Opinions on the .5 grading scale

SidePocket

After a few months with the .5 grading in place, I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts on the subject.

My feeling is this.

All truly high end cards, whatever the grade, already exhibit the characteristics that warrant a .5 bump. These cards already demand a premium when they are sold. They are typically purchased by knowledgeable collectors who don't need someone to tell them it's a very strong card. Doesn't take long on eBay to figure that out. Therefore the .5 bump is of little value.

It may even work against you. Buyers who are satisfied with a clean 7 or 8 may not want to pay a premium for the .5 bump, and drop out of the bidding for a card with a .5 grade. I've done this myself quite a few times. If I want a nice 8, why pay a premium for the .5?

In other words, high end cards have always drawn higher bids because of their quality without the need for a grader to tell them that the quality is there.

There are only 2 reasons to submit a card for a .5 bump:

1 - it is a vintage card with a LARGE difference between the grades
2 - it is very possible that the card will bump up an entire grade

Your thoughts?

41GoudeyGuy

I've been against the .5 grade since the beginning but I am reaping a benefit. I collect many vintage PSA 7 cards and have found that new label 7's have dropped in price since the new grade scale was introduced. No longer are buyers artificially hyping their cards as "high end for the grade". Now I get more cards for the same money. Thanks PSA for the unanticipated benefit.

OAKESY25

I don't think it had the intended impact...
it makes sense in theory.. but has not closed the gaps..
from what I have seen and the straight 7's seem to be down..
still a good money maker for psa.. maybe the market will adjust at some point
to me... a 7 is a 7.. and an 8 an 8.. regardless of the .5

I didn't like the .5 grade from the get go.. and still do not.. oh well..
nothing we can do about it.. I have some I will send in for review..
but I am actually hoping for the full grade bumps..

Buccaneer

I have been following the prices in past month and generally believe that straight 6/7 are down in some cases and 6.5/7.5 are going for what 6/7 used to go for.

SportsItUpCards

I think that lots of people who would have gotten a Mint 9 before will get 8.5's now.

I have a card I sent to PSA and it came back an 8.5 when I knew it was a solid Mint 9, if not a 10, but I wouldn't go that far and say 10, but it definetly was a SOLID 9!

Good thing I don't do vintage or I probably would be pissed. I do autographs, so I really don't care what the condition of the card is, as long as the autograph itself is 100% then its all good with me.

For vintage cards, I say the .5 scale is a very bad thing, but not for me.

Giovanni

css23

I still think it blows.

Griffins

what CSS23 said.
It's a money grab and reeks of desperation.

bigreddog

I Think PSA sold out its customer base and their own reputation and integrity for the ol mighty $$$$$

cardbender

I have yet to buy one or receive an 8.5 from my own subs.
At this point, I would somewhat agree with what Griffins and Bigreddog posted.

The half grades haven't changed my buying habits or made me want to have my nice 8's reviewed. I already can distinguish a high-end 8 from a low end 8.

To sum up: good for sellers=more money in their pockets, not that great for buyers= having to pay more for cards that use to be in 8 holders.

I can't judge 6.5's and lower because I don't collect that grade (Not that there's anything wrong with anyone who does).

WinPitcher

Still way to early to tell.


Steve

gameusedhoop

Does anyone know somebody who is buying the .5's and cracking them to resubmit. My feeling is that you can get some nice bargains by grabbing some 7.5 and 8.5 cards and cracking in hopes that they will get the bump to the higher full grade. It seems one or 2 "good" cards can easily make up the $$ spent on the resubmit, especially on some of the lower pops.

Stingray

For me I do mind it. I do not submitt any cards to PSA at this time and when it comes to down to try and finishing my set some day and I can not find a PSA 9 for a card I might have to settle for an 8.5. Though at the rate they seem to be giving them out the Pops of 8.5 are going to be small.

MeteoriteGuy

I buy a lot of cards and strangely have never bought one the last couple months. There are some 1985 Topps Football I would consider buying in 8.5, like the Walter Payton which is around $100 in 9.

So I pretty much haven't seen any effect on the modern side.


Overall, I like it as it puts the top graders, somewhat on the same scale giving a better ability to compare the three.

1960toppsguy

I will personally never own a 1/2 graded card from PSA aside from the ones I have before they started the new procedure.

1960toppsguy

!

digicat

I think the .5 idea is a good one, primarly for online purchasing. A "high end for it's grade" card, when buying on Ebay, can be trickey. Sometimes flaws are more evident to the naked eye than they are in a scan (especially on white-border cards). There are plenty of times when I decided to bid a little more agressivly for a nicer looking PSA 8, just to find that the card looked better in the picture than it did in person.

chaz43

I love the .5 grading. chaz