Card Grading

[jon555]

I'm looking at getting some of my favorite PC cards sent in to be graded but I have never done it before in the past. I'm curious to know if any regulars have a preference and why. Also I living in Alberta so if I could avoid sending to the States I would save on return shipping fees but its not a must. I know of companies like Beckett and PSA but i'm basically looking for who likes what company and why. Thanks for the help.

[JayT_59]

Are you looking to sell them or keep them after grading?

If you are selling, if the cards are pre-90s, PSA is the way to go IMHO. PSA 10s also sell well for modern but the hardest and highest selling grade for modern cards is a BGS 10 and if you think you may have a "perfect" card that may get a BGS 10 then go for it. BGS 9.5s, 10s, and PSA 10s will get a big premium on modern cards, BGS and PSA 9s are breakeven but anything less is a bust.

SGC is also very popular for Pre-War era cards, although I don't know much about them.

If you are just slabbing them for your PC and want to keep your business in Canada you could go KSA. I have had very frustrating times buying and selling KSA graded cards in the past. They don't get much of a premium and actually some nice raw copies I have seen sell for more than high KSA graded cards.

I have also noticed recently that KSA is very inconsistent when it comes to taking surface quality into consideration. I recently just bought a 1976 OPC card graded 10 by KSA with a TERRIBLE surface and since have noticed other KSA 10s with poor surface quality. The quality was so bad that it looked like someone took sandpaper to the surface of the card, but since the corners and edges were sharp it got a 10. I doubt PSA or BGS would've given it a 3.

I would only recommend KSA if you wanted to just have them slabbed for protection in your PC. KSA grades mean very little to most collectors although there are some collectors that swear by KSA, especially for vintage OPC.

[VQ350Z]

Graded cards don't seem to sell more than the raw ones these days.

[JayT_59]

Graded cards don't seem to sell more than the raw ones these days.

No they don't eh?

10
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2013-14-UPPER...8c5d66b&_uhb=1

9.5
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2013-14-UPPER...8c5af0e&_uhb=1

Raw
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2013-14-UD-UP...8ce27f8&_uhb=1

[antoine38]

Also sometimes BGS may be at a show which is nice but then they are raw grade.
You can then send them in from there to be slabbed with the grade shown.