I’m throwing this question out there for my readers:
Personally, if I saw it at a garage sale, I might drop a buck on it, but that’s about it. Lately I have been seeing more and more that people are slabbing these older cards from the 80s and marking up the prices on eBay to ridicul0us prices. Let’s take this auction for example <link>, the seller has a 1981 Topps Nolan Ryan card that has been slabbed and graded by Beckett for $1400 or best offer. His claim is that there are only 4 of these cards that have ever been graded.
Here is my problem, there are many 1981 Topps Nolan Ryan cards available on eBay right now <link> that are considered mint condition. Most of them run in the $2.50 range, but my guess is if you find a OBO you can probably get it for $1. Now why would I go and have that slabbed? Even if I’m a Nolan Ryan collector, I just can comprehend why you would get a card that is really only worth a dollar slabbed and graded? To grade the card is around $10. I’ve seen a PSA sell for $23 <link>, and I think that price is ridiculous.
At first I thought this was just an anomoly so I decided to dig. Is there a dedicated group who only buy graded 80s cards? Upon further research I find out that indeed there are lots of people that do this. Now what I am trying to wrap my brain around is why? How about this gem <link>, a 1980 Topps baseball checklist PSA 10? Or maybe 1987 Topps Mark McGwire BGS 10 for $500 <link>? Maybe a 1986 OPC Mattingly for $60 is more your speed <link>?
I just can’t see how you could justify spending that kind of money on junk wax? Maybe I’m way off base here, but would any of you out there lay that kind of coin down on graded 80s wax?
August 5, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Truly amazing. For the “non-condition” crowd, this has negative value. I mean, the value of the time I’d spend getting out the drill and cracking the slab would far exceed the cost of the card.
August 5, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Unless these people have thought of something I haven’t, wasting cash for slabbed ’80s cards (excluding maybe a Ripken or two) is baffling.
August 5, 2009 at 8:12 pm
$70 for a checklist? I am sitting on a gold mine!
August 5, 2009 at 11:46 pm
I had a run in with one of these guys on ebay. I tried to buy a graded rookie card of my favorite player of all time. He was selling it for over 300 bucks (way, way, way higher than the Beckett graded value for this card). I made a very low guy offer and the guy tried to educate me on how getting a card graded makes it worth millions of times more than a raw card and he had prior sales to prove it. He also tried to justify it because only one other card had been graded so highly. I should buy a raw card on ebay, get it slabbed and sell it for 3 bucks jut to bust his balls.
August 6, 2009 at 12:16 am
I seriously thought about doing that for the Nolan Ryan card.
October 21, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I don’t think you’d bust his balls cos u would probably get a 7 worth 2 bucks. There’s like 1500 copies graded and 4 gem mints
August 6, 2009 at 4:40 pm
At least the cards in the links were graded “10.” I’ve seen people send in ordinary, near-mint 80’s cards to be graded. I’ll never for the life of me understand how someone can make a profit with a crap card that sells for $5 + shipping:
1) ship card to PSA ($1-3)
2) pay PSA grading fees ($7-10)
3) pay ebay listing + selling fees ($0-5)
4) pay shipping fees to buyer($2)
August 6, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Don’t forget the upfront membership fees to even have the the ability to send something to PSA. I guess people can make a profit doing this sort of thing because there are plenty of “marks” out there who will believe that anything is valuable.
August 7, 2009 at 5:41 am
I don’t know… even if there are lots of chumps out there, can anyone explain the economics of this to me? http://cgi.ebay.com/1993-Topps-32-Don-Mattingly-PSA-NM-MT-8_W0QQitemZ230363053552QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_SM_Sports_Cards?hash=item35a2b53df0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
August 13, 2009 at 9:59 pm
PSA cards are for different types of collectors. PSA 10 1986 Nolan Ryans regularly SELL for $400 and as high as $900. There really is no rhyme or reason why, they just do. Honestly, why does anyone pay $50k for a 1952 Mantle, its just cardboard, the answer is, its rare.
Same thing with PSA gems. A PSA 10 1981 Ryan would easily sell in the hundreds. Many commons from the 1970’s will sell for that.
Most of the comments posted on this thread are by people that have zero knowledge on values of card grading and WHY it is done. Not a shot at them, just the honest truth. Me personally, I would never pay an outrageous price for high grade cards, but I would also never pay 50k for a Mantle or for that matter $15 for a Green Day CD. Its personal preference and since baseball cards are generally worth what people will pay…guess what…a PSA 10 Ryan IS worth hundreds and extremely rare to boot. Most fresh from pack 81 Topps are so badly cut/centered, they are a PSA 7 straight from the pack.
Also, PSA grading fees can be sliced to as little as $4 with subs of 100 cards or more, so the fees listed here are misleading as well.
Again, not wanting to slam anyone, just seems like there is a LOAD of misinformation on this site regarding the grading industry.
August 13, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Also, as an addition. Many issues of Topps, especially in the early to mid 1980’s are available in sheets. PSA will not grade sheet cut cards, BGS will. This is why many early 80’s cards sell for significantly more than BGS in those years.
Good examples are the Elway and Marino rookies. In PSA 10 Gem Mint, they sell in the $500-$700 range on average, BGS 9.5 Gem Mints will only carry a $250-$300 tag for that very reason. Again, its personal choice…dont like grading, dont buy em. If youre in it for collecting, you dont need a graded card to enjoy it.
August 31, 2009 at 11:46 pm
I would look to know if you have the whole
set of 1981 Topps.
September 1, 2009 at 2:32 am
I do have it, Topps, Fleer and Donruss from 1981.
October 21, 2009 at 3:12 pm
that’s acually a pretty reasonable price on the Ryan 81 topps. The last psa 10 went off at 2200.
There are only 4 graded gem mint, not 4 graded. If you know the issue you know there are usually print spots in the background. Centering is really tough.
Would I spend 1000 bucks? If I had it. Graded cards are for guys with a lot of money who like nice toys and like to have the highest graded copies that exist ofthings. Also for investors. Ungraded cards are for collectors who like cards because they like cards or the players. Average collectors don’t show off their new 1 dollar card to their buddies. Let me ask you this. If u made 300-400k a year (lots of people do) would you drive a civic or an accord or would you drive a BMW or mercedes or caddy? If you had 8 – 10k of disposable income a month and you were 35-40 and single would you buy the dollar copy or the finest one for 1k. If u make 400k what the heck is a grand. Your Amex platinum costs 500 a year or your centurion card 2500.
Again I don’t have a grand to drop on a card, by if I made serious coin I’d buy a lot of that stuff. I think it’s dumb to criticize the value on graded cards because it is what it is. Do u need a 3k suit? Do u need a 100k car? Do u need a flashy credit card? No, but it’s fun showing off.
Word!