Fate of my PSA collection

[alienlien]

PSA Economy has disappeared

[mcorey777]

@alien What happened?

[tuftse]

PSA increased their price and turnaround times. New bulk submission turnaround is 8 months or so~

[alienlien]

@mcorey777

@alien What happened?

I’m just disappointed in PSA, don’t think I’d grade with them again until they fix their structure.

[mcorey777]

@tuftse

PSA increased their price and turnaround times. New bulk submission turnaround is 8 months or so~

Ouch. I’ll have to check their site. Or what’s the rates?

I’m still a rookie to grading and the most confusing part is how am I supposed to know what tier each card should be submitted as.

Also it goes off market price… Well there’s crazy senerios like you opened a card from the pack 15 years ago. Or you bought something cheap that is now worth hundreds. Can anyone explain how that works?

[surgenius]

@alienlien

@mcorey777

@alien What happened?

I’m just disappointed in PSA, don’t think I’d grade with them again until they fix their structure.

Enjoy CGC!

[alienlien]

@surgenius

@alienlien

I’m just disappointed in PSA, don’t think I’d grade with them again until they fix their structure.

Enjoy CGC!

I have around 200 cards prepped for CGC actually. Might have to accept my non holo shadowless in PSA and CGC slabs XD

[pokecollectoramy]

PSA Customers,

2020 has been an unprecedented year in so many ways. And amidst all the challenges the world is experiencing, the hobby we all love is thriving unlike any other time in history. We stand here at PSA on October 1, 2020 with operational improvements that have nearly doubled our capacity since January. In this same time period, the volume of submissions to PSA has more than doubled. Said differently, despite doubling capacity, turnaround times are growing.

We are continuing to expand capacity through aggressive hiring, Lean Manufacturing principles, and investments in automation efficiencies. We’ve built a new Customer Communication Center on our website to keep you informed on our growth and capacity expansion efforts.

But simply put, all our efforts and investments will not grow our capacity fast enough in the short term.

We must look at other areas, like pricing and service levels, to better align the demand for PSA services with our capacity to deliver those services.

With that in mind, we are announcing several new policies and procedures, all aimed at delivering a better experience to our customers.

Here’s what changing:
Collectors Club vouchers are currently sold out. With massive growth in Gold and Platinum Collectors Club memberships, we have oversold our anticipated supply of vouchers. Therefore, we are temporarily suspending the issuance of any new vouchers. There is no restriction on the usage of existing unused vouchers.

The Economy service level is the most impacted of our services. To best serve the customers who are currently waiting for their Economy orders to be processed, we are temporarily suspending the acceptance of new trading card and dual service Economy submissions. We will continue to monitor progress on Economy orders with an intention to resume this service level soon.

PSA Value Service is changing in the following ways:
Minimum order size has been lowered to 20 cards for all categories;
Prices has been updated to $15 for Ultra-Modern (2017 – present), $12 for Modern (1972 – 2016) and $10 for Vintage (Pre-1972) and TCG;
Later this quarter, estimated Turnaround Times will be retired in favor of Complete-Through Dates.

Checks and money orders require additional steps in order processing. As a result, PSA will only accept credit card payments for orders placed through our Online Submission Center.

PSA is introducing a ‘PSA Dealer’ directory for group submissions (www.PSAcard.com/Dealers/Groupsubmissions). These dealers have signed a formal code of conduct agreement with PSA and are approved to manage and submit group submissions. We will be working directly with these dealers to ensure our shared customers are in good hands. We strongly encourage collectors to utilize Dealers found within this directory for group submissions.
Later this quarter, PSA will begin to publicly post “Complete-Through Dates” for every major service level. Customers will be able to see day-to-day progress as we advance through the backlog.
A lot of updates, with the best interest of our customers at the center of it all. These changes create three paths for PSA customers to take:

If a predictable turnaround time is most important, submit at the Regular service level or higher and you will get the cards back within the shortest possible time period. And once we roll out Complete-Through Dates later this quarter, you’ll be able to follow the progress to see how many days are left until your order is at the front of the line.
If cost is most important, submit using Value service. We’ve lowered the minimum number of cards in a Value order to make our lowest price points more accessible. We also will be phasing out any estimates of turnaround time for Value orders. Instead, later this quarter we will begin to share Complete-Through dates so you can see true data on the progress with Value orders. Although the turnaround time is longer, you will have greater visibility into the process and progress than ever before.

Our PSA Dealer directory offers a third path. Through the efficiencies of aggregating orders, professional hobby dealers may be able to offer you lower rates for the named service levels. Since your items will be sent to a dealer, your door-to-door time may be longer than using a named service directly with PSA, but likely with less effort on your part, and at a lower cost. PSA dealers are available throughout the United States and in Canada.

The hobby is stronger than ever and demand for grading services has never been higher. We appreciate the trust collectors have placed in PSA and we are working hard to usher in continued advancements to get your cards back faster.

[kaminoikari]

I hate to say this, but there will ALWAYS be changes in price and grading service.
PSA does hold the right to make changes in the best interest for themselves and the customer/ collector.
I think you are referring to the e-mail PSA just sent out, but Economy hasn’t been dropped. All current submissions will be processed and any further economy submissions will be on hold.
Yes it will take time but you have to be patient.

Even in the e-mail, there are listed alternatives.

In my opinion this is just another adjustment to the sheer volume of orders PSA is trying to cope with.

[alienlien]

@pokecollectoramy

PSA Customers,

2020 has been an unprecedented year in so many ways. And amidst all the challenges the world is experiencing, the hobby we all love is thriving unlike any other time in history. We stand here at PSA on October 1, 2020 with operational improvements that have nearly doubled our capacity since January. In this same time period, the volume of submissions to PSA has more than doubled. Said differently, despite doubling capacity, turnaround times are growing.

We are continuing to expand capacity through aggressive hiring, Lean Manufacturing principles, and investments in automation efficiencies. We’ve built a new Customer Communication Center on our website to keep you informed on our growth and capacity expansion efforts.

But simply put, all our efforts and investments will not grow our capacity fast enough in the short term.

We must look at other areas, like pricing and service levels, to better align the demand for PSA services with our capacity to deliver those services.

With that in mind, we are announcing several new policies and procedures, all aimed at delivering a better experience to our customers.

Here’s what changing:
Collectors Club vouchers are currently sold out. With massive growth in Gold and Platinum Collectors Club memberships, we have oversold our anticipated supply of vouchers. Therefore, we are temporarily suspending the issuance of any new vouchers. There is no restriction on the usage of existing unused vouchers.

The Economy service level is the most impacted of our services. To best serve the customers who are currently waiting for their Economy orders to be processed, we are temporarily suspending the acceptance of new trading card and dual service Economy submissions. We will continue to monitor progress on Economy orders with an intention to resume this service level soon.

PSA Value Service is changing in the following ways:
Minimum order size has been lowered to 20 cards for all categories;
Prices has been updated to $15 for Ultra-Modern (2017 – present), $12 for Modern (1972 – 2016) and $10 for Vintage (Pre-1972) and TCG;
Later this quarter, estimated Turnaround Times will be retired in favor of Complete-Through Dates.

Checks and money orders require additional steps in order processing. As a result, PSA will only accept credit card payments for orders placed through our Online Submission Center.

PSA is introducing a ‘PSA Dealer’ directory for group submissions (www.PSAcard.com/Dealers/Groupsubmissions). These dealers have signed a formal code of conduct agreement with PSA and are approved to manage and submit group submissions. We will be working directly with these dealers to ensure our shared customers are in good hands. We strongly encourage collectors to utilize Dealers found within this directory for group submissions.
Later this quarter, PSA will begin to publicly post “Complete-Through Dates” for every major service level. Customers will be able to see day-to-day progress as we advance through the backlog.
A lot of updates, with the best interest of our customers at the center of it all. These changes create three paths for PSA customers to take:
If a predictable turnaround time is most important, submit at the Regular service level or higher and you will get the cards back within the shortest possible time period. And once we roll out Complete-Through Dates later this quarter, you’ll be able to follow the progress to see how many days are left until your order is at the front of the line.
If cost is most important, submit using Value service. We’ve lowered the minimum number of cards in a Value order to make our lowest price points more accessible. We also will be phasing out any estimates of turnaround time for Value orders. Instead, later this quarter we will begin to share Complete-Through dates so you can see true data on the progress with Value orders. Although the turnaround time is longer, you will have greater visibility into the process and progress than ever before.
Our PSA Dealer directory offers a third path. Through the efficiencies of aggregating orders, professional hobby dealers may be able to offer you lower rates for the named service levels. Since your items will be sent to a dealer, your door-to-door time may be longer than using a named service directly with PSA, but likely with less effort on your part, and at a lower cost. PSA dealers are available throughout the United States and in Canada.
The hobby is stronger than ever and demand for grading services has never been higher. We appreciate the trust collectors have placed in PSA and we are working hard to usher in continued advancements to get your cards back faster.

I saw this and it made zero sense to me.

Removes economy in favour of decreasing the minimum order size. It makes the “value” sub more accessible and at the end of the day will still create a backlog of cards.

[kaldoverde]

@alienlien, in previous statements PSA disclosed that they are re-structuring the grading department and will have a dedicated team for value submissions.

I am just guessing here, but they will probably leave a couple of their experienced graders leading the ‘value’ team which will likely be composed of new starters and less experienced people as that departament has higher turnover (meaning people will learn the trade quicker) and lower liability (meaning there is less financial risk if mistakes are made). Should my assumption be correct, the bulk of their experienced graders are likely to be distributed to higher service levels, but since they don’t have enough of them at the moment, ‘Economy’ level has been suspended (not terminated) so you may have to be a bit patient.

For all its flaws, PSA is being extremely transparent and honest with the community and providing us with realistic expectations. Will their changes succeed in bringing things back to normal within the next couple of years? Only time will tell, but at least we are being kept in the loop.

[mcorey777]

Also did I read that right? It cost more to grade modern then vintage?

Either I read that wrong or it makes zero sense

[Pbali]

@mcorey777

Also did I read that right? It cost more to grade modern then vintage?

Either I read that wrong or it makes zero sense

It makes sense in that sports card submitters overwhelmingly make up the backlog with modern submissions so they want to curb that as much as possible.

[azulryu]

Wouldn’t be the case eventually for all grading companies? As the hobby continues to grow, more people enter the hobby, more people enter into grading. And with people who grade modern almost immediately after release in an attempt to take advantage of getting “first in line” for their collections or are trying to make an immediate profit for being the first ones to get a perfect 10 and hit that high price, the more pressure it puts on grading companies to change their methods.

This is natural progression. Granted, it would benefit these companies to expand their employee base to reduce costs and make the grading process more efficient - but that’s a much more long term task.

Sounds like CGC might climb faster than expected given this circumstance if people start looking for alternatives.

[cedar]

@azulryu Yes I think this will cause CGC to gain
market share even faster. Also may keep prices high for PSA slabs.

[assassin5757]

@azulryu

Wouldn’t be the case eventually for all grading companies? As the hobby continues to grow, more people enter the hobby, more people enter into grading. And with people who grade modern almost immediately after release in an attempt to take advantage of getting “first in line” for their collections or are trying to make an immediate profit for being the first ones to get a perfect 10 and hit that high price, the more pressure it puts on grading companies to change their methods.

This is natural progression. Granted, it would benefit these companies to expand their employee base to reduce costs and make the grading process more efficient - but that’s a much more long term task.

Sounds like CGC might climb faster than expected given this circumstance if people start looking for alternatives.

The one potential issue I could see with expanding their employee base is if the uptick in submissions is due to people staying home and focusing on their hobbies more because of covid. Once covid clears up and submission rates go back to what they were then they’ll have to drop some employees that they just trained up. But it’s not like they were super fast pre-covid either.

[surfnsnow]

@mcorey777

@tuftse

PSA increased their price and turnaround times. New bulk submission turnaround is 8 months or so~

Ouch. I’ll have to check their site. Or what’s the rates?

I’m still a rookie to grading and the most confusing part is how am I supposed to know what tier each card should be submitted as.

Also it goes off market price… Well there’s crazy senerios like you opened a card from the pack 15 years ago. Or you bought something cheap that is now worth hundreds. Can anyone explain how that works?

If you’re new to grading I’d recommend going through one of the 3rd party services. I only have personal experience with Ludkins and can say they are top notch. There are others if you want to look around. You will gain a lot of knowledge by leaning on the Ludkins team to guide you through your first submission(s).

[nikhil]

@assassin5757

@azulryu

Wouldn’t be the case eventually for all grading companies? As the hobby continues to grow, more people enter the hobby, more people enter into grading. And with people who grade modern almost immediately after release in an attempt to take advantage of getting “first in line” for their collections or are trying to make an immediate profit for being the first ones to get a perfect 10 and hit that high price, the more pressure it puts on grading companies to change their methods.

This is natural progression. Granted, it would benefit these companies to expand their employee base to reduce costs and make the grading process more efficient - but that’s a much more long term task.

Sounds like CGC might climb faster than expected given this circumstance if people start looking for alternatives.

The one potential issue I could see with expanding their employee base is if the uptick in submissions is due to people staying home and focusing on their hobbies more because of covid. Once covid clears up and submission rates go back to what they were then they’ll have to drop some employees that they just trained up. But it’s not like they were super fast pre-covid either.

I feel like even if Covid ends, the amount of time spent in this hobby in the time that people are home would leave them too deep into the hobby to just “drop off”. Prices won’t drop until Panini over does the releases of their cards, but I think after going through a junk wax era, I don’t think sports cards would go down as hard through mass production and similarly pokemon as well.

[casual]

Literally nothing changes for the 99% of people that were only submitting at bulk rates

[null_user]

One might encourage everyone to think about things in a sociological/psychological perspective, and how terms/studies like: cognitive dissonance, stockholm syndrome, sunk cost fallacy, the Stanford Prison study, Milgram Shock Experiment and overall cult-like behavior en masse might be applicable to what we’re seeing in the Pokemon Community right now w/ regards to new and old grading services.

I’ll just leave it at that.