The Hobby Boards

Title says it all. PSA is now bumping the cost of their bulk value submission to from $20 per card to $25 ONLY IF, you pay them even more to be a PSA super special member which is $149 a year. Without the membership it is now $33 a card for someone to look at your card for 60 seconds and decide if they're in a good mood. Remember though, any card their magic sister company cardladder says is above a certain value you pay even more. Since Collectors universe bought beckett they have begun jacking up prices too, $65 for a raw card review and $85 to reslab a card on site at the Dallas card show. Even Uncle Jack is embarrassed.

benxcrunner1 wrote: Sat Feb 14, 2026 9:31 am Title says it all. PSA is now bumping the cost of their bulk value submission to from $20 per card to $25 ONLY IF, you pay them even more to be a PSA super special member which is $149 a year. Without the membership it is now $33 a card for someone to look at your card for 60 seconds and decide if they're in a good mood. Remember though, any card their magic sister company cardladder says is above a certain value you pay even more. Since Collectors universe bought beckett they have begun jacking up prices too, $65 for a raw card review and $85 to reslab a card on site at the Dallas card show. Even Uncle Jack is embarrassed.

More of PSA bitch slapping their consoomerz, while they lap up Rat Turner's magic jelly...I am shocked, shocked, I tell you. PSA being 'the best' is nothing more than successful advertising and the right talking heads showing off their cards in garbage PSA slabs.

As for cardladder, just look at the two guys behind that service and look at the call out thread on BO that clearly shows how they were full of crap about vetting everything.

When you have such high conflict of interest, corruption is usually not far off.

BGS is dead to me, LOL @ 85 for a reslab on site. They can collectively reslab their fists in their anal cavities.

Monopolies + profiteering/social media driven secondary market culture = this. The most optimistic look at this is that PSA can’t keep up with demand and increasing prices will help curb the number of cards submitted to allow them to provide good service to customers. Let’s face it though, I’m sure the increased revenue per hour and card isn’t just a coincidental bonus. But they’re a business without competition, so in the name of maximizing profit, which is their purpose, it would be silly not to continue increasing prices.

The real crux of the issue is the same as that of grading: what was once the hobby has really become a competition of countless small businesses. Manufacturing and grading has become a monopoly but the secondary market is dominated by competing dealers, flippers, resellers, and investors. Someone in a Facebook group recently asked where he can sell to get comp value rather than 75-80% of comps and most of the responses were that he will be selling to the aforementioned types of people regardless of avenue, with the exception of eBay and shows, so it should be expected to have to leave some meat on the bone for the person buying. It is simply an example that shows that there’s countless competition on the secondary market and it’s killing the collector, whereas grading and manufacturing is a monopoly and those corporations take advantage of the secondary selling/flipping market to continue to operate. All the above where collectors come last and have to pay more and get less for what they have.

Wait, there are still collectors in this space?

benxcrunner1 wrote: Sat Feb 21, 2026 7:31 pm Wait, there are still collectors in this space?

Mostly speculators, but every now and then you'll be able to catch a glimpse of the ever elusive collector.

I actually think there's a lot of collectors out there. Maybe even the majority of those that buy cards. They just don't post on instagram, message boards, YouTube, or whatever. Which is unfortunate for those of us who want to engage with others because the online presence of the hobby seems like it's 10% collectors.