9 Card CGC Reveal 👍 + My thoughts on PSA price increase, future use of CGC, business strategy change

LV back with another CGC submission reveal. In this video, I'll be revealing nine cards and then I'll be discussing my thoughts on the PSA price increase and my future business strategy shifts within cards. And at the very end, I'll share an idea I have for PSA that will help us all out. Actually, I'll just go ahead and share that part quickly right now. So, there are so many great loyal PSA customers out there, me included, who have spent our hard-earned cash on a PSA membership. $150 for a membership isn't cheap. And all we are seeing is price increase after price increase, turnaround times increasing, absolutely zero grading specials to take advantage of. We deserve something. We have been loyal customers. We deserve some tiny bit of appreciation from PSA. And that's why I think PSA for each member should implement a monthly 20 for 20. And they can even call it that. It means that each member gets a grade maximum of 20 cards for $20 each at the bulk rate tier each month. I think that even that small gesture would go a long way in the hearts of many loyal PSA customers. Let me know what you guys think in the comments section down below. All right, back on track. I am very pleased to say that the turnaround time on this CGC order was amazing. Only 10 business days and I'm here to say that I'm going to keep using CGC and I recommend you guys try them out. If anything, use CGC to stick it to the man. CGC is pretty much the last large piece keeping PSA from controlling the whole entire grading market. CGC for now is our last hope. So, before I get started with the reveal, I wanted to address a few negative comments I got in my last CGC reveal video. People got angry at me for not selling my CGC slabs for 100% PSA resale value. They were angry I sold some for as low as 50% resale value. But here's what those people need to understand. I'm selling my slabs, no matter what grading company, based on the actual condition of the card. No, not every 10 is a 10. And no, not every nine is a nine. When buying graded cards, I've said this many times, first look at the condition of the actual card, not the grade. And I'm not even basing the condition on PSA standards. I'm basing the condition off my own standards. I'm no newbie. I've been grading cards for a long ass time with many different grading companies. I know what a card should grade and shouldn't grade. So, if I feel the card should grade a mint nine and CGC gives it a gem 10, then I'm more likely to sell it for less, more likely to sell it for the going rate in the condition I thought it should grade. Perfect example of this was the in my last reveal, the 1990 Emtt Smith Tops rookie. It had a noticeable soft left front edge ding, keeping it from a 10 in my eyes, but CGC went ahead and gave it a 10. Am I going to price that overgraded card at PSA Gem 10 values and sit on it waiting forever for it to sell? Hell no. I'm going to sell it closer to the nine resale range. But if I feel the card was graded accurately by CGC or even undergraded, then I will sell for the 100% PSA resale rate. So in a way, it's up to CGC to get their grades right. And this goes for PSA, too. If I feel they overgrade a card, then I want to move off that card right away and often price it lower than comps to make that quick sale. Another good example of this is that I felt my second order with CGC was graded pretty tightly. No overg grades. So, I priced most of the slabs at PSA resale comps. And guess what? I've only sold three slabs. Three out of the 22 that were graded and listed for this first month. But I'll keep patient because I know the quality condition of the cards in the slabs. All right, so out of those three, the first one that sold was the 1988 Topps Boj Jackson football rookie CGC9. I sold it for $62. PSA 9 sell for 90. So I got 69% in resale value on that one. The next one was a 1992 Bowman Mariana Rivera rookie. Got a CGC9. I sold it for 87 bucks and PSA 9 sell for 110. So, I got 79% in resale. Next was the Cameron Thomas gold prism out of 10 CGC 9.5. I sold it for $37 and similar PSA 9 sell for around 40. So, that's a 92% resale on that one. All right, let's I made you wait long enough. Let's go ahead and get into that nine card grade reveal right now. Okay, first up, I believe is going to be a LeBron James was a crackout. PSA crackout. Let's see what he got. So, it's just such a gorgeous card. Uh, I was disappointed. I felt I got a very tight grader and PSA gave it an eight originally. That's at a 300. It's like a thirdyear card. It's just beautiful refractor shine. The shine is incredible. I love the image of him dunking. Anyway, it got an eight and uh I thought it was at least a nine. I didn't think it was a 10. I just thought it was a solid nine. Let's see what CGC gave it. Nine. I'm very happy with that. I think it's a nice accurate grade. That is definitely closer to where I would have put it. There it is. Out of 300. Happy to get that nine there. Okay. Next up is a It's another crackout. This one is the It's that Cody Bellinger firstear auto out of 99 green refrator. It's a really nice card. Uh I'm surprised PSA gave it an eight. I think they didn't know how to grade the centering. It looks like it's thinner on the left than the right, but it's not really because you're comparing this gap with this gap, not the bigger gap right here. So, uh I felt it should have been at least a nine. And let's see what CGC gave it. They gave it the nine. So yeah, I feel like CGC grades more in line with my standards than PSA. So I do like that about CGC. And uh there's the auto grade. They don't charge $5 per card anymore for the kind of pack pole manufacturer autos. So that's good to know. So this one was only like 16 bucks to grade. Beautiful 10 autograph for the Cody Bellinger. Happy with that. 82 out of 99. Next card is Oh, I submitted this one out of spite. Uh, this is a Trey McBride. It's a no huddle auto prism rookie. And I I knew it wouldn't grade a Gem 10, but I knew it was around a nine quality card. So, I just went ahead and sold it raw on my eBay Wesley's Closet raw store. And buyer bought it and they returned it. They said it was damaged. It was ridiculous. I I get so frustrated when buyers online expect gem mint cards. This is unbelievable. So, I kind of sent sent this out a spike because I knew it would get a mint nine. It only had a few marks on the back, not nothing big, you know? I I I just see it as a nine and it's a nice quality 10 autograph. So, very happy that one got a nine. So, all three so far. Some nice nines. Next up, we got an air card. You know, I like sending air cards in to CGC. I'm happy they grade them. PSA doesn't grade air cards like this. So, not only is this miscut majorly is also listed the wrong name has Elvis down. This is Ryan Leaf. And then the back, look how miscut that is. So, it's like a double air. I just thought it was cool. And it did look like a clean nine. So, I'm happy to get this one back. So, nine there. And next up, we got a Super Bowl champ Jackson Smith Nigba. This is a Green Wave. It did have one kind of prism refractor line. So, you know, in this case, I knew I was hoping for a 95. I knew PSA would give it a nine, so I just threw it in there. Worth a shot. It's a gorgeous card. I like the color match with the greens, Seahawks. So, mint nine there. Next up, we got a Derek Jeter. This was a men's size. It was in my midsize stack. You know, quality gem mint cards, but PSA wouldn't grade them because they were just slightly factory smaller. Uh, I'm happy CGC grades them. So, gem mint 10 on this one. It looked amazing. It looked like PSA would give it a 10. So, 10 there on the Jeter rookie. Next we got a 2024 Caleb Williams. He had a great year for the Bears. Uh so this one is a shocker to me. I'm not going to lie. I complete undergrade. Uh I figured PSA would give it around 8 85. Uh it just has that anyone knows this doesn't 24 prism set. You get these edge chippings right here, top and bottom. Uh, other than that, there wasn't any other issue with the card. So, you know, maybe a a dimple here and there, but I thought it was a solid CGC nine. I I was expecting a nine. So, this one is a two grade under grade in my opinion. I I don't know what they saw to give it a seven, but you know, PSA has wild grades, too. Um, this one is it's actually an accurate grade. Uh, I figured PSA would give it an eight. It just had surface scratches and it's going to be hard to see in the slab, but uh I thought I could squeeze a nine with CGC, but oh, they're accurate. This is kind of how I would grade it, an 85. It's just a little too much surface scratching, but the back was was flawless. I like this refractor round ball royalty. 8.5 on the ooing. Next card up. Oh, it's actually the last card in the order. I promise my next CGC order will be a bigger one. Okay, this is an interesting one. Uh, it's actually a Pokemon card and it came back authentic altered and it I bought this off eBay and it did pass eBay authenticity. It's a it's a big card. It is the Rayquaza secret rare of evolving skies. Um, I didn't grade it with PSA because I saw these little white marks and I assumed it would just get an eight. So, I was hoping for maybe a CGC9. And they did give this note, which I'm very thankful they do. I don't think PSA does this. This is awesome. It says polished back surface evidence of alteration restoration. So, the back, I guess someone squeezed some Curts juice on it, unfortunately. Uh, it does look a little bit shinier, maybe. I don't know. That's disappointing. I don't I don't want that on there. Is there a way to get it off? It's such a bummer because it is a gorgeous card. Uh I got this great deal. Maybe that's why I got it for 380 on eBay. I think it's like a $700 card. So, but I I guess I'm glad it's authentic. I don't think I'm going to lose money on it, but it's still such a bummer. But props to CGC for adding this detailed message. I love that that they do that. All right, so that was it for that. Let's let's talk some more. I want to talk about the PSA increase and everything. All right. So, I'm pretty satisfied with CGC. I think they are consistent and accurate. Overall, I'd say they grade closer to my grading eye than PSA. I'm seeing usually one wild low grade per order, but that's okay. PSA has been known to do that, too. Uh, let's go ahead and talk the PSA price increase thoughts before I discuss my future use of CGC. So, as many of you know by now, PSA increased their PSA bulk cost to from $21.99 to $24.99 for sports cards and $18.99 to $24.99 on non-sports, essentially Pokemon TCG. I'm very pleased they finally increase Pokemon. I was calling for them to do that for the last four months. Pokemon was the culprit and they should have listened to me. But overall, I understand the increase. It comes as no shock. At the end of the day, PSA is a business. They don't care about us. The demand for them is still extremely high. So, they can raise prices, do whatever they want, and they do. Plus, the increase helps alleviate their awful turnaround times. Hopefully, anyone who uses PSA, including myself, is to blame. So, I'm not going to sit up here and complain about the the change, but the change does and has been impacting my business style and sales significantly. You guys know me, for the past 15, 20 years, I've been making a living buying mostly lower-end raw cards and grading them with PSA. Sell those slabs on eBay, rinse and repeat. But with the long turnaround times and now the $25 to grade per card, it has become nearly impossible to sustain that business model. But I think but I like to think of myself as a survivor. I adapt and pivot when needed. For example, I fully immersed myself into Pokémon two years ago, and I'm very thankful I did. So my plan for now is to buy less lower-end cards, especially online. So, not as much DC Sports87 buying and focus more on higherend raw purchases at card shows and possibly on eBay. We're talking the $75 to $1,000 per card range. And now I'm including my buy radius to include ultramodern cards, even rookies, case hits, all the popular stuff these kids are into these days. No attachment, just buying at the right time and flipping fast when it makes sense. And yes, I'll be using PSA to grade still. I'll be grading these higherend clean copies. Hopefully, I'll be stacking stacking them up and when I reach 20 cards, then I'll send that stack to PSA at the 25 bulk rate. Rinse and repeat. And while that is happening, I'm actually going to be grading with CGC as well. I'll be sending mostly my clean lower-end cards and cards I feel PSA graded incorrectly. It's just hard to beat that $16 per card economy level with CGC at around 20 business days. And if they are at around 101 15 business days, that's even better. I also plan on being more proactive selling my raw cards in my possession. I I already spent the last two weeks going through all my gradable boxes and sifting out the cards I feel wouldn't actually grade a gem mint 10 that were most likely would grade a mint nine. and I'll be selling those raw either on my raw eBay store or through comc or consign with DC Sports87. Another great option is to get a table, become a dealer at a card show, local card show, and liquidate those raw cards. I actually might end up doing that one day soon. You never know. As for Pokemon TCG stuff, I don't plan on buying anything for the time being. I'm just going to put a pause on it. I'll still collect and have fun and do it with my son, but that price increase for Pokemon is just too significant, you know, it to overcome. It's $18.99 to $24.99. It's a 25% markup, and it's crazy. And I'm okay with it because it's going to help PSA turnaround times long term. I also plan on going through all my PC and piecing out the cards I don't necessarily feel passionate about anymore. Go ahead and sell them. I recommend everyone doing that in their PC because you lose interest in some and you gain interest in others. This will create more liquidity to buy those higherend cards at the card shows. I can bring more cash to afford those say $500 downs. So, that's the plan. I'm confident in my buying skills, so hopefully everything will go smooth. All right, thanks everyone for watching. Expect more CGC reveals. My next order, I plan on submitting 45 cards to CGC. We'll see how it goes. I can't wait to reveal that. All right, thanks everyone for watching. Have a great day.