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I appreciate the help on this! Like I said this was a friend reaching out to me hoping I could find it. Like Slade I’m usually pretty good at finding cards but I struggled with this one. Luckily I wasn’t too optimistic about it, I had a feeling something was off after not being able to find it. I appreciate the help, you guys are great!

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That’s awesome, I set up for my first show in November and it was great. I would recommend a couple things.

1. Make sure cards are displayed nicely. This may be a personal thing, but I am much more enticed to look at tables with display cases and pricing on the cards. I am usually not drawn to random cards laid out on a table with no pricing. You can get stuff like display cases and price guns for really cheap on Amazon.

2. Understand the demographic attending the show. With my first show, I mistakenly brought too high end of cards. The show was a lot of younger kids and newer collectors who weren’t interested in some of my cards at their price points, which I completely understand. I just wish I had brought some lower end cards.

3. This was a personal thing, but be open to buying. I have been selling on Ebay and WhatNot for a while now, and I struggle with maintaining enough inventory. When me and a friend set up at this show, we bought a few cards from a kid there, and pretty soon word got around that we were buying. I was able to pickup and trade for some good inventory while I was there.

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From my experience, getting a scanner is not worth it, especially if you’re dealing in low to mid end. I personally use a light box and my phone and post on the mobile app. It doesn’t take too long to snap pictures, and the light box makes it look good and professional. When it comes to me as a buyer on ebay, I personally prefer listings where the card has pictures in a light box. It’s much easier to see the condition of a card rather than pictures taken using a scanner. The way I think of it is I would have to make $1,000 profit on Ebay to even make the scanner make sense. If you’re dealing in low to mid end like I said, making that level of profit takes time and volume.

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Here is to your original point. I bought a Justin Jefferson Select Field Level Gold Dragon Scale /10 Raw. I graded it myself and it got a PSA 10. The only 2 sales on PSA 10’s were $510 and $520, but the only sale on a PSA 9 was $456. I think it speaks to the idea that on super low numbered, highly sought after cards, there is much less of a premium on PSA 10s. There obviously still is a premium, but we don’t see that huge multiplier from PSA 9s.

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I understand what you’re saying. I think it depends on how you interpret the question. On super low numbered/rare cards, unless it’s a 10, it doesn’t matter too much because like you said the card itself is what’s rare. Look at some 1/1’s, some are 7’s and 8’s and that doesn’t impact the value of the card at all, because the card itself is what’s more valuable. With any other card though, there will obviously be a premium on 10’s and that is always going to be inevitable. If you look at a base insert, refractors, silvers, etc, the print run is so high that there needs to be some discrepancy in price between a raw and PSA 10. If there were 1,000 of a certain card printed, and there’s only 25 10’s but 200 9’s, I think the 10 should hold a much higher premium. What it does is add another level of rarity to a card that might not be that rare in the first place. I think the less rare the card is, the more impact a 10 will have on the card

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I know, I feel like a lot of people say they thought their cards were 10’s and they only glanced at the card with no lighting or magnifying glass. There are so many surface problems with cards that are hard to see with the naked eye.

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I’m looking for a little higher end. More AR, SAR, IR PSA 10’s

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I agree across the board. Panini does the same too with prizm, select and mosaic. All of a sudden Topps and Panini started marking up their blasters to $50 and megas to $85. It’s hard to make money back on either.

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That’s some great stuff! Not exactly what I am currently looking for, but I will keep this in mind. I appreciate you sharing what you have!

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I will definitely second this. The greatest tool you can have when looking if something is worth grading is a white or LED light. The light will allow you to see the cards surface much better and can show marks, smears, or scuffs that wasn’t visible before. If you’re someone who is interested in selling online, getting a light box is great. You can get them from as cheap as $20, and this offers the light needed to check condition of cards, and gives you a great spot to take pictures for online listings!

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I would really appreciate it!

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The thing is, CGC is mostly Pokémon and other TCG’s. The thing I notice most on the rate of change chart is TAG being up 83% from 2024, which is exciting to see. But like I said, I don’t think anyone will ever do the volume or resale value that PSA will, but it’s nice to have a #2. We saw SGC get close, and I think that was great for the hobby.

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I pointed out in the initial question I was mostly talking about modern sports cards. I completely agree though that when it comes to other tcg cards, CGC is the clear cut #2. I play around much more in the modern football and basketball world though, and from what I’ve seen a CGC 9 can actually go for significantly cheaper than raw.

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For sure. I’ve really liked the team their building since they drafted Cade. Like I said I’ve been buying Duren and Ivey for “prospecting”. I never bought Cade initially when he was drafted since he was #1 Overall in the 2021 draft. That was a very expensive time in the hobby. I have noticed now though he doesn’t get the love he deserves in the hobby so I am looking to buy more of his stuff.

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I understand that. I personally think cleaning is okay. For me that includes rolling bent corners and a surface cleaner to remove scuffs. I personally think that getting the card to how it was initially supposed to be presented is fine. If I buy a card and the surface is all scuffed up, it’s not my fault it was in that condition. I think trying to remove those to get it cleaner is not a problem. I draw the line personally at trimming and painting.