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  1. #1




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    Question about grading (never done it before)

    I have a question in regards to grading. From what I understand this is a fairly limited count Gretzky. It’s my understanding that this is /5. Now I feel the card looks good in all the categories that Becket and the other companies look at, but my question is basically is it worth grading a card with a low card count, or would it not really have an impact on the value? I’m particularly looking to move the card and might just get it graded because I think it might look better, but it would be nice to know in the future if I would decide to part with it. Thanks for any help.




  2. #2





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    @theusedinstl I moved your thread to the main page to hopefully get some more eyes and opinions on it.

    You probably won't like my opinion, which is I don't grade anything, so I can't comment on it. But for me I wouldn't grade something numbered that low even if I did grade. The point of grading to me is to differentiate your card (or guarantee the quality), if people want a Gretzky /5 auto they won't care too much about if it's a 9.5 or 10 because the rarity factor.

  3. #3




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    If you think it has a good chance of being a 10/10 and if the cost of grading the card is cheap i would go ahead and do it

    Anything with Wayne Gretzky's face on it is going through the roof. Just make sure you add the cost of grading the card to your price.

    I know this might not be the perfect comparison, but psa 10 young guns from last year (makar, suzuki, etc) are worth 4 times more graded 10/10 than raw.

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    I think much the same way that Sparty does. At /5, it's already so rare that a good grade probably won't significantly impact its value. I have no idea what kind of extra value you'd get, I just don't expect it to be hundreds of dollars. And if it doesn't grade as well as you think it will, it could drive its sale value down from an ungraded version and then you'd be out the money you spent getting it graded.

    Extra factors to consider: shipping and insurance. Your gains are getting smaller and smaller IMO.

  5. #5






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    Personally, I wouldn't grade anything numbered to 10 or less. And 25 or less only if I was fairly certain it would get a 9.5 or 10.

  6. #6




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    It doesnt make sense to grade anything thats super rare unless its for your PC.

    You should only grade rookies and or rookie year cards for modern.

    Grading should be used to differentiate or give something extra to a readily available card, or for cards that have notorious condition issues. Thats where you see the most gain. A Gretzky auto /5 is already valuable raw, will getting a BGS 9.5 or PSA 10 increase the value, sure it might a little bit, but prob not enough to justify the cost of grading.

    Its currently $50USD per card to grade a card valued between $100 - $999 with PSA, not including tracked shipping and waiting close to 3 months to get it back. You only make money on your grading investment if its a 10
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  7. #7




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    Awesome, thank you everyone for your responses.

  8. #8
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    @theusedinstl I moved your thread to the main page to hopefully get some more eyes and opinions on it.

    You probably won't like my opinion, which is I don't grade anything, so I can't comment on it. But for me I wouldn't grade something numbered that low even if I did grade. The point of grading to me is to differentiate your card (or guarantee the quality), if people want a Gretzky /5 auto they won't care too much about if it's a 9.5 or 10 because the rarity factor.

    I agree with this. I feel the same way. If I owned this card, I would not be grading it.

    If the card has a rare print run, people want the card, not the grade, so selling it as-is can still maximize card value due to it being Gretzky and SP'd.

    Grading, in my opinion, is for cards with such a high print run that collector's want to get graded so their copy can appear "rarer" than it is, simply by the condition of the card. If the card is already rare, then there is no need to grade it. In this hobby of late, I feel there has been a ton of cards graded that don't need to be graded, but people are sending in anything and everything and trying to flip it for a premium price, even random base cards.

    This advice all goes out the window of course this card is a true PC card for your collection and you want to encapsulate it to protect it. If that's the case, then grade whatever you like since it's your collection.

    I hope this helps!
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  9. #9




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    I just went on PSA's website, did they change the price of grading cards?

    10 dollars per card for anything with a maximum value of 199 dollars
    20 dollars per card for anything with a maximum value of 499 dollars

    I'm i reading this right? Can't be true

    It used to be about 15-20 bucks to grade a single card

    Maybe 10 bucks is the membership price, but before you didn't need to be a member to get a card graded
    Last edited by cjb; 10-22-2020 at 12:18 AM.

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