I can't help but notice that two of the corners look a little off for being a 10 out of 10. The top right corner and more noticeably the bottom left corner. Maybe I'm just being ultra finicky but I've seen better be rated worse, and IMO a 10 out of 10 should be flawless.

Anyways, I think the seller is a grader as well (I'm not 100% sure). My question is, with how easy it is to sell things without question nowadays, do you think graders would just slap a high rating on a card to sell themselves for big profit? I don't think a lot of people would see the big picture here and they would just look at the rating rather than do a thorough examination of the card.

http://tinypic.com/r/2ntus1z/5

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Beta-Dual-Land-Undergro und-Sea-EX-Light-Play-/300916758933?pt=Trading_Card_Games_US&hash=item4610095995

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=m570.l3201&_nkw=underground+sea+beta&_sacat=0

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Originally posted by TheGambler:
Anyways, I think the seller is a grader as well (I'm not 100% sure). My question is, with how easy it is to sell things without question nowadays, do you think graders would just slap a high rating on a card to sell themselves for big profit? I don't think a lot of people would see the big picture here and they would just look at the rating rather than do a thorough examination of the card.

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He is not a grader, and it doesn't work like that. You submit cards you own to PSA, BGS, or another grading house, pay a fee, and they send it back to you in a nice plastic case and assign a grade to it. Graders do not sell cards, doing so would cause them to lose all credibility.

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Originally posted by jbark:
if thats the actual card i dont know how PSA could rate that a 10. its nice but not perfect as a 10 would state. seems fishy

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My thoughts exactly. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this.

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Originally posted by TheCottonRapster:
He is a grader. His store page has a link to a website. From there, you can ask for appraisals. He may not a known / good grader, but he does grade cards or at least the company does.

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OK, so I did read that right. I thought it said he was a grader somewhere in there.

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Originally posted by TheCottonRapster:
He is a grader. His store page has a link to a website. From there, you can ask for appraisals. He may not a known / good grader, but he does grade cards or at least the company does.

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Hold on, there's a difference between calling yourself a grader or offering grading services, and actually being a grader for PSA or BGS. He doesn't work for either of those companies. He is a PSA Authorized Dealer, but that doesn't mean he works for them or sells on their behalf. Being an Authorized Dealer sounds like a lot bigger deal than it actually is. PSA grades the cards. Graded Magic Cards does not, they submit the cards for grading and then just sell them. PSA gets only their required grading fees, which are the same regardless of grade assigned. Doesn't matter if it's a 7 or 10, PSA gets the same amount. Otherwise, they would lose all credibility.

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Originally posted by Timmyhill:
Is there a way to track a graded card? To see who used town it or how many there are?

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There's no way to really know who owned (or currently owns) a graded card any more than any given non-graded card. As for the amount, PSA, BGS, and SCG (Sports Card Guarantee, not StarCity) all publish what they call population reports, or pop reports. Some are free to see, others you have to be a member to view, but either way, the information is there. Pop reports will list the number of cards graded based on grade, so for example, if we were to look up Card A, we'd see there were (3) 6s, (2) 7s, (7) 8s (3) 9s and (2) 10s or something like that. Each of those would have a unique serial number assigned to it.

The problem with pop reports (and why I don't trust them) is people aren't always happy with their grades. Suppose a dealer like GMTG submitted Card A, and it came back an 8. He really wants a 10, so he cracks the case, takes the card out, and resubmits it. Comes back a 9. Repeats the process, and again gets an 8. He may do this several times, and eventually get lucky and get his 10. The problem is PSA doesn't know it's the same card again and again. From their viewpoint, each one is a unique card. As such, the pop report shows all those cards in existence, but in reality the actual numbers are significantly lower. Additionally, sometimes dealers will switch graders if they think one will give a better grade than the other. Now the same card shows not only multiple times, but on 2 different pop reports.

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Originally posted by coasterdude84:
The problem with pop reports (and why I don't trust them) is people aren't always happy with their grades. Suppose a dealer like GMTG submitted Card A, and it came back an 8. He really wants a 10, so he cracks the case, takes the card out, and resubmits it. Comes back a 9. Repeats the process, and again gets an 8. He may do this several times, and eventually get lucky and get his 10. The problem is PSA doesn't know it's the same card again and again. From their viewpoint, each one is a unique card. As such, the pop report shows all those cards in existence, but in reality the actual numbers are significantly lower. Additionally, sometimes dealers will switch graders if they think one will give a better grade than the other. Now the same card shows not only multiple times, but on 2 different pop reports.

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I agree, which is why the pop report is not the best indicator (but it's better than nothing). Actually I disagree with your logic on high end cards like a Lotus - those are the cards most likely to be resubbed, as the increase in profit is huge. Minor "set filler" cards probably are resubbed less, as the value just isn't there.

Some people do return the flips (to PSA at least) to help correct the Pop Report, but I'd guess most don't. I think I have over 100 flips laying around, and that's just the ones I saved (lol). If I subbed a Lotus that got a few 9's and then a 10 would I return the flips? Honestly, at that point I don't think I'd care. FYI, resubbing for a bump is hard and expensive; unless they flat out undergraded your card, your odds are not good. Until you've subbed several hundred cards (or more) it's really hard to accurately guess the grade you'll get. As a rule, most people vastly overgrade their stuff .

The one area where you can trust the reports is on 10's (and 9.5's if talking BGS) - as it is the best you can do, people aren't actively cracking them to resub.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Take it easy,
Jared

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Originally posted by thulnanth:
Actually I disagree with your logic on high end cards like a Lotus - those are the cards most likely to be resubbed, as the increase in profit is huge. Minor "set filler" cards probably are resubbed less, as the value just isn't there.

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