Trying to understand this whole thing about grading

[porkchops]

Was just over at Ebay and saw this thing for a PSA graded 1955 Clemente at about $10,000.00(buy it now).
Decided to take a look and see how it matched up with mine .
It's a nice card , for sure , but really !
I then decided to check out Clemente(graded) 55's , just to see what they were going for.
Choose to use PSA cards (sold listings ... bids & buy it now) and proceeded to jot down the $$$ per grade.
Of course(usually), the higher the grader , the higher the $$$ ......... but not always
and some times I had to scratch my head. For instance , there's a "4" that went for $1,321 , about $150. more
than the highest 5($1,185.00 . Another I liked were the 2 PSA 5.5s ,1 went for $2,650. ,the other only $1,350 and yet the 2 PSA 7s
only went $1,499. & $1,200. Oh well , guess that's the market , sometimes up and sometimes down .
.
Looked at some other 55 graded stuff and who knows , if I ever have to sell our set , maybe I'll take the plunge ..........
or maybe I'll just sell them raw and let the buyer get/pay for the "professional" grading ???

 

[valediction]

That works for most any card, even non graded. Here are some ungraded Eddie Murray rookies
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...%20Grader=Not%20Professionally%20Graded&rt=nc

Anywhere from under $5 to over $120, and some of the $15-20 cards look pretty dang close to the $100+ copies condition wise. Personally, if you're selling higher grade vintage, I think getting it graded is the way to go. People are far more willing to overpay for something 'professionally' graded than they are for what a seller claims is 'mint', 'looks like a 9 or maybe even a 10 to me', etc. Plus the simple fact that if something were to happen to you, it makes it a LOT easier for family members to sell if they need to without them having to first figure out what they are selling and THEN trying to get a grasp on grading on top of it, so it doesn't sell for a fraction of the value. Lower grade cards, not as crucial since people assign their own value and you could just as easily come out better ungraded.

 

[Loyalty32]

One thing to remember when buying graded cards is to buy the card, not the slab. Graders are human. They can make a mistake. Some may be tougher than others on a specific cards/sets.

Thanks
Craig

 

[Yankeeswin]

I'm going to go the other way and say often mid-grade graded cards are LESS expensive then ungraded. Even Beckett prices say that. I think it's because people always think they are going to get a better grade than they get. Like buying packs, raw cards are priced based on potential rather than reality.

Of course, high grade vintage gets astronomical money. But that isn't the market most of us are in. I don't like slabs, but give me PSA 5 any day over a raw EX card that might be trimmed or have hidden damage.

 

[budd2222]

I had a look at PSA's price guide and the ebay prices sold prices were well above that. For a low grade card its pretty much a crap shoot on the price its sold for.

1955 Topps #164 Roberto Clemente
PSA 5 950
PSA 6 1650
PSA 7 3200
PSA 8 13000
PSA 9 19500
PSA 10 56500

If someone has the money to spend on a PSA 9 or 10 more power to them..