PSA Launches Free, Extensive Sports Memorabilia Resource: PSA CollectibleFacts

Big80s

Santa Ana, California) - Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) has launched the first phase of a new, free online resource called PSA CollectibleFacts™. PSA officials envision it will soon expand to become the Internet's most comprehensive site for information and illustrations about sports and many non-sports collectibles. The user-friendly site initially will offer the evolving beginnings of one major component, PSA CardFacts™, devoted to all types of trading cards. Over the coming weeks and months, PSA CollectibleFacts will be expanded to include additional sports and non-sports trading cards as well as PSA's extensive information and images about autographs (PSA AutographFacts™), tickets (PSA TicketFacts™), professional model baseball bats (PSA ProBatFacts™) and other historic memorabilia. The new PSA CollectibleFacts™ information resource is now available free online. This image shows the top portion of the PSA CardFacts™ page devoted to the 1969 Topps Reggie Jackson card "We're opening with only a fraction of the information and illustrations that eventually will be available, and all of it will be 100 percent free to access. This is just the beginning," said Joe Orlando, President of PSA, a division of Collectors Universe, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCT). "This is a long-term project to create the ultimate online encyclopedia for sports, historical and entertainment collectibles; a comprehensive resource for information. The PSA CollectibleFacts site will be continually evolving and growing with information and, eventually, tens of thousands of crystal-clear images. You'll see something new every week." In addition to providing a great resource to current hobbyists, one of the main goals behind the launch of this online encyclopedia is to help expand the market by exposing the hobby to a whole new group of prospective collectors. "The long-term benefit here is to help keep the hobby vibrant and keep the industry moving in the right direction by making so much free information available to the public," Orlando explained. "For example, if want to find out about 1933 Goudey baseball cards, you'll find images of every card in that set, biographical information about the players, current pricing of the cards, auction prices realized, population report data, expert narratives, in-depth articles and so on. We're bringing together everything in one place to make it easy to access the information hobbyists need in order to improve their collecting experience." Announcements will be made in the coming weeks about the launches of other components in PSA CollectibleFacts including PSA AutographFacts, PSA TicketFacts and PSA ProBatFacts. Since its founding in 1991, Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) experts have examined and certified over 19 million different sports, entertainment and historical collectibles with a combined total value of over $1 billion. For additional information, contact PSA/DNA Authentication Services at (800) 325-1121. Email: info@PSAcard.com. Online: www.PSACard.com.


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I think this is going to be an incredibly good thing for our hobby, as well as PSA. I for one, am very excited to see what comes from this.

VitoCo1972

As long as it's constantly growing and expanding, it'll be a great resource. If it's updated haphazardly and not very often, it will be useless. I would prefer a Wiki-style where people can discuss spotting fakes in certain sets / tough cards / printing issues etc.

Maurice

It looks great.

mccardguy1

<< <i>As long as it's constantly growing and expanding, it'll be a great resource. If it's updated haphazardly and not very often, it will be useless. I would prefer a Wiki-style where people can discuss spotting fakes in certain sets / tough cards / printing issues etc. >>



I agree with this statement but dont they already have a problem with finding help to grade cards? Are they going to hire the needed staff to keep this part of the business constantly updated when the service is a "free" service and not a revenue producer for the company? I think these are legitimate questions concerning the slow down in loggage that we have been seeing.

Big80s

<< <i>As long as it's constantly growing and expanding, it'll be a great resource. If it's updated haphazardly and not very often, it will be useless. I would prefer a Wiki-style where people can discuss spotting fakes in certain sets / tough cards / printing issues etc. >>



I agree. It appears that PSA is going all-in on this. As a person who loves obscure cards, a comprehensive resource that shows images and tracks auction prices would be really nice. I wonder if they're partnering with VCP for the auction data?

Big80s

I've been doing some exploring of the different sets they have listed. I LOVE the high res scans. I am extremely excited about the potential this resource has for the entire sports card industry.

epatmythes

<< <i>

<< <i>As long as it's constantly growing and expanding, it'll be a great resource. If it's updated haphazardly and not very often, it will be useless. I would prefer a Wiki-style where people can discuss spotting fakes in certain sets / tough cards / printing issues etc. >>



I agree with this statement but dont they already have a problem with finding help to grade cards? Are they going to hire the needed staff to keep this part of the business constantly updated when the service is a "free" service and not a revenue producer for the company? I think these are legitimate questions concerning the slow down in loggage that we have been seeing. >>



I have not checked out the site yet (it's blocked at work), but prior to my current job I spent several years in the eCommerce/SEO/Marketing field... there is no way that PSA would undertake a website of this stature if it wasn't (or at least has the potential to be) a measurable revenue producer for the company.

It's needed... there will be traffic!

There is naturally inherent ROI to be realized by having the PSA brand tied to such a wide audience internet resource!

There absolutely has to be a Search Engine Monetization strategy in place to not only fund the operation, but to also added profit to the companies bottom line!

PSA (Collectors Universe) is still a business... a publicly traded business... and a business I'm sure would like to keep operating, so, they certainly aren't tackling such an expansive web venture if it won't be a revenue producer (and if done right, could be a huge revenue producer through SEO/SEM monetization alone).

Griffins

SMR is a measurable revenue producer, and they have done a horrible job keeping up with it.
I hope this draws a bit more dedication from them to do it right.

miconelegacy

From the bit they have up now it looks promising.

Alfonz24

I see that the prices for cards listed (I looked a 1956 Mantle) are only auctions.

How is this going to impact VCP and will they add Ebay sales like VCP?

tunahead08

Looks like they are only tracking pricing of PSA graded cards. For some of the auctions that they got pricing from, there were quite a few SGC graded cards in there and I haven't seen any of them priced. Anyone able to find a non-PSA graded card priced on this site?

Big80s

I can't imagine PSA listing any auction prices for other grading companies on their site, but it'd be interesting if they did. Not to mention they'd capture a bigger audience.