the time being, the low prices on eBay have made it more cost effective to simply pick up "already-slabbed" cheaply. >>



    Especially if they look better than the holder! Great subjects for crossovers (out of PSA) or that .5 bump for all the money..so it seems
  • jrdolanjrdolan Posts: 2,549 ✭✭
    I would like to add my tale of woe to the others. In the past few months many of my vintage submissions, maybe half or a bit more, came back a grade below the level I had trained myself to expect from PSA in the past year. And there were a couple of silly "evid. trimming" examples, too. (Guess which holder the "evid. trimming" cards were in ... yup, GAI, which I sometimes think PSA rejects just on principle)

    Anyway, I'm not about to bail out and use other services, but I don't think I'll do any more submitting for awhile. I'll just buy what I need, already graded.
  • softparadesoftparade Posts: 9,276 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I had a very very good reliable never miss (very seldom miss) person purchase some raw cards for me recently, he has a track recored for finding some of the toughest cards in grades for which he will get psa 9's and 10's pops of 1 of 1 and 1 of 2's...well, He was sure I had at least 20 psa 8's in the ones he picked..he spent hours.. I looked at them under a loop, they were unreal..I thought all 8's with a few 9's...my results... 12 6's and 8 7's...Those cards were blazers...
    Wake up PSA..Grade it right..

    And before people think I am venting because of a few bad grades...I am not, this was the 3rd sub in which grades were not even close. >>



    Just to play devils advocate here .... is it at all possible that a "very very good reliable never miss (very seldom miss) person" might have a bad day also? image

    ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240

  • RipublicaninMassRipublicaninMass Posts: 10,051 ✭✭✭
    H-E-H
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