This thread was made to separate out the off-topic discussion of pop control/grading standards from this thread 
Price of Vintage at the moment?
This is also a recent discussion on the topic: Just some Pokemon Cards at random we have. NOT FOR SALE
Vintage has (since few years ago) been difficult to grade, ie; pop control. Personally I witnessed it myself (a few different occasions) when I sent in a mint copy of vintage card to PSA and got an 7 or 8 back. But when the same card was broken slab and resub to BGS, it got 9 or 9.5 back!
Since then, I totally gave up buying raw vintage cards, sending in for grading. I simply just buy graded slabs.
Can you explain the term âPop Controlâ to me? Iâve heard it numerous times, implying an intentional and concerted effort to under-grade cards. Is that what you mean? I donât understand why PSA (or any grading company) would go through the effort to suppress grades, particularly on trading cards, which are of comparatively low-value to the cards PSA handles on a regular basis. What is the incentive?
Iâve found vintage tougher to grade lately too, but it seems more likely to me that PSA has either become accustomed to seeing better print quality (modern/Japanese) or a variance from opening a new facility and having to hire/train new employees. It just seems a bit Farfetchâd that PSA would be actively monitoring and suppressing niche set cards that arenât even five figures (or four, even).
13 Likes
Vintage has always been difficult to grade. Has nothing to do with âpop controlâ and everything to do with poor quality control on WOTCâs end.
5 Likes
Put yourself in PSA shoes, then youâll understand. Someone has done research in another community and there is evidence of pop control. I used to find it hard to believe until I break slab and resub to BGS myself.
See long term. Now it isnât 5 figures but in the futureâŚ
When serial numbers were still 2XXXXXXX, 3XXXXXXX, a 10 was still not hard to get.
Try breaking slab of a PSA 10 vintage card with 2XXXXXXX serial number and resub to PSA again now. You wonât get back a 10, very high chance of a 8 or 9.
1 Like
I always heard this was due to them changing their standards. You think its pop control though eh?
Not changing standards, more like different graders with slightly varying standards.
Since youâve read someoneâs discord/forum post who has done âresearchâ, can you link it here or at least answer Classics questions above as to what PSAâs incentive would be? Iâm putting myself in PSAâs shoes and do not see the incentive. If anything, I see the opposite that theyâd want more 10s than anything else.
3 Likes
Pop control doesnât make sense from a business standpoint. PSA makes more if they grade higher. As an example, they difference in pay to PSA is $1000 for a 9 1st edition base Zard or $5000 for a PSA 10. They shouldnât care about the price on the secondary market (the only thing affected by pop control) because it does not affect their bottom line.
3 Likes
Yeah but do you see what youâre doing here? Youâre thinking
Rookie mistake
7 Likes
Some of the lowest population set cards, are not very popular Pokemon cards and are still pretty inexpensive: Porygon 2, Magneton, Metal Energy, etc. Seems like a weird situation to call a board meeting and instruct employees to keep those populations low . . . especially, when other explanations make more sense. I still donât understand what PSA would gain or why they would devout attention to such an insignificant sub-niche of their business. Wouldnât they target cards more valuable or sought after cards?
3 Likes
I donât have comprehensive data, and I agree that many vintage PSA 10 cards (regardless of cert number) would have a difficult time regrading a 10 consistently . . . thatâs always been the case. However, Iâve tracked many low-population WOTC holos for about five years (since, Iâm trying to complete my holo sets and still need some of them) and most have had similar gem rates over the last three years as earlier. Perhaps these arenât indicative of other traditionally obtainable PSA 10âs though. Iâll also admit my anecdotal experience has been that my vintage submissions have not done as well in the last year as they seemed to in the past.
this is why i crack old cert psa 10s and resubmit them. Only #true10s allowed
5 Likes
For the people who claim pop control, when did it start and which cards? I want to see a full breakdown on this conspiracy. What is the magic number that makes psa apparently âcontrol the popâ? Was it when charizard was 5k, 10k, 20k, 100k, 200k?
Also what is the incentive? They charge more for higher grades. And they have been working down a backlog for years, ie more demand then they can handle. Just curious when they find time to control the pop on charizord?
7 Likes
Forget Charizard . . . none of the early Zards are particularly difficult to grade compared to others in their respective sets. Assuming grading companies did have something to gain, why target so many unpopular Pokemon? Also how come all of the lowest population cards are notorious for having large, light-colored holo surfaces, which are notorious for factory print lines. This correlation has been well-documented for years and is too strong to ignore:
Populations under 25 (WOTC 1st Edition):
-Smeargle
-Heracross
-Porygon2
-Magneton
-Feraligatr
-Meganium
-Metal Energy
-Misdreavus
-Slowking
-Yanma
-Typhlosion
-Blissey
-Ampharos
3 Likes
How dare you
The irony is that when this logic started, 4xxx certs were the good new ones and the older certs were bad
Seems to be a perpetually moving set of goalposts. Here is what I wrote im 2020 that has proven to be prolific:
6 Likes
