Sports Cards Mania
- Thread starter brandonchristensen
- Start date
"This is all about our customers" says company notorious for fucking over customers at every possible turn. What a fucking joke.
I have 2 oversize cards (both pictured upthread in separate posts) I wanted slabbed by PSA for the sake of consistency, but they wanted me to pay $75 each. Each. For 4 pieces of plastic, 2 laser-printed labels, and the oh-so-heavy task of generating a bar code.
I hate PSA with a passion. Hate. Them.
If you're looking for alternatives, I grade with TAG for my PC. They don't have the liquidity of PSA slabs if you're looking to move them, but they use machine learning to grade and I love the look and feel of their slabs. They have two service options, TAG X and TAG S which both come with detailed grading reports that show you why your card got the grade that it did. They're limited right now in that they don't grade memorabilia cards or any cards made prior to 1989.
The TAG X offering is $15/card with no upcharges or declared values with a 5-10 business day turnaround time and TAG S is $30/card with no uncharges or declared values. The main difference between the two is that TAG X comes with a "DINGS" report that shows you your cards major flaws while TAG S comes with a 1,000 point score in addition to the 1-10 standard grade and has an even more detailed grading report.
Probably not the best option if you're looking to grade and sell cards quickly for the highest price, but for my PC I wouldn't use anyone else.
The TAG X offering is $15/card with no upcharges or declared values with a 5-10 business day turnaround time and TAG S is $30/card with no uncharges or declared values. The main difference between the two is that TAG X comes with a "DINGS" report that shows you your cards major flaws while TAG S comes with a 1,000 point score in addition to the 1-10 standard grade and has an even more detailed grading report.
Probably not the best option if you're looking to grade and sell cards quickly for the highest price, but for my PC I wouldn't use anyone else.
In an absolute shock to all parties involved, I somehow DO NOT have any 1/1's lying about. Alas.
I love the TAG slabs, but their business model (AI-driven) is gonna easily be ripped off by PSA by Memorial Day, and TAG will be eaten alive by the 4th of July (I may be exaggerating).
And them not doing vintage/oddball sizes sucks for me.
Full disclosure: I should probably be completely ignored on this topic. I hate slabs, I break cards out of slabs, and apart from my slabbed set of PSA 8* Roger Clemens rookies, I only like the larger format slabs (1961 dollars, 1971 Baseball's Greatest Moments, 1967 Stickers, 1964 Giants, etc).
* PSA 8 is a perfect grade. Not too expensive, and a beautiful card to the naked eye.
I need to see more TAG before I'm really convinced. Nice looking slabs, but charging the extra $15 for the 1000 point scale and the ability to get a truly high end (990+) grade, which is one of their only two value adds in the process (in addition to the report), is offputting to say the least and in my mind a bad business decision. People rightfully shit on PSA for the value-declared price changes, but this is also crappy. If I'm paying $15 for a 1-10 scale and a bare bones report...I'll just grade with SGC.
I think people drastically overstate the "PSA Premium" in the present day on re-sale for most cards (SGC and even TAG10s often compete with PSA10s if looking at truly fair comparisons, in terms of timeframe) but I'm also not wholly convinced that TAG's model is going to work longer term and how precise their scale actually is. TAG's unwillingness or inability to step out of modern cards is also going to cap them hardcore when the "big boy" cards come from before that 95% of the time. My guess is that TAG hasn't found a way to appropriately scale their grading for vintage cards to align in some manner with SGC or PSA on standards and that it's quite possible their 1000 point system won't account for things - and if a TAG "147" is a PSA4 or an SGC3 no one will use them. The TAG fanboys (not Jimywocky - the ones on Reddit) are pretty insufferable too.
I'll occasionally grade through the breaker I was using and they do SGC, which honestly I don't think does a super good job in terms of evaluating the cards but they at least look nice encased and if they grade well carry a reasonable re-sale premium. But even so...I don't think most sports card collectors can honestly look at a card without a loupe and tell you whether it would grade an 8, 9, or 10 - I love buying PSA8s as you get them cheaper than raw and they often look just as good as any other card. It's not a racket as people do pay it but I can think of far, far better ways to spend money than pursuing a "10" for my personal collection.
I think people drastically overstate the "PSA Premium" in the present day on re-sale for most cards (SGC and even TAG10s often compete with PSA10s if looking at truly fair comparisons, in terms of timeframe) but I'm also not wholly convinced that TAG's model is going to work longer term and how precise their scale actually is. TAG's unwillingness or inability to step out of modern cards is also going to cap them hardcore when the "big boy" cards come from before that 95% of the time. My guess is that TAG hasn't found a way to appropriately scale their grading for vintage cards to align in some manner with SGC or PSA on standards and that it's quite possible their 1000 point system won't account for things - and if a TAG "147" is a PSA4 or an SGC3 no one will use them. The TAG fanboys (not Jimywocky - the ones on Reddit) are pretty insufferable too.
I'll occasionally grade through the breaker I was using and they do SGC, which honestly I don't think does a super good job in terms of evaluating the cards but they at least look nice encased and if they grade well carry a reasonable re-sale premium. But even so...I don't think most sports card collectors can honestly look at a card without a loupe and tell you whether it would grade an 8, 9, or 10 - I love buying PSA8s as you get them cheaper than raw and they often look just as good as any other card. It's not a racket as people do pay it but I can think of far, far better ways to spend money than pursuing a "10" for my personal collection.
Last edited:
If anyone happens to see a red /25 Nomar auto from 24 Topps, or anything else more rare, I’d appreciate a heads up. I’ve got the base, the black, and the gold so far.
Following the advice on the board, I wasn't seduced by the 1/1 Mookies. @NJ_Sox_Fan persuaded me with the argument that it just carrying a "1/1" stamp isn't really all that remarkable.
So I went with @Fishercat 's early advice to only accept an autographed card from a Tier 1 player like Trout. And as a substitute for my 2022 Topps Materials Authographed Red /50 card, they offered this beauty:
That's a Topps 2022 Clearly Authentic Red /50 autograph. Which seemed fair to me.
Now the question is if I keep it or sell it to fund some fun singles shopping. Will let you know when I receive in a couple of weeks. Any thoughts on what it could be listed for? Does one bother getting a card like this graded?
So I went with @Fishercat 's early advice to only accept an autographed card from a Tier 1 player like Trout. And as a substitute for my 2022 Topps Materials Authographed Red /50 card, they offered this beauty:
That's a Topps 2022 Clearly Authentic Red /50 autograph. Which seemed fair to me.
Now the question is if I keep it or sell it to fund some fun singles shopping. Will let you know when I receive in a couple of weeks. Any thoughts on what it could be listed for? Does one bother getting a card like this graded?
Is there just a list of players who might have "First Card" designations, to make the hunt through my 2023 commons a little less taxing on the eyes?
Much better! I’d assume it would sell somewhere around $250-$350. Not sure if grading is worth the hassle on a card like this. Personally, I don’t think it would be worth the time to grade.
Beautiful card. I love the clearly authentic product and think you made a good choice. I would not bother grading it unless you preferred the slab for your personal collection. The topps one touch case should provide some value.
I would agree, keep that in the Topps One Touch unless for PC reason and it feels really nice to get a similar card back.
A good site to see pricing is 130point.com. It shows what cards go for in recent eBay sales/auctions.
That's a really nice card. I have a 2017 Yaz Clearly Authentic #/45 (1968 design). Yaz accidentally signed the back instead of the front on all the ones I've seen.
Just saw a breaker called "Overtime Pulls" open an entire case of Topps Chrome autos. Someone fucked up at Topps and put together a WHOLE CASE of only autos.
Oops.
Oops.
Pretty sweet. Wouldn't mind one of those Casas'!
View: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4Gih5ZO1k3/
View: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4G-6KvOV-h/
They had Exponent analyze the process, and apparently everything is running perfectly.
What are you looking for? You can buy '24 Topps Series 1 hobby/hobby jumbo boxes off the Topps website right now at cost. I haven't really searched eBay, but you might be able to snag a hobby box deal on auction. They have buy it now options for the same price as the Topps site with free shipping.
I would expect that Target, Walmart, and any other retailers who stock retail stores will have retail blasters and whatever the mega box equivalent is - and it's a matter of knowing when your local store stocks and beating the re-sellers.
UD jacked up the hobby box prices to $300 and common major resellers have them at around that price, as I think LCSes would
2023/24 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey Hobby Box | DA Card World
So UD kind of did the gouging on this, but at this point you can avoid paying a resell premium beyond that...for now. A lot of the hockey people I know had their pre-orders in for S2 prior to the checklist presuming Bedard would be there, so that goose is cooking quickly.
For weeks, Topps has probably been thinking that they had some sort of security breach at the factory. Nope, someone just picked up the wrong pile of cards.
I wonder how much that one case reduced everyone else's odds of hitting an auto. I also wonder if this accidental run is larger than just this case and there are more out there.
Last edited:
Yeah, Topps Chrome Update and the related products are mostly sticker due to timing and the nature of the checklist. A shame for Topps Chrome Update Sapphire in particular as it was a great product otherwise.
Reminded me of the guy who opened a "god" pack of old magic cards. Instead of 2 rares and 13 uncommons, it had 15 rares. The crazy thing is it's the 2nd time he hit one.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQYqAy5T8MI&t=699s
Value on the four big hits in that pack is probably close to 20k today.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQYqAy5T8MI&t=699s
Value on the four big hits in that pack is probably close to 20k today.
I'm curious about the latter and even wondering if this might have been done on purpose to create a frenzy at a time when folks might be starting to rethink how much they are willing to invest/gamble on what seem to be decreasing odds of getting something good.
Haven't bought sports cards in about 6 months. Saw a few mega boxes at Walmart and scooped em.
First pack? Fucking GOLD. I'm shaking right now.
First pack? Fucking GOLD. I'm shaking right now.
In this case, I don't think so. Topps Chrome Update Sapphire was a one auto per box product and I don't think I've seen any box that didn't have it, and this is at the end of TCUS' life cycle as what was an online exclusive product.
However, when they did this with a Heritage Retail box? That I am more suspicious of.
Also, killer Stroud - I can't say I fully understand the Kaboom appeal but collectors pay out the nose for it so great to have, and the Ryland is just hilarious (sorry, I know the Pats suck but they gave a card to Ryland in a product that small is just funny).
Lol, honestly? If I just pulled the Ryland and nothing else, my night would have been complete. Its such a ridiculous card for them to make, and as a Patriots fan it's just the cherry on top. He could end up being a HoF punter and it'll still only sell for $2, so im keeping that bad boy. Gonna put it on a stand on a wall shelf.
These boxes were WAY more fun to pull than I expected. Got 6 boxes - $300 - and went in fully expecting it just to be a money dump. Don't usually waste money in the retail/mega boxes, but I got a big bonus at work and figured...fuck it.
If you see these on the shelves and have $50 to burn, theres a worse way to spend 20 minutes of your time. Check out some of this fun stuff from these boxes.
Stopped in at the local card store and figured I'd try to keep the luck going. Didn't happen, but still got a pretty fun card out of this box:
I mean...cancer sucks worse. Also losing loved ones. And let's not forget being locked in some psycho's basement for sexual perversions.
But otherwise, yeah..PSA is a solid #4 for worst thing ever.
As we see the young guys in the Sox system do well I'll be interested to see who the Sox have in Bowman. It seems Allan Castro and Johanfran Garcia are both signing. Teel is the biggest name for Boston who is due and if he does will be an exciting chase. After that I assume Yoellin Cespedes is the next biggest name by I gotta think he will be saved. Fitts and Sandlin could be interesting too
So...I just paid way too much for the 2022 Topps Chrome Anniversary Yaz superfractor. I am now 3 cards short of one of the best rainbows in hobby history.
