Is it worth grading your cards?

[Eliatack]

With PSA being $25 to grade per card and the price of the rc or card you would grade, is it worth spending
that kind of money if you were going to sell it?

 

[t.rooster]

Perhaps grading is a little different, but I would say yes to authentication for card validity and/or autograph if you're looking to sell.
There are some collectors that like that kind of guarantee of what they have. Encapsulation has not been around for that long and for that reason, the baseball HOF undoes all the encap donations they receive for that reason... it is not known how the card/item is affected. Personally, I've always liked the ability to hold the actual card in my hand. I am looking forward to the span of different perspectives on this question.

 

[rotorob]

For resell it all depends. Let's take the 2011 Mike Trout update RC for example. Nice looking raw cards are in the 200-300 range, maybe a little more or less depending on the day. IF you can get a 10, minimum in season price becomes $800 and if he starts off well, could easily be a grand. In that case the $25 is a slam dunk worth it, but if you only get a 6 or seven, well then not so much.

I grade very little. My LCS has a service that they do bulk submissions at $22 per card, that includes shipping. If the card gets a grade that makes the value over $500, then PSA will charge an upcharge (for insuring the package), that is usually $40ish per card, still if it will sell over $500, worth the price. I grade mostly vintage where research determines that, for example a PSA 1 will sell for more than the raw card plus the grading fee, the it would be worth it. Most times I will guess a grade lower and if it comes back higher, I'm happy. Did it with the a Trout RC, thought it would be a 9 maybe 10, got a 10, very happy to pay the upcharge. Had a few vintage that came back exactly what I thought and having it encapsulated made it easier to sell.

No perfect answer, we'll see with my next batch of 5 cards what the grades are....

 

[Eliatack]

For resell it all depends. Let's take the 2011 Mike Trout update RC for example. Nice looking raw cards are in the 200-300 range, maybe a little more or less depending on the day. IF you can get a 10, minimum in season price becomes $800 and if he starts off well, could easily be a grand. In that case the $25 is a slam dunk worth it, but if you only get a 6 or seven, well then not so much.

I grade very little. My LCS has a service that they do bulk submissions at $22 per card, that includes shipping. If the card gets a grade that makes the value over $500, then PSA will charge an upcharge (for insuring the package), that is usually $40ish per card, still if it will sell over $500, worth the price. I grade mostly vintage where research determines that, for example a PSA 1 will sell for more than the raw card plus the grading fee, the it would be worth it. Most times I will guess a grade lower and if it comes back higher, I'm happy. Did it with the a Trout RC, thought it would be a 9 maybe 10, got a 10, very happy to pay the upcharge. Had a few vintage that came back exactly what I thought and having it encapsulated made it easier to sell.

No perfect answer, we'll see with my next batch of 5 cards what the grades are....

Be sure to share pics! Yeah, it is probably best for higher end cards but if you were just to
buy a $20 card and grade it, I do not know if it would be worth it.