Question about the population report

rjcoy06

I have been watching a particular card in the pop report and have been checking it almost daily. Today I see the total population went down by 1 card. Figured out that it was a card graded 8 that was removed. Why would this happen? Did someone crack the card and send the flip back to PSA? Just wondering why a card would disappear like that.

JHS5120

That's one very possible reason. Another reason would be if there was a mechanical error and it was mislabeled as said card when really it was something else (it happens). Other than that, I really can't think of anything.

corncobb

Card reviewed and the Grade changed?

The crack and resubmit community has rendered the population report usless on many of the Popular highly subbed star and Rookie Cards.
The population report doesn't reflex the multiple submissons of the same card due to the "crack and Resub" community.

rjcoy06

Yeah, I know the report is not 100% accurate because of people cracking and resubmitting. But if someone had that card graded an 8 reviewed, whether it was bumped up or down, overall number of cards graded would stay the same. If someone took that 8 and cracked and resubmitted it without sending in the flip, then the overall number of cards graded would go up by 1 card.

I just found it odd since I had never seen the overall number go down like that before. I am a newer collector of graded cards, so maybe it is more common than I thought. Thanks for all the input.

WhiteTornado

It's also possible the person cracked it out of a PSA slab, and it didn't go into another PSA slab, they just returned the flip. Could be the case if they wanted it in a BGS or SGC holder, or if they wanted to keep it raw.

olb31

While I think PSA cares about the pop report, too a degree, they don't directly make $$$ from maintaining it. In fact they may look at it as an "overhead item". I know for a fact that the pop report for the 1986 Memphis chicks Bo Jackson is incorrect because they were accidentally grading a reprint version as the real version. They wouldn't grade my 1998 Beltre gold auto as gold they put it in with the blue auto (didn't have the pop report set up correctly or something, even after I called before they shipped it).

Thus there could be any number of reasons while the pop report changes (they track probably a million cards or more). Human error happens. It is frustrating especially if the card is one of a major rookie or key card.

Maybe it would be a good idea if there appears to be a problem with a pop they could disclose with a hyperlink or something and let people know while it changed or if there is a possibility that wrong cards were graded or different versions exist.

grote15

Usually it means the grade changed upon a review or a conscientious collector cracked it and sent the flip in to psa to remove it from pop report. Due to the amount of cracking and ressubmitting that goes on and there being no real incentive to return flips, the pop report numbers are skewed. The only grade that's probably nearly accurate is that of psa 10, lol.

OcTrAdInG

Although I've not confirmed my suspicions with PSA, I believe a re-holder may trigger this result as well. From time to time, I see quite a few of the cards from the set I collect completely disappear from the population report, only to be added back weeks later (coincidentally, usually around the time determinations will be made for set registry awards, and for cards with relatively low populations). The exact nature of the re-holder would be pure speculation on my part, but my guess is that the temporary disappearance either relates to a change in pedigree (via the pedigree service) or a change in cert # whereby a very old # is exchanged for a newer one, during a review or re-holder service.

PMKAY

<< <i>Usually it means the grade changed upon a review or a conscientious collector cracked it and sent the flip in to psa to remove it from pop report. Due to the amount of cracking and ressubmitting that goes on and there being no real incentive to return flips, the pop report numbers are skewed. The only grade that's probably nearly accurate is that of psa 10, lol. >>



They need to add a new qualifier: PSA 10 (4SC)

PaulMaul

I agree that mechanical error is the most likely scenario.