PSA Submission Question - Submit 5 of the same card at one time or use multiple submissions
Flewbie
Posts: 51 ✭
If consistency across grading was always in place, the question I'm about to ask is effectively irrelevant.
What are people's thoughts on submitting 5 of the same player in one submission vs. spreading the 5 cards across multiple submissions. Are you more likely to get "better" grades by putting them all in one submission or spreading them across multiple submissions. As I said, if you subscribe to the idea that grading is always consistent, it wouldn't matter.
Just curious as to people's thoughts on whether or not it makes a difference.
I'm tempted to subscribe to the latter thinking only because if you submit them all in one submission, you're card qualities are almost competing against one another in terms of what's perfect or not. Is there enough grading consistency to where this doesn't matter, or is worth spreading the submissions around. Sorry, just thinking out loud.
Comments
I've had enough subs where I sent several of the same card and all received 10s to make me think it doesn't matter.
Agree. I've had subs where multiples of the same card get 10's and no 9's.
I agree with the responses above but I've thought the same thing when subbing. I too have sent multiples of the same card and had them all come back 10's. But, if I have, say 4 cards, and one may have a slight touch or doesn't look quite as nice, I'll hold it back and send it with another submission so they are not comparing them. I think it would only be natural, albeit subconscious, to not compare against another if you are looking at multiple, identical cards. I've done this and the "questionable" card has come back as a 10 in a later sub.
It sounds like you're referring to modern cards. In that case it might not matter as they often qualify for 10s right out of the pack. However, for vintage cards, I've started splitting them across several submissions. Several years ago I used to just put them all in sequence. The downside of that is examples like four 1976 Tom Underwood's that came from a cut card case. They all looked like 9 candidates but all came back as 8's which are virtually worthless, even back in the timeframe when I submitted them. Ever since then, I split it across multiple submissions so I lower the risk of one grader slamming them all equally. In this way, I have a better chance of different graders reviewing them which spreads the risk.
Many of the cards that I'd be submitting are anywhere late vintage/early modern (meaning 60's, 70's and 80's). Most higher duplication occurs in the 70's and 80's for my collection.
I subscribe to gemint's rationale. Right now I have four 1993 UD Jeter's waiting to be logged/subbed. In hindsight, I should have spread them out. But I have four more that I'm going to sub and not sure how many more subs I'm going to have within this year. I too, have had the same concerns/questions as the OP.
Agreeing with the general sentiment here. Not just the specific card, but usually the whole set. Overkill I know, but I do like the idea of multiple chances at different graders sometimes. Let's say hypothetically that I had 200 cards I wanted to sub, and the batch was represented by 50 different sets, 4 cards from each set. I am more inclined to fill out 4 different sub forms of 50 cards per sub and maybe send all 4 orders in packed in the same box, instead of subbing the same 200 cards under a single sub form. I have no way of knowing if it makes any difference at all or not, but I like the theoretical concept of making sure the card is judged on its own merits, as opposed to comparing it with another from the same set being able to be entered into the determination.
Then my vote would definitely be to split them. I've had legit vending cards rejected for evidence of trimming when I know they aren't. If you get a grader with that viewpoint, all the same card will get rejected. On separate submissions, you'll likely get at least some holdered. Same goes for other minor defects which can be viewed differently by different graders (specs of snow, marginal centering for the target grade, etc).