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SFH

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I probably should move some of Baseball HOFers closer to the front of my grading queue with those Big Mac prices.
 

HarleyQuinn

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I probably should move some of Baseball HOFers closer to the front of my grading queue with those Big Mac prices.

Definitely. You could maybe make more short-term if you're flipping prospects e.g. Acuna or Tatis but long term I'd get a lot of the proven HOFers graded especially if they are scarce because their value isn't going down much short of them killing somebody or something. I'm planning to pivot harder to proven superstars + serial #'d stuff such as my recent pickups of guys like Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, etc.

Yeah, let's spend $800 on a PSA Silver Prizm of Kyler Murray while I'm picking up a 2017 Insert of Barry Sanders /25 that's incredibly hard to pull for a whopping $5 raw or whatever. Then if I submit it to GMA I'm in a stunning, hard to swallow $10 total... and I know if I sell it down the road from an aesthetic standpoint + /25 it sure as hell isn't selling for $10 or less.

I'm waiting a little bit but plan to try and aim for guys like Sidney Crosby, Ovechkin, Roy, Brodeur, Hasek on the NHL side even if they are slightly higher like /499 or /999 just because those names are enduring in the future IMO. Same for maybe some jersey cards of Griffey Jr, Frank Thomas, Nolan Ryan, etc. on the MLB side again even if they are /250 or /799.
 

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Thanks! Gonna do a running tally of the dates in this post to get an idea of the turnaround time, etc. In theory, I should get the cards back around October 5th - 8th area. One of the cards I submitted was a 2013 Topps Museum Collection 4 Quad Pro Bowl Patch of Drew Brees 24/25. I'm not expecting it to be graded because I think it actually may be too thick but we'll see.

09-17-2020: Package Sent out by UPS
09-22-2020: Package Received by GMA [3 Business Days]
09-30-2020: Package Sent out by GMA [7 Business Days From Receiving It]
10-06-2020: Package Received by Me [4 Business Days From Shipping. Skewed by UPS]

So my GMA package should be arriving by 10/3(!). So in total that's about 12 Business Days for just a 20 Card Order. That's insane.
 
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SFH

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Got excited for a minute. 2001 Press Pass Drew Brees BGS pop reported updated but then I realized 3 other cards from 2001 Press Pass, all various parallels with Brees, popped the same day, so probably not mine. Nothing else I have in my June subs have popped yet anyway.
 

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PSA has gotten rid of the Economy grading and made regular service $50/Card, which could also impact current orders where cards are valued much higher (due to the long turnaround times) and get up-charged to $50 further minimizing the profit window of that particular card. I think? they've also raised the price a little on the Expedited Service time too /Card.
 

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The bulk sub group I'm in is still getting well below advertised for PSA but with the investment I've made into registries I wouldn't be making the move to PSA at this point anyway.
 

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Panini released their NFL Prizm 2020 break down. The key thing to note are the following (rough) odds
- Silver Prizms are roughly 1:6 Packs, so a little rare but not too much.
- Snakeskin Prizms and RPA Black Finite are roughly 1:144 Packs
- The following inserts combine to fall 1 per Case (144 Packs): Illumination, Aurora, Instant Impact, Stained Glass, and Color Blast. All are SP. Stained Glass is roughly 1:720 Packs. Color Blast is roughly 1:1,440 Packs.
- Each Hobby Box delivers 24 Rookie Cards, essentially 2 Packs worth.

Also Hobby Boxes were about $1,000+
 
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Prizm is probably the prettiest standard thickness card on the market right now. I love collecting just the base cards. That said, I'm not $1000 in love with them.
 

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Stupid UPS pushed my GMA package from today to 10/5, Monday :( Boo.
 

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UPS is generally reliable, but so reliable that they become unwavering. I've had to sleep by my front door b/c they wouldn't let me reroute the signature required package to a UPS store while I was on nights and needed to sleep during the day.

I'm really baffled as to why they'd screw around with your cards like this.
 

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Only thing I can figure is that the driver usually is running late (the update was at 7:11 PM) due to prior packages/construction/etc. and it's better they just deliver it another day.

Did a new order via Three Stars Sports Cards. Targeted some harder to pull inserts of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan including: Kobe - a pretty sweet 2002-03 UD I Love L.A. (1:12 Packs), 2003-04 UD MVP Monumental Moments (1:24 Packs), and 2005-06 Topps Critical Components (1:17 Packs). Jordan - 1992-93 Topps Beam Team w/Kevin Johnson & Dennis Rodman (1:18 Packs), 1993-94 UD #SP3 w/Wilt Chamberlain (1:72 Packs), and 1996-97 Hoops Big Finish.

Also snagged some more baseball jersey cards: 2004 SkyBox League Leaders /75 Jim Thome, 2009 Sweet Spot Quad Tom Glavine/Roy Halladay/Billy Wagner/Josh Beckett, 2015 Museum Collection Jumbo Relic /35 Chipper Jones, and 2016 Museum Collection Quad /25 Albert Pujols.
 

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Bumping this for some tips gleaned from Ben Graham's The Intelligent Investor and how we can apply it to Sports Cards. A lot of this is stuff we already know but it's always good to get a refresher.

#1: If you speculate, you will (most likely) lose your money in the end. Be careful speculating on the next rookie superstar.
#2: Buy when most people are pessimistic, and sell when they are actively optimistic. Take advantage of down windows and rising highs.
#3: Investigate, then invest.

A diversified holding of stocks (cards) over a stretch of years will prove more profitable so long as the shares (amount) are purchased at a reasonable market rate.

Formula Timing = Sell out as the market advances and repurchasing as it declines. Example: You have 8 Drew Brees cards so you sell 5 at $100 each. Then in 6 months, you pick those same cards up again when the price drops to $40.

Buy Low = The buyer of common stocks must assure himself that he is not making purchases when the market is at a definitively high one.

Rising Tide Lifts All Boats = When the general market declines or advances substantially, nearly all investors will have somewhat similar changes in their portfolio values.

Beating the Market is speculative. Timing is of great psychological importance to the speculator because they want to make their profit in a hurry. See Grading Cards/Turnarounds of Hot players and the loss of profit if the turnaround time is too late and/or the grade is too low.

True practitioners of the ‘buy low, sell high’ concept must be comfortable with buying too soon and selling too soon. Better to sell early then sell late.

The true investor scarcely ever must sell their shares, and always they are free to disregard the current price quotation. The investor who is stampeded/worried about market fluctuations turns a basic advantage into a disadvantage. E.G. The long-term collector is not directed or concerned by the fluctuations of the market's ebbs and flows.

Buying stocks at 100 in 1924 could be sound but it lost any advantage based on reasonable future expectancy if brought at 300 in 1928-1929. See Zion, Ja Morant, Luka Doncic. Easier to get a 2-3X return on a low-cost card or one picked up at reasonable market value than it is trying to flip a card picked up at a peak expecting that price to continually rise upwards.

Unusually rapid growth cannot keep up forever; When a company has already registered a brilliant expansion, its very increase in size makes a repetition of its achievement more difficult. Example: Luka Doncic sold for $600 just 6 months ago. Now selling for $1,300 with expected growth to $3,000+… Future expectancy is built into the current price.

“Even a mere lack of interest or enthusiasm may impel a price decline to absurdly low levels.” 1 = Currently disappoint results or 2 = Protracted neglect or unpopularity. Example: See Patrick Ewing or David Robinson in comparison to Shaquille O'Neal or Anthony Davis.

The outstanding characteristic of the stock market is its tendency to react excessively to favorable and unfavorable influences.

One card guarantees only that the holder has a better chance of profit over the loss but that loss is not impossible. More variance means more certainty that the aggregate of the profits will exceed the losses. If Card A costs $100, it's easier to get a profit but also net a loss on that than if you picked up 5 Cards at $25 each where the total profit is more assured.
 
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HarleyQuinn

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Got my GMA grading results! 20 Cards Total. Caveat = I didn't bother to use a microfiber cloth so that may've effected some of the gradings but I wanted them slabbed more than I cared about the actual grade. I also knew several had touched up white corners, etc.

- 10s = 9 including my 2018 Tyreek Hill Timeless Tributes 13/25
- 9s = 3 including my 2018 Cam Newton Press Proof Gold 47/50
- 8.5s = 3 including my 2013 Drew Brees Pro Bowl Quad Relics 24/25
- 8 = 4 including my 2019 Gardner Minshew Mirror Gold 25/25 and 2019 Lamar Jackson Diamond Teal 3/35
- 7 = 1 which was the Corey Dillon jersey patch from 2012 Momentum. This was about Dillon in a Pats uni tbh.

 
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It looks like you got a fair, honest assortment of grades by them. It shows they're at least grading the cards per their standards and not just rubber stamping cards with 10s. So good on them. Hopefully they can get more market penetration.
 

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Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised at the Brees getting an 8.5 because I expected it to get closer to a 7.5 or an 8. I plan to do a larger submission down the road now that I kind of know what to look for (and have a microfiber cloth to use). Since a lot of these cards are for my PC, I'm still debating whether it'd be worth sending in some cards e.g. a /25 Black Optic Kelce that looks great but has several obvious dimples to the naked eye. The other thing that helps is that buying these cards for $3-6 raw and submitting them at $5 apiece makes the 'investment' far less so like for the Kelce, I could live with an 8 grade on that card because I'd be in at $11.

I don't get how people can go through so many cards and send them for grading. I've gone through like 15 cards, selecting about 5 thus far that could probably get at least a 9 and its exhausting stuff.
 

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Gonna probably be sending out a bigger order tomorrow to GMA as I was very pleased with the turnaround and cost. It'll be about 66 or 67 cards with 21 Jersey. Spread it out over all 4 Sports - NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB trying to aim for a good majority that should grade a 9+ and threw in some flawed ones simply because they were /25 such as the Optics of Sherman, Kelce, and T.Y. Hilton.

Total Cost will be around $330 for the cards and $35 or so for shipping. I did smarten up and use a microfiber cloth + the Ultra Pro sleeve card savers so I'm curious if both help the grading a bit.
 
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I did join an SGC sub group, haven't sent them anything yet. Their per card is $1.50 cheaper than going solo. I have four Matt Stafford rookies set aside for my first sub through them. They (mods) don't seem as professional as the BGS/PSA bulk sub facebook group I'm in though. Kind of waiting to see how my first solo SGC sub goes (4 Beast mode rookies and 1 Revis rc).

There's no incentive for me to break party with BGS for my bigger registries, especially since Frank Thomas fell to #2. And every time I think about trying out PSA they do something dumb. I'm really keen to see how things keep going for you with GMA. I definitely might use them for stuff I intend to sell locally. When I can get $30 on a raw base Burrow rookie from LEAF of all companies, adding it in a slab of any manner would give me a definite reason for an added premium.
 

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And every time I think about trying out PSA they do something dumb. I'm really keen to see how things keep going for you with GMA. I definitely might use them for stuff I intend to sell locally. When I can get $30 on a raw base Burrow rookie from LEAF of all companies, adding it in a slab of any manner would give me a definite reason for an added premium.

When getting back in, I just didn't trust PSA at all. From the liberal card trimming/association (BGS/SGC I'm sure are guilty too), FBI probing into them, the recent YT post by Flipping Steve about them pocketing hundreds of $$ when he was trying to crossover and they just sent the slabs back, and now the price hiking to try and get things under control that was kind of their own making when they'd grade cards 70-80% 10s.

Printed out the UPS Label at home (declared value of $400 likely bumped up the fees) and dropped it off at the UPS Store locally. Super fast and painless. Like I said, this is about a 66 card submission with a lot more selectivity and using a microfiber cloth, etc. so I'm curious how I do as well. My last sub I still got 60% as 9s or better without truly knowing WTH I was doing, lol.

If you have stuff you want in a quick, cheaper fashion to where you don't care what the grade is necessarily, I'd definitely recommend GMA (especially since they are based in Florida and closer to you). What I like is I know several cards in this shipment have flaws so I'm expecting 8s and 8.5s here too. I never got the impression GMA was trying to pull a 'pop report control' on any card or anything.

If bumping the declared value over $500 - GMA = $330. SGC would've been $990(!). PSA would've been $3,300... And the latter 2 would be literal months of waiting to get the cards back. If selling on a 'hot' player, you'd be trying to project their value maybe 5-8 months down the line from the month you submitted.

With GMA there are a few things to note
The Good: The prices and turnaround time are phenomenal. The grading seems very fair and reliant on the card itself (thus no inventory/pop count on the website). I really like the enlarged grade of the number too. The slabs are bigger/thicker than the PSA slabs. People are selling their GMA cards within $20-$40 of PSA 9s or 10 grades ignoring the low ball sellers who perpetuate GMA's low tier status. GMA does seem to be moving up a bit as they've gotten more submissions in.

The Bad: Aesthetically, the logo at the top isn't the most professional. Cards can be loose in the holder if you shake them hard enough but that same issue is with PSA as well & is reliant on people going around shaking the holders for some stupid reason. They are seen as a distant 4th in the market and the fact the address points to a house isn't the best reflection (then again Paul Heyman would film promos in his house's basement so...) GMA still doesn't seem to show up as a grading company on Ebay so there's a bit more manual work in finding what their cards have sold for.

PSA 9 Fred McGriff RC went for $$24.58 and $22.55 w/Shipping while a GMA 8 went for $8.50 w/Shipping.

Drew Brees Cards = GMA 10 2001 Press Pass Die Cut went for $44.20. GMA 10 2001 Topps Chrome Refractors went for $43.99. GMA 10 2001 Sage Hit went for $29.14. GMA 9 2001 Atomic went for $26.98. GMA 7 2001 Bowman went for $24.49.

You can definitely make money selling GMA if you're smart about establishing it as a BIN with no offers (asking for offers implies immediately that you are willing to take lower than asking) and price it relatively close to a BGS or PSA with a similar grade. It may just take more patience.
 
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SFH

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Hell it didn't even occur to me to search GMA cards for purchase. You mentioning the Brees made the 40 watt bulb over my head sizzle. Blowout or Beckett forums just recently posted a thread of the comic grading company starting to do cards. The reviewer's slab fell open mid box break. Not a good look for them. CGC maybe?
 

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Yeah. You'll get lucky because a lot of quick flippers use GMA to grade cards fast for a cheap selling price knowing that a future buyer (95% of the time) will just want to crack the case and re-submit to PSA. From a selling perspective, it doesn't help GMA's "status" or the other GMA sellers when doofuses are selling a $125 card at $55 or $60 even though it's a GMA 9 instead of a PSA 9.

Again, I do like that GMA's slabs are thicker than PSA so basically you're paying an insane amount for that PSA "name" with a thinner slab no less.

Yeah, I saw the clip where the case broke completely. That'd be a no from me, dawg on that company, lol.
 

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How is GMA for vintage cards?

I've heard that if you are doing vintage, SGC is the way to go as they basically started out/built their reputation on doing mainly vintage cards. It's only in the last 3-5 years that SGC even started receiving more modern cards. I wouldn't be opposed to getting GMA more business ;) but everything I've seen is that even people praising PSA/BGS say you should go to SGC for vintage.
 

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I do tend to like the way the old cards look in the SGC cases; the black frame can make the bright colors pop even more.
 

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I'll probably do SGC from here for any vintage I might accumulate. I'm already a dozen or so deep on a BVG registry for 1959 Three Stooges, so not that. I have like 3-4 Babe Ruth cards already BVG slabbed as well (1960s, nothing from his time). I do have a single T206 that I could potentially crossover and maybe two mid century presidential tribute cards, possibly the 50s also.

But totally agree on the scans people have shared, the black frames look nice.
 

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Just added a bunch of Brees stuff in GMA slabs to my watch list. A lot of key rookies. Just thinking if they're lower graded I could always crack and wipe.

I saw on ebay that GMA grades unlicensed cards as well. I have an unlicensed Joe Burrow from 2018 or 19, it has him in LSU purple. If I can get that as a 9 I'd be able to move it here really quick.
 

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It’s obviously not sports. But I got nowhere else to share this. Decided I’m going to start collecting Game of Thrones cards. Autographs specifically.

Cracked a Game of Thrones Inflexions case and pulled this motherfucker of a Lena Headey inscription auto. Looks like it’s $300+ and limited to just 100-200 of these out there according to the Rittenhouse archives page.

40925E57-4776-4F8E-99CC-7A71761732BA.jpeg
 

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I think this thread is ok for non-sports cards too. Cool pulls!
 
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