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I have the motherload...what do i do...(Rare Pokemon Card)
Avalanche
Posts: 9 ✭
Keeping it short and simple.
I have a 1st Edition Lugia Holographic card and its been selling for over $150,000....what do i do. I know i shouldnt send it in via mail to PSA. So i was thinking of flying to Santa Ana, CA to personally drop it off for grading.
But they are so backed up that u cant even call them for some direction
What do i do?
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Don't try to drop it off. Go to the next show they are setting up at if you need to submit in person.
Well, lets see it.
Don't call, send them an email info@PSAcard.com
In your email mention that the card might have a declared value of $150,000 (as the general response for submissions is that they have to be shipped in)
wow! congratulations!
Are they still doing shows during a pandemic? I feel like dropping it off would be the safest way.
How long u think it would take to grade it? Would they grade it faster at a show?
How much u think it would cost? Im very new to this as you can see
I don't believe they accept cards dropped off.
Didn't you used to be able to walk your cards through in a day's visit to their headquarters for a hefty fee? I may be wrong about that though.
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Looks like a nice Pokemon card but unless it grades a PSA 10 the value is not anywhere near $150k. Looks like PSA 9s go for $5,000-$8,000, so I would set your sights a little bit lower. If it gets a 10 that would be awesome but 10s are pretty rare (thus why they are so expensive).
A card that grades for a couple thousand in PSA 8 and ~$6k in PSA 9 wouldn't have any issues being sent USPS, IMO.
Robb
If you are going to fly and do walk though, you have to hit a 10. Huge dropoff to sales price for a 9. If you see a speck of white on the back, assume a 9 on a big boy like that.
Save the $$$ and submit traditionally if there is any white showing.
I have two charizards without any white that still only got 9's. Good luck.
Bosox1976
You need to take a picture of it on a flat surface straight on with good lighting, ideally out of the penny sleeve. And we need to see the back as that is the part will show the most wear/white. What's up with the circle on the pic?
I marked it to show theres a swirl. I guess alot if collectors look for that swirl and they would pay a little extra
I think you're looking at a nice -> very nice vacation and not an inexpensive house with this one.
I also noticed that little corner nam812 pointed out but honestly, I have seen 10's with little things like that. I wouldn't rule this out from being a 10 based on my experience with PSA and how they grade. I would regardless mail it. The chances of something getting lost are actually pretty rare. Cant tell you how many things I have sent put without insurance and I've never had an issue. But all it takes is one time, still, I would mail and under express service with PSA.
The card is slightly OC and has a corner ding. Highly unlikely PSA is going to give a gift 10 worth $100,000+ on a card like that. In the end you never know but I think an 8 is the most likely grade.
Robb
I would agree with the folks that suggest packaging it securely and shipping it via USPS at the Express service level.
Theres nothing on that corner. Musta beeen the lighting.
I would recommend usps register mail but I have a missing package with them right now. It’s devastating when rare expensive cards go missing. It’s insured but they do not like to pay out.
Im in no rush to get it graded. I dont mind flying out to drop it off in person at all.
Id rather spend spend $1000 on a flight and hotel than pay the post office to hopefully treat my item with care. They have lost atleast 5packages of mine since the pandemic started, so sending it in is the last thing im doing.
If a piece of registered mail got lost, someone is getting fired.
Card doesn’t look like a 10. Dropping $1,000 on flight and hotel, plus a hefty grading fee, seems like a steep cost for a card worth several thousand.
Yaz Master Set
#1 Gino Cappelletti master set
#1 John Hannah master set
Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, Dwight Evans, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox
So what was the point of this thread? Seemed like you were asking for opinions with your first post. Now it seems like a show off thread.
Registered is fine, except it gives me heart attacks every time I use it because it's so slow that it seems like your items are lost. But, that's actually the system working as intended (lock and key, snail's pace but secure). Given the reliability of Priority, that's what I recommend (gets there in 3 days from anywhere in the U.S.).
FeDex
Coin collecting interests: Latin America
Sports: NFL & NHL
I’m hoping it’s just delayed, but I’m also having a small heart attack in the meantime.
Just fly out there for a nice trip and stop by to drop it off. I have good time. It is what it is.
Travel Expenses $1000
Premium Elite Service $5000
PSA 9 Results Priceless
Actually, you'd be basically giving the card away for free if it doesn't 10 at that point, and potentially just donating a few grand to PSA if it's an 8. Might as well gamble on the PO/UPS/FedEx Overnight and Express/Super Express level at PSA. At this point, you're spending lotto winnings before the numbers have even been drawn.
Yeah registered can get held up at any step because someone is dragging their feet on signing for it. There’s a total chain of custody, so if it does go missing, they know exactly who to blame.
I have shipped about 10 registered packages to the same address in a 6 month period.
They all have the same tracking time table after leaving until now... it’s been a week and no updates.
Sorry not trying to hijack the thread.
To get some direction. Some people say fly to PSA why not. Some are saying to just mail it.
What is the $5000 premium fee thats been spoken of...i wouldnt want to spend that much of course.
How much is it to just drop it off to PSA in person. Im not in a rush to get it back, the main issue i have is sending it in and it getting lost or something.
There is no walkthrough or dropoff service since COVID started. It's a $5000 grading fee (Premium Elite level) for anything with a declared value over $99,999.
and if it grades out at a 9, then it wouldnt have a value of 99,999 so would they then reimburse?
No
No, that's why you pay the level of service that goes with a PSA 8 value, and if it grades higher PSA will let you know that you owe more (a great problem to have).
If it makes you feel any better, a week without updates when using Registered is totally normal. I know your other items haven't had that happen, but you should take the others as fortunate, not this one as a problem or lost. Week-long delays happen throughout USPS and are actually far more common with Registered due to the individual hand-off nature of the service.
This is the smart plan. That and not doing the whole fly to Cali thing.
Yaz Master Set
#1 Gino Cappelletti master set
#1 John Hannah master set
Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, Dwight Evans, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox
Mail it
If those are two scratches/print lines in the holofoil area in your last picture, I don’t see this getting higher than an 8. The same area that you circled in your first picture. These are tough grades for a reason
I know you’re new here and excited. It’s a card that needs to be graded for sure. But 10’s in any issue are not easy. The collectors here have sent in 1000’s, sometimes 10,000’s of cards for grading. If 10’s were easy the price wouldn’t be $100K. With rounded corners the graders look for any minute flaw, scratch, wrinkle, print defect. Trust their opinion. If they say it’s a 8 or 9 it is what it is. Congratulations on even having it. Find a few cards worth grading, join PSA, send it in on the hopes of an 8 and that price grading. If it pulls a 10 you’ll be ecstatic to pay the extra grading fee. Good luck
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
As professorpuck said, a week at one stop is not uncommon with registered. What you’ve had in the past is a good trail on the way there. This time you hit a stop where the person who normally deals with the registered stuff is out that week, and everyone else is afraid to deal with it.
It really could be that simple.