Inside the card-grading empire shaping the price of Pokémon cards
Source: CNBC ·
PSA’s resale premium, backlog and grading-market dominance shape what collectors pay — and how much their Pokémon cards may fetch.
From the source
Collectors may have more grading options than ever, but many still turn to Professional Sports Authenticator, or PSA — even as the industry leader works through a backlog of millions of cards. Demand for grading — an act of verifying a card’s authenticity and condition — has grown as collectors increasingly treat trading and vintage sports cards as alternative investments. PSA reported a backlog of 7.2 million items on Oct. 20, down from 12.4 million in July. The company suspended cheaper submission services in June to ease the backlog before reopening its Value service on Oct. 29. Even so, some sellers would rather wait for a PSA label than send their cards to a competitor, dealers told CNBC. “It really all comes down to secondary market values,” said Geoff Wilson, founder and CEO of CardsHQ, which operates one of the world's largest sports card shops. PSA-graded cards typically command higher prices than equivalent grades from competitors, Wilson said, giving collectors and…
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