Price Tiers Affecting Grading?
I’m curious as to the association of grading relative to the tier you send it in as. I wish I had more data on this to create an association and call out PSA for their cash grab and blatant bias.
I submitted this Mew as a value bulk. Part of a 22 card set, the first time it came back as a 9, and in the 22 card set, I was convinced that I had at LEAST 5-6 10s. I got 1 10 out of the bunch (not an extremely high value card either). Believe me that I was bummed. I spent good money and wasted 6 months waiting for them to get graded and turned around. It was only my second submit to PSA the first being a few years back when things weren’t so hectic. That time I did 10-card submit, 7/10 came back as 10s, 2-9s and 1-8. Overall, I was happy.
My buddy that deals in cards and has a massive collection took a look at them and told me to crack and resubmit the Mew as well as a few others but under a higher tier. I did and 5/6 came back as 10s! I was surprised, but not impressed by the game they are trying to play.
I’m just trying to get a community consensus as to people’s beliefs about PSA purposely tanking grades based on tiers that they are submitted as. Let’s flip it, PSA giving more “consideration” to those that paid more for a higher tier.
I think that if a base card is submitted under a value tier, but it’s borderline 7/8, the grader might just give you the 8, because the pop control doesn’t matter as much, neither does the overall value, but if it were borderline 9/10, they would always go down than up for value tiers and vice versa for higher paid tiers.
Also, having customers unhappy about their grades can force them to resubmit (as I have) and pay more for higher tiers and they double dip essentially from making more money off the same card. Of course, there’s no way to tell if it’s the same card that runs through there, but still.
TLDR: Got hosed on a value bulk submit. PSA gives preference in grading to higher paid tiers than value/value bulk because it pads the bottom line. Encouraging resubmits because they make 2x+ the cash.