PSA Suspends Card Grading Services Amid Record TCG Interest

[Number51x]

"What exactly makes someone a scalper vs someone who just really enjoys the hobby, has disposable income, and trades/sells products?"

Pretty easy distinction. Buying up all the sealed product you can get your hands on that you personally have no interest in and then selling for double MSRP just to exploit the scarcity.

 

[Water Pokémon Master]

I love how even when you specifically write into the article that the rage in the community towards scalpers and Youtubers is baseless and misguided, every comment here is still the exact same whining that has been echoed nonstop for the past few months. I suppose that's what you get when you try to give a logical explanation to an echo chamber full of angry kids.

Yeah, I've seen a lot of people blame scalpers and YouTubers for the scarcity of modern product. But the reason there's scalping and money talk with YouTubers is BECAUSE the supply is artificially low (due to factories shutting down last year). You can of course get mad at scalpers and the trashy behavior of some YouTubers, I'm not arguing with that. But there wouldn't be scalping and all this money talk if Pokemon's supply chain was functioning at normal capacity. It's the true cause of everyone's difficulties getting product, which is due to Covid running wild last year, which was thanks to our government leaders failing to clamp down on it earlier. It seems printing is almost back to normal capacity, but it's still going to take a long time to catch up with the backlog. That's why my article said months ago to adjust your expectations for 2021.

 

[Charmaster:)]

Yeah I heard people were sending in hundreds at a time. Bulk Ultra Rares, Holos, etc.

And litrally anything base set. When all that comes back around October the price crash will be unprecedented.

Yes yes YES! Price drops! Making cards more affordable!
The more affordable cards are, the better! (Unless you’re an investor, and to be honest, any sensible investor knows that there’s a certain risk involved and is aware of what they signed up for and the possibility of a price drop.)

The rage towards scalpers isn’t misguided. Scalpers suck, period. Doesn’t matter if it’s for cards, electronics, masks, etc. The problem is people are assuming that PSA is doing this to stop scalping. They’re not; they’re doing it because they’re overwhelmed. It will luckily have a negative impact on scalpers though, as a positive side effect.

You forgot toilet paper.

 

[shiningdialga]

What exactly makes someone a scalper vs someone who just really enjoys the hobby, has disposable income, and trades/sells products? .

I think the typical player/collector would distinguish "scalper/toxic buyer" from a regular one is whether they use it simply as a money making/attention seeking tool and nothing more. Plenty of people buy cases of each set in a regular market, usually to collect some and possibly sell the rest. Those individuals have a general interest in the hobby beyond its profit making potential. On the other hand, a significant chunk of people buying up cards are doing it solely for the purpose of trying to make money. They think that just because some loudmouth loser on YouTube pulled a shiny card and claimed it was worth a mint, suddenly they can make easy money and get tons of attention in the process.

I do think the word scalper is being tossed around too liberally at this point, but people do have every right to be frustrated with wannabe investors making the hobby impossible for people who do want to enjoy the hobby even a bit. I also agree that the PSA move isn't some kind of heroic move on their part to stop the evil scalpers; it's an attempt to stop people from flooding them with submissions when they're already backed up by months or more. Sure, it may disincentivize a few people from buying cards since grading will be harder, but ultimately it's just going to punish collectors who were already waiting on their cards to be graded.

 

[Number51x]

I don't know if it's my local Target or Target in general, but I received a notice that MLB, NBA, NFL, and Pokemon products (weirdly not Magic) MSRP 19.99 and higher are behind the service desk now. They also specifically stated that the products are ONLY sold Fridays starting at 8:00 am. No queuing before 7am. I don't know what to make of this as this is going to be a serious pain in the butt for pretty much everyone. It's not like they have a place to display the stock.

 

[Charmaster:)]

I think the typical player/collector would distinguish "scalper/toxic buyer" from a regular one is whether they use it simply as a money making/attention seeking tool and nothing more. Plenty of people buy cases of each set in a regular market, usually to collect some and possibly sell the rest. Those individuals have a general interest in the hobby beyond its profit making potential. On the other hand, a significant chunk of people buying up cards are doing it solely for the purpose of trying to make money. They think that just because some loudmouth loser on YouTube pulled a shiny card and claimed it was worth a mint, suddenly they can make easy money and get tons of attention in the process.

I do think the word scalper is being tossed around too liberally at this point, but people do have every right to be frustrated with wannabe investors making the hobby impossible for people who do want to enjoy the hobby even a bit. I also agree that the PSA move isn't some kind of heroic move on their part to stop the evil scalpers; it's an attempt to stop people from flooding them with submissions when they're already backed up by months or more. Sure, it may disincentivize a few people from buying cards since grading will be harder, but ultimately it's just going to punish collectors who were already waiting on their cards to be graded.

I would argue that it is both a curse AND a blessing for collectors who want to get their cards graded... at least their cards aren’t going to sit around in a 2 year long cue waiting to be graded.

 

[LexGoyle]

Not so much record "tcg interest" as it is scalpers looking to make a quick buck flipping popular cards. Bad enough they're buying up the stock to flip at double or more MSRP. If it were primarily people just into the game or even just collecting for themselves the product would indeed be scarce. But you can buy pretty much anything you want from a scalper no problem.

 

[LexGoyle]

I honestly blame youtubers who keep slapping prices (inflated prices to boot) onto their openings for every ultra rare giving the impression to viewers this is an easy money scheme.

I agree. If you go back to Hidden Fates when they really amped up focus on the dollar value of newer cards, the clickbait titles and pretty much every other video having a dollar amount in its title (Leonhart in particular) that's when things really went downhill. Really is playing on people's gambling itch so you got people buying up product to get chase cards to flip and scalpers who are banking on people buying product they snatch up to resell. So yeah youtubers are very much a part of the problem.