In my few months in this hobby, it has become more apparent to me that the “serious” collectors only seem to care about a perfect 10 grade. I understand what drives the prices, and why a WOTC 10 is so desirable. However, it seems that a lot of folks don’t even want to touch a card that is below a perfect grade. It this simply because if you have the money, it is the safest bet to collect 10s? It is outside of my personal risk tolerance to touch 10s, because it would drain half my paycheck to get the cards I want in a 10. I’m personally happy with a 7 or an 8, but I fear as the hobby grows, more near mint cards will come into PSA and the prices of anything under a 10 will fall. Thanks everyone.
Talking points:
Why do you only go after 10s?
Does the community avoid lower grade cards because the general outlook towards the future is that they have low probability for growth?
Fair enough!I fall more into the boat of obsessing with completion of a set. Would I be throwing away all my money to buy raw moderate played cards when I could have saved, and bought a single perfect 10?
I only buy PSA 9’s, and sometimes lower grades if I plan on cracking the case for my binder collections. Rather have 5 9’s in my collection than one 10.
I keep my graded 5 because it has sentiment, I keep my graded 9 because it’s in better condition than someones 10. It’s all personal opinion. Yes a 10 will hold it’s own value above all however, don’t let the grade fool you either. You mention serious collectors, they can tell the difference between a 10 and a mis-graded 10.
For me I collect a mix of 9 or 10. I collect 10’s if I could afford it but for some cards I simply can’t. For example, I have a venusur 1st edition base psa 9 because I can’t afford the 10, but overall the majority of my cards are 10s.
Scott talks about this is one of his videos and honestly we generally collect for the art and that it is a good looking card. 9’s are basically perfect cards and sometimes it can be hard to distinguish between the 10 unless you really look hard. I prefer matching numbers lol honestly. I do prefer 9s but 10s are good too! If I am trying to make a nice frame, I want them all the same grade!
People want their cards in the best possible condition, are willing to pay more money for it, and can afford to pay the going rates.
People see PSA 10s as a good investment with the most potential to increase in value over time.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with collecting PSA 9s, 8, 7s, etc.
The prices of all the grades go up and down together. So if the price of PSA 10s start to increase, you can expect the price of PSA 9s to increase as well as people get priced out from buying 10s, etc.
WOTC holos will always hold value as PSA 9’s so it has nothing to do with a PSA 9 dropping in price. Not everyone can afford to buy 10’s. For the most part I usually only buy PSA 9 cards and only get a 10 when a raw card grades that way. I love the hunt and keep in mind that the older set cards have value even as a PSA 7 or 8. Just look at base set first edition. PSA 5 Alakazam commands around 150+. Not exactly chump change mind you!
The vast majority of my collection is PSA 10. Here are a few reasons I collect 10s:
Exclusivity. Especially when you are dealing with set cards, chances are thousands if not tens of thousands of people have the exact same card that you do. Owning it in a PSA 10 decreases those numbers significantly. Think BW/XY (pre-AOR) full arts, those sets are printed massively but have relatively few PSA 10 full arts.
Additional challenges. It is difficult to get cards in PSA 10, and that’s where a lot of the fun comes in for me. To be honest it is not too difficult to find a PSA 9 condition card for most of the Pokemon era. This also combines with the first point, it is a more exclusive group of people who are willing to put in the time and money to find that perfect copy.
PSA 10 is as good as you can get. You can’t go up from a 10, which means that once I obtain a 10, I don’t really need to worry about that card again because I have it in the best possible condition. I really enjoy the finality of that, completing a PSA 10 set is highly enjoyable as it is the height of collecting in my opinion.
Investment value. PSA 10s sell for the most and when cards increase, its the PSA 10s that see the most increase. As much of my collection is graded from cards I buy raw, I aim for PSA 10s because that is the best return on investment. For someone like me as a low-resource collector, maximizing my return on investment and return on equity is very important. Often with the cards I collect, getting PSA 9s is not worth the amount of time and money I put into cards.
But, there are many cards that I don’t really care about the grades on. It’s fairly well-known throughout the hobby that the massive price increase on 10s is not justified by their quality. For sometimes a 1000% increase in price, the difference from a PSA 9 to a PSA 10 is exceedingly minor. So if what matters to you most is getting the card itself in good condition, 9s and below are very high quality choices, and as 10 supply decreases, 9s and below will become more well-established. We already see this with 1st ed. Base Charizard. Collecting a certain grade of cards, and even graded cards in general, is a personal decision and just because many people here collect 10s doesn’t mean you have to as well!
One good thing with a 10 is, it can never be beat. Even 9s with no pop 10s can eventually be beat.
That said, I love PSA 9 sets and the people who build them. It’s a VERY smart strategy.
I only collect 9’s do due the card still having that “Mint” label. Sometimes it’s very hard to tell the difference between a 9 or 10. If I buy a 10 I would except a flawless card, most of the time that isn’t going to happen. Now if were talking about modern (Nintendo), it’s a 10 or bust to me.
Here’s some rough info from www.pokemonprice.com/TotalSetPrices
Today, a 1st ed Fossil holo set:$6800 in PSA 10$1000 in PSA 9$480 in PSA 8
Today, a 1st ed Jungle holo set:$7200 in PSA 10$1200 in PSA 9$584 in PSA 8
Today, a 1st ed Gym challenge holo set:
$6300 in PSA 10
$1500 in PSA 9
$720 in PSA 8
Today, a 1st ed Neo rev holo set:
$9200 in PSA 10
$2500 in PSA 9
$1000 in PSA 8
Just these 4 sets would cost nearly $30k in PSA 10.$6200 in PSA 9
$2800 in PSA 8
Is the 10 worth the 6-12x premium? Is there enough of a consistent difference between the condition of a PSA 10, 9, 8 to warrant this price differential? Is it worth paying about 2x more to go from PSA 8 to PSA 9? These are questions each collector will have to determine on their own.
Interesting and I have actually been thinking about it a lot recently. Combined with all that data PFM just posted, perhaps I should start a new thread on my ideas/topic…
I consider myself a “serious” collector and I don’t collect 10s. I collect artwork. At the end of the day, you’re buying a company’s opinion that two identical cards’ condition is marginally different. Like a lot of other people have said, I’d rather use 10% of a PSA 10 price to buy a PSA 9 or mint ungraded copy and use that other 90% toward purchasing other parts of my collection. If you don’t have thousands of dollars to burn or you don’t genuinely like the card then it’s in your best interest to stick to binders or reevaluate what your collecting goals truly are.
I’ll reiterate, with PSA 10s you’re not just getting cards that tend to be a bit minter than mint cards (and give you a feeling of perfection achieved). It’s also an investment.
My very first purchase back into Pokemon in 2009 was a PSA 9 1st ed base holo set from @garyis2000 for $999.
I could have been content with that.
Instead, I wanted to upgrade my Charizard to a PSA 10, so I paid $700 for that. And in the subsequent years, I spent an extra few thousand dollars to upgrade it to a complete PSA 10 set.
So I could have spent few thousand dollars less and ended up with a complete PSA 9 1st ed base set that today might sell for a bit over $15k.
Instead, I spent a few thousand dollars more and ended up with a set that today sells for over $100k.
PSA 9s are a great investment because it’s easier to buy into and also potentially has a lot of room to grow.
But PSA 10s have both more room to grow and more room to fall in comparison to PSA 9s.
So if you really believe in the long-term growth in value of your cards and you have necessary capital, PSA 10s are your best option.
