Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Sorry - another PSA thread

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wilyfungi

Active Member
Hey guys! I have never sent to PSA before, I have a ton of cards so I thought I would get started. I intend to resell, definitely not at "gouge" prices, but I still do not want to lose money of course. So I was wondering, does anyone have suggestions on what is "worth" actually sending in besides 1st ed base, 1st ed shinings, and *s? Maybe other cards that are generally already curiously high in value (1st ed blaine's charizard, leafeon lv x, glaceon lv x, clefable prerelease)?

Would having a tropical wind set (2008) all be graded be worth it in general if I definitely believe it to be a PSA 9-10?

Additionally, I was wondering if anyone has any general suggestion on the best way to send them a lot of cards. I have tried looking at the membership details before, but it all still seems to average to more than $10 a grade. That is fine if true, I was just wondering if there was something I am missing.

Finally on the condition side of things, I was curious if in your experience a couple of light scratches or a little bit of extremely light white showing on the back corners/edges automatically becomes a PSA 8 or worse? Additionally I would love to know if they generally penalize some natural curving in the cards (not extreme cases, just the normal sort of thing foils go through).

Thanks a lot for any help at all <3 I would love to get some more PSA cards out into collector hands!
 
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The best way is to go slow about it, and be careful about your profit margins.

Write down what you paid for the card.
Write down what it cost to grade it.
Write down what it costs in eBay fees.
Write down what it costs to ship the card.
ETC...

Make sure you are going to make a profit and that it's worth your time.

Finally on the condition side of things, I was curious if in your experience a couple of light scratches or a little bit of extremely light white showing on the back corners/edges automatically becomes a PSA 8 or worse? Additionally I would love to know if they generally penalize some natural curving in the cards (not extreme cases, just the normal sort of thing foils go through).
Click to expand...

Scratches will probably prevent a 10 grade. I own cards with corner and edge wear (I consider play wear) that still pulled off a 9 grade.

The natural curving in foil cards are no problem, it should not affect the grade. The graders look for scratches/dents and wear.


---------- Post added 04/01/2013 at 01:44 PM ----------

Also remember that Trophy cards have a very limited market. Only a few collectors will shell out $100+ for one card.
 
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Thanks both of you so far.

flygon I understand about taking it carefully, I mean I can definitely understand what I can send for sure. I have what I can tell should be a PSA 9-10 charizard ex, a PSA 9-10 treecko *, at least 1 psa 9 lugia ex, and what should be hopefully a PSA 10 (pack fresh) 1st ed Charizard German Base. Those are the cards I can tell for sure are good bets...I will take it slow on the rest

One thing I cannot understand based on the site is what it means by "declared value" and how they require you to pay more to grade it. Does that mean the normal approximate value of the card, what I paid for the card, or what I expect it to be worth after grading?
 
wilyfungi said:
One thing I cannot understand based on the site is what it means by "declared value" and how they require you to pay more to grade it. Does that mean the normal approximate value of the card, what I paid for the card, or what I expect it to be worth after grading?
Click to expand...

Declared value is the value of the raw card, with no grade. Obviously you will not be able to tell with absolute certainty what grade the card will receive, therefore you will not know how much it will be worth after grading.

The reason for this is insurance. If you have a card that is worth $500 raw, PSA need to know this in case something goes wrong. If you declare the value of your card to be $50, instead of $500, you may run into some problems. Such as:

-If the card were to somehow be damaged during grading (heaven forbid, but it does happen), PSA would be required to reimburse you for what the cards declared value was. If you put $50 instead of $500, well guess what, you are now out $450.

- Another reason for this is the insurance when shipping. While you ship the first item, PSA will need to know how much insurance to put on the return package, which is where the declared value reason comes to light. Again, if you put a small declared value, and the package is lost, you only receive a portion of what the actual worth was.

Declared value is for your benefit, not PSA's. This is another reason why grading is so costly, especially when you grade cards that are worth upwards of $200 a piece. Hope this clears some things up :thumb:
-Colton
 
Yeah that is perfect, thanks! I was just making sure I did not have to guess an even more vague value than I was already thinking of, like I do not mind calling a charizard ex $100, but I did not know if I was supposed to guess it would turned out post grading to be $200. So your answer was great.
 
If you're after a profit be sure to include ALL expenses. Ebay fees, shipping, insurance, packaging materials, etc. When it's tax time you'll need to show how much you made. This is why PSA graded cards cost a lot. Lots of expenses.
Also, do not understimate your declared value. People often say PSA charges too much for shipping when in most cases their price is right on. Trust me, it's worth the extra $10 to insure your $1000 shipment.
 
For me, I base my "Declared Value" on the highest possible grade each card could achieve. I had to file a claim in 2008 and received 6,700.00 insurance settlement that I would not have gotten otherwise.
In 2002 I got a high retail settlement due to damage rec'd on a PSA shipment.
Of course I've sent in hundreds of orders since 1995 but I'm sure I'm at least even overall and always feel completely secure with the shipments.
 
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