Are You Buying The Card or The Label? 

When the Magikarp PSA10 return rate is currently 22.8%, the cost multiplier being 5x for a PSA10 isn't unexpected/even unreasonable. I respect the hustle for taking time/risk to do it. For every $500 (5 copies) submitted, only 1.14 copies come back PSA10 for $500-600. PSA9s are selling for $100-120 ($480 for the 4/5 copies that failed to get 10s). So you sell everything for 1k, you spent $500 on cards and have about $500 to cover grading fees, shipping to PSA and customers, insurance, selling fees. So sure, completely in isolation 5 times seems crazy but the world market can't be taken in isolation.

Man jake really kicked the investor bro hornet nest here

One thing to keep in mind about things like the Charmander promo; often times they come with enough damage or bad enough centering from the ETB raw that they are harder to grade in a 10. That's why some promos have such a mark up, due to damage in transit.

This logic extends to english vs japanese. Why would I spend 4 times the amount for an English card when I get a better quality one for Japanese. And I'm not just talking about quality control a perfect card in Japanese is way better than a perfect card in English. Sure you may not be able to read the Japanese one but honestly who reads the attacks?

I think the price point has a lot to do with it. On the Tyranitar vs Moonbreon example: There are many many more people in the market for a $300 PSA 10 than a $1300 PSA 10. Higher price = less market competition = less price increase/margin on raw vs PSA 10

I just don’t want to get a card that looks like an 8-9 and then receive it to find it’s a 5-6

I always buy the card, not the grade. I love my humble Snorlax collection! 💚

Scarlet & violet quality control has also been alot worse too. So it is harder to get a PSA 10 for sure

Grading the cards yourself is almost as rewarding as pulling the card from a pack!

It's actually pretty reasonable. For instance you could buy PSA10 japanese Magikarp AR for 80usd. Or you could buy raw for 30usd. Sure the raw seems cheaper but consider this. How much is the grading cost? For me it's 25usd since I grade through middleman since I'm from Europe. Also keep in mind that the quality of modern cards is ATROCIOUS. If you think you can get PSA10 on most modern cards bought from TCG player, ebay etc. you're deadly wrong. You can buy 5 copies and only 1 is actually with good centering and no corner damages. Now picture this. You sent 5 cards. They all came PSA9 after 3 months of waiting. You actually spent more time and money trying to grade the card rather than having fun with it. Some people see this and realise you're actually saving money simply buying PSA10 since they're pretty cheap even at those margins since getting PSA10 is NEVER guaranteed on raw cards from any marketplace. In the past I bought 3 copies of Friends in Alola chinese ver. I sent them to grading. 1 came in PSA10, 1 in PSA9 and 1 in PSA8. The ammount of money I lost trying to grade those cards is much grater than simply buying PSA10. Not to mention big time gap you're not having the card and waiting for PSA to grade it and send back. If I simply bought the PSA10 I'd save a lot of money. Now I have PSA9 and PSA8 cards I don't really want and have to worry about selling them.

Respectfully, i challenge you to find a Magikarp and tyranitar that will be nicely centered without chipping on the back. There’s a reason why they are this price. Understand the gem rate of these specific cards. Moonbreon’s gem rate is much higher, thus the lesser markup. It’s also a bad look because you’re talking down to those who pick these up in a 10 based on your opinion.

I don’t collect slabs, I dislike them, I’m not paying 10x for it to sit in my collection and very rarely even be looked at. I like the artworks, not the condition of the corners. However, I can’t agree with what your saying, claiming that if I buy 10 ungraded tyranitars that probably HALF of them will get a psa 10 is wild, you’d be lucky if 1 of them does!

I only buy graded 8-10 PSA cards. Cuz if you go to sell them one day there is no arguing the price, plus a graded card has been authenticated assuring you that you’re not buying a fake card.

Love this. There are grading kits on Amazon to help with spotting centering issues and streaking to increase the likelihood you’ll be able to identify the ones worth sending

I just like ripping open packs with my family. It’s a past time that took me back to 7th grade, hustling to save up allowance to buy base set from my local card shop with my friends. Ripping open my first pack, and then deducing we don’t have enough money to have enough energy to even play the trading card game. Then, we just started enjoying tearing open packs and sleeving. Cause my kids love Pokemon, I find myself doing it again, except, yes, my 5 year old chooses to have our best pulls graded. I hope regardless of the grades though, the kids would hold at least some of the cards after I’m gone, for the reminder. Every time my kids and I walk into a card shop, they’re so proud they rip open packs with their parents. I don’t think any card can outweigh the value of lived experiences. That said, y’all got anymore of them PSA 10 Charizards? 😉

if you want something graded for display just grade at any local company, i usually look for psa 8-9 if i want something graded, sometimes a graded card is the same price as an ungraded

I honestly respect getting a card graded because the slab looks cool more than being overly focused on the resale value

Buy 10 copies of Magikarp or Tyranitar and let's see how many yens you get. You'd be extremely lucky if you get 5/10 PSA 10s.

i would do this but you cant find certain cards in near mint without them being graded..vintage specifically in most cases lately. Modern though yea i would rather buy the card raw then graded

I agree.. I have seen 10s with dents or scratches that should’ve been described as LP if raw. It’s wild the difference in price. I like to search for lower grades because they are some times cheaper than the raw.

Also too mention if a card is mint its valued more than orginal listing's.

Doesnt help that market values get inflated by vendors just constantly selling to each other. Creates a much higher floor for the cards than there should be.

Absolutely agree and I don't understand all these negative comments at the top. Nailed it.

I only follow 3 rules when chasing psa 10. If i really like the card, if the price difference of raw and psa 10 only like 30-50% or $30 diff (the cost of grading) and if someone selling psa 10 far below market price. Other than that, raw or psa 9 is good enough for me 😁.

There are also loads of people like me with 10s who dont know how to do psa etc or just use personal collection

people agree with you, people spending crap tons on graded cards is a gross inflated practice. thankfully people seeing cards as "stocks" is slowly going away, but it's going away. Also, until PSA (the biggest grading agency in the US) starts to have more consistent practices in grading and fix other things they do like slab quality, grading is mostly a gamble based on the graders feelings for the day.

I just don’t want to get a card that looks like an 8-9 and then receive it to find it’s a 5-6 But this video changed my perspective

This definitely changed my perspective a little bit, I LOVE the Magikarp and Giratina cards from Shinji Kanda but the 10’s are super expensive and I’d rather put $600/$750 into a case of booster boxes, going foward I’m going to collect psa 9’s cause I prefer my cards to be slabbed, and also some cheap 10’s

I grade my card of course that i may get something from it in future. I dont deny it. But perhaps one of the biggest reason is that i get the card to safe in slab.

All of those cars artworks you displayed in this video are 🔥

what are the prints you have in the back??

I only buy raw cards that I also use to play the game so I agree with buying the card not the grade. It is important to talk about population reports and the % that get 10's though. Straight up rarity is essential in the markup from a 9 to a 10

I new to Pokémon but I don't understand what he means some new cards that just been pulled don't get 10s that I'm aware off so buying 5 of people and 2 being a ten don't make sense

I’m new to the hobby…thank you for the advice ❤

When I purchase a PSA 10 I purchase the card and grade. I don't have all the time in the world. And I want something GUARANTEED and PROTECTED. Someone can put a lot of cards on the market after they fail to get 10's....

I think this is an interesting debate to have. For me I do not grade my own cards because it is not worth the cost to hope for a 10 so I dont want to think about it. I do buy PSA 10 graded cards that I like. My favorite and I think will be GEMs in the future is my PSA 10 complete set of Pidgey, Pidgeotto and Pidgeot EX Illustration rares from Obsidians. I bought them all as a set for about $150 in total. I am happy to have because together as a set they are beautiful but I also know down the road it will be worth something.

Lots of times it's the grade for hardcore collectors. Just what it is.

i thought it was the one with the pc stamp that was worth like 15$ raw (charmander promo) EDIT: wow just checked tcgplayer the stamped version is going for 50$ raw wtf

All my cards are ungraded and the nice ones are stored in magnetic cases. I just refuse to give upcharge money to those crooks over at PSA. BGS is not any better either, they also charge a lot and have favorites to give their black labels to. I will only consider slabbing my cards for authentication but no grade.

I know what you mean! I got my self a umbreon psa 8. When this whole time I could have sent it in. Such a dumb move lol

Its always been the label my friend. If you are an investor the label is the law!

I won't spend 500 for such modern easily found psa 10 compared to 100 for ungraded

I picked up the Japanese LV. X Mewtwo (both of them) in PSA 10 for less than the price of 1 on eBay. It’s amazing what waiting can do for your wallet

Awesome, really good stuff! Thanks!

Issue is some of these cards are hard as fuck to grade

Stop the cap! Lots of us lie to ourselves when we say we are just buying the card. When in actuality we are buying the label. Gotta catch that PSA 10!

I know where I can buy graded Japanese pokemon cards for cheap and the are psa 10 cards. Should I jump on the offer and purchase some? Great video by the way jake!

I need to get charizard 151 fast, He's almost doubled in two months

jake the magikarp is an extremely hard card to grade, dont agree on your position on that card

I focus on full arts. Graded is a good protection. singles under $20 is not worth graded. I like graded 9 or 8. That’s same price like raw cards. But i won’t waste money to buy psa10. It is for collection.

I have to disagree with you here, those cards have low gem rates, that's why they go for so much. The Umbreon has a 90% gem rate that's why it's only at 40%

Sorry but this is simply wrong. 1 in 3 magicarps are not psa 10s. Its probley more like 1 in 40 pack fresh cards. Your wild for this one, and it goes to show you havnt been sourcing and geming english SV era cards lately.

When are PSA 9 actually going to start going up?? Right now it seems like a PSA 10 is $1000 and a PSA 9 goes for $120 lol like huh

Sheesh i wonder where all the salt went. 😂

Jake, no offense but it's kinda difficult to take this video seriously when you had slabs on display in the background instead of raw cards. Not trying to be insensitive to the content of the video, its a great discussion as always! Thanks

Very insightful, thanks

but those 5-6 copies would not 10, dont even kid yourself. AND IF YOURE CONFIDENT. Put your money where your mouth is and make a video proving so. Buy Cards Raw off the market and send them in for 10s.

I think the price on the magikarp and tyranitar is stupid you can buy the japanese version PSA 10 for about a 1/8th of the price. Most people buy these cards for the art so why not just get the japanese version and save yourself your rent/mortgage money lmao

3:22 Not sure why you think you can buy 10 T-Tar’s raw and hit half of them as 10’s. The pop report for these from PSA shows less than a TWENTY percent 10 rate. I think your theory behind some of these with margins narrowing will play out over time to an extent, but the 10 rate on Karp and T-Tar is less than 20-25% each vs Moonbreon which is like a 70% 10 rate!!! Quality on SV SUCKS!!

nah, pkmn card quality is TERRIBLE. its better to buy the label rather than gamble.

It's easy to say to just buy the card but honestly I go for both. If I buy a PSA 10 and it has a bit of whitening whereas to me it's a 9, I sell it and try again. If I buy an old card I never buy a PSA 10, always 9 and often times I can't even tell why it got a 9, always nice when it happens. If I buy a PSA graded modern card it has to be a 10 otherwise what's the point, even for future growth and if I buy a vintage card for the collection it has to be a 9 because all I have are 9s, don't want a single 8 to stand out, same with 10s. That said OF COURSE if the PSA 10 copy of a modern card costs more than twice the price of the card I don't even look at it, what's the point xV I have my rules, that said I'm 95% a binder guy so what do I know lel

I just like seeing cards i love in my binder. Slabs are a scam

I prefer Beckett most, Ace grading for art rares

Good luck finding these cards raw and grading them in 10’s. If researched the “Gem Rates” you probably wouldn’t have made this video

Card grading is Just one big scam .. just look how much vintage psa10 charizard was goin for back in the day and now you can buy them for cheap as chips kids .. just keep it RAW 💪🏼😉👊🏼

Both. Definitely both.

Sounds like an smpratte-ism :D Thanks Jake

Finally someone said it lol, PSA 10s are such a scam if you are just collecting. Especially for modern cards, you can get a 9 and a 10 and not even tell the difference sometimes.

Memo is going out whatever you do, do not sell you Latios and Latias from Surging Sparks for no less than 300 cash to these fools. They will cry and complain but this will prevent them all from buying them out, heck you could even get 500 each from the older Pokémon shills no problem like Dama.

I bought 180 gastly illustration rares and only 2 got psa 10 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

this guys mom hated him

If you get less than a 10 from PSA on moderns it’s a skill gap issue…that or you haven’t cracked and resubmitted it enough. Please Submit Again loves it when you fools crack and reslab those 8 and 9s repeatedly.

Making enemies here! haha!

Sounds like you don’t understand gem rate. In my opinion, it’s creating scarcity in a modern market that doesn’t have scarcity. It’s good for the hobby I think. I understand your point but it’s how it works. Yes you can buy multiple Tyranitar but you’d have to send in at least 5 or 6 to get a 10 theoretically

both

At this point just buy Japanese if buy for art imo

i save blastoise psa 9 or 10 i buy the 9 if it costs too much money for 10 xd

Hey my nephews birthday is in 2 weeks anyway you could send him a small gift? He loves Pokemon

Buy the card not the grade, well said! Id take 5 9s over one 10 any day of the week.

Take this video down Jake, you're embarrassing yourself. Are you aware of the PSA 10 gem rates on just about all the examples you used? These are not modern Japanese cards weren't talking about here like you're experienced with, these things have about a 20% gem rate on the ones people think will get 10s. Then like you said, got to pay the grading fee, insurance, and shipping. Put your money where your mouth is and buy ten copies of any of those, let's see if half of them get tens like you say 😂

Always buy the card and not the grade. At the end of they day it is cardboard and you shouldn't be spending ridiculous amounts of money on it just to have a grade

I got 2 charizards from the 151 set, one of which came from a God pack with a blastoise

bro such a great video NO ONE MAKES COOL DIFFERENT pokemon content it just ppl gambling away this is the art of pokemon

That Tyranitar card is absolutely hideous

First let’s gooo