PSA Price Increase

[jduds]

PSA's overall numbers are way up, but their sports grading volume has dipped substantially starting in December/January. This obviously won't help those numbers. With premiums for modern graded cards dropping heavily since their COVID highs, PSA's sports business could take a big hit with this, as it will force some to examine the economic benefits of grading with PSA.

[reptar]

Originally Posted by bsavidge83

Dear BGS,

You have a tremendous opportunity to recover your business. Most companies do not get second chances, but this could be yours. All you need to do is the following:

-$19.99 bulk pricing. 45 day turnaround
-Your tracking system is sloppy. Just copy PSAs or SGCs. Either will do.
-Get rid of the silver labels. Just gold and black. No need to monkey around with your grading scale. It's fine.
-Reply to customer emails within 2 business days.
-Spend a nominal pittance on marketing.
-Ship cards within 3 business days of order completion

That's it. That is literally it. The space needs competition and it is all on you at this point. You will need to spend a little money, which I know gives you heartburn, but it will pay itself off by spring training (when you will run your first MLB grading special).

Sincerely,

Someone who wants to give you money to grade cards

Do you know what you asked of them and how much capital investment that requires? PSA is able to do what it does because of its valuation and the funding it can get from that valuation.

[Beavers98]

Originally Posted by bsavidge83

Dear BGS,

You have a tremendous opportunity to recover your business. Most companies do not get second chances, but this could be yours. All you need to do is the following:

-$19.99 bulk pricing. 45 day turnaround
-Your tracking system is sloppy. Just copy PSAs or SGCs. Either will do.
-Get rid of the silver labels. Just gold and black. No need to monkey around with your grading scale. It's fine.
-Reply to customer emails within 2 business days.
-Spend a nominal pittance on marketing.
-Ship cards within 3 business days of order completion

That's it. That is literally it. The space needs competition and it is all on you at this point. You will need to spend a little money, which I know gives you heartburn, but it will pay itself off by spring training (when you will run your first MLB grading special).

Sincerely,

Someone who wants to give you money to grade cards

+1. PLEASE BGS Show me Something.

[discodanman45]

BGS would need 20 day turnaround time for $15 with subgrades to make a dent in the hobby. They destroyed their reputation and they are lucky getting as many submissions as they get right now.

[SweetSlabsBro]

Originally Posted by discodanman45

BGS would need 20 day turnaround time for $15 with subgrades to make a dent in the hobby. They destroyed their reputation and they are lucky getting as many submissions as they get right now.

Spot on! This also has less than a 0% chance of ever happening too, and dent is being generous. Lets call it a small fingerprint.

[waytoomanycards]

The announcement is on the website now. It doesn't list tcg bulk as a category that's changing. Value bulk is going from 19.99 to 21.99.

What to Expect for Cards (Standard Service)
The estimated turnaround times for the following service levels are increasing by five business days:

• Value Plus: 20 business days → 25 business days

• Value Max: 15 business days → 20 business days

• Regular: 10 business days → 15 business days

• Express: 5 business days → 10 business days

Select service levels are also increasing in price:

• Value Bulk: $19.99 → $21.99 per item

• Value: $24.99 → $27.99 per item

• Value Plus: $39.99 → $44.99 per item

[metsandweezer]

Originally Posted by waytoomanycards

The announcement is on the website now. It doesn't list tcg bulk as a category that's changing. Value bulk is going from 19.99 to 21.99.

What to Expect for Cards (Standard Service)
The estimated turnaround times for the following service levels are increasing by five business days:

• Value Plus: 20 business days → 25 business days

• Value Max: 15 business days → 20 business days

• Regular: 10 business days → 15 business days

• Express: 5 business days → 10 business days

Select service levels are also increasing in price:

• Value Bulk: $19.99 → $21.99 per item

• Value: $24.99 → $27.99 per item

• Value Plus: $39.99 → $44.99 per item

Unreal that TCG is not changing.

[BraveAtlanta]

Has PSA announced when this increase will start?

[metsandweezer]

Originally Posted by BraveAtlanta

Has PSA announced when this increase will start?

Tomorrow.

[BraveAtlanta]

Originally Posted by metsandweezer

Tomorrow.

Yikes, thanks. I guess I’ll go ahead and submit my order of 40 today. Value modern.

[TheOneRingKing]

It is now official on the site $25.99 for value bulk with PSA is disgusting. Nat is nothing but a complete liar, always has been. "We want to get grading down to $10" yeah sure

[ogresnetttt]

All of the details are at https://www.psacard.com/info/submission-delays

I'm surprised by the fact that so many things are seeing price increases, specifically even comic grading. However, TCG grading is apparently staying the same. Isn't TCG the bulk of their orders nowadays?

[MavsRChamps]

What I don't get is why PSA acts all surprised they keep on raising prices to "match demand" ... meaning this, of course demand will keep being high because 1) More cards are printed than every before (more cards to grade) 2) The economy sucks so more people are getting into cards as side business, "grade & flip", etc etc.

What I don't get is what exactly are the processes to get more employees/ graders? And why don't they pay them more?

PSA profits a ton. Pay your people & increase workforce to meet demand.

I also don't buy the whole "Inexperienced graders grade poorly" argument ... In reality it's "LACK OF TRAINING for graders leads to poor graders".

Designing a 3 hour or all day training for new employees is not hard, and if done properly anyone can grade cards in my opinion. ANYONE. And then procedures need to be in place to monitor accuracy of new graders the 1st couple weeks to ensure they are grading properly.

It's really not hard. PSA makes so much money. They need to figure this out instead of raising rates. The sports card business is growing a ton - Why is PSA so set on keeping their #'s stagnant (and raising costs to consumer to do so)?

[Scottish Punk]

Originally Posted by metsandweezer

Unreal that TCG is not changing.

My tinfoil hat says, PSA is using more AI and automation for TCG than in sports cards. They want to make sports card grading closer in regards to dollars/per hour or whatever to TC.

Grading is getting really expensive everywhere. Can barely grade 4 cards for $100 anymore. I know it won't happen, but maybe more will just skip grading and only use it for $100+ type cards. 5000 2025 Prizm/Optic Cam Ward cards don't need to be graded.

[inaka]

Originally Posted by MavsRChamps

It's really not hard. PSA makes so much money. They need to figure this out instead of raising rates. The sports card business is growing a ton - Why is PSA so set on keeping their #'s stagnant (and raising costs to consumer to do so)?

Remember in the early days, when you used to call a bank or credit card, etc. for customer service, and a select few would have the recording "Due to unprecedented call volume, wait times are higher than normal, but your call is important to us..." That used to be a select few companies, during select peak times. Now it's all of them, every time you call.

That's PSA in a nutshell.

PSA even has the luxury of seeing the volume coming in based on submissions, even before they arrive, and their backlog has been going on for years. But they apparently will never do anything about it, because they make more money by increasing wait times and costs, even going so far as to just wait a month or so before the increased turnaround even starts.

Collector's Universe's solution was to buy SGC and increase wait times at SGC so that PSA won't look as bad. The exact opposite of a customer-focused experience. PSA has already alienated their most loyal customers (Collector's Club members), so my guess is that Collector's Universe's solution will be to raise prices accordingly at SGC, and maybe even have SGC turnarounds 1-2 months, so that PSA won't look as bad. After years, everyone gets used to it, like the frog in a slowly heated pot. It's like all of us reminiscing of the times we could call a bank or credit card and instantly get through, instead of "Due to unprecedented call volume..." It's why I shifted my collecting and grading away from PSA massively.

[BlockShotStop]

I guess I'm in the minority here, but the price increase doesn't bother me nearly as much as the extended turnaround times.

People should be more selective about what they send in, anyway, so a 10% bump given the obvious demand for the service doesn't seem unreasonable. But when you couple that with extending the already-interminable wait times to get your cards back, that's when I have an issue. Having your cards out of circulation for 3 months is absolutely brutal and kills so many selling/trading/upgrading opportunities. The turnaround times impact everyone: collectors, investors, and dealers.

And you know the real cause is diverting resources to all the new services and unnecessary steps to the grading process (e.g., pre-grading scans at check-in) they've added. I've cancelled my membership and it will take a lot to convince me to jump back in at this point.

[KGD54]

No change to TCG, which is the majority of their grading. Already was canceling my collectors club, this makes it a little easier.

[KGD54]

Interested to see if GameStop changes their pricing on sports. If not then its the exact same price for bulk value sports grading but gamestop is a flat rate shipping and has reward points and monthly discounts. Seems like PSA is happy to push people to gamestop, which i have used a couple times for bulk value. Prior to this, i had never been inside a gamestop location but will continue to use them for PSA bulk

[gododgersfan]

Submitted a small order of 7 baseball cards with Gamestop this morning. Used my reward points and saved some money. Not sure when Gamestop will increase their fees.

[RufussCkingston]

Originally Posted by TheOneRingKing

It is now official on the site $25.99 for value bulk with PSA is disgusting. Nat is nothing but a complete liar, always has been. "We want to get grading down to $10" yeah sure

That's for DUAL grade.... But it's $25.99 to $27.99 now.

[oddstuff]

Might be a weird take but I think PSA wants to discourage non TCG submissions and encourage greater TCG subs because TCG is so much easier money/to grade than sports cards. Gotta milk that cow before it dies. PSA wants stacks and stacks of TCG packages sitting in their holding area to ensure their graders have enough work to keep them busy for the next 6 months.

[KPOD]

Originally Posted by oddstuff

Might be a weird take but I think PSA wants to discourage non TCG submissions and encourage greater TCG subs because TCG is so much easier money/to grade than sports cards. Gotta milk that cow before it dies. PSA wants stacks and stacks of TCG packages sitting in their holding area to ensure their graders have enough work to keep them busy for the next 6 months.

If that is the case, shouldn’t they be lowering TCG prices then and only raising sports?

[RufussCkingston]

Originally Posted by KPOD

If that is the case, shouldn’t they be lowering TCG prices then and only raising sports?

That is essentially what they did (minus the lower TCG part). Other than higher value TCG, the majority of submissions at these higher prices are going to be sports cards.

No need to lower TCG since it is already off the chain! The majority of TCG subs are all under $200 value.

[youseekyoda421]

Is the price increase simply to make the Collector's Club membership more attractive again? Seems like many folks cancelled their memberships given that submitting through GameStop on cards <$500 was certainly easier and only nominally more expensive if submitting large quantities. I also wonder if TCG submissions are mostly though GameStop now thus no TCG price increase.

[thenightman]

Originally Posted by The_Reverend

Yes, but overall it will not impact them and they know it. Every platform uses them as the standard for comps and until that changes they will keep nickel and diming their customers. Even if they don’t have the best slabs in the industry, and they don’t, they know how valuable their red and white label is for ROI. 5 years ago it might have been about the registry, but especially for their bread and butter TCG it is about ROI.

Nickel and dime until they cater to a select few, who only great certain cards, and the masses have all but given up on buying and selling slabs.