The Magic Librarities

I'm looking to do some research on PSA and BGS grading. I'm looking to get some graded cards with varying grades ideally on the cheapest possible cards (because what cards they are doesn't matter at the moment). Does anyone have a few with varying grades? Also, what should I look to spend?

Thanks,
Ben

Are you testing the quality and repeatability of their service?

Ben I've heard a few collectors say that PSA has been very very bad with turn around times lately. I know BGS has a guaranteed turn around time and I feel that most collectors are starting to go with BGS at this point in time.

Hey Ben,

You could obviously could try Ebay where you see graded cards listed with start bids of $.99 but most of those also charge shipping.

The hardest thing you are likely to run into is finding cheap cards graded less than 8 as most people do not send in cheap cards that are less than NM/M unless it is a high value card. You would likely have better luck sending in a few played cards to BGS/PSA yourself.

As far as cost, you are looking at $8/card from BGS for any number of cards and $17 from PSA unless you are a collectors club member in which case you can use their bulk service which is $8-10 per card depending on how many you send in. You could also send the cards to a known member and have them submit the cards to PSA for you to get that pricing.

As far as personally being able to help you, I would not be much use as I'm a stickler on what I send in for grading. I try to only send in cards that have a good shot at scoring 9 or better and only have a few PSA 8's and 8.5's left over. On cheap cards, I just break the sub 8's out and put them back in the box with the rest of the raw cards I have.

Len

Thanks guys :). I think I'll just bite the bullet and head over to ebay. Just part of a fun project with a friend. :)