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Grading Criteria

Hey Guys,

Two things I have a bunch of raw cards and I'm looking to sell some of them off. Am I better off just selling them raw or recommend grading them? Which leads me to my second question - some of my old stuff isnt in the best quality and I was wondering that if I was looking at say 50s commons, would you recommend I grade them or not? Some of them have writing on them and corners bend while others are in Good-Very Good condition. What criteria do you use yourself before sending a card in for grading? I've noticed that prices drop once you start talking PSA 5 or lower.

Regards,
Dan

Comments

  • Unless the card is of a HOF player and in PSA 6+ condition, you are better off going raw. You will not recoup the cost involved to get the card graded. I was in the same boat as you and sent in a huge batch of cards to be graded. I got some huge disappointments and while I did make some good sales on some of them, a vast majority I will be taking a loss on.

    I am not an expert on cards from the 50s, but you may have some better luck with some lower grades - but again you might not recover your grading costs.
    Collecting Topps Baseball: 1966-present base sets
    Topps/OPC Hockey 1966-Present base sets


  • << <i>Hey Guys,

    Two things I have a bunch of raw cards and I'm looking to sell some of them off. Am I better off just selling them raw or recommend grading them? Which leads me to my second question - some of my old stuff isnt in the best quality and I was wondering that if I was looking at say 50s commons, would you recommend I grade them or not? Some of them have writing on them and corners bend while others are in Good-Very Good condition. What criteria do you use yourself before sending a card in for grading? I've noticed that prices drop once you start talking PSA 5 or lower.

    Regards,
    Dan >>



    I'm an absolute novice at this, but here's how I do it:

    I own a raw card and would like to sell it. I estimate the grade, lower it by one level, then I look to see what kind of prices it is getting online at that grade. If the average price is barely more than the cost to get it graded, then I don't bother.

    Example: I had a 1957 Tony Kubek card. I thought it was in decent shape, probably a 7. So I looked them up.....PSA 5's get $25, 6's get $70, and 7's can get up near $100, so it was worth the $5.75 plus shipping to get it graded. On the other hand, I paid to get a basketball rookie card graded, it came back a 10, and I got $8 for it. Had I done my homework, I would have sold it raw, because I ended up losing money even though it was a 10.

    Essentially, do your homework to see where it is being priced at that particular grade, and UNDERESTIMATE the grade. Don't be the guy who thinks he has NM cards even though the corners are bent and Sissy colored beards on everyone's faces. My first submission of perfect 10's came back as a box of 8's and 9's, so I learned very quickly to grade low.
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