Magic PSA cards - do you feel it's been worth it?

CrashTest

This question is geared towards those who have invested a fair amount of money into big PSA Magic sets - like Alpha, Beta, etc.

Now, a lot of times we will pay very high prices for a graded item for reasons of rarity, condition, etc. For example, you could buy an ungraded Alpha Illusionary Mask for $80-100 that would be in nice condition. If you want to skip that and get something like a PSA 9 - the price will likely double. (So it's definitely cheaper to get ungraded, and try to get a high grade.)

Here's the question - do you think it is worth it? The Magic graded market is very limited, it's very niche. That means that while a collector does not mind spending a higher amount for a graded card, the majority of buyers will not see the same value if resale is needed in the future.

Tromagic

Yes... High PSA cards look expensive.
It look even more expensive if you never tryed to get them.
To get a card PSA 10, you need send the cards to PSA.
You need to pay for that and spend time. To have an idea you should try.
For exemple try to find a Alpha CREATURE BOND PSA 10.
It s common, not played.
It s one of the most easy alpha to get in PSA 10.
If you try hard maby you will get one in one year and it will cost you at least 50-60 USD to get it.
Of course if you grade lot cards, it s cheaper. And if you try to get any alpha in PSA 10 it s easier.
However, it only after you tryed to get those kind of cards that you will think you made the best deal ever when you grab one on ebay for 15 USD ... even if the price for a nice Alpha CREATURE BOND raw is only 1-3 USD (shiping to you include).
If you think that condition matter then PSA matter.

I think PSA is good for nice cards. If you need to pay high cost to get the card in perfect condition then it worth to have it in PSA 10.
For me it worth more to have a card PSA 10 that value 1-100 more than a card that value 1000-2000.
Because for an Alpha CREATURE BOND PSA 10 that you pay 40 USD. You get something perfect for 37 USD extra.
I agree it s a perfect card that worth nothing but it s perfect.
For a Alpha Black lotus you will pay 10 000 - 15 000 USD. It s 8 000 - 13 000 more than for a nice one raw ...
And the diference is a little default you can almost not see ...I think it s a matter of the money you have ... If i pay 10 000 -15 000 for the PSA 10 lotus i can t buy anything else.
For me i rather have the PSA 8 one ... but i lke more to have 1 CREATURE BOND PSA 10 than 10 of them PSA 8.

If i pay 10 common PSA 10 and 10 unco PSA 10 and 3 rare PSA 10 and the reast PSA 8-9 i can have the full set for the price of the lotus
you need to think what you prefer and what you can afford and then enjoy

tmmoose

I think each individual has to decide themselves if they think its worth it.

I personally think the premium charged on graded cards is excessive and definitely not worth it which is why I'm building a PSA 9 alpha set, not a PSA 10 one. However 1) I don't have a great source of ungraded cards 2) Don't have the luxury of being able to send cards to PSA for grading myself very easily so have little choice if I want to make a graded set. I've bought a lot of "mint" cards off ebay, and they generally aren't. It's a hassle and waste of my time/money buying cards and then having to sell them on again.

I justify the premium I pay as being payment to the individual who spent the time finding the cards, getting them graded, getting a whole load of crappy grades which effectively meant they lost money etc. etc. I haven't had to spend that time myself, so I've gained as a result, I don't mind paying someone else for their loss.

Having said that, it means I always expect the value of the cards to be lower than the price I pay for them if I then went to sell them on, unless I graded the card myself, in which card I'd expect the price to be higher to reflect the effort involved in getting/grading the card etc.

By the way, my PSA sets aren't an "investment", they're a purchase. :-)

Tromagic

Yes, Michael point something very important.
If you buy card to invest and make a profit it s not the same.
I rarely sell cards ... I can t sell them once i get them.
So when i buy them i almost never think to resell them
Making money is not easy since you loose money with ebay/paypal.
Plus the time you spend in the sell and shiping ... It doesn t worth it realy.
Sometime i buy some card at 50 % of the price i think it worth and think i will resell them later (but most of the time i don t do it).
And the profit is low when you make one
I think i spend 99% of my card for me and 1% for resell.

AlphaInvestments

Hey guys

I have to agree i bought mine mostly for collecting...but I actually have done pretty good on the alpha side of things. In the begining i had a lot of unlimited Power 9 psa 10's and Beta PSA 10's. I sold all of the beta 10's a long time ago and either broke even or made about a 15% profit all within 1 year. I did the best on unlimited PSA 10 Moxes back in the day. I had about 3-4 Moxes and i was making around 200-300 each profit after fees. Of course this was a time when the pop reports were low and demand was very high.

I, of course, still feel the alpha set will be the best for long term due to the low population of 10's. (at least i hope) I am still very happy with my alpha set. Even though the set spends most of its life locked in a big safe, i still look at them about once a week. I have to also add i still look at them as a long term investments "somewhat". The prices i have paid on most of my alpha 10's are very low (i think) compared to todays alpha prices i have seen onebay recently. And alpha 10's barely EVER show up on ebay.

-Rudy
Alpha_Investments

Thulnanth

Hey All,

I almost didn't post, since I think Michael summed up my thoughts exactly

For a while I made the mistake of thinking of all of this as an "investment" - it completely sucked the fun out of it!!! Not to mention that as an investment it is terrible (much better in a low fee, indexed mutual fund, FWIW). Now I just spend what I can afford to "waste", and if it holds some value down the line, great; if not, oh well. I love collecting MtG, and PSA is just another part of that.

One of the biggest benefits for me has been how much better I've gotten at grading vintage material. I used to think EX+/NM- was the same as PSA 9/10, but no longer. I also have a greater appreciation for A/B/U cards in PSA 10 - they really are works of art . Now I see the value of PSA primarily in preserving and displaying the really high grade vintage and high-end cards out there. Beyond that, I still prefer raw (and I've gotten very good at cracking slabs - LOL).

As for resale - are you crazy??? I plan to be buried with my Gem 10's

Take it easy,
Jared

Thulnanth

Oh yeah, one other thing...



<< <i>For example, you could buy an ungraded Alpha Illusionary Mask for $80-100 that would be in nice condition. If you want to skip that and get something like a PSA 9 - the price will likely double. (So it's definitely cheaper to get ungraded, and try to get a high grade.) >>



I think you will find long run it is cheaper to buy graded than to buy raw and hope for 10's, unless you have access to a nice stash of very high grade raw vintage. As you said, people currently won't pay the premium that graded cards might really warrent, so your best deals are in already graded stuff (at least for the time being).

Unless, of course, two people are fighting over a particular card for their sets

Take it easy,
Jared