It's more fun to send cards to PSA than to buy them already graded....

MULLINS5 · May 13, 2009 3:04PM

I just do not get it. The other night I lost an eBay auction for a 1978 opc Mike Bossy 115 rookie which sold for about 470.00 (SMR = 150) another one showed up on eBay before the first auction ended. When that happened I said to myself, "okay, I'm going to bid 670.00 and if I have to pay that then fine." Well it just sold for 680.00...gosh.

For the past four years I have been collecting raw Bossy cards, sifting through the grades, waiting for the perfect time to submit them to PSA for my set. When they had their April special I pulled the trigger, sending approximately 300, most which are not even in the current set but will be added soon.

I've been getting some of these April submissions in weekly (I sent in several orders, breaking them up so that I get some every week and so that more graders see my order as a whole) And I really like these cards that came back in their PSA case. It means more and makes collecting more enjoyable to find the cards yourself, through trades/purchases/packs, rather than to just buy them from some eBay powerseller. Plus the other duplicates can help other people building sets of their own, it really is a win-win scenario.

With that said, I think I'm going to begin hunting down the Bossy opc rookie in its raw state...perhaps I will look for an unopened box first, but the hunt is on for that one as well as other upgrades. I'm not saying that I won't buy a card here and there already graded, but the focus of my search from now on will be through self subs.

Patrick

jswieton · May 13, 2009 5:24PM

I agree, I do this all the time. I busted 6 boxes of 87 leaf to find a psa 9 Maddox that can be bought for $15 on eBay. I also ripped a ton of 90 ProSet football looking for a psa 10 Emmitt. I still havn't found one of those yet. I have been recently on a Sidney Crosby kick trying to pulled his non auto RC's. Pulling the cards you are looking for from a pack is much more fun then just buying it. I guess if you are doing it for the $ and not the hobby then you are much better off buying them graded.

storm888 · May 13, 2009 5:30PM

"It's more fun to send cards to PSA than to buy them already graded...."

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Yes, it is.

But, it is a bunch more trouble and can be MUCH more expensive.

nightcrawler · May 13, 2009 6:48PM

<< <i>"It's more fun to send cards to PSA than to buy them already graded...."

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Yes, it is.

But, it is a bunch more trouble and can be MUCH more expensive. >>

Such is the way of fun.

mrangrydonut · May 13, 2009 8:46PM

Better yet, if you pull the card from a pack, you know it is unaltered. In fact, most of the time I would prefer a 9 of a card I pulled from a pack as opposed to purchasing a 10.

zep33 · May 13, 2009 8:54PM

There's a nice Mike Bossy Sport Royalty auto in this years UD Goudey if you haven't seen it yet. Couple on ebay now for $29.99 BIN

theskypilot · May 13, 2009 11:01PM

Ripping (packs that is), searching and submitting is all fun and enjoyable. But at some point economics and eyesight become factors also. If there is a card you can buy already graded @ a fair price compared to the cost of sending it yourself, My thoughts are buy it. Then send the raw cards you are sure of and see the difference. If your grades come in higher sell the lesser grades and your fine. If your grades come in lower, mmmmmm lesson learned. Nothing like having a bunch of PSA 8 or PSA 8.5 that are worth less than the slab itself.

SKY

Res · May 13, 2009 11:21PM

Did you snipe it, or did you place the bid early? If you place it early, you're just asking to have it bid up. By real buyers or just shills.

fergie23 · May 14, 2009 12:05AM

I had a $500 snipe on that same auction after losing on the $470 Bossy rookie. Apparently I wasn't willing to overpay enough.
As for finding a gradable example via wax, good luck. I have busted a box of 78 OPC hockey and a bunch of individual packs and never pulled a Bossy worth submitting.

For a while my PSA 9 HOF RC collection was primarily self submitted cards but that became too expensive an endeavor as I started picking up 70s HOFers. It is more thrilling to add to my collection using my own pulled cards and submissions but much, much more expensive.

Robb

jradke4 · May 14, 2009 12:24AM

if i buy a psa graded card on ebay i normally get it with 2-3 weeks of payment. sending subs to psa i normally have to wait 8-9 weeks from payment to get my own cards back. i also dont have the send the card back to psa as a mechanical error either, which i generally have to do with 10% of all of the cards from my subs. the worst is when i have to send them back multiple times to get them slabbed and entered on the certs correctly!!!

larryallen73 · May 14, 2009 12:32AM

I prefer getting "my" cards graded than buying from 4sc, dsl, etc.... I especially like it if I bought the card new back in the 70's or 80's. It feels like it's really my card.

TheThrill22 · May 14, 2009 1:22AM

Hey Patrick, did you notice that this is your 99th post? You've made your avatar proud.

I agree though, sending in your own cards and getting them graded is more fun. It's cool to pull a card and when it comes back from PSA with the grade you expected or higher, most of the time "YES!" is the first word spoken. I'm lucky that my daughter and I are very into hockey so we usually have the conversation after "YES!" that starts out, "That was from the box of..."

Good times brother. Let's see some scans of the cards you get back.

halosfan · May 14, 2009 1:25AM

I agree. The only thing is that every sub I make seems to take the better part of several months to come back. During that time I often forget what I sent in and re-purchase the same cards. (Aging sucks!)

MULLINS5 · May 14, 2009 5:27AM

<< <i>Did you snipe it, or did you place the bid early? If you place it early, you're just asking to have it bid up. By real buyers or just shills. >>

Sniped it with about 30 seconds left.

<< <i>I had a $500 snipe on that same auction after losing on the $470 Bossy rookie. Apparently I wasn't willing to overpay enough.
As for finding a gradable example via wax, good luck. I have busted a box of 78 OPC hockey and a bunch of individual packs and never pulled a Bossy worth submitting.

For a while my PSA 9 HOF RC collection was primarily self submitted cards but that became too expensive an endeavor as I started picking up 70s HOFers. It is more thrilling to add to my collection using my own pulled cards and submissions but much, much more expensive.

Robb >>

Thanks for the info Robb. When the next Bossy 9 shows up on eBay we need to talk so that we don't drive the price up. I am going to give the wax boxes and packs a shot even though I know the condition is pretty poor with those. I will keep my eye out on some good looking raw cards and when/if I am able to get duplicate 9's I will let you know.

<< <i>Hey Patrick, did you notice that this is your 99th post? You've made your avatar proud.

I agree though, sending in your own cards and getting them graded is more fun. It's cool to pull a card and when it comes back from PSA with the grade you expected or higher, most of the time "YES!" is the first word spoken. I'm lucky that my daughter and I are very into hockey so we usually have the conversation after "YES!" that starts out, "That was from the box of..."

Good times brother. Let's see some scans of the cards you get back. >>

Hey Tom, 99 posts, gosh they add up... I wonder what number 22 was

I also like getting the cards in several different grades so that other collectors can have them for their sets. I am in Richmond right now (about an hour and a half away from where I live in Charlottesville) visiting the parents, the PSA package came in right when I was leaving, so I was in a rush scanning some for eBay but when I get back this weekend I will scan some of them and post them here. I have yours put aside though along with some other cards.

It's more fun to send cards to PSA than to buy them already graded....

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