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People go to whatever the top brand is because it’s about top billing.” 'We know that we are leaving lots of money on the table' 1 for computers, whereas Microsoft is a distant second. “Beckett should be up there with PSA, in my opinion, but PSA has that brand name," Steuber said. Prior to the shutdown, PSA was handling an annual inventory of more than 3 million card submissions. Since then, every other grading service company has been chasing the leaders for whatever crumbs are left in the market. Beckett is perhaps the next-most recognizable name in the industry, but its grading department didn’t begin until 1999. “They sort of promoted themselves as the watchdogs of the industry,” Eisenstein said.įrom there, dealers and avid collectors started using grading services more regularly, and PSA got a jump on the competition. rookie cards hit the streets and people were being bilked out of thousands of dollars. It’s really the worst possible time for them to be doing that.” PSA became industry watchdog in 90sīased out of Santa Ana, California, PSA started operations in 1991, right as the card business was peaking prior to a two-decade downturn in the industry.Įisenstein, a collector for more than 25 years, says PSA first started to achieve its lofty status when a wave of counterfeit 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. “The demand is just absolutely through the roof. “It’s really put people like me in a tough spot,” said Rob Eisenstein of. Until then, a booming sports card market must sit and wait. "I would say it’s more likely than not that everything isn’t released on that date.” "It’s going to be a staggered release," PSA's vice president of customer experience Dave Steinberger told Yahoo Sports. The company says it expects to resume at least some of its grading services on July 1. Will that change with PSA temporarily halting all of its lower-priced services? That remains to be seen. “People seem to be willing to pay a little bit more for their service and even wait a little longer for the value-added aspect.” “PSA-graded cards just bring in more money, period,” sports card analyst Chris Steuber told Yahoo Sports. And PSA matters so much because the company became the industry’s leader in the late 1990s and kept its significant foothold until now. A PSA 9 Mantle - there are fewer than 10 known in existence - fetched a whopping $5.2 million at auction in January.Ĭondition matters.
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A PSA 1 Mantle is expensive, running around $25,000 to $35,000. But there are other areas where we’ve made some incredible progress.” (Photo courtesy of PSA)įor example, take the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, perhaps the most famous baseball card of the past century. There likely will continue to be a backlog in grading post-July 1. Getting them up to speed on our standards and protocols. “It’s hard to find graders,” said Dave Steinberger, PSA's vice president of customer experience.