I myself exclusively collect PSA 9 cards because they are typically the same price as the card raw if not sometimes less! And I know that I can crack the slab at anytime to have the raw card and I enjoy knowing that instead of getting ripped off buying a raw card in a different condition than what it was listed for I know I’m buying a copy listed as mint by PSAs grading criteria.
That is a great way of looking at it. My collection is mostly PSA 9 modern cards (i refuse to pay for a PSA 10 when i can find a centered PSA 9). I love your reasoning!
I recently started buying pokemon cards again as I don't have my childhood collection anymore. But I only buy psa slabs because from where I am, I cant grade my cards directly. TBH I really don't care about the grade as long as I get the cards I had while growing up, specially neo and ex era. I commented on your giveaway video about my favourite card being shining gyarados (ironically someone with same answer got the prize, Kudos the winner), that's the grail for me. I buy one card each month as they are very expensive and takes about a month to ship to my place, but I cherish them and psa slabs give me the confidence its not fake and its stored right that's the only reason.
Honestly i feel like the difference between 9s and 10s in modern is often extremely arbituary. There are probably many pristine 9s out there that would regrade as 10s, and vice versa 10s that would regrade 9s. I get the logic for cracking and resubbing but personally i dont really care enough. It swings both ways. At the end of the day a grade is based on one persons subjective opinion during a very small window of time. I own many perfectly centred vintage japanese 9s with clear faults (whitening, small chips) that i would never crack or resubmit because if im giving my honest appraisal, they are probably closer to a 7 or 8.
You covered everything in this video. It was very thorough. I see a lot of red posts that can learn a lot from your videos especially this one. A lot of people forget it’s not about volume. It’s more about quality and liquidity.
@@Evan-ys2ig PSA graders are not consistent at all, some grades very leniently, some grades meticulously. Also depends on their mood of the day. From personal experience I've had 9s regraded as 10s or 9s or 8s, even got below 6 sometimes. My advice is buy the card, not the grade if you are a collector.
I recently bought the X y flash fire Mega Charizard secret rare PSA 8 for $400 on TCG player. Just because I really wanted a copy of the card graded and i couldn’t find anything higher than an 8. Everything on EBay was fake and majority of the ones on TCG player are damaged or didn’t provided a photo. I just spent another $480 on the new pikachu SIR raw with no pictures provided 😭🤣 (spent about the same chasing it on etbs and singles ended up with many of the exggecutor sir copies I recently started collecting after being hooked on TCG pocket for a while now. Your channel has been a really great help and I’m always looking forward to the next videos
Here is why black labels are superior, BGS has a higher standard for card quality then PSA so to get a Black Label the card must be more perfect then a psa 10 and since there is 10,000 psa 10's of many chase cards and only about 100 or less black labels of the same chase card, the black label will be worth much more in the future because they hardly exist on e-bay. The other nice thing is most people can't or won't buy black labels because of the price so it is only for collectors who are willing to put that much money in the hobby
I only started buying cards again like 2 months ago after visiting Japan. It had been like 20 years since I last bought a pack lol but Japan had so many super cool exclusive cards like the stamp box, Yu Nagaba and Yokohama 2023 World Championship Pikachus - I ended up buying a PSA 10 of each plus PSA 10 151 Charizards in English and Japanese cuz they look amazing. I'd say those are for collecting but I do expect them to grow in value😁
Nice video - love 9s for my mid-era and wotc collection. I think it's really undervalued for the older cards , especially some middle eras are inherently hard to grade.
grreat video philip...regarding psa 9 cards..what if there are only 900 of the cards in existence...woiuld a psa9 be a good investement in that case? or still a 10?
If you want my take, sometimes the difference from a 9 and a 10 can be so big or even the most smallest thing can change from a 10 to a 9. Myself for my pc no matter the card I will always see the price of the PSA 9 or 8 because of budget and because it’s cheaper and sometimes from a distance I don’t see the difference. I wouldn’t hate anyone if they collect a PSA 9 or lower for any card. And also if you have them in a lower grade. You can always upgrade for a higher grade later
Can you explain a bit more on Vintage and why PSA 10s aren't as big of a deal? I'm a vintage exclusive collector and I've tried learning so much about this. And I've gone back and forth many times between 9s and 10s. The best reasoning I have that - investment related - outside of 10s is OK is because POP reports aren't changing much anymore. Packs are being opened here and there but it's not making any impactful ding in the pop. So we have a 'fixed' PSA 7, 8, 9 and 10 pop, so to say. So just pick your grade then and buy it. I SUPPOSE that if a vintage throwback happens again which I imagine will happen here and there, a 10's value might spike % wise a bit more than 9s or 8s, but not that much. Obviously, there are exceptions, too - 10s are sometime the only way to go with extremely low pop vintage cards.
Pretty much agree with everything you said. One thing i would throw in is that market share of the grading companies may change over time. Its hard to say that Psa will always have most market share. We never really know. Plenty of companies in the past were once thought of as irreplaceable or could not be dethroned until they were. Not saying thats whats going to happen. I for one dont actually dislike the top major grading companies. I like most of them really. But in the end, us, the cards is whats important and just havin fun. Anyways cheers and thanks for the video
Hey. I brougbt up the question last video about overinflated costs and TCG being owned by google. Apsrt from that...i wish you touched a bit more on how much more volume and attention this hobby has gotten, and your thoughts on whst we might see going forward I don't doubt PSA 10 will always get the higher price. That's s fact. But what i wonder is should this bubble hype train slows down, the amount of sealed product being purchased slows, snd the ratio of available PSA 10 product available vs the number of buyers in the market . .how far are these PSA 10s going to fall? Was PSA 10 as importsnt to the core following? Right now so many buyer's are buying invesntments not hobby cards. This will slow. And because of that...saving up and buying an overly inflated PSA 10 to me feels risky as they have the farthest to fall. M and PSA 9s feel like bargin now. I see cards all day where psa 9 is valued the same as raw Why is there no detailed historical data available. Because there wasn't as much interest.
I pulled a Burning Shadows Charizard GX pack fresh during covid times. I got a PSA 8 for it and I am thrilled given the poor quality control for that set. Love the card. Doesn't need to be a 10!
Dang this was a very interesting video, I had been sayin the same about collecting and buying PSA 10s, if I can I well buy a 10 if it's a good deal and a card I want, if it's from my own collection and I hit a 7-8 I'm gonna keep it because it's mine n maybe I can find a 10 later, lately I've been buying a lot of 9s of nice cards that a 10 is outta reach as far as cost... Grrrreat video Phillip!!!
So a PSA 8 vintage card still can be a investment? nice to hear bc i want to get some vintage cards i owned back then, idc about making more money and sell them its more like i dont want to loose money at all
Every time I watch a RUclips video of someone showing off their collection there’s always a short explanation of why they have a PSA 9 and not a 10 in a card. I only collect PSA 10 because having a 9 in my opinion is like having a second place trophy and having to explain why you didn’t get gold over and over again. And if you can’t get it today, that’s fine. It should be about the journey of collecting and the stories you remember along the way. This chase wouldn’t be fun if you could just buy it all at a click of a button would it?
image paying for grading just so you take an L and get a 9 don't even bother grading at this point because if anything if he buy cards low and sell them high or hold onto them for long term. at some point it will become positive especially for high end cards. some it really doesn't matter what u get if u get them low. u will probably be in the positive just my take.
i think this hobby should be treated like the comic book industry. Buy what you want no matter if it's raw or graded if you want a 1st edition charizard and can afford a psa 1 and it has value to you then get it for your personal collection. i would also say don't forget to speculate and see if you can get cards with grades for potential future profit.
My bf got me a rayquaza vmax alt art psa 10. It is my first and only psa graded card. It has really made me want to grade my collection but ik some of them will be 9s and maybe even 8s based on the centering.
Thank you so much for this video! Follow up question: If I send in a card, lets say charmander pokemon center and it comes back a 9, should I sell that off or just keep the copy?
For me singles are to much risk I don’t want to take on so I keep it simple. Investing I stick to booster boxes and for singles I usually just collect raw or graded if it’s a good deal
I don't see her like that friend. Psa 10 is certainly better, but buying psa 10 costs you four times a psa 9. Yet they are both Mint. Buying a card that you hope will go up in price is better to buy it 9 because that way you have more budget for other cards. Then, you never know, if opening a Psa 9 with the naked eye looks like a Psa 10 and you can resell it for such.
I just don’t see the point in 10 as a casual enthusiast. Because the 9 will also trail behind it if it goes up. It’s just by what multiplicative you want. The problem with PSA 10 is well your portfolio becomes harder and harder to hedge if you are paying premium all the time. I leave it to the high rollers. The problem with psa 10 prices is that at that price point, you are better off buying shares in a stock market and swing trading.
i only go for psa 10s cause bigger number better person 😎 jk but yeah i only have 2 9s and they were gifts. for sets that im collecting now, theres really no point getting anything other than a 10
Psa 10 or nothing. The vintage d_riders needa let their psa 5 and 6 firrst editions go. 😂. Because again, noone cares about it. Noone cares if the pop is like 25 or something when theres half a person that wants it 😅
I myself exclusively collect PSA 9 cards because they are typically the same price as the card raw if not sometimes less! And I know that I can crack the slab at anytime to have the raw card and I enjoy knowing that instead of getting ripped off buying a raw card in a different condition than what it was listed for I know I’m buying a copy listed as mint by PSAs grading criteria.
💯
Me too
I think that's a great way to go about it. Good for you and cheers!
That is a great way of looking at it. My collection is mostly PSA 9 modern cards (i refuse to pay for a PSA 10 when i can find a centered PSA 9). I love your reasoning!
Modern = PSA 10 only
Semi Vintage = PSA 9 or higher
Vintage = Whatever you can afford
That’s a great way to look at it!
I agree, PSA 10 for modern is a must. Not so much for vintage.
The only way
I recently started buying pokemon cards again as I don't have my childhood collection anymore. But I only buy psa slabs because from where I am, I cant grade my cards directly. TBH I really don't care about the grade as long as I get the cards I had while growing up, specially neo and ex era. I commented on your giveaway video about my favourite card being shining gyarados (ironically someone with same answer got the prize, Kudos the winner), that's the grail for me. I buy one card each month as they are very expensive and takes about a month to ship to my place, but I cherish them and psa slabs give me the confidence its not fake and its stored right that's the only reason.
bro i love your videos thank you for sharing your knowledge!
My pleasure!
Honestly i feel like the difference between 9s and 10s in modern is often extremely arbituary. There are probably many pristine 9s out there that would regrade as 10s, and vice versa 10s that would regrade 9s. I get the logic for cracking and resubbing but personally i dont really care enough. It swings both ways.
At the end of the day a grade is based on one persons subjective opinion during a very small window of time.
I own many perfectly centred vintage japanese 9s with clear faults (whitening, small chips) that i would never crack or resubmit because if im giving my honest appraisal, they are probably closer to a 7 or 8.
For sure. I mean 9’s are usually perfect cards with bad centring!
I buy PSA 6s and 7s, free them from their slabs, and sell them raw at 8 and 9 prices 🤫🥰
That's one hell of a Sharktank investment idea XD
Man I needed this 2 weeks ago haha, learning from my mistakes but also from this channel, solid content
We've all been there. Did you buy a few PSA 8s?
I bought a Charizard PSA 7 from Legendary Treasures thinking it was undervalued!
I have a pristine master set of base. Haven't touched since I was 10. Ready to send in for grading. Fingers crossed
You covered everything in this video. It was very thorough. I see a lot of red posts that can learn a lot from your videos especially this one. A lot of people forget it’s not about volume. It’s more about quality and liquidity.
I appreciate that! Yeah 100%! Thanks for tuning in samer!
i only buy psa 10s because i only buy cards i like and want in my collection so i will only settle for the best quality version of that card
There are even better quality grades than psa 10's
If you resubmit a PSA 9 enough times, it will come back as a PSA 10
@@layfron1990 what makes you say that
@@Evan-ys2ig PSA graders are not consistent at all, some grades very leniently, some grades meticulously. Also depends on their mood of the day. From personal experience I've had 9s regraded as 10s or 9s or 8s, even got below 6 sometimes. My advice is buy the card, not the grade if you are a collector.
I recently bought the X y flash fire Mega Charizard secret rare PSA 8 for $400 on TCG player. Just because I really wanted a copy of the card graded and i couldn’t find anything higher than an 8. Everything on EBay was fake and majority of the ones on TCG player are damaged or didn’t provided a photo.
I just spent another $480 on the new pikachu SIR raw with no pictures provided 😭🤣 (spent about the same chasing it on etbs and singles ended up with many of the exggecutor sir copies
I recently started collecting after being hooked on TCG pocket for a while now.
Your channel has been a really great help and I’m always looking forward to the next videos
Here is why black labels are superior, BGS has a higher standard for card quality then PSA so to get a Black Label the card must be more perfect then a psa 10 and since there is 10,000 psa 10's of many chase cards and only about 100 or less black labels of the same chase card, the black label will be worth much more in the future because they hardly exist on e-bay. The other nice thing is most people can't or won't buy black labels because of the price so it is only for collectors who are willing to put that much money in the hobby
I’m afraid you are correct sir. Amen 🙏🏼
I only started buying cards again like 2 months ago after visiting Japan. It had been like 20 years since I last bought a pack lol but Japan had so many super cool exclusive cards like the stamp box, Yu Nagaba and Yokohama 2023 World Championship Pikachus - I ended up buying a PSA 10 of each plus PSA 10 151 Charizards in English and Japanese cuz they look amazing. I'd say those are for collecting but I do expect them to grow in value😁
That’s some pretty huge pick ups! Well done
Nice video - love 9s for my mid-era and wotc collection. I think it's really undervalued for the older cards , especially some middle eras are inherently hard to grade.
Most certainly!
grreat video philip...regarding psa 9 cards..what if there are only 900 of the cards in existence...woiuld a psa9 be a good investement in that case? or still a 10?
It depends on a lot of circumstances. If it’s a very rare card, or very old, PSA 9 is fine
I did recently buy a PSA 9 Veluza alt art but in this case it was for an absolute steal and it was for my collection rather than investments.
Then it was the right choice!
If you want my take, sometimes the difference from a 9 and a 10 can be so big or even the most smallest thing can change from a 10 to a 9. Myself for my pc no matter the card I will always see the price of the PSA 9 or 8 because of budget and because it’s cheaper and sometimes from a distance I don’t see the difference. I wouldn’t hate anyone if they collect a PSA 9 or lower for any card. And also if you have them in a lower grade. You can always upgrade for a higher grade later
How long will it take a modern card to bc considered a vintage card?
Can you explain a bit more on Vintage and why PSA 10s aren't as big of a deal? I'm a vintage exclusive collector and I've tried learning so much about this. And I've gone back and forth many times between 9s and 10s.
The best reasoning I have that - investment related - outside of 10s is OK is because POP reports aren't changing much anymore. Packs are being opened here and there but it's not making any impactful ding in the pop.
So we have a 'fixed' PSA 7, 8, 9 and 10 pop, so to say. So just pick your grade then and buy it.
I SUPPOSE that if a vintage throwback happens again which I imagine will happen here and there, a 10's value might spike % wise a bit more than 9s or 8s, but not that much.
Obviously, there are exceptions, too - 10s are sometime the only way to go with extremely low pop vintage cards.
Pretty much agree with everything you said. One thing i would throw in is that market share of the grading companies may change over time. Its hard to say that Psa will always have most market share. We never really know. Plenty of companies in the past were once thought of as irreplaceable or could not be dethroned until they were. Not saying thats whats going to happen. I for one dont actually dislike the top major grading companies. I like most of them really. But in the end, us, the cards is whats important and just havin fun. Anyways cheers and thanks for the video
This is true! Thanks for the great discussion point.
Hey. I brougbt up the question last video about overinflated costs and TCG being owned by google.
Apsrt from that...i wish you touched a bit more on how much more volume and attention this hobby has gotten, and your thoughts on whst we might see going forward
I don't doubt PSA 10 will always get the higher price. That's s fact. But what i wonder is should this bubble hype train slows down, the amount of sealed product being purchased slows, snd the ratio of available PSA 10 product available vs the number of buyers in the market . .how far are these PSA 10s going to fall? Was PSA 10 as importsnt to the core following? Right now so many buyer's are buying invesntments not hobby cards. This will slow. And because of that...saving up and buying an overly inflated PSA 10 to me feels risky as they have the farthest to fall. M and PSA 9s feel like bargin now. I see cards all day where psa 9 is valued the same as raw
Why is there no detailed historical data available. Because there wasn't as much interest.
It’s a good topic I’ll need to do some research
I pulled a Burning Shadows Charizard GX pack fresh during covid times. I got a PSA 8 for it and I am thrilled given the poor quality control for that set. Love the card. Doesn't need to be a 10!
Dang this was a very interesting video, I had been sayin the same about collecting and buying PSA 10s, if I can I well buy a 10 if it's a good deal and a card I want, if it's from my own collection and I hit a 7-8 I'm gonna keep it because it's mine n maybe I can find a 10 later, lately I've been buying a lot of 9s of nice cards that a 10 is outta reach as far as cost... Grrrreat video Phillip!!!
Appreciate you tuning in!
So a PSA 8 vintage card still can be a investment? nice to hear bc i want to get some vintage cards i owned back then, idc about making more money and sell them its more like i dont want to loose money at all
Great video. I completely agree with your opinions and I collect the exact same way
Thanks for watching! And that’s awesome!
Every time I watch a RUclips video of someone showing off their collection there’s always a short explanation of why they have a PSA 9 and not a 10 in a card. I only collect PSA 10 because having a 9 in my opinion is like having a second place trophy and having to explain why you didn’t get gold over and over again. And if you can’t get it today, that’s fine. It should be about the journey of collecting and the stories you remember along the way. This chase wouldn’t be fun if you could just buy it all at a click of a button would it?
I think you said it perfectly. It’s about waiting for the 10 to get the trophy.
image paying for grading just so you take an L and get a 9 don't even bother grading at this point because if anything if he buy cards low and sell them high or hold onto them for long term. at some point it will become positive especially for high end cards. some it really doesn't matter what u get if u get them low. u will probably be in the positive just my take.
Yeah getting 9’s on modern does sting
whats your opinion on collecting product vs single cards for an investor?
Exactly what the other commenter wrote!
I agree vintage slabs all the way and the very best a normal collector can hope for is 8 or 9
Would you recommend singles or psa 10s for Pokemon 151?
Master sets and for collection = singles.
Investing and growth = PSA 10
i think this hobby should be treated like the comic book industry. Buy what you want no matter if it's raw or graded if you want a 1st edition charizard and can afford a psa 1 and it has value to you then get it for your personal collection.
i would also say don't forget to speculate and see if you can get cards with grades for potential future profit.
Yeah buying what you love is super important!
Psychologically, I only want 10s. Just knowing that the card is not "perfect" makes me not want it, haha. So, it's PSA 10 or raw for me.
Yeah I’m the same. If it’s not 10 I’ll leave it in a binder
My bf got me a rayquaza vmax alt art psa 10. It is my first and only psa graded card. It has really made me want to grade my collection but ik some of them will be 9s and maybe even 8s based on the centering.
Yeah I get that. I graded so many chase cards and they came back 8s and 9s…immediately sold haha
Thank for sharing the excellent Gems .
Thanks for listening.
Thank you so much for this video!
Follow up question: If I send in a card, lets say charmander pokemon center and it comes back a 9, should I sell that off or just keep the copy?
I personally sell my 9’s or see if I can do trade-ups. Trade 9 + cash for the 10
Your videos are fire brother
Appreciate that!! ✅
Psa 8 & 9 for vintage is king, clean old cards for cheap
I have a Blaziken alternate art from chilling reign and I sent it in and got PSA 10 now how much is it worth I live in Australia 😀🇦🇺
What a card! You’ve made some money!
For me singles are to much risk I don’t want to take on so I keep it simple. Investing I stick to booster boxes and for singles I usually just collect raw or graded if it’s a good deal
Fair enough! It is a very volatile market.
PSA 10 is bs lots of times lol, not sure why people put any respect on it...seen so many 10's with horrible centering.
I don't know anyone who understands the hobby and cards think they are getting a PSA 10 out the pack.
This is still a pretty big misconception for new players entering the hobby!
I don't see her like that friend. Psa 10 is certainly better, but buying psa 10 costs you four times a psa 9. Yet they are both Mint. Buying a card that you hope will go up in price is better to buy it 9 because that way you have more budget for other cards. Then, you never know, if opening a Psa 9 with the naked eye looks like a Psa 10 and you can resell it for such.
Definitely has to be a 10 if not sell as raw
Agreed
Yep, unless the 9 is still crazy value 👌
I just don’t see the point in 10 as a casual enthusiast. Because the 9 will also trail behind it if it goes up. It’s just by what multiplicative you want. The problem with PSA 10 is well your portfolio becomes harder and harder to hedge if you are paying premium all the time. I leave it to the high rollers. The problem with psa 10 prices is that at that price point, you are better off buying shares in a stock market and swing trading.
yeah psa 9s def have edge, corner wear + being off centered lol
Yeah there is cases of that!
i only go for psa 10s cause bigger number better person 😎
jk but yeah i only have 2 9s and they were gifts. for sets that im collecting now, theres really no point getting anything other than a 10
We all love our 10s
Still buy a psa card if you want a raw and just crack it out!?!? They make PSA binders you goof 😂
Psa 10 or nothing. The vintage d_riders needa let their psa 5 and 6 firrst editions go. 😂.
Because again, noone cares about it. Noone cares if the pop is like 25 or something when theres half a person that wants it 😅
Exactly this. A buyer market must be there